Well over Easter we went for this road trip that was organised by Ching to Hahei. It was actually decided on the day that we had a potluck dinner at her place. So we had 4 couples who went, me and Cass, Ching and Marcus, Dave and Yu Hwee, and Kelvin and Sarah.
We woke up early in the morning and met at Ching's place around 8am because we were all going to the closeby Maccas to meet up with Shun before he left for Japan. Although the meeting did not last for too long, but we did have a nice chat with him and said our farewells before he had to go home to pick up his mom and then leave for the airport.
And there you have it, all of us gathered there to take a photo with Shun except for me since I was the one taking the photo. Well, one day I'll photoshop my head in this picture somehow but until then, this photo looks pretty good =D
So after Shun left, we went to the nearby foodtown and Asian bakery to do some last minute shopping for items like water, snacks and bread. After that, our journey to Hahei began.
Along the way, we were told by Marcus and Ching that there was this infamous one way bridge that seems to cause alot of traffic jams since it's a one way bridge. Here's a picture of us crossing it, a good thing that on that day there weren't alot of cars on it so we didn't experience the traffic jam,
Now in order to get into Hahei, there are 2 places that have quite windy roads, and before each of these places are small towns. When I thought of going out of Auckland, I always imagined that things would be a little cheaper since it's a small town as is evident in places like Malaysia. Unfortunately, this didn't seem to be the case, The next photo was taken at the town before the first windy road, can't really remember what the name of the town is.
On the day that we left, the price for the Synergy 1000 was still 1.779 in Auckland and in this town the price is already hiked up. In Tairua, the next town, Kelvin had to replenish his petrol so we had a little stop there while we had some lunch at a cafe, the price of Kelvin's petrol was 1.899 per liter, I was so shocked that I've decided to pump my tank full of petrol before my road trip next month.
You could say that the weather was marvellous that day but the sun was really unforgiving. Just sitting down and having my arms exposed to the sun while having lunch was enough for all of us to start putting sunscreen lotion on our bodies, and we haven't even arrived at the beach yet! This was what Cassie and I shared at the cafe since we weren't all that hungry. It was fried calamari and Cassie absolutely loves calamari. It cost about $17 just for this dish. Initially we were wondering why there was chocolate syrup in this dish, but it turned out to be vinagrette, or at least something that tasted like it.
It was another 30 minutes to an hour before we finally arrived at the Hahei campsite that Ching and Marcus always went to whenever they did a road trip there. On the day that we decided to make this road trip, Marcus gave them a call to see if we could reserve a spot for us, they told us that it was on a first come first serve basis. So we naturally thought that they would definately have places for us. This is what we saw upon arrival.
Another sign that I did not take was a sign at the entrance that stated "ABSOLUTELY NO VACANCIES". Since this was our first time here, Cassie and I did not know what to expect, we didn't know if there were other places that we could stay or did we have to head back to Auckland that night. Anyway, Marcus got out of the car to chat with the lady to see if there were any places that could take us in. Apparently the campsite did have some vacant lots only that it wasn't big enough to accomodate all of us, so instead, we had to go to another campsite at another beach, so we drove for another 5 to 10 minutes and reached Cooks beach, There we saw a campsite and also alot of vacant lots, so we got out of the car and paid for the lots. The cost was $20 for each person.
So here is the place that we eventually set our tents up in. Below you will the the different tents that we brought along. Ching and Marcus owned their tent so the rest were borrowed with the exception of mine. Mum bought mine at a garage sale.
We took up two lots and the tree was meant to be the tents focus point, kind of like a gathering place for all of us. Since we had an abundance of tents, the guys decided to take one each instead of sharing, typical for us guys.. always wanting our own spot... hahah.
This tent belonged to Ching and Marcus.
This tent was borrowed, I think from Shun or one of Dave's and Kelvin's mutual friends... But I still think it might have been from Shun. Dave stayed here.
Once again, another borrowed tent with Kelvin residing inside.
This tent was borrowed from Chris and Andrew, friends from church that Cassie used to flat with. This was a HUGE tent, it could probably sleep 4 or 5 people EASILY, and I have to dry it out on my deck... the covering sheet alone has taken up my whole deck so I'm just leaving the rest of the tent until later before I sun it out.
Now from everything that you have seen, the tents that all of us brought were very much modern looking ones with modern designs. Mine on the other hand believes in the old school camping. If you want to camp, you had better do it old school style.
Mine was the easiest to put up and also the easiest to be taken down... the only problem was that condensation gets in very easily and it becomes very cold... All in all, this reminded me of the old days when my brother and I would tie blankets in our room and make it our very own "tent".
I think I will leave it here for the moment as I have much to do around the house. Will continue to blog about the rest of our trip later, especially about the beaches that we went to on our trip.
