Arrived in Auckland early Tuesday morning having lost a day crossing the international date line. We heard that screening for the corona virus had been stepped up at the airport, but we breezed through without incident. Our friend Trish was waiting for us at the airport and whisked us off to her place in Auckland that she shares with her husband Alex. We decided to stay up for the day in an effort to acclimatize to NZ time. We spent the morning touring an area of Auckland close to their neighbourhood which included an interesting walk overlooking some local beaches and a glimpse of downtown from the north side of the harbour.

Trish and Alex have a beach house north of Auckland and the plan was to spend our time there until we start our van adventure next week. So, without wasting much time we packed up Trish’s car and headed north to the beach house. We stopped for provisions and then headed out. On our way north we took a break at the Puhoi Pub in North Auckland for a bite and some refreshments, which really hit the spot as we hadn’t eaten since breakfast on our flight. After the pub it was a short drive to Mangawhai where Trish and Alex have their second home.

New Zealand has been hotter than usual and today was no exception with temps hitting 29C. Mangawhai is a beach community so as soon as we unpacked, we headed to the beach for a swim. The beach at Mangawhai is wide and long and is popular with surfers – but today the waves were small and the swimming was fine. The rest of the day and evening were pretty chill and we hit the sack early.