troopytracks

6th February 2013

Like most people arriving in New Zealand, we were eager to get on our way. With only around four weeks for our trip we wanted to make sure that we did not spend too long looking for a car. We set ourselves a goal of finding one and agreeing a deal within the day. First we also needed a local sim so that we could call dealers or owners about the cars and also pick up any e mails from home.

It only really made sense to buy a vehicle on such a short trip for two reasons. Firstly we had contacts who said that they would store it for us and possibly even sell it once we had finished with it, and secondly because our two boys would both be travelling through New Zealand. It would also give us an excellent excuse to come back before it is sold!!

Buying a car in a different country is a mine field as you don’t really know the values, the models and the way dealers operate. So many backpackers get less than they pay for. They often know little about cars, and for some it is the first vehicle that they have ever bought. There are lots of stories about people who spend thousands getting cars repaired a few hundred km’s after they pick up the vehicle.

Our first stop was the Backpacker car market, but it was full of very tired battered looking vehicles with 20 plus owners and 250,000 plus on the clock. We decided to try and find a private vehicle or one from a dealer that we felt comfortable with. In the end we bought a Mitsubishi Chariot, which is a stationwagon / estate car imported from Japan. This one had been imported after a few years in Japan. The mileage can be checked as the WOF (like an MOT test) is done twice  each year and the mileage recorded on a central system. You can request a print out from the dealer. Our car showed 153,000 km and had a new WOF and so was valid until July. It could turn out to be a dud, but we crossed our fingers and hoped for the best!

We can pick up the car tomorrow morning ready to head up to the far north. You can buy 3rd party insurance for a year for any driver over 22 years old  for the bargain price of $300 NZ . We will do it online when we pick up the car.

Once we are as far North as we can get we can work our way south over the next few weeks.

We also bought  a Vodafone sim for data and phone. All set!

7th February 2013

Everything went smoothly with the pickup and we headed out of Auckland with our 1996 Misubishi Chariot. It does not take long to leave the city behind and for the quiet pretty roads to start. There is so little traffic!

We made our way all the way up to Kaitaia (about 450kms from Auckland) and found a camspsite right on the beach. Lovely spot.

Strange ….. our little two man tent seems to get smaller each time we use it …. the carry mats also seem a little thinner ….

8th February 2013

Arranged to meet up with Tom in Kaitaia and go to a beach somewhere for the day before we head off. Tom is starting work at the pumpkin farm on Monday! His first job using the work permit for New Zealand.

There are so many beaches to choose from and it is unusual to find anyone on them! Nice place to be lazy!

Tomorrow we have booked to do the tour up 90 mile beach. Drive on the road either there and  then return on sand …..  or the other way around depending on the tide. Tom is taking the car for the day with some friends from the hostel.

5th February 2013

Most of the day was taken up flying. We arrived at around 5.00pm and then took the super shuttle (pre booked online) to the hostel in Mt Eden. It was called Pentlands and the suburb is nice and green and quiet and only a short bus ride or 40 min walk into the centre of Auckland.

Much nicer than staying right in the city, and you even get to see some wildlife!

Tomorrow we look for a car!

3rd February 2013

We decided to go to another weekend market (Mo Chit station on skytrain). This one is huge with over 2000 stalls. We used the water taxi to get to a point on the river where we could pick up the skytrain.

The train was busy as it seems that everyone wants to shop at the weekend … the market is used by locals and tourists alike, but mainly locals.

A few pictures from the market …

Hmmm … not sure about the style, but hard to find better value …. 30 bht is about $1.00 US. Not only that, but the sellers are saying things like … “cheap cheap mister I give you discount” !

The street food in Thailand is very good value and for 40 or 50 bht you can get a good main course or soup. We had Tom Yum soup which, with chicken, was delicious. In a small restaurant in a tourist area you will pay 120 to 140 bht.

And fruit for pudding.

We decided to take a taxi back to the Koh San Rd area as it works out only a few baht more for two people and is quicker than the boat taxi/train route.

4 th February 2013

Repacked all the baggage, checked out of the Villa Cha Cha guest house and stored the bags so that we could spend the rest of the time wandering around the streets. As it was the last day in Asia we decided to have another foot massage ….. so relaxing!!

The Thai lady who looked after Marjool was so sweet, she said ” no one marry me, I not beautiful …. “. We thought she was lovely! She is only 27 but thinks she is now too old.

We’ll miss Thailand and South East Asia. Lovely gentle people, cheap and great weather. We’ll even miss the Tuk Tuk drivers, who are always looking to whizz you around in one of these.

New Zealand tomorrow!

31 st January 2113

We had arranged for a shared taxi to pick us up from the guest house at 9.00 am to take us up to the Thai border at Choam, which is a small but international border post. Before we left the hotel we decided to check out the pool …. nobody mentioned it before it was time to leave!

Actually, when we saw it we  realised why ….

There were  no tanned tourists down there, just a mass of crocs!

If the guest house is on fire don’t escape out the back windows!

It worked out well with the taxi as there were only three passengers. Normally four in the back and two in the front passenger seat. At only $13 each for the 2 to 3 hour journey, a real bargain. We did stop at one point to tow one of the driver’s friends 2okm to Anlong Veng, but that did not slow us down too much, even with the improvised towing bar, cut from a nearby tree!

The border was as promised small and easy to manage.

Although we had to wait about 30 mins in case a bigger group could be found, we got a taxi to drop us right into the town where we had friends to stay with for the night. The family made us very welcome!

Our friend’s dad offered us his motorbike, so we took their son off down the road to get a cold drink and then backtracked into the farmland and the local canal, where the last water of the dry season was be netted for fish.

The locals were really friendly and offered us some fish and a shot of a local spirit …. boys only!

We then went back to the house to cook some fish, vegetables and rice.

We set up our mosquito nets over the mattress and settled down for the night.

1 st February 2013

When we got up in the morning our friends mum was already working hard, making charcoal. She used the rice stems and ash to build up a layer to starve the wood of air as it burned. The condition you need to form charcoal.

A friend’s car was picking us up to take us to the bus station for a ride to Bangkok, but first our friends son showed us a picture of his old play mate in our village.

The bus ride to Bangkok was about 7.5 hours and very comfortable. Great value at just 350 baht (about 7 uk pounds).

2 nd February 2013

After a few hours wandering around the big malls we had arranged to meet our friend for lunch. It was lovely to see her!

We miss her on the village volleyball court!