New Zealand – North Island

I arrived in New Zealand at 7am feeling pretty good. I’d left on Wednesday and 13 hours later I arrived on Friday, time zones are amazing when you cross the international date line! I wasn’t feeling too jet lagged either due to the similar time (just different days) between New Zealand and America. I made my way through customs, collected my bag, went through further checks and eventually made it onto a bus to take me to Auckland. I arrived at my hostel at 9am, dropped my luggage off and went exploring, although I learnt very quickly that there isn’t much to see in Auckland. I spent a lot of time in the tourist information centre, finding all the information I could about camp sites and finding as many free road maps as possible. It had also been surprisingly hard for me to find any free Internet so I spent some time in the library before I could check in to the Nomad Hostel. Eventually I checked in, had a shower and went back out for another walk, this time to Auckland Domain (a large park in the city) and Albert Park. I walked miles and eventually began to tire so went back for a quick nap. The evening wasn’t any more exciting than that, other than the 20 minute break I had from napping to get some dinner.

I got a great nights sleep and got ready to check out when I got a phone call from Vicky in Australia having visa and flight details. Huge stress, a few phone calls and an email later she was checked in and on her way to New Zealand! The weather was stunning so I made my way to the Marina area to chill out and read for a bit. Before long I could really feel the power of the heat so began walking around and checking out the sites, before grabbing some lunch, getting my luggage from the hostel and checking in to the hotel we’d booked. I went to meet Vicky at the airport, such a great feeling, and made our way back to Auckland. We dropped her luggage off and went for some food and a little stroll in the evening. It was so nice to see her again and catch up on each others trips.

We checked out the following morning and went for breakfast in a nice little cafe we found. After eating we headed up the Sky Tower, the tallest tower in the southern hemisphere and Vicky managed to stand on the glass floor at 192 meters high (after a bit of encouragement, but she still did it!). We headed to collect the camper van after this, we were so excited on the way and I actually made a comment of “wouldn’t it be bad if when we got there they didn’t know about the booking”… Whoops! So we arrived, saw there were no vans and said we had a booking in the name of Morgan and she said she didn’t know about it! After getting out my booking confirmation I realised our booking was for the next day – what a mistake to make! The lady at the desk was great though and said to come back in a few hours and she’d see if there was a van for us. We got back there at 3pm and luckily there was a van waiting for us! Unluckily though, the wanted to charge a LOT for the extra days booking, but she worked her magic and managed to get it for a nice normal day rate. Eventually, one day earlier than booked, we were on the road in our tasty Backpacker Toyota Hi-Ace Campervan.

I really wasn’t loving the combination of heavy city traffic, being back on the proper side of the road and being in a van that’s 3 meters high, but we limped our way to the supermarket for a quick basics shop. Then it was onto State Highway 1 to Northland for the night. We didn’t have anywhere booked to stay, but a few hours after setting off we found the Department of Conservation campsite we was looking for and settled down for the first night in the van. The camp site was beautiful and we were right behind the dunes of Uretiti Beach.

The following day we headed further north with our final destination for the day being the Bay of Islands. First though we stopped in Whangerei where there was quite a few things we wanted to see. The Whangerei Native Bird Recovery Centre was somewhere Vicky was interested in, and although there wasn’t much to see there we did see some rescued Tui’s that talked to us! Next stop was the A.H Reed Memorial Kauri Park, home to 500 year old Kauri trees, a beautiful waterfall and a really cool walk through the forest along a boardwalk above the forest floor. We had heard and read about Abbey Caves so headed over to see what all the talk was about. After walking down through some incredible meadows (they look like something straight out of Lord of the Rings) we reached the caves and met a few people there who said that it was too dark down there to see anything and quite wet. Taking the advice we walked back up to the van, got our swimsuits on and grabbed a head torch. The cave was pitch black and at times we were wading through water almost upto our waste. The best thing about it though was the millions of glow worms to be seem along the walls and cave roof. We turned the torch off quite regularly to just appreciate the glow worms and how the cave looked like a nights sky. After around half an hour we were back out the cave and heading off to have some lunch. Final stop in Whangerai were the Whangerei Falls, the most photographed and known falls in New Zealand. We found some rocks at the bottom of the falls and sat in the sun there for a while before moving on. The best thing about all these awesome sights was that they were all free! We drove north to Paihia at the Bay of Islands and found a campsite when we got there to stay at for the night.

We planned on taking an awesome sailing trip out into the Bay of Islands, where we would be on a catamaran for 6 hours visiting some of the islands, having a BBQ and swimming with wild dolphins for an incredibly low price, but the weather wasn’t favourable and it was cancelled! We were pretty gutted (although it did mean no chance of me getting seasick!) but we still wanted to see something there as we had travelled there especially, so we jumped on a ferry over to Russell. This town was tiny but was a nice day trip. We walked up to Flagstaff Hill for a sweeping view of the bay through a nature reserve and spent the afternoon eating fish and chips and ice cream whilst avoiding the rain. With our trip to the Bay of Islands being a bit of a fail we travelled back south towards Auckland. We found a camp site at Red Beech, Orewa, walked along the beech and settled down for the evening.

The plan for this bit of the journey was always to stop in Maramata, home of Hobbiton – the LOTR and Hobbit set. Before we started our journey we found out that the tours were extortionate and that much of the set had been removed after filming, so we decided to give it a miss and spend our money on something we’d prefer to do! Instead we had a long drive from Orewa to Rotorua so we stopped on the way in Hamilton to grab some supplies and check out the city. Hamilton was not a campervan friendly city, with all the parking being multi story car parks limited to 2m high vehicles. After driving around for a while we found some free parking for 2 hours though on a side street. Whilst there we visited the museum to learn a bit about Maori history and the creation of Hamilton due to colonialism. We didn’t hang around for long as there really wasn’t much to see and Rotorua was waiting. After another hours driving or so we arrived in Rotorua to the smell of sulphur (more on that later!), and headed up into the hills to Lake Okareka where there was a small DOC campsite on the lakeside. Whilst here we made some friends with two guys from Israel, sat out by the lake side as the sun went down and retired for the night.

Whilst talking the night before we had agreed to climb a mountain just outside of Rotorua, but when we woke up the weather was grey and wet so me and Vicky decided to head into Rotorua instead. We stopped at the I-site (these things have been absolutely amazing for help and information) and booked a Maori experience for that evening, whilst also found out about what to do in the day. We were recommended to go to the Whakarewarewa Forest just outside of Rotorua and take the 2 hour hike along the yellow path, so that’s what we did! The walk took us through a redwood forest and up into the hills overlooking Rotorua as well as some areas of high geothermal action. We then made our way to Mitai Maori Village for the Hangi meal and Maori Concert/Show. Even though it was very touristy and put on it was still a really good evening learning about Maori culture and how a tribe would live, as well as eating a wonderful meal that had been cooked in the traditional manner in the ground. The show finished once it was dark so we planned to freedom camp tonight, but as it had rained all evening the spot we had found earlier in the day wouldn’t be suitable as it would be too wet to park on. Instead we headed back to Lake Okareka, and although it was full, we parked in the car park for the night along with another van.

We left the campsite early the next morning and went to a picnic area by the lake further round for breakfast. Then it was into Rotorua again to stop at the I-Site for a shower (they clearly understand what travellers want and need!). We headed around Lake Rotorua to Hells Gate to see an area of geothermal action and hot springs. The place was really cool and as it was raining the pools of boiling acidic water were giving off some serious amounts of steam. We left Rotorua and began driving towards Taupo, stopping along the way for something to eat in the van by another lovely lake (there’s a pattern emerging here…). When we arrived in Taupo we headed straight for the I-Site for some local information. An American had told us about a campsite that was free so we grabbed a map to find it. Whilst at the I-Site we bumped into our Israeli friend Nadav and also told him about this free camping spot. After grabbing some groceries we made our way to Reeds Farm and got a good spot for the night. Nadav and Mike met us later on and we spent the evening teaching Vicky how to play poker in the van!

The campsite was only a few minutes from Huka Falls so we made our way there first thing in the morning. The river is pretty large but at this point narrows between 2 areas of hard rock and the flow rate picks up. It flows through some amazing rapids before entering a 9 metre fall. Even though it isn’t very high, the amount of water that flows over the falls makes it special and we found ourselves just staring at it for ages. We all planned on walking the Tongariro Alpine Crossing so we had to go to the I-Site to find out the weather conditions that were forecast for the next day. We were disappointed to find out that again it was closed due to poor weather but that it might be open in a few days time – too late for us as we really need to head south. We were also told that the ferries were getting booked so we had to plan and pick a day to book it. With all these plans falling through and some of the things we wanted to do most now not being possible we were feeling pretty down, so we decided to make the most of the rain and book an activity in keeping with being wet – Rafting! So that was the following day sorted, but we still wanted to do something in the evening so me and Vicky went to a wonderful hot mineral water springs and relaxed in 38 degree water for a few hours before heading back to the campsite and meeting up with Mike and Nadav to have another night of playing cards.

The weather forecast for the following morning was supposed to be wet and miserable but we actually woke up to relative sunshine (compared to what we had been getting!). We said goodbye to Nadav and Mike and headed for the honey hut, a small place with home made honey tasters and bee attractions. It passed an hour or so and gave us good protection from the sudden change in weather from nice to nasty. From there we drove a little up river to check out one of the many hydropower stations along the rivers feeding into or from Lake Taupo. If we had got there 15 minutes earlier we would have seen the Aratiatia rapids which are created by a water release, but it wasn’t meant to be. We headed for Turangi where we would meet up with Rafting New Zealand for our Tongariro Riiver experience, grabbed a few groceries and had some lunch. When we got to Rafting New Zealand’s base we got kitted up, met the guides and got on the road towards the Tongariro river. We were to be paddling a grade 3 part of the river with the potential for some grade 4 depending on flow, and we were lucky enough to get both the best seats in the raft and the best guide. Me and Vicky were both in the front 2 seats with 4 other rafters and our guide, Matt. Initially on the river we went through all the strokes and commands that our guide would call out to us during the trip, before very quickly hitting up our first rapid of many. Around half way through the trip (a good hour in) we stopped for a unique, secret waterfall jump. After wading up a small stream we came to a waterfall that was around 15 feet high, climbed a rope to be at the top of it and jumped in! It was such a cool experience, even if the river water was pretty cold. We float back down to the rafts and got going along, but not for long as we stopped just round the corner in calm water for some hot chocolate and chocolate treats whilst in the rafts. The big rapids were still to come, and come at us they did (or I guess we came at them, but either way they were big!). Eventually, 14km after starting the rafting experience we finished without either of us taking a swim along the way. We both absolutely loved it and it was great to go back to the base, grab a bear and a hot dog and talk a bit more with some of the river guides. Then it was on the road as we had to find a holiday park for the night to recharge our battery, phones, iPods and everything else electrical we had that had completely died over the past 5 days. A few hours down the road we came to Turangi and stopped at a small campsite for the night.

We had a long drive to start early in the day to make it before closing to a wildlife conservation centre, but after a serious accident on the highway closed it until noon we were behind schedule and wouldn’t make it in time. Part way down the highway it closed again due to the weather conditions and we found ourselves behind schedule even more than we originally thought. Eventually, in the heaviest rain we’ve ever experienced, we got to Masterton for some information and headed out to a DOC campsite in a forest near by for the evening. Once we were there we just spent some time to relax and slow down and watched a movie in the van.

The next morning we made it to the wildlife centre and saw some seriously amazing birds and wildlife. In the nocturnal house we saw 3 kiwis (one of which was white) and around the park we saw fantails, riflemans (the smallest bird in NZ, a kaka and whiteheads. There was also a nice 2 hour walk up to some great viewpoints around the valleys and over the forest. The centre passed a few hours by and after some lunch in the van we hit the road for the south. We was going to stay in one site near Wellington but whilst on route we changed our mind and went to a small city 15km north of Wellington (we can’t remember the name, it was that amazing!).

The ferry was booked for 2pm and we had to be there at 1pm, so we drove into Wellington early to see some of the sites before moving on. We had a little walk around the civic area and some of the man streets through the city centre before going to the Te Papa National Museum. You could spend hours in this museum and still not see it all, so after 2 hours we had seen a few bits but by no means all of it! We grabbed some lunch and headed to the Interislander to take us to Picton on the south island.

Let’s hope the south island is as good to us as the north has been! From what everyone’s been telling us, it should be so much more!

Much Love,
Matt and Vicky