Well folks… today just might be the big day. John and I, after lunch, are heading out with a mechanic to check out a van that we have found (or should I say was found for us). If it seems to be okay we will pay the guy and bring it home. The plan is to convert this little van into a camper van that we can travel the country in and park at night and sleep in it. Now when I say van you need to think van like Volkswagon vans. The one we are looking at is a Toyota but shaped like a VW van. Anyways… I’ll do my best to post some pictures if everything works out.
Since the last time I posted I don’t feel like much has happened, we really have been kinda playing a waiting game while we looked for a vehicle. I am feeling quite restless and so is John. We both just want to get this van going and get going. For all you BC residents we booked our ferry crossing the other day to go from the North Island down to the south, which books up really fast because we want to go right before Christmas, and the cost is… $218 NZD. That is for a undersize vehicle and two adults. Crazy hey? Makes the what? $70 look not to bad hey?
One thing we did do was go to hot water beach last weekend, which is on the cost of the Cormandel Peninsula on the east coast of New Zealand. It was a rainy weekend so it wasn't as good as it could be but we still enjoyed seeing the area, which is very pretty. There are a lot of nice beaches that reminded me of the Oregon coast with large rocks and boulders sitting way out from the beach randomly scattered around. Peter (John’s brother) recommended hot water beach to us and it was pretty cool. Basically there is a hot water spring under the beach that is fed into the ocean. All you have to do is dig a shallow hole in the sand and it will fill up with hot water, really hot water. We planned it right with the tides and got to the beach just as the tide was going out (and there wasn't too many people there yet). We picked our spot and John and Quintin started digging. I watched while putting on sunscreen. :) We got quite a big hole and it was really, really nice to sit on a beach in our little pool filled with hot water. About an hour and a half later the beach was crowded with people who were all trying to dig little holes to sit in. Unfortunately the spring is only in a small area and so if you don't get a good spot, the water is just cold. Our spot however continued to get hotter and hotter the lower the tide got. At low tide there were crowds of people digging pools and getting cold water while we were being forced out of our pool because the water was too hot. We got a pail and started hauling cold ocean water into our little pool but that only helped for a short time before it got too hot again. We had a good chuckle of the irony of this. After 3 hours of sitting in hot water we decided we'd had enough and headed back to the car where we ate lunch and examined our sunburns.
Since the last time I posted I don’t feel like much has happened, we really have been kinda playing a waiting game while we looked for a vehicle. I am feeling quite restless and so is John. We both just want to get this van going and get going. For all you BC residents we booked our ferry crossing the other day to go from the North Island down to the south, which books up really fast because we want to go right before Christmas, and the cost is… $218 NZD. That is for a undersize vehicle and two adults. Crazy hey? Makes the what? $70 look not to bad hey?
One thing we did do was go to hot water beach last weekend, which is on the cost of the Cormandel Peninsula on the east coast of New Zealand. It was a rainy weekend so it wasn't as good as it could be but we still enjoyed seeing the area, which is very pretty. There are a lot of nice beaches that reminded me of the Oregon coast with large rocks and boulders sitting way out from the beach randomly scattered around. Peter (John’s brother) recommended hot water beach to us and it was pretty cool. Basically there is a hot water spring under the beach that is fed into the ocean. All you have to do is dig a shallow hole in the sand and it will fill up with hot water, really hot water. We planned it right with the tides and got to the beach just as the tide was going out (and there wasn't too many people there yet). We picked our spot and John and Quintin started digging. I watched while putting on sunscreen. :) We got quite a big hole and it was really, really nice to sit on a beach in our little pool filled with hot water. About an hour and a half later the beach was crowded with people who were all trying to dig little holes to sit in. Unfortunately the spring is only in a small area and so if you don't get a good spot, the water is just cold. Our spot however continued to get hotter and hotter the lower the tide got. At low tide there were crowds of people digging pools and getting cold water while we were being forced out of our pool because the water was too hot. We got a pail and started hauling cold ocean water into our little pool but that only helped for a short time before it got too hot again. We had a good chuckle of the irony of this. After 3 hours of sitting in hot water we decided we'd had enough and headed back to the car where we ate lunch and examined our sunburns.
4 comments:
Hey Guys,
Sounds like you're having a great time...despite the transpo issue! You should call Ken, I'm SURE he must know someone who could getcha something good :) We missed you at the 40th celebrations this weekend. Had a great time seeing lots of people and hangin' out. We think of you all the time! I'll have to send you a video of Noah sometime - his vocab is definitely expanding!! Love Keizers
Hey guys! So glad to hear you are doing well. I hope that the van works out for you! Sort of funny, I just got a civic today! Woot first car! It's in amazing shape, 95 hatchback from a guy my dad works with! Well I hope your travels in your van are swell. Dropping it hippy style eh! Haha...oh ps John, Andrea and I are dating :) Haha not your Andrea but you already knew that...that was more for anyone else who read this.
Looks to me like the two of you should look into converting vans to make some sidelide cash, very creative y'all are!!! Yoops there goes another few buttons :)
Have fun in the ZZZ's
Popps GGee
Hi John and Andrea, We will be spending time catching up with you since Karen showed us how to find your blogsite. We had homemade noodles and New Year's cookies for lunch today. We miss you!
Grandpa and Grandma Wiebe
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