After six months we are leaving the North Island to continue our travels in the south. It seems appropriate to sing ‘Auld Lang Syne’ as it is a song which people sing at the end of the year, reflecting on the past twelve months. We are only reflecting on the last six months but have received the ‘cup o’ kindness’ from many people.
The North Island itself has rewarded us also with fine weather (mostly) wherever we went. Even if it was a bit rough at times there was always a sunny day not too far away. I purchased some thermals while having a quick visit to Dunedin but have not had the need to clothe my body in them while up here in the north.
Our caravan has weathered the North Island well, as well. Its recent service in Upper Hutt showed the only note of concern was that some of the blinds don’t do their thing anymore. This we already knew, as we had caused the damage when pulling them up or down. In these six months, speeding up highways and twisting on more primitive paths, there have been only a few caravan moments. Once the front wheel fell onto the road, and a couple of times people turned their heads on hearing our high pitched squeaky brakes. The water pump hasn’t worked. Kind and knowledgeable people have met us at every turn, fixing things and charging reasonable rates.
Listening to the news on the TV and radio when living in the South Island can, if you are not careful, affect your perspective about life in the North Island. Ideas can get a bit skewed and you might think that the pace of life and the traffic would make it terrible to live in Auckland or that Wellington is too windy and cold and for some reason Hamilton ‘The Tron’ is not worth a visit. First hand experience in all these areas have dispelled any such thoughts from us.
Just hoping, as we are sailing to Picton tomorrow, that the negative perspective we have (due to various media reports) of the ferries is also a bit skewed