The open road in a campervan

Winter in Queensland in Australia is like a good summer in Ireland but arriving in Auckland felt exactly like being at home that is to say, cold, windy and wet. New Zealand was in the grip of an icy spell of weather and elsewhere in the country lots of snow was being dumped on the mountains. We went straight to the nearest outdoor clothing store and bought some very warm jackets. Next we picked up our campervan which turned out to be a lot larger than either or Alice or I had dreamed it would be and following a detailed briefing we headed out on the open road. Another dream made reality.

We headed for the Coromandel peninsula south of Auckland on a day which was grey and not very promising. After a night spent in a lay by beside the ocean we awoke to a clear blue sky and bright winter sunshine. As we drove on we couldn't help but notice the similarity to the West Cork coastline and countryside - having remarked on it a number of times, Alice burst into the Irish rugby anthem (the chorus of which involves singing "Ireland, Ireland...") something of a theme for the rest of our journey. The Coromandel peninsula is wild and rugged and we felt right at home taking turns to say which bits of West Cork and Kerry a particular bit of the coastline reminded us of. South of Whitianga we had a good hike to Cathedral cove which took us along a coastal path a few kilometres to a secluded beach with some beautiful weathered rock formations and a very large sea arch linking two beaches. Despite the very cold sea temperatures there were some hardy souls snorkelling just offshore in what is a marine national park. This is also something of a recurring theme in this country - many areas are designated national parks thus preserving the great wealth of natural beauty and wildlife here.

From the coast we headed inland to the Rotorua area a vast area of geothermal activity with many geysers, hot springs, mud pools and multicoloured natural lakes. We went to a Maori village at the edge of the town of Rotorua where we saw some traditional dancing and singing and then took a guided tour from a resident of the village who explained how the Maori took advantage of the natural hot springs all around them for bathing and cooking. New Zealand exists on the edge of the Pacific tectonic plate which is pushing against the Australian plate and as well as being earthquake prone the thinness of the earth's crust causes this geothermal activity as well as being the source of the many volcanos on both the north and south islands.

Next day we headed further south to go skiing at Mount Ruapehu in the Tongariro national park which, yes you have guessed it, is a volcano. This volcano last woke from its sleep in 1996 and 1997 during a skiiing season and spewed rocks and lava down the snow covered slopes. Luckily we only discovered that after our day's skiing... The skiing was primarily a chance to catch up with a friend of mine, Alex Ball who I knew through his uncle when I lived in London in the 90's. It was great to see him again after quite a few years and we listened enviously to his stories of his fantastic lifestyle as an outdoor education teacher in a high school in a town called Cambridge about an hour south of Auckland. Again we had a day of perfect weather with not a hint of wind and clear blue sunny skies. If anything it was too hot on the slopes - it's very hard work snow ploughing your way down the learner slopes you know!

After the exertion of skiing we headed to the Hawkes Bay wine region and had a great winery tour at the Church Road winery in Napier. We also managed to fit in a very nice lunch there and a tasting of several of their lovely wines. Napier's claim to fame is as a town of Art Deco buildings built after the town was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale in 1931. It seems the town's architect was inspired by the Art Deco movement current at that time inspiring architects in Paris, New York and Los Angeles amongst other cities worldwide and decided to design as many of the new town buildings in this style as he could. Out of town architects from Wellington and Auckland copied the idea when they were called on to design some private business buildings and the result is a town with a wealth of this architecture and a burgeoning tourism industry as a result some eighty years later!

We headed south towards Wellington and arrived on a glorious sunny day perfect for walking around the city centre and taking in the beautiful scenery by the bay. This time we were visiting another friend of mine Shane, who lives there with his fiancee Amanda in the beautiful suburb of Whitby. We enjoyed the all too brief stay with them not least being able to sleep for a night in a bed in a heated house! Although we love the campervan and ours is spacious, you do appreciate four walls and heating. Shane guided us to the docks the next morning and we boarded a ferry for the south island in anticipation of further adventures and even more stunning scenery.

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