Here we sit on our last night in a campground until we reach Tasmania, where we will have another camping experience. We have certainly been more comfortable than Caitlin and Paul were when they had 3 weeks in a mini minivan...this van is pretty much on par with a Westfalia, although the bed is a little wider and we have headroom without lifting a lid. That being said, our van is smaller than the majority of rental vehicles, and probably a bit older as well. It served us well for the most part with some minor deficiencies. The dishes and and cutlery supplied were minimal, and once we did get propane, we found the stove to be significantly under powered...taking 20 minutes to boil water, for instance. Fortunately for us, all of the campgrounds we stayed in had communal kitchens...that seems to be pretty standard in this country. So we did most is our cooking there, with the added benefit of meeting others; campers, travellers, families, locals and visitors. As I write this, there are two young couples exchanging their travel stories at the barbecue hut.
Camping in New Zealand is different from home, and as we noted earlier, more like European camping. We never did get into a government (DOC) campground. But from the information supplied in the camping atlas supplied with our van, they don't appear to be much different. All have kitchens, showers, and most have cabins or motel type rooms on site as well. In two of the earlier campgrounds we visited, there also appeared to be an area where people living in poverty have found a place...decrepit trailers permanently established at the back of the property (a saddening sight to be sure, and something I'd like to learn more about). It's not the "back to nature" atmosphere I'm used to, that's for sure.
Camping in New Zealand is different from home, and as we noted earlier, more like European camping. We never did get into a government (DOC) campground. But from the information supplied in the camping atlas supplied with our van, they don't appear to be much different. All have kitchens, showers, and most have cabins or motel type rooms on site as well. In two of the earlier campgrounds we visited, there also appeared to be an area where people living in poverty have found a place...decrepit trailers permanently established at the back of the property (a saddening sight to be sure, and something I'd like to learn more about). It's not the "back to nature" atmosphere I'm used to, that's for sure.
We have also noticed that there is a much higher volume of people travelling this way than we see at home. While we do have lots of visitors from Europe renting campers and rv's, I would say that the volume of tourists travelling this way here is at least ten fold...this based on my observations of the vehicles on the road....there doesn't appear to be much local traffic at all!
This section of the trip has added a different element to our experience, one we have enjoyed, but we are looking forward to being back in a hotel room tomorrow night...our great biking adventure awaits!
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