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Published: August 8th 2007
WaitangiAfter landing in Auckland, we took a shuttle bus from the airport to the ferry terminal in the city centre and took a boat over to Devonport on the North Shore. As Auckland has now grown so big, there are now 5 separate cities within it, so we were technically staying in 'North Shore City'. We started our 2 month stay here in style, staying with our friends Sid and Christine, whose holiday apartment turned out to be a luxurious house in the very pretty town of Devonport. From their breakfast table, we enjoyed the views of Auckland City across the water and soon joined the locals in their favourite pastime of watching the various ships coming and going into the harbour. Unfortunately we mis-timed our stay and failed to see the arrival of the Queen Mary which brought hundreds of people to the shore-front.
Sid and Christine kindly showed us around the local area to help us to get our bearings and then we ventured out on our own into Auckland. We took the Explorer bus around the city, stopping off at the Auckland museum for a few hours to look at various exhibits ranging from Maori culture and
crafts to Natural History and the World Wars. Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World was another stop where we enjoyed seeing penguins, sharks and the stingrays at feeding time. We went up the Sky Tower in the city centre and observed crazy people skyjumping off the top of the Tower. Needless to say, we didn't join them and settled instead on walking over the glass-bottomed floors which turned the stomach enough!
Soon it was time to say goodbye to our friends and their hospitality and pick up our campervan. It didn't exactly start smoothly. We got lost trying to find the correct address for the campervan company and when we did find it, the company had moved! We got there in the end though and once we had picked up our 'Kiwi Camper', soon affectionately referred to as "Smelly Nelly" we set off to buy our supplies. This included a trip to Browns Bay where we were assured that Phil could buy some specialist South African sausage (Boerewors) from the local butcher's.
We spent the first 3 weeks of our trip exploring the North Island. Unfortunately we chose to do this in the period that the locals described as the
Russell Sunset
Bay of IslandsBay of Islandsworst start to the summer that they had had in years! We certainly didn't anticipate the amount of rain that would fall and the cool temperatures - it was just like being at home! Fortunately it didn't prevent us doing anything though and the fan heater in the campervan was much appreciated at times.
We headed North from Auckland to Whangarei and our first impressions confirmed everything that people had told us to expect from New Zealand - green, rolling hills and lots of sheep! We explored the harbour, art galleries and shops in Whangarei and managed to incorporate several visits to the fudge factory for fudge ice-cream - a habit which was to become quite a feature of our trip. After a walk around Whangarei Falls (not quite Victoria Falls but very pretty all the same) we took the coastal route to Matapouri where we enjoyed a picnic lunch by the beach and then a Headland walk to Whale Bay. This gave us stunning views of both the sea and the rolling hills inland.
Another feature of New Zealand which we loved were the number of quaint fishing towns, filled with historic buildings and arty
shops to explore. One of them was Russell in the Bay of Islands. Although Phil enjoyed driving along the unsealed, long and winding roads in the pouring rain, we did later discover that the car ferry across to Russell would have been a much quicker and easier option! We spent a few days here, going on a tour around the Old Printing House and Catholic Mission and on a 'Swimming with Dolphins' cruise. Despite spending 7 hours on the boat in terrible weather, we didn't see a single dolphin, let alone swim with them! We drowned our sorrows once back on dry land by having a beer at the local hotel and the sun decided to shine on us as we watched the boats in the harbour.
We took the car ferry to Waitangi Treaty Grounds where the original treaty was signed between the Maori and the British. It was a fascinating place to explore and we enjoyed the coastal walk until we realised that we were walking on a golf course! You wouldn't think it possible to take a wrong turn on a coastal walk! After a trip to Kerikeri which has the oldest stone house in New
Zealand and
another old Mission house, we moved on to Waipapakauri and 90 Mile Beach. Along the way, we stopped off at Manganui for lovely fish 'n' chips, only slightly ruined by the fact that we'd left our lights on and had to jump-start the campervan. More on this later!
We experienced some really wet and misty weather in the far North of the North Island, to the extent that when we reached Cape Reinga, we had to walk right up to the lighthouse before we could see it. The clouds parted sufficiently to allow us to see where the Tasman and Pacific Oceans meet but it wasn't long before we returned back to the campsite at 90 Mile Beach. This is so-named due to the long stretch of beach down the western side of the Cape which can be driven on like a highway but it is in fact not quite 90 miles long. We decided not to risk it with the campervan! Instead we stopped off at some great sand dunes and hired a board for an hour which Phil thoroughly enjoyed!
Driving through the Kauri forests was a real highlight of our trip. We stopped
off at the obligatory Big Kauri tree for a photo - the tree is over 50 metres high and is quite something. Not only are the trees themselves beautiful, but we also went to various Kauri workshops and museums where the wood is used to make furniture. It is a lovely colour and is a very smooth wood once it's polished. The prices are pretty high so we didn't come back with any purchases much to Phil's delight!
After a stop-over in Hamilton, our next stop was the Waitomo caves for some blackwater rafting. This involved dressing up in a ridiculous outfit of wetsuits, rubber booties, Wellies, jackets and helmets, wedging yourself into an car inner tube and floating through a series of caves and admiring the glow-worms on the ceiling. We were most disappointed to learn that this is in fact illuminous poo and not a worm at all! Next we headed to Lake Taupo and went to see the Huka Falls, an impressive waterfall and the Orakei Karakei Geothermal area with its' geysers, mudpools and silicone falls.
Arriving in Ohakune, we had our 2nd flat battery and had to jump start the campervan again. We had
only left the lights on for a couple of minutes so knew we were in trouble! We'll return to this again later! From here, we did the one day Tongariro Crossing walk, which we completed in 7.5 hours, it is a 17km walk with a 900m ascent and descent. The weather was cool and cloudy so although the conditions weren't great for the views, they were good for walking. It was a really challenging day and whilst we thought climbing uphill was hard work, we weren't prepared for how hard it would be to walk downhill for 2 hours, especially walking down steps. The knees haven't quite been the same since! It was a wonderful day though and the craters, lakes and views were amazing. Typically, we awoke the next morning to beautiful clear and blue skies so we drove back out to take pictures of the views we couldn't see the day before! We also went to Pipriki for our first experience of jet boating, along a beautiful river valley. We stopped off for a walk to the 'bridge to nowhere', a bridge which used to be for the local farmers before the land was returned to its' natural
environment.
Our last stop before heading to the South Island for the next part of our adventure was to windy Wellington which lived up to its' name! We went to Te Papa museum where we bumped into some people we'd got chatting to in Ohakune so went for a beer with them at a local brewery. One of the best features of campervanning around New Zealand is the fact that you meet so many people. Many of us were travelling the same route so the likelihood was that we would meet up again later on! We started a trend at the campsite we stayed on in Wellington by ordering a takeaway curry to be delivered - we were duly asked to pass the menu around the different campervans! Well, it was Friday night after all!!!
There was a Thundercat boat racing competition on in Lyall Bay, so we headed down there to watch some races. Then it was off to Cuba street in Wellington for lunch and explore the Waterfront and Civic Square before heading back to the brewery for some refreshments. We just had time to go to Mount Victoria lookout before we had to go and
Rigging
Bay of Islands queue for the ferry to the South Island. In our enthusiam to get there on time, we were first in the queue and decided to listen to some Billy Connolly whilst we were waiting. Big mistake! We'd left the fan on and guess what - our battery was flat again! Poor Phil had to push-start the car at the front of the queue. It was certainly one way of getting Laura to drive for a while!
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christine and sid
non-member comment
Wonderful place
So glad you enjoyed New Zealand. Looking forward to seeing you there again.