North Island, New Zealand

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Auckland, our starting point for New Zealand's North island. New Zealand had been the one country we agreed on when years ago we first started seriously thinking about this trip. We had high hopes.

A night in a hostel allowed us a little time to explore the city of Auckland before picking up our Britz camper van the next day. One of the first things to strike us was how expensive the city was, some things were nearly London prices so instead of paying high admission prices we spent the day wandering and enjoying being back in an English speaking country. Chris spent his Friday night at a Magic the Gathering tournament (see Santiago blog for more info), which is obviously the only way to spend a Friday night in Auckland, in fact, it's so obvious I'm surprised it isn't in the Lonely Planet.

The next day took us to meet our new best friend, Tina Fey, she was promptly named after seeing her number plate, FEY 271. She was our camper van and home for the next six weeks. Things got off to a flying start when I realised it was an automatic. I have driven only one automatic car in my life, this was for a total of an hour and under the very watchful eye of Emma Stevenson. I was already nervous, I rushed back into the office and was given a one minute tutorial in driving an automatic: P is for park, D is for drive, N is for neutral, but you won't need that (turns out I will!), and don't worry about the numbers, no one uses them. Right, OK. A tad apprehensive we successfully made it to our first stop, the nearby supermarket. Shopping done, marvelling at the joy baked beans brought us, we hit the road. We got lost within approximately one hour. The clear, easy to follow, main road north out of Auckland that we wanted was closed. There was no diversion, I was in charge of driving and Chris was in charge of navigation, he sort of guessed the way, we ended up in a dead end next to a Saturday afternoon local rugby match, it definitely wasn't the way. We stopped to buy a map. With this helpful addition we realised that we had been on the right road a while back but we had been travelling in the wrong direction, we were soon on our way again, quite slowly it turns out. To begin with I was, let's say, a very cautious driver in the camper van, i.e I was driving way too slowly. It took us hours to get to our first campsite at Uretti beach, another issue was I couldn't find the headlight switch. Turns out I was driving along with only my side lights on along a pitch black, main(ish) road. Whoops! Tensions in the van were high already! We found our campsite situated next to a nudist beach. That night the wind was howling and the rain falling, I honestly thought the van was going to blow over and so after a restless first nights sleep in the camper we looked forward to cooking a good old fry up. However, as I said, tensions were high, everything was unknown and to cut a long story short; my veggie sausages got thrown out of the window. It was probably quite funny for the camper van opposite us to watch a couple of half cooked veggie sausages come launching through the small window to land in the muddy patch of grass outside our van. It was not funny for me.

Our first few days were spent in the rain. We drove up through the bay of islands, these are best seen by boat but the weather made sure that didn't happen. We enjoyed the time stopping off at small sights such as the Hundertwasser toilet, the most photographed toilet in New Zealand, it is famous for being designed by an Austrian artist and is very decorative with wavy lines, irregular ceramic tiles, integrated small sculptures, coloured glass and a live tree incorporated into the architecture. Some days would involve walks, some muddier than others and often ending with some very muddy trousers. The roads were fun to drive with lots of ups and downs, twists and turns through the hills.

Our aim was to drive to the northernmost point of New Zealand, Cape Reinga, here we got some sun. Cape Reinga is where the Tasman sea meets the Pacific ocean and you can see the differences in current. It is also where Maori spirits start their final journey. At the northernmost tip of the Cape is a gnarled pohutukawa tree, believed to be over 800 years old, and according to Maori history, the spirits of deceased Maori leap from this tree into the ocean to return to their ancestral homeland of Hawaiki. Here it really is the middle of nowhere with no ATM's and a last petrol station before you are stranded.

From here we made our way down the west of the peninsula stopping off at Te Paki sand dunes , where Chris was hoping for more sand boarding, but the only option was to hire a sledge of a lady in the car park and use that. Not quite sand boarding in the Atacama desert. A nights stop at a campaite a few minutes walk from 90 mile beach (which is actually 90 km and 55 miles), the beach is a legal highway