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Fred had accrued many United miles and he proposed we take a trip to Australia and New Zealand. It seemed like any time I had talked to someone about a similar trip, they spoke of how much they loved New Zealand and really didn\u2019t spend enough time there. So, New Zealand it was! Because we were flying on miles, we had to route ourselves to connect in Sydney and arrive in Auckland. So I planned our two weeks adventure on the North Island. Fred had also previously rock-climbed in Australia and he and his climbing buddy rented a campervan, which sounded like fun. So we now had a basic plan.<\/p>\n
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I did a little bit of research on New Zealand guidebooks and one was recently published and sounded very much like it focused on the campervan accessible and non-touristy places of North Island. It was Scott Cook\u2019s first New Zealand-based book, NZ Frenzy. More research led us to reserve a campervan with New Zealand Frontiers, a campervan outfit with high praise, located in Auckland. I also started skimming the TripAdvisor forums.<\/p>\n
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And so our adventure began.<\/p>\n
![\"2011](\"http:\/\/www.fmsphotos.com\/Travel\/NZ2011\/i-XCtqHJ3\/0\/M\/2011%20New%20Zealand%20Trip-M.jpg\" "\\"2011")
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I can\u2019t really remember all that much about our flight out. Maybe that\u2019s good, and due to everything going well. We were booked in business class on United from SFO to Sydney. The flight left late at night and the seats folded flat. I slept well, which I can\u2019t say enough about. I suppose the transfer in Sydney was uneventful, because at this late date, I don\u2019t remember much about it. The bio-security there was pretty strict and you couldn\u2019t bring foods from the plane through the airport. Then we transferred to Air New Zealand for our flight to Auckland.<\/p>\n
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We took the shuttle to the Grand Chancellor, a hotel that Kenrick at New Zealand Frontiers, had recommended. We walked around the area near the hotel, geocaching, and then went back to the hotel\u2019s dining room for dinner. We really only had appetite enough for a couple of appetizers and then headed to bed.<\/p>\n
![\"Pohutukawa](\"http:\/\/www.fmsphotos.com\/Travel\/NZ2011\/i-433H8SC\/0\/M\/Pohutukawa%20Tree-M.jpg\" "\\"Pohutukawa")
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