It took me some time to remember where exactly I stored my International Driver license. My moment of stress from 5 days ago completely blocked out the memory of where I safely stored it. After a thorough search through all my luggage (did I mention already that I brought too much stuff?), I finally can present both driver licenses. Goddammit, what a struggle this has been! Once again, shout-out to the peoples involved in getting me on the road!

I swiftly jump into the car after going through all the paperwork. Basic insurance should be fine, after all I have sufficient driving experience? However, all people driving for the first time in New Zealand know this feeling. As opposed to the English cars, New Zealand cars are build to drive left but have the blinker and ‘ruitenwisser’ handles switched from the left to the right side. So automatically, when you want to turn on the blinkers you accidentally turn on the windscreen wipers. O dear, that novelty, together with driving on the left hand side AND using an automatic car for the first time seems rather daunting. I name my Toyota Corolla Compact to Sparky #4 and hit the road.

No time too loose though. I drive off directly into downtown Auckland traffic to pick up my leftover luggage at the City Lodge. My brain needs readjustments! I continually convince myself that I have to drive on the left which is the opposite side of right! Ow god, the first hour seems to go on forever. Eventually I make it to the hostel however I must have cleaned the windscreen a shitloads of time! After checking out, I set my GPS to its final destination, the national park, 450 km away from Auckland. Highway number 1 is my first challenge since it leads all the traffic out of the big city. Since I have to stay focused, I decide to not play any music at all. Ow god, total hell for mister Tinnitus but driving on the left takes some time to get used to so there is no other option.

2 hours into the drive I start to hear a rattling noise coming from the car. Luckily the first exit is only 1 km away. When leaving the highway I turn right to the nearest gas station. In all the stressfulness of the moment, I temporarily drive in the right lane. I spot the oncoming traffic in time to go back to the left lane but I sure made some New Zealanders rather angry. Damn those tourists, they don’t even know how to drive properly! After stopping at the gas station, I notice a wooden branch sticking from underneath the bottom of my car. I am rather sure I did not travel through any forest leaving Auckland so that must have been a souvenir from the previous rental owners. I hope to keep these surprises rather limited!

After this surprise I continue my travel. The S1 highway gives way to other highways. In New Zealand this means literally two lane roads that continue for 100 + kilometers, from time to time limited to 50 km/hour when directly going through a village. Yes, the amount of roads in New Zealand is rather low but most of them are scenic routes. Oh, and these are not straight roads. Curvyness all over the place! Nevertheless, these views are the reason why I came to New Zealand. Spectacular driving it is. I just need to get used to the left hand driving and start enjoying the trip. That will be not today. Spending 4 hours on my own in my car makes me feel rather alone. Too much time to think, too much thoughts to go through!

Eventually I make it to the National Plateau Lodge. This nice lodge is literally located in the middle of nowhere; with a view on the Tongario track I am going to hike tomorrow. I stock myself up with carbohydrates, and meet two lovely English chaps whom finished the track today. Their pictures of the 3 lakes in the sun look stunning. Well, hopefully we have similar success although the weather forecast doesn’t look promising. Time to go to bed, tomorrow I need to be up and ready to start my 20 km hike at 7:00 am!

Until later,

The guy and Sparky #4