New Zealand North Island

Our first day, on arrival in Auckland at 4am on 22nd November (no, no 21st for us - odd!) summed up the rest of our stay in NZ. What incredibly friendly and laid-back people! We were staying a few nights with a friend's (Murray's) sister and her family, south of the City in Drury. Don, Lynn's husband got out of bed to collect us, 2 strangers, didn't moan once, and then the family took us out on their boat in beautiful Auckland harbour for the day!

After South America, just driving down the highway to the house, it was clear that everything was going to be relatively plain-sailing for us travellers in NZ. Lots of clean streets, rolling countryside full of cows, sheep and - one significant difference with the UK, palms and fern trees. So amazing to be shown to our lovely room overlooking the same scenery in Lynn & Don's peaceful and rather idyllic "lifestyle plot" (4 acres of land, pool, large comfortable house etc). Huge cats, gorgeous dogs and bunny were a bonus - we have missed having animals around and can't wait to get a dog, or 2 when we return.

Another bonus - food here does not disappoint. After the radically different marmite for breakfast, we gorged on camembert, salad, good bread, smoked salmon and fresh OJ (not fluorescent cordial - hurrah!). That evening Don & Lynn hilariously dress up as netball coach and fireman (Don has the real thing - I am sure this is a criminal offence in the UK?), they head to a local party and we get takeaway with Geraldine and Jono - the children. All there is in Drury is a one-stop-shop with Fish & Chips and Chinese - seems odd to us that it appears on the map as a significant town, but then we were warned of this in this country of only 4 million inhabitants. Anyway, good Fish & Chips in NZ, and pleasant kids who went to bed eventually and were good company.

The next day, we are given use of a car - keys were left in the ignition outside the driveway gates - typical NZ. Thanks again Lyn and Don! We spent the day in Newmarket - cool shops and cafes and finally got our hair cut: always a revelation after so long. We curl up for some NZ TV in the evening and are not altogether disappointed that there are lots of BBC programmes. The following day we head down to central Queen Street area and meet up with Sarah and Andrew (friends of M from Coro) - should seem weird since last time I saw them was in Blackheath, but in fact seemed completely ordinary. We had good food again in a pretty arcade, then explored the centre a little. There are lots of Japanese stores here (lots of Asian people in Auckland - a noticeable chunk of the population), also US-style malls and lots of decent eateries. We have a pint in a waterfront pub alongside the sparkling brasseries down there and enjoy the homely ambiance. It feels strange being in another anglophone country where people use the same vocab and expressions - most unlike, say, the US. Loved the use of expressions which are falling into disuse in England too; there is a endearing old-fahioned way of speaking. This isn't to say the Kiwis have forgotten their Maori heritage; in the North island particularly the Maori language is used quite a lot eg. for street signs and place names & on the radio, and there is a sense of pride and acknowledgment of the Maori population and history. However, our experience of Maori culture was limited because we didn't want to do the tourist visiting a settlement thing and there weren't other accessible opportunities to experience Maori communities. Info on beliefs, histories and translations were provided at most of the conservation sites and places of interest, which was helpful and gave us an insight.

We are sad to say goodbye to such a welcoming family and comfortable abode, but excited about picking up our campervan on 25th. Lyn has to take us to the nearest train station - Papatoetoe (loving these Maori names - lots of repeated syllables) as there is no other public transport to speak of - everyone drives everywhere. This said, there is no traffic except for in the few large towns, and it's a joy driving around for the month in our little (being the operative word!) van. The van (from "Escape" - they are all hand-painted and customised), is a very colourful and cool Keith haring design - we love it and people regularly ask if they can take photos of it!We have no idea where we are heading except we want to explore the Northlands region, so we head up the Highway 1 towards Goat Island and into the great unknown. We do an enthusiastic supermarket shop on the way to stock up our cosy van with Kiwi delights: good cheese, bread, deli stuff - mmmm; Laurent was also delighted to be asked for ID for the beers we bought!!; we are excited about preparing our own food for a month.

Goat Island is a great first stop-off. As we were to discover is standard all over NZ, there were pretty areas with picnic tables, walking tracks, good maps and info from the Department of Conservation. Wildlife surrounded us as soon as we stepped down and almost trod on the enthusiastic ducks, pretty red-billed gulls, finches, myna birds (a personal favourtie but seem to be considered a bit of a pest here as very common and stand in road to catch road-kill insects), and giant oystercatchers. Normally you can walk along the shoreline and see all sorts of marine life in the clear waters of this marine reserve, but today the water wasn't clear so we walked a little and left to visit nearby Pakiri beach - a stunning expanse of white sand incontrast to Goat Island just around the corner. We end up at Balys Beach on the West Coast, in a holiday park, so we can get used to our van with a level of comfort: showers, loos, kitchen, power etc. We intend to "free camp" most of the time - you can do this almost anywhere in NZ, but the holiday camp facilities are impressive. However, the following day we drive around the corner and see that you can camp on the beach itself - would have been gorgeous. But we get many more opportunities coming our way so no worries.

