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Published: August 5th 2010
Having crossed the water on a ferry jam-packed with containers of smelly cows, we arrived on the North Island. It was a pretty boring crossing from Picton to Wellington, punctuated with a movie, which was groaningly, predictably Lord of the Rings.
Not bothered about cultural milestones like capital cities, we stopped only briefly in Windy Welly, pushing north towards Rotorua. This town lives off its unusual geology, which is very special. Some far-sighted Maoris built the town on highly active volcanic land. Which sounds suicidal, but is safe and saves them pennies. They channeled the heat from the molten soil to warm their water and heat their homes. Pretty smart, right? The whole place has a nauseating eggy stink though, due to the ammonia risinhg up from the volcanic earth.
We went to a couple of volcanic attractions, chiefly the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. The land here is naturally coloured by different minerals - it's like walking on a rainbow. This place really stinks, but it was amazing being unlike anything we've ever seen (or smelt) before and since. The only slight let-down was the erupting geyser. It was amazing when it actually exploded, but we naively didn't realise that
Natural hot water pool
We found this natural hot pool at Lake Taupo. Free, hot and clean. Amazingthey cause it to erupt for us tourists. This local ginger lad drops a bar of soap into the hole, which breaks the surface tension of the water allowing the hotter water below to erupt from below. It was cool, but all a bit fake and regimented.
From here we headed west to the ocean and some egg-free fresh air. The little town of Raglan is a surf place, but being exposed to the Tasman Sea it can feel a bit Baltic in the water. But that didn't really matter because the sand is an amazing black colour, the beach was largely empty and we learnt to surf with wetsuits. Our instructor, I think he was called something like Zeek, was the essence of laidback surfer cool. He made it sound surprisingly easy on land, but with the beach desserted it didn't really matter when we kept falling off the boards before even getting to our knees. Being terrible wasn't especially embarassing, although Zeek's saucer-brimmed hat was a bit of a concern. We spent about two hours swallowing the sea and calling it surfing, but by the end of the session we'd both managed to stand and surf a
bit. It's a lot of fun and if it wasn't for the fact that the English Channel is more polluted than a landfill and has fewer waves than my remaining hair I might seriously consider taking it up.
That was pretty much the end of our three weeks with the van. We said an emotional goodbye to the Spirit 4, but were lucky enough to be checking into the Sun Pacific Villas in Mount Manganui. Emilie's Dad Yves and Step-Mum Carmel had very kindly arranged for us to stay at an appartment there. We entered the suite and after five months on the road we were most excited by the washer and dryer. The balcony was super nice to have too, with a view straight out to the sea. We spent a week chilling out here, sleeping, watching movies and attempting to practice surfing in the choppy waters.
From here we flew from Auckland to the States, signalling the end of an amazing month in New Zealand. It was fantastic, but at the same time I can't wait to write about the USA. And Canada of course. As far as New Zealand goes, it's in our top 3
Craters of the Moon
Another naturally occuring thermal attraction, with steam rising from cracks in the earth places in the world. Which is truly some accolade 😉
I'm off to regret resorting to using a typed emoticon.
Until next time kids,
Love you,
Bye!
x
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