We started our day by packing up our belongings from the storage compartments in the campervan into our bags and disassembled the bed, which we hadn’t done for the whole trip.
We left Keeley Reserve at 10:45 am with our only two goals to be at the Airbnb in Auckland at shortly after 1 pm and at latest be at the Apollo return location at 2:30 pm.
We drove for one hour, at which point we stopped to eat. Our lunch was only about 30 minutes, but it was long enough for our schedule to start going off plan. Our next stop was one hour later at a dump station to clear out the toilet waste cassette and to empty the grey water. We left the dump station at 1:30 pm and drove towards the Airbnb to drop off our belongings.
We arrived there at 1:50 pm and were greeted by our host Latimer and his cheerful dog Digger. After walking a few turns between the van and the house we had finally managed to get everything inside. When we drove off to Apollo, it was already 2:10 pm.
We had to be at Apollo at 2:30 pm. To top things off the traffic was dense and in turn driving there became a bit stressful. Because of the short time span, we skipped topping up on diesel as we thought it was more important to arrive there on time. Fortunately, when we arrived at Apollo, they commented that there was a diesel station right next to their lot. So, we filled up and returned our dear travel companion to Apollo without any remarks on its condition.
In total, we had driven 1478 kilometres and used up diesel worth NZ$165. Since we had the campervan for a relocation, we had a fuel allowance for NZ$250. So, we could have driven a bit more, but most importantly we got money back for the amount we spent on diesel.
We ordered an Uber, left Apollo and went back to our accommodation in Auckland. Our Uber driver was a guy about our age studying chemical engineering, although he seemed to be more interested in programming and computer science outside of school. We got back to the house at 3:20 pm; it was a very charming and big house located between the city centre and the airport.
We got settled in and talked a bit more to Latimer; he suggested that we could go to Mount Eden if we wanted to go for a hike and he also suggested a few different places we could go to for dinner. We also took some time to pet and play with Digger, who made us feel very welcome. He was really energetic, but he was limping a bit because of a previous injury, Latimer told us.
So, we set out for Mount Eden. On our way there, we took a shortcut across one of the campuses of The University of Auckland. The architecture was of a style different from the universities both in Linköping and Newcastle.
Mount Eden deserved its name, and it took some time to climb it, but the path (or rather road) leading up it was in good condition. On our way up, we found a swing mounted on a tree. Linnea couldn’t help it but had to try it out.
When we arrived at the summit and saw the crater, we realised that it was not just an ordinary mountain, but a dormant volcano. This turned out to be the case of most mountains in Auckland, but as long as they are dormant it does not matter that much.
The view from Mount Eden was really amazing. We could both see the accommodation, as well as the city centre. There were quite a few people at the summit, some of them seemed to use Mount Eden as their running track, which is a feat to admire.
From Mount Eden, we headed down towards a nearby road packed with restaurants. On our way there we checked out a few of the ones that Latimer had suggested, and we decided on going to Circus Circus, which was a circus-themed restaurant.
We ordered a Chicken Caesar Burger each and a bottle of cider to share. The meal was really good, and we were really content with our choice of restaurant.
We headed back to the house and spent the evening relaxing without the fear of the room getting cold (like in the campervan).
/ G&L