Next we visit the Giant Kauri forests and see the widest Kauri - Tane Mahuta is 16m girth, and also the tallest (60m). As well as these monster trees there are giant ferns and beautiful forest. Driving up we have found the scenery true to the reputation: really incredible. The sun-filled fields are full of huge numbers of happily grazing cows and sheep, flowers & birds, pukekos (marsh hens) and there are stunning coves, forests, beaches and green rolling hills. After some local advice (Kiwis are spookily friendly!), we take the car ferry from Rawene to Rangiora over the Hokkianga harbour then continue up the highway to Mangonui: a picturesque seaside town on Doubtless Bay. We find the perfect camping spot right next to a long. sandy beach with seaviews to one side, a bird-filled woodland grove to the other, and public toilets just behind. Those of you who bemoan the loss of the Public Toilet in the UK (I'm thinking primarily of me and my mum here!) should move to NZ - they are everywhere and make free-camping a hell of a lot easier! It's just us and a German couple in our spot and we have fish & chips together for dinner, including famous oysters at the Mangonui Fish Shop. We go to bed feeling really lucky to be in this idyllic spot, despite initial difficulties in converting the van to bed room etc. in relative darkness, kicking each other, letting in loads of sandflies and banging our heads a lot.

After a lovely van/beach breakfast and a chilly swim in the sea for Loz, we bid auf wiedersehn to the Germans and headed back South to Whangaroa - a gorgeous bay with a steep climb up the rocky hill, incluing chains at the top to hoist yourself up! At the top we met 2 wealthy American boating couples and scavenged some of their cheese n wine picnic whilst they moaned about how exhausting it was travelling from Fiji in time for the LVMH race...; sadly M twisted her ankle on the descent. It's Laurent who is meant to have the extremely fragile ankle, but I ended up wearing a support bandage for much of the next week - ouch!

We intended to spent the evening and night in Matauri Bay but there was nothing much there: some resident traveller-types who scowled as we passed their trailers, and a monument to the Rainbow Warrior (disgracefully bombed by the French government in the 70s - not a reason for Laurent to stick around...), so we headed off to Kerikeri - a lively town with great riverside camping. Next day we visited the oldest house in NZ: a mission house, and the oldest stone building in NZ, then drove to Russell: springboard for the Bay of Islands, via Paihia, the buzzy and picturesque capital of the BOIs, and a short car-ferry across the Waikare Inlet. Took ages to find a camp-spot but when we did it was glorious and Laurent still talks about it as one of his favourite places on earth! On Long Beach we found a beautiful and peaceful place with the usual facilities! Russell itself was gorgeous and like a parochial English village where no-one locks their doors and the policeman stop every individual car on the highway to tell you face-to-face there is some slippery oil on the highway up ahead! We had beer in "handles" at the pub and some good dinner at Sally's restaurant.

Next day, awaking on Long Beach, Lozz took his customary swim then we went on a cruise around Bay of Islands. There are 150 islands here but the cruise was a bit mass-market and disappointing: the famous Hole in the Rock is just that, and Laurent's swimming with dolphins was a frenetic failure. However, we did see loads of petrels, gulls, terns and gannets :-) On return, we drove to larger town of Whangerei, just in time to see "Quantam of Solace", then south the Langs Beach where we found a good camp-spot again in a grassy lay-by.

Next morning we had to get up early to reach Gulf Harbour, N of Auckland in time for the ferry to Tiritiri Matanga Island. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day and we had 5 hours on the island: one of M's highlights. We took at 2 hr guided trail and saw amazing birds - saddlebacks, stitchbacks, singing tuis, illusive kokiakos, huge woodpigeons and tiny whiteheads and robins. The island was subject to massive deforestation but has recently been replanted and is now protected; it's relatively predator free so fantastic for bird-watching, and we happened across some bright green & red parakeets on our way to the beach: Hobson's Cove. Swimming alone in the cold sea with this lush, subtropical backdrop was a real delight. Back on the mainland we opt for the seafront camping park at Orewa and have beers at the surfclub and then an irish bar: god, New Zealand is SO quiet everywhere. After our beers we unwisely messed about in a kids' playground and this bizarre spinning thing gave us both what felt at the time to be cerebral hemorrhage - kids here must be very hardy!!

On the way back down the North Island we stopped again at Auckland and browsed in uber-trendy Ponsonby Road. It's true - it is quite cool, though not on London silly haircuts scale. After Laurent's necessary visit to the dentist, we head south of Auckland, to Raglan, or so we thought.....

