Andy & Gillie's Big Adventure!: LA Baby!

It’s been a bit of a while, but what with having two Tuesday 21sts, bad men in the computer, California driving meltdown and Freedom camping fuck-ups, I hope we’re back to a degree of normality. If you can really call this place normal…

To round off our New Zealand adventure, we decided to put in some big miles (they call them kilometres in NZ and they’re not as big) and luxuriated in natural hot springs in Rotorua, coming out after two hours with skin as soft as, well, think of a non-cliché simile.

We then hoiked (not very far) to Taupo, where it was cold, so we went to see ‘Shaun The Sheep’(!!!) I kid you not. Gillie’s dream date…Great free camp by the side of the lake within spitting distance of the town centre.

We had to go and see Mt Egmont/Taranaki, only 296k away, but that’s only half the story. As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, driving in NZ is part of the adventure and we had a great drive before we reached a lovely campsite within view (sort of) of the fabled volcano. Caught a great glimpse of it in the setting sun, but it was hidden by cloud the next day, so we were lucky.

Part of the attraction of going to Mt Egmont/Taranaki is driving east back to Taupo via the Forgotten World Highway. Steve and Kathy had told us how wonderful this drive was and we set off with high expectations. This road is 150 km (12 of them unsealed) of windy roads and brilliant hills with four saddles – natural high passes – where we had to stop to marvel at the views and stunning landscape. Taupo that evening saw us take in another movie – ‘What We Did on our Holiday’ a lovely comedy with some top British actors.

Our next stop was Ohope, where we decided not to drive around the Bay of Plenty as we only had two days and would have been rushing it, so we relaxed and talked about how we would make that trip next time…

Relatively short hop to Papamoa Beach where we sat on the chilly but sunny beach all afternoon and watched a new form (for us) of beach ‘fishing’ where the bloke sent a vessel out by remote control; it then sank and waited a couple of hours for the fish to bite. The aforementioned bloke then calls it back in and fills his coolbox with the ‘catch’. Sport eh?

Third film of the week was the next day as the rain was of truly biblical proportions all day and was not going to relent, so we walked/waded to the cinema to watch ‘Woman in Gold’ – excellent drama with Helen Mirren about the Klimt painting of Adele Bloch-Bauer(?) and her quest to have it restituted (is that a word?) from the Austrian government.

We returned to one of our favourite spots for our last full day’s camping in NZ – Tararua near Thames on the Coromandel Peninsula, a free spot with brilliant sunsets. Our amazing sojourn in New Zealand was given a bit of a bump when we were awakened the following morning at 7.30 by a knock on the window. We were getting an instant ticket for bylaw infringement as, although we were completely self-contained, with the proper holding tanks for waste water (etc), we didn’t have the correct stickers and licences on display outside the vehicle, so were up for a fine of $200!

When we took Meg back to the hire place that afternoon, words were spoken, I can tell you. We may yet have a happy outcome on this as we have not yet heard and the chap at the hire office said they might be able to write it off. Fingers crossed.

Our last morning in New Zealand was tinged with sadness. We had said goodbye to Steve and Kathy when we set off to Auckland, but because we were in the same country, they felt very close, as did the girls, who were only two hours behind, but setting off for Los Angeles meant we were moving right out of their time zones.

Thanks so much Steve and Kathy, you really looked after us and were so kind. It was great being able to spend proper time with you again. Stay in touch you bastard!

Our check-in baggage is now 23kg each, so Gillie has definitely smuggled some more shoes in! but our carry-on bags are probably much the same. Not sure how we managed to get away with it…

Last Tuesday 21^st April was a strange one. We left Auckland at 12.45 pm and arrived in LA at 12.30 pm on the same day after about 13 hours of flying and five and a half hour stopover in Fiji. Just after we left Fiji, we crossed the International Date Line, so we gained an extra day in our lives, which we then proceeded to waste by taking the wrong highway from LA airport and finding ourselves three hours and mega traffic jams later on the way to Las Vegas – Wrong!! We eventually found our way back to the correct road and arrived at Hannah and Jai’s house at 8 pm. Hannah was expecting us about 4 pm!

The fabled LA weather was not happening for us last week, so we had to settle for looking longingly at their pool for a few days, but we went in yesterday – and it was freezing!

We have been slowly getting ourselves organized for the next part of our adventure, which kind of took a big step forward when we bought an RV (big motorhome) last Saturday, by winning the bid on Ebay! We bid the reserve and nobody outbid us – bit scary, but we were reassured when we went to see it on Saturday. It’s a 1988 26 ft Ford Jamboree, which feels enormous after our recent experiences.

Having a few problems getting insurance for the vehicle though, as Andy has to get a California driving licence in order to be able to buy any insurance. So he’s going for the written test tomorrow (Thursday) and if he passes he’ll try to get booked in for the ‘behind-the-wheel’ test as soon as possible after, as we hope to drive down to San Diego on Sunday until Wednesday for a trial run. Keep everything crossed for us, please!

We are returning to LA on Wednesday as we are going to be staying at Jai and Hannah’s house for a couple of weeks while they go with baby Leo to visit all their relatives and friends in Yorkshire during May. Unfortunately their cat, Bob, was attacked by a coyote, out on the street in front of their house last Sunday morning! He gave a good account of himself apparently, but has a broken jaw and is now recovering, but will need some TLC while they are away and we’re more than happy to help out after their wonderful hospitality.

Leaving you all on tenterhooks wondering how Andy got on with the written test…

PS What a lot happens in a week!! We are having such a lovely time in LA, Hannah and Jai are being so kind to us and baby Leo is just gorgeous. Last Sunday we did the ‘tourist’ bit and went to Hollywood Boulevard to see the Chinese Theatre and the handprints and footprints of film stars old and new (the Harry Potter actors were there next to George Clooney and Fred Astaire!). Andy is now waiting for the ‘call’ as there are still a few spaces left…..

Summer has finally arrived and it’s boiling…30+ today, or 90+ in old money. The house is really lovely, very spacious with a lovely pool and a back garden that looks over to the mountains. Every night we are eating outside and marvelling at the amazing sunsets. Aren’t we lucky?? We are beginning to plan the next stages of our trip and hope to ‘experience’ Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon, before we head north towards Yosemite and San Francisco…Bye for now, love to all G. xxxxx