Te Ra Tuatahi - The First Day!
So today was Motorhome pick up day. WOW, talk about quiet excitement knowing that we were going to be driving our home for the first time today! After Tom the salesman showing us all the how to’s, with keys in hand we set off on our journey.
As soon as we started I knew this is what I'd always wanted to do as a kid, to be a truck driver! The Motorhome is constructed on a Renault truck chassis with all the knick knacks required to construct a NZ born and bred waka suitable for our environment. The first thing I noticed about being in charge of a relatively munty beast was the braking distance. I nearly got caught out a couple of times as it took quite a bit of braking power to bring it to a halt before careening into the rear end of the stationary cars in front. With good acceleration and a six speed automatic gearbox it floats like a dream boat on a windless day out on the moana. WOW! I am really driving our brand spanking new RV. This is just gonna be such fun.
First stop, Ōtāhūhū to see Titta, my oldest sister. Ok, this was a bad move, school was just out in South Auckland. Can you imagine navigating this 7 meter waka through skinny double lane roads, the size of single lanes when thousands of tamariki of all ages are venturing out to their cars, buses, or walking? This was mayhem, I nearly turned around to get us back on the motorway, it was that stressful. However, we eventually made it safely! Great cuppa, great catchup, great sandwiches and back on the road.
The open road was just superb driving. Sitting high and mighty we were able to steer our way to our first destination which was… that way. Yup, no destination. Arriving at Thames just on sun set, we decided to get some KFC (first time in how many years??) and head to Te Puru camping ground for the night. Another first here. The very first camping ground we’ve stayed at and many more to come!
Early lesson about our waka is getting it to move. Once you turn it off there's a process to get moving. Jo was stranded pushing this, pushing that, a whole 10 minutes. I waited on the site as I didn’t know what to do myself. She eventually got it going! So when we left the next morning it was my turn.You guessed it, the same thing. Oh well we both laughed at ourselves.
We realised we’re both very green when it comes to motorhomes, so are taking in everything as a new learning experience. Shit what a laugh though. We are literally like two kids with a new toy. Andl the first night was just the best, comfy bed, we relaxed into our first real night out on the road as Traveling Artists Aotearoa, something we only dreamed of doing eight months prior.
