Reunited!

By Jen.

I don’t know about you, but I really enjoy sleeping in my own bed and being at my own home. The van has truly become our home. And, the process of shipping feels like forever, especially when you aren’t sure when it will be released back to you. As Jonathan mentioned in a previous post, we got to see the van pretty quickly, but it sat around waiting for inspections. First, our shipping agent wasn’t aware she needed to schedule the inspections (normally they happen automatically), but since we had shipped personal effects in the van and submitted the MPI request ourselves, we weren’t sure if it would happen automatically or not. So while we were walking around MOTAT, I was emailing back and forth with our agent to make sure it got scheduled. Then, Friday afternoon, we received an MPI BACC saying the van itself had passed inspection, but they couldn’t get under the bed and to schedule that with Intergroup. My shipping agent got right on that this time, so we hoped the van would be ready for pickup Monday (they don’t work over the weekends).

While we were waiting, we visited One Tree Hill, an extinct volcanic crater that had remnants of the Māori fortifications on it. Apparently it is also a working sheep farm.

The thing I was most excited about was being able to play Ultimate Frisbee for the first time in about 4-5 years, I think. Probably 2nd time in at least 10 years. I was definitely not in shape for that much running, but at least I wasn’t as terrible playing as I thought would be.

Monday came and went and not a single word. So, Tuesday, becoming impatient, I started emailing everyone I could find to figure out what the status was. One of the contacts was an MPI agent, and she said that when she had inspected it, she didn’t have the code for getting under the bed (etc., reiterating what had been said in the BACC). I ended up telling her the code, and she ended up calling the crew who was supposed to inspect it to make sure they knew. Sure enough, one hour later, we were informed that we had cleared the inspections! Finally! If we hadn’t shipped anything in the van, or if the codes for the locks had been properly communicated, then we would have been able to pick up the van on Friday (assuming our payments had cleared by then, which they hadn’t).

As it was, the van was ready to pick up from the wharf on Tuesday, but the issue was the transporters (to get the van from the wharf to the entry certifier) need at least a half-day warning to do the tow. We didn’t get clearance until after 1 pm, but I had been working with the transport agency, keeping them informed. So, they kindly picked up the vehicle by the of Tuesday from the wharf so that it wouldn’t be charged storage fees. Then, delivered it to the certifier on Wednesday (13-Dec). So Jonathan and I rode public transportation for 1.5 hours to go meet the van and get it certified.

The van at the certifiers. It had lots of stickers and flags on it from the shipping process (flags removed).

The certification went decently well. We found out that we didn’t have to pay Road User Charges (RUC), which was a decent chunk of the budget (you pay $68 per 1000 km, and we were estimating 15000 km here). Since the van had been dropped off before we arrived, we had a hard time finding the key. No one knew where it was. Plus, all of our stuff had been removed from storage for inspection and strewn throughout the vehicle. So, while Jonathan put things out of view and preventing projectile danger for driving, I went asking around again for keys. Shortly, they brought it out and we were free to go! Yay!

After collecting our stuff and storing it in its proper places, we fueled up and then went to find a reasonably-priced campground near Auckland, as we still had to figure out the self-containment certification (SCC) for the van. You can’t really camp very many places in NZ without having an a SCC. On our way to do some errands, including finding a portable toilet for this certification, we got a call from some folks from the US that have been coming here for the past 12+ years. They were offering a place to store our extra junk that we didn’t need in NZ (like our shipping wheels) and they were only available at certain times, so we decided to head down there right away and meet them. It was good thing we did, as they helped us get everything we lacked for SCC and answered many questions we had (and those we didn’t even know we had) about traveling NZ.

Sunset at the self-proclaimed kiwifruit capital of the world.

The kiwifruit are protected (from winds, I presume) by these massive hedges. They surround each plot.

The kiwis are grown in lines like grapes, but instead of going in 1 direction, they have the branches stretch to the line next to it and create a “ceiling” of plant.

Checking out the thermal foot pool at Rotorua with our new friends.

Monday, we passed our SCC inspection and said goodbye to our friends. Sadly, we weren’t given the certificate or stickers yet. We asked them to be held at the office, so we could pick them up when we had to go to Auckland again to pick up Jonathan’s shoes. Armed with advice from our new friends and SCC-clearance, now all we needed to do was pick up a few more things and we would be free to travel as our whims dictated.