New Zealand Part #5

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From Rotorua we headed north-east to Mount Maunganui. We hadn't really planned to come here, but our friend Nicky's parents (John and Sue) live here and as it's only an hour from Rotorua we thought we'd pop in and say hello. It was quite late by the time we arrived so we found a great campsite by the beach and then drove around to the address given to us by Nicky. There was nobody in so we left a note that said we'd be back around in the morning. The next morning as we were sitting by the beach eating our cornflakes and half asleep, a car pulled up next to us. I assumed at the time that it was the park warden about to tell us off for something (all the campsites here have so many rules), but it turns out it was John. They had found our note that morning and, thinking that we might have already left, drove around to the campsite looking for us. If they'd known us that wouldn't have worried about us having left by 8am!

After breakfast we drove around to their house and had coffee. We were still chatting by the time it came around to lunch - so we had lunch there too. We were really pleased to meet some people who have friends/family in common with us. And given that Nicky and Jason (my friend since university) had their little baby Josh's first birthday the next day, we had plenty to talk about. We ended up staying for two nights in a bed that was pure luxury compared to our campervan. We all celebrated Josh's birthday the next day with a cake and a video link to Nicky, Jason and Josh back in London.

The actual town of Mount Maunganui is beautiful with beaches, a small port and hot open-air swimming baths. The best shop in town was Copenhagen Cones from which I bought the largest ice cream I've ever eaten. John and Jason both recommended trying the locally invented sport of Blo-karting . This is basically a sailing dingy on wheels. It's great fun and you can get up some real speed even as a beginner.

Nicky's sister Hayley owns a pizza restaurant on the road to our next destination - Waitomo Caves - so we stopped there for lunch on the way. The restaurant was called Ned's Place and serves fantastic Pizza. We'd seen pictures of Hayley so we knew she wasn't any of the staff currently on duty. After a while we spotted her asking a German couple if they were John and Emma. She went into the back of the restaurant and so we planned to speak to her when she came back. Unfortunately all we saw of her after that was her car driving off down the road. It's a shame we missed her, but the pizza was definitely worth the stop!

Waitomo Caves are renowned for their glowworm displays. We booked an adventure tour that included abseiling, climbing and blackwater rafting. Blackwater rafting involves sitting in a large rubber ring and floating down an underground river. The 100ft abseil took us into the underground river where we walked into the cave. The glowworms were spectacular, but our guide told us that they'd get better. After a while we turned off our headlamps and walked for about 15 minutes in the dark. as our eyes acclimatised to the dark I could see what the guide meant. We could now see millions of glowworms, but the display increased still as the guide fired a gun which shook the cave. The glowworms for some reason create more light when the cave shakes. In the cave we also got to squeeze through tiny crevices and jump down underground waterfalls. the whole trip was about 5 hours, but it seemed much shorter.

From Waitomo we went north, past Auckland and into the area called Northland and to a beachside town called Orewa. We only stopped here a night, but it was another beautiful beach. We looked in the windows of some of the estate agents here and saw houses that cost about 300,000 GBP, but would cost about 2 million pounds if they were for sale in the UK. From here we drove north to Paihia which is next to Waitangi. This is where the Waitangi treaty was signed between the British and many of the Maori tribes. The house of James Busby, a British civil servant, has been restored here. The park also contains a Maori meeting house and a huge canoe. Our guide here was very interesting, although his version of historical events differed significantly to the Te Papa museum in Wellington and his story was vastly different to some of the other guides we overheard.

From Pahia we took the ferry across to Russell which used to be the capital of New Zealand. It only has a few shops and a couple of roads, but all the houses here have been beautifully restored.

Heading back to Auckland we had our last encounter with New Zealand's favourite adrenaline sport - driving. Some of the world's craziest drivers come from New Zealand as far as I can tell. Asia had some crazy drivers, but the vital attribute they had was concentration. We encountered people that pulled out into the road and just assumed that nothing was coming. New Zealanders also have a national hatred of campervans, meaning that locals feel obliged to overtake a campervan even if it is going at the speed limit. The numerous hairpin bends make this a dangerous pastime. We witnessed a couple of very nasty looking crashes during our time here.

We had decided to stay in the suburb of Devonport whilst in Auckland. It sits on the North side of the bay, just a 10 minute ferry ride into the city centre. there is a lot of B&B accommodation here so we thought it would be a nice way to finish our time in New Zealand. When we arrived it turns out that almost all of the B&B places were full. They were all really expensive too. We had read about the famous (and very expensive) Esplanade hotel which was built in the 1890's and based on its namesake in Brighton. As we walked past we noticed that their prices appeared to be lower than the B&B places. We went in through the grand entrance expecting to be told that we'd misinterpreted the prices, but the lady duly gave us a room which had a great view of the bay and was an awful lot bigger than our campervan! We spent most of our remaining time in Devonport which has fantastic views from the surrounding hills.

New Zealand has been easily the most livable place so far on this trip. It seems to have much more of a sense of community than the UK. In the South Island especially nobody locks their doors and locals are always willing to have a chat. I can see why people move here from the UK.

My "best of New Zealand":
- Best meal: Ned's Place, pizza restaurant, Mangakino
- Best scenery: A really difficult decision, but I'd say the road to Milford Sound
- Best campsite: A free-camp by lake Pukaki
- Best walk: Another difficult decision, but the Tongariro Crossing just wins ahead of the Abel Tasman Coastal Track
- Most bizarre experience: Attending a lumberjacks' Christmas party and using a very big chainsaw!

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