Comings and goings

Now comes the sad part since the van plan is coming to a close :( After leaving Rotorua we cruised up the coast to Tauranga for a look before busting back to Auckland. Was a fabulous day in Tauranga/Mt Manganui - neither of us had ever been there so was good to see what it was all about. We saw a Destiny Church billboard! haha! ate HEAPS of sushi and went for a walk on the beach and up the Mount a bit - once again... NO SURF! ugh. then it was back up to the big smoke. so ended our last day in the van together :( sad times
the next few weeks were a little nutty and em and i didn't really spend them together all that much. she was staying with her friend ange and i with lauren in completely different parts of the city. i got completely and utterly lost when going out to laurens once. haha! but otherwise navigated the city pretty well i thought. caught up with a few more people who have relocated to the land of orcs. did some exploring and shopping and went to a few films in the italian film fest. nothing amazingly exciting.
lauren and i did do a weekend trip to the coromandel which was awesome. the sunniest hottest weekend ever - got to bust out the new togs. there are some advantages to the city :) we went to hahei and cathedral cove and ate hot chips at whitianga. stayed illegally in a reserve up some peninsula. ate yummo food in coromandel itself, visited a butterfly house in thames where the butterflys liked my yellow t shirt, did some walks and more gravel road driving. found some rad kauri trees just outta coromandel town which i recommend. and finished the weekend off by stopping at the miranda hot pools for a good soak. gave us a taste of the coromandel with a nice mix of relaxing and doing.

Cathedral Cove

So sunny!

Making friends with butterflies :)

the next week i became an expert on newmarket - where can i park for free? where can i get internet? those kinds of things. went to a few movies in the italian film fest at the rialto which was a good time killer. halfway through the week i relocated to my friend janelles house who, in remuera, was within walking distance of newmarket. em stole the van for that weekend as erwin had come up to see her off and they went up north for a bit. i felt quite wierd not having el capitan as a constant companion. i have become unhealthily attached to that vehicle :)
and then it turns into a return journey....
i left auckland and em and went back to rotorua for a few more days with mel, steve and phaedra. then continued down to wellington for labour weekend with my friend laura. on that voyage i did manage to get stung by a pesky bee that flew in the open window of the van. grr!! then it was back to blen. and i started work on tuesday. at 8am. oh no! reality shock!!! if only the van plan could go on forever............