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Published: April 24th 2010
Having a first view in NZ
Looking over the ocean at Coromandel Peninsula.Yes, as you see guys our trip has been shaping a bit differently as originally imagined... After 7 months in Asia we decided to move to the next continent: Oceania, more specifically New Zealand! We only had 2 weeks here which is really not much, does not let you explore half of the country. We decided to hire a station wagon, just to combine value with practicality so our new mean of transport could also serve as a cozy bedroom!
Knowing the little time we left for ourselves, we decided to visit only the North Island. Yes, we know that all the best things to see and do are on the South Island, but believe us, we had succchhh a great time! Yes, we know, we will come back to the Kiwis in a few years, so we were pretty relaxed on this trip. Took it as a teaser-taster.
We picked up our car at Auckland airport just after arrival and headed to the capital for a good night sleep. Our flight on Emirates from KL to here was really great and entertaining, still our favorite airlines with the 400 movies plus loads of music, games, etc. By the
Near Cathedral Cove
The cove wasn't that what we thought, but its surroundings really made up for it! way, I saw Avatar on this flight. Not bad, but have to see again on big screen I suppose!
Coromandel Peninsula
So we only spent one night in Auckland (where we also picked up a travel guide... pretty useful) and next day we headed to the Coromandel Peninsula as a start. We cruised along the harbours of South Auckland first, then admired the lushness of the West side of the Peninsula. Tiny beaches, crystal clear water, beautiful vegetation. We spent the night on the shore at a small secluded beach, enjoying great BBQ food and wonderful NZ wines. The only problem was with the charcoal. Apparently you can easily mix up normal coal with charcoal in the supermarkets here, and we bought 10 kg heating coal. So the lamb had some fuelly taste... but whatever, who would buy coal per 10 kg in a supermarket?? This must be a Kiwi-thing....
Next day we headed to the famous Cathedral Cove, which is a rock formation North East on the Peninsula. It's like a huge arch over the water (at least on photos), but in reality it never gets flooded, not even in high tide. Anyways, we
Guess for who this picture was taken?
Guess this one is for insiders only... had a great walk and we also found Gemstone Bay nearby. This bay is meant for snorkeling, there are bouyons on the water with lots of information on the flora and fauna underneath. Funny enough, the locals were fully dressed up in wet suits and proper snorkelling equipment while ourselves went for the "Malaysian Style", read bikini and shorts with mask and snorkel only. Yes, the water was 10C colder here than in Borneo but it was still OK for a swim, similar to the temperature of swimming pools in Europe. So we looked around down there, saw some psychadillic kelps waving underneath which made us feel that the seabed was moving... Really special sight. We also saw some big fish and schools of small fish, but after approx 30 minutes we went for the coffee camper to warm ourselves up a bit. It worked!
Our next destination was the Hot Water Beach, where you can dig a small hole for yourself in the black sand and enjoy the hot bubbles of the fumaroles coming from underneath. The only trick is that you have to come here low tide, and apparently our timing was not that right. So we
Enjoying the sunset.
And trust us, after a while you just get bored of taking the 'standard' personal pictures. But then again, beer also helps ;-) skipped the dig-a-hole-and-sit-with-a-smile experience and headed further towards Rotorua... but first, made sure we bought proper charcoal!
Rotorua, the town with rotten egg smell hanging around
After a long drive we arrived to Rotorua after night fall. We risked a bit to be towed away but as it was pretty late and had no clue where to find a free overnight spot, we decided to head for the marina and spend the night in the parking lot. This was a good decision, especially after noticing in the morning that some other backpackers were husshed away by the patrols as camping was not allowed in the area. At this moment we realised how lucky we were with our car: no stickers, no advertisement on it, simple dark blue color, tinted back windows, nobody would think someone is sleeping inside, perfectly camouflaged...
Rotorua is next to a big lake and the town is built on "hot spot". The whole area has geothermal activity, which you can notice from the smell and the smoke/fumaroles all around town. Besides being a warm place, Rotorua is also a major home for the local Maori people. You know, the guys who
inhabited this land long before the European treasure hunters and explorers arrived.
We are not really fans of guided tours and organised trips but the Rough Guide said we should definitely visit the local Whakarewarewa village, which is a living Maori settlement with approx 60 persons. And at the same place you can also try their local Hangi meal, which is prepared in geothermic steam! So we went for the tour and the meal, learnt about the Maori language (OMG, their words are so long!), about their customs (how they make their dancing skirts and how they sing and dance while preparing for battles) and we also had a great meal. They have several steam boxes in the village where you can lower your alu-packed meal, which can be meat, fish, veggies, puddings, anything and in a short while you get back a lovely food. And of course you can also boil stuff in the hot water, like eggs, pasta, rice, all done in a few minutes. We shared one meal and could hardly finish it together. Great taste, no bad small at all!
