-4 Days on the Road
It’s here! It’s really here!
“What? What is here? Your New Zealand’s Biggest Gap Year? It’s finally happening?!” We hear you cry.
No, our campervan water heater has been delivered!!
“Oh, for f***’s sake…”
Yep, our brand new water heater is here. Previously, we had left a gaping hole in our campervan covered up with this amazing resilient material called “cardboard”. All we have to do is place the water heater in the empty hole. Simple, right?
Get in there, water heater!
Once it came down to installing this new water heater, we found that the pipes and connectors were made for some bloody American imperial system, but our brand new heater only fits with metric sized screws. Plus, the sizing of the water heater, in general, was wayyy off the product description. But, in the Kiwi attitude we’ve come to love we thought, “Screw it, we’ll install the damn thing anyway”.
Somehow… SOMEHOW we managed to pull it off and install this effing great water heater ourselves. Who would have thought?! We are learning so much before this trip has even begun. (Ok, so we also had some help from Dom’s friend who’s a certified gas guy who safely cut the gas line for us so we don’t die in our sleep… We are very grateful.) But yeah, let’s talk about how clever we are… Except for the part where the water heater now only works when the campervan is plugged into the mains… GAWD! But the RV centre in Paeroa that sold us the unit is happy to help us out with this issue when we get to this town in the North Island. Sweet!
Sky Tower, anyone?
As you can imagine, this whole ordeal took us well into nightfall. Because we suck enough at fixing a camper during the daylight, let alone at night, we thought it would be safer to just go do something else… And we’ve always wanted to check out the Sky Tower views at night, so…
Sky Tower by night
That oversized needle looks pretty cool at night. We’re not sure whether we prefer the Auckland city skyline at night with the Sky Tower in it, or the view from the Sky Tower. (Check out our pictures, which do you prefer?) Nevertheless, we went to experience both as the Sky Tower entry is not horrifically expensive at NZ$28 entry.
Weirdly enough, a highlight of the whole “tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere” thing is the elevator ride up. Watching the floor shoot away from you through the glass floor is pretty damn cool but happens all too quickly! Damn your efficient elevators, Sky Tower!
Emerging from the elevator, the first thing we noticed is the change in atmosphere on the viewing deck during the daytime. By day, Sky Tower is a tourist hot spot. By night, the Sky Tower turns all smooth and sleek with the “romantic” music echoing in the ears of couples on their first dates. Meanwhile, here we were playing the stereotypical scruffy backpackers taking ridiculous photos…
Watching the big city lights of Auckland city is not a bad way to end a day in the place we have been living for the past few months. We guess it’s going to be a while before we see these big city lights once we start our year-long road trip around New Zealand.
Robin must be pointing at something totally hilarious
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Want more?
Auckland puts the “awe” in awesome (and the “awk” in awkward but we don’t talk about that). See what other fun stuff there is to do in Auckland city in these smashing articles:
- 14 Free or Cheap Things to do in Auckland
- Top 10 Natural Auckland Experiences
- Auckland – Guide for Backpackers
As for our New Zealand’s Biggest Gap Year, check out the full itinerary of the trip here. You can also find us posting all those helpful travel tips on Facebook.
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