Raglan, NZ's only surftown, apparently, transpired to be just as quiet as everywhere else, but pleasant so we decided to find a place to stop. no joy, as all was "no camping" as we headed out along an unsealed road, so looking at the map, we decided to continue until we found something. A few miles later we decided to push on. We'd been warned about long unsealed roads in NZ, but nonetheless the co-pilot thought it possible to continue to Te Mata. Ended up being 90 mins and we stopped marvelling at the great breaks and views when it got dark and we were still on an unsealed road in middle of nowhere spiralling back up North. Oops - bit scary and a long night. As for Te Mata, blink and you'd miss it, literally, so we pushed on to Kawhia. Arrive after closing at a dirty, run down and empty seafront campsite where I had my first experience with a weta - heard it slapping about when I went to the loo and was amazed to see this huge cricket like thing. We only realised it was a weta next day in Otorohanga, capital of "kiwiana", where there are various weta souvenirs etc. There are several crazy insects and birds in NZ, filling the evolutionary gaps: there are few mammals/predators. The Kiwi, which we saw in a Kiwi-house next day in Otorohanga, is no exception: nostrils at the end of its very long beak, and fur more than feather.

We're interested in the Hot Water black sand beach at Kawhia but miss low tide and it's raining so we give digging a sandpit to soak in a miss after taking a look and head to Otorohanga, a small, farming town with lots of Kiwiana tacky shops - pleasant. Not sure about the Kiwi house, where many of the birds & reptiles are in confined spaces, preferable in the wild, though this is meant to be one of the best artificial nocturnal houses.

Set off for touristy Waitomo Caves next day; NZ has such incredible geology and geothermic stuff. Whitewater raft through caves, which is cold but too gentle for Laurent's liking; nevertheless it's fun and the glow-worms all over the limestone caves are cool. Float back through the woods is peaceful. We stop at the Angora Rabbit shearing station to take a look at the giant beasts, and feel sad that they are overbred so they have to be sheared or would die of heat exhaustion :-( Then off to another tourist centre - Rotorua, for some geothermic action. On the way, we drive on empty for some time along empty roads before reaching the only petrol station in the area 1 min before closing. I think we must subconsciously like the element of risk as this keeps happening.

On arrival in Rotorua, we gasp at the eggy smell! It's quiet, like everywhere, but there are decent bars, and we find our most creative camping yet in an unbuilt housing estate, on a concrete platform which has just been laid; we have to leave pronto in the morning when the builders arrive and start giving us funny looks! Waiotapu Thermal Area, c.30km s. of Rotorua town, does not disappoint: bubbling mud pools, 10m Lady Know Geyser, then trails through park to see incredible craters, pols and caves with colours produced by mineral deposits. The heat emanating from the pools - 75 degrees c. - is incredible, and I got an acid burn from just touching a puddle. Next a local gives us an incredible tip: there is a beautiful pool just around the corner where the hot and cold streams meet and we go and luxuriate in the water temperature of our choice, with just 4 others who we chat and rave about the place with.

One of our pool companions recommends Taupo so we drive down there and find a free campsite near the Huka Falls - an impressive rush of water from Waikoto river. This campsite is incredible. Stupidly scenic with ducklings plodding by and fantails fluttering, and the optimum spot on the riverbank, where Laurent swims with an English couple we befriend over the next couple of days: Lou and Andy (!). Each time the dam up the road opens the river level rises massively, and some americans who had pitched their tent right on the bank get flooded - snigger! We walk up to the classy Wishart Winery for dinner and their pinot noir, and return to find Kiwi hoodies have settled into our campground for the night, but they seem far calmer than their UK counterparts so we chill out and go to bed. During the night, on the ever-treacherous toilet-trip, Laurent is chased and hissed at by a giant black swan, named (by us) Lucifer. Then we wander around Lake Taupo in the sunshine and around the buzzy town; we are overjoyed when we arrive to find a store selling $10CDs - since our Ipod was nicked we are getting a bit sick of our friends the Buzzcocks and Van Morrison. That night we revel in dancing by the river under the incredible stars to Paul Oakenfold: joy!

After a welcome shower in the Taupo "superloo" we drive straight down to Wellington, from where we are taking the ferry next day to the South Island. Again, we marvel at rolling hills and eerie wooden churches as well as volcanoes and notice there are lots of bible camps in NZ. After lunch on busy Foxton Beach (which bizarrely, to us, is also a road with 4WDs going across - it's the only route around here), we rave along to Smash n Grab in the car (god , we have missed music!), and set up camp in Wellington's Lyall Bay for the night - we're the only people on this beautiful rocky beach and marine reserve. Before leaving on the ferry, we visit Te Papa: The Museum of NZ and have fun at the Earthquake House simulation, "Highride" virtual trips and film in the living 1920s junk shop: so much cool settlers' memorabilia. On the afternoon ferry, we worry about how the South Island can possible live up to the North. Everyone seems to find it even more impressive, so we can't wait to see!

---

---

---