15/12/25 – 22/12/25
We spent a week packing and storing our belongings in the container, catching up with friends and cleaning the house. Poor Patrick was hit pretty hard with the flu which was not part of the plan but better now than later. Arthur was pretty cute with packing his teddy’s, they were put in a suitcase with the toy camping stuff, food and a torch so they could survive the year packed away. Oliver was a great help cleaning the house.
Saying Nhama Yhala to Nhulunbuy we all had mixed feelings however excitement was building after all our luggage was accepted by Air North and we were officially on our way for a year of adventure.
No drama’s with the flights and everyone had good sleeps on the red eye to Melbourne. We didn’t have much time in Melbourne, however I had just enough time to run outside and ask a random stranger to please post the Christmas cards I had so they would make it in time for Christmas.
Arriving in NZ was a wonderful feeling, it was nice to have the immigration officer welcome me home.
Once through immigration we slowly made our way through customs, they had to open and inspect all our bikes and camping gear – all got a tick of approval and we were officially in NZ – woohoo. With 3 very tired kids in tow we picked up our rental 10 seater bus, which ended up having terrible space so we had to play tetras to fit everything in, then we hit the ‘great’ Auckland traffic and slowly drove to Erina and Kevin’s who had a delicious home cooked meal ready for our arrival. When asked about our plans Kevin and Erina were both very surprised to hear we had none…..we have had no time to really think about this trip until now so I guess it is time to make a plan.
Everyone crashed pretty early and had a great night sleep waking up ready to start planning our trip. We had a lovely lunch with Max before driving to Maungatapere. That evening we chatted with Alistair and Eileen and finally made a rough plan.
The next week was filled with Christmas excitement, a quick dip in the ocean followed by classic kiwi kumara chips and ice-cream and then some relaxing time around the farm. The boys absolutely loved having a turn with the slug gun and driving the motorbike. We drove back to Auckland to swap cars, had some great catch-ups with family, found some cool playgrounds, and did some shopping for the last few things we needed for the trip. Over the week we have decided we will attempt to ride the Tour Aotearoa route, from Cape Reinga to Bluff – the length of New Zealand.
