Advertisement
Published: June 15th 2005
Edit Blog Post
I have finally felt the freedom of the open road and it is WICKED! I drove cross country once from San Diego to New England when I was moving to Paris. I traveled with a friend, Connie, who was changing jobs and moving to Annapolis. While I had no particular schedule, she had a deadline to reach in order to start her new job in time. There were a definite amount of miles we had to drive each day and a specific place to sleep each night. But this, me and my camper, this is an entirely different beast!
I’ve given myself 3 to 4 days to drive basically the length of California with only one mission - to visit a natural hot spring every day. A bit about the camper I’m driving. I am transporting it to the Northlands which is the relatively narrow area north of Auckland, way north. And I’ve started in Hastings which is in Hawke’s Bay, known worldwide for its wine production. The camper is a Toyota Hiace that has been pimped out so that it has a dinette that converts into a bed, a tiny wardrobe, gas cooker, fridgerator and sink. It’s
bigger than I expected it to be and I was a little daunted by the gear shift located on the steering column behind the windshield wiper lever as I’ve never driven one like that before. I’ve never been that great at driving manual transmissions uphill and my first day, ney my first hours, of driving were leading up to the highest point of the North Island - Lake Taupo. The lake was formed by a volcano explosion many many hundreds of years ago and here I was about to make a casual incline up to the volcano’s apex (or what is left of it).
The day started out wet and overcast with light to moderate rain. As my visibility decreased through the raincloud shrouded mountains in front of me, I was sure, just sure, that off to my side, beyond my sight, there were shear cliffs that any vehicle could drive off surely plunging to their death. As I continued upwards, noticing the flora that had changed due to the harsher climates, without any notice whatsoever, the hillside became open fields. It was the oddest thing. There were farms up in the mountains and now to both sides were
taller mountains as far as the eye could see. And the sun started peeking through. Me, fancing myself a rainbow chaser now that I am free to move about the country, finally saw one but was disappointed that it was behind me to the left (remember you drive on the right side of the car here). But if you look at the pix, you’ll see I’m an adept drive-and-shoot photographer!
There were lots of black birds with white backs that were nice to look at up on top of the mountains. I found out later they were magpies. Guess I'd never seen a magpie before. I also pointed out a hawk to a kid the other day. Then I realized I didn't even know if there were hawks in New Zealand. Basically anything soaring high in the sky circling for food is a hawk in my book. I guess that's why there's no Morganne's Book of Birds in publication...
About 200km later, I reach Lake Taupo. It’s lovely but not as nice as Crater Lake in Oregon near Aunt Linda’s (must be higher). I stopped at the info center and got straight to work. “Where are there hot
springs?” The lady behind the counter pointed out three different ones ranging from free to $9. The free one is on the walkway to Huka Falls which is a place I wanted to visit. So off the camper and I went.
On the trail to Huka falls, it smelled and felt great to be back in the wet bush. Oh, that doesn’t sound right! But they do call it the bush and it was damp… Anyway… It was approximately 45 minutes to get there and so beautiful. It was lovely enough just to be tramping next to the river, sun shining over what turned out to be a gorgeous day. And the falls were well worth the walk. I was a bit put out to find that there was a carpark right next to the falls but hey, I really need the exercis. The trek back was tiring but I had decided I would visit the natural hot springs here on the way back to the car as they were a mere 10 minute walk from the car lot if that. Man, what a treat (see picture)! So worth it. As if the falls weren’t worth the excursion alone!
I felt a million bucks after luxuriating in the hot pool. I had even considered going to the springs here AND one of the man-made ones you have to pay to get into but once I enjoyed the one here, I couldn’t imagine enjoying the man-made ones I’d have to share with all those strangers (and screaming kids).
Back to the camper, I have the space to dry off and change, fix myself a sandwich and set up the laptop to type this up. I am so inspired for the rest of this journey! Got my ipod in one hand, my radio shacks speakers in the other, popping on Prince and away I go.
Some things that trip you up being an American in the Southern Hemisphere: As I drive north, it gets warmer. Mistletoe in June. Next week, when it is the summer solstice, it will be the SHORTEST day of the year.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.199s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 10; qc: 57; dbt: 0.0794s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb