Last night was very stormy. It rained all night and the wind howled. It is a far cry from our beach paradise. The wind was really blowing when we got up around 7am, so we thought it best to move away from some surrounding trees. To our surpass the van did not start. Dead battery. Hmmm? We did not leave any lights on or doors open the only thing we can think caused the drain is the key was in the ignition and did not get moved to the last locking click. So we made some coffee under a shelter the campground had and waited for one or our two fellow campers to wake up and see if we could get a jump. It was cold out in the wind but the coffee was warm and we ate our breakfast. Finally the campervan was awake. We let them wake up for about 10 minutes before we walked over. No luck. We decided to walk up the road to a farm house that also managed the park fee's and rang the door bell. A mom in came to the door and two young kids followed. She was so nice, she immediacy search her car for the cables, and when they were not there she searched the shed telling her kids to finnish breakfast and get ready to go to town. We felt bad for interrupting there morning but she said think nothing of it. Once the cables were found she said she had to run her kids to town but would be back in 20 min to jump us with a different car (her's was electric.) We said that we would ask the campervan if they could and leave the cables on the porch. She said if she did not see them she would come down right quick and give us a jump with her other car.
The campervan was an older couple from Australia they came right over and gave us a jump. The jump took a good 15 min. Our van did not want to start, but she came through in the end. We were very grateful that they gave us a jump. We told them we were going to go to Australia in January sometime. Vicky gave us their phone number and address. They live just out of Sydney on the coast and have a spear room. Said to give them a call and they would love to have us for a night or two! We felt so lucky to have come across such kind people. We have to pay if forward for sure! Just as Vicky and Rob were pulling away, the mom who lent us the jumper cables came. just like she said about 20 min! Felling fortunate and underprepared we went back into town and bought some jumper cables and an extra battery just incase we don't have neighbors. We found a few cleaning supplies for the van as well so we can keep our home tidy. As luck would have it, our van did not start again. At least we were in town and right in front of a hardwood store.
The first woman parked next to us said her engine was not made for that. Hmmm. Just then a guy in this late 30's with a young son came by and said he could give us a jump. He pulled in next to us and we got our cables we just bought. No luck. The man stated to examine things closer, the lead connection to the batteries were not tight at all on either side. Rather than send us to a shop, he got his tool kit form his car and fixed the problem. He hack sawed the circle connecter in half this way the screw could tighten the bolt and have the circle piece get tight around what it is supposed to be tight to (that's how i understood it.) Our hero. This man was on holiday with his family and he took a good hour to help us. Talk about the right place at the right time. He is a business man but rebuilds engines in his spare time. It felt so humbling to receive so much help, we will not soon forget this and make time for someone else in need to offer a little help or a little of our time.
We decide to head toward Rotaura (Ro-to-ru-a). On our way we leave the Coromandel peninsula and head into the Bay of Plenty. The landscape also changes almost immediacy to denste tropical forest to looking similar to the willamette valley, but on a white sand beach. There are vineyards, orchards, and kiwi tree's everywhere. We stop in Tauranga in search for a camera. The downtown is really cute and trendy with shops and lots of restaurants that have a ocean view. We find a Canon powershot to replace our old one, and head inland from the coast to Rotaura.
The smell driving into Rotarua is very strong. I had flash backs to when Grandma Palmer gave me perms and the burning chemical smell was so strong. We went to the I site and asked how to get to a few DOC sites we had picked out. The sites we picked out were not open yet or had to get to buy boat. Since it is the start of fishing season our boat for hire looked dismal. There was another site not far from town on a lake.
As we pull up to the campsite we were speechless, well Paul said "Are you F-ing kidding me" The lake looks like flooded marsh, it's wide open with no real camp spots, and well it's just not much to look at. For $6 a night it started to look real good to us! There are lots of birds around, but I have no attacks to report! I think we are going to head up the coast again since the next few day's are calling for sun. We may finally hit Gisborne like we planned since leaving Auckland. We would like to find a cheap spot that has some hikes around it so we can stay in one place for a few days. Of course we may get side tracked again!
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