After the lunch we went for a self guided walk around the village, which
Bubbles!!!!
Mud pool in Whakarewarewa, the living thermal village. was pretty neat with active mud bubbles, steaming fumaroles, black and green lakes and some impressive geysers. Not bad... comes head to head with Iceland.
Trampling in the Te Uruwera National Park
Maybe we missed the primary rain forest in Borneo (as the tours take you to secondary forests most of the time) but New Zealand made up for it. Yes, they have primeval forests here. After leaving Rotorua we headed for SH 38 which goes through the National Park along a gravel road in a really dense forest. But before entering the park we had a really nice "natural surprise". We figured out that there was an amazing bubbly mud pool near a "pay-attraction", however, this pool was outside the attraction-zone, means for free. Very impressive again, loads of small and big bubbles, burps from the mud and the likes. But what was even better, we spotted a minivan next to a small trail into the bushes and we also went for it (thinking they might have found a sneaky trail to some nice geysers).
Well, no geysers for us, but a real natural hot water spa with a hot waterfall running into
A free hot bath.
Near Wairoa, and it felt good!!! it. 2 girls were just finishing their fun bath (and no, it wasn't the schoolboy wet dream with 2 girls washing each other in a hot tub) when we arrived, so basically we had the pool for ourselves. Really great soaking and what the Maori guide told us earlier was true. The geothermal water is so soft that it cleans you without soap and shampoo. We did not want to believe this until this experience. It really damn cleaned us, unbelievable.
OK, after this fun we had to move further so we headed for the national park, but first got petrol and some meat for the BBQ as the road crossing the park was over 100 km with no facilities. We first stopped at the Whirinaki forest and had a 3-hour loop walk to a waterfall. OK, the waterfall was not that big huuuhaaa, but the track around it was really nice. Very dense forest, lush green canopies, giant fern trees (yes, here they grow as a tree not as a small pot plant like in Europe), running streams and wildlife on the way. Chris actually spotted a deer in the bushes! Agi was too slow...
After this
DOC cabin
with our 'private' guard dog: Amber. She volunteered to taste our garlic sausages and our beef. She approved. nice walk we decided to spend the night in a DOC hut, a government maintained hut in the middle of the forest, accesible via crossing a stream by car without a bridge... so not too many people go for it. When we got there we were welcomed by Amber, a fun doggy and her owner, Norreen, who is a fun lady who spent her week long holiday in the forest hunting with Amber. Had nice chats with her, she proved the famous Kiwi friendliness and openness, Amber tried our beef and nibbled on our garlic sausages (normally she does not do this, but she must have really liked us and the smell of our dinner...). The hut was pretty ok, with bunk beds inside and a large open fire. It felt nice to spend a night outside the car.
Next morning we headed to the Waikaremoana Lake, which is at the other end of the National Park, so we had a nice long drive in the forest topped up later with a walk in the local Maori caves. The lake was really beautiful with crystal clear deep blue water and nature all around and we found a great spot
Excellent food!!!
And the marsmellows tasted good afterwards. Spending the night at Rosie bay. to spend the night: Rosie Bay. Secluded bay with some black swans and wild ducks entertaining us (having dinner with bottom ups in the lake, funny view when they all do it at the same time...).
Hawke's Bay and Napier: home of great wines
Next morning we moved forward to Hawke's Bay, which is one of the biggest wine regions of New Zealand. The main town there is Napier, which is the most genuine art deco town in the world, they say. After arrival we headed to the local prison, yes, to the prison to check in for the night. Napier prison now functions as a backpackers' accommodation, they made rooms from the cells, etc, really special. And actually this prison was inhabited by inmates till 1993, so up to pretty recently. Now it's run by a friendly Kiwi family and some travellers who find here free accommodation for some maintenance work. We went for the luxurious double room with en suite toilet, but apparently this cell used to have these facilities in the old times... weird a bit.
And as we were in the wine region we decided to have a proper wine dinner.
Waikaremoana Lake
No clue what the name was of this bay, but I would guess it was @ Whero bay.... Which meant we drove to the local supermarket to buy some really nice local wine and went also to farmer's shops for great cheese, hams and the similar culinary foodstuff. We used/abused the well equipped kitchen of the prison, had a great meal with great wines and the whole place for ourselves: we were the only guests...
Next morning we did the guided tour in the prison, which was pretty interesting, you can see non-converted cells, the wet quarters, exercise yard, hanging yard and got some historical background to the place. From here we went downtown to have a stroll among the art deco buildings which are maintained in really good shape.
Later in the afternoon we headed to Lake Taupo for some extra fun, which you can read in the next entry!
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Patrik
non-member comment
finally clean
Happy to read you finally got a really thourough cleaning experience after 7 months of Asia, can imagine it felt good ;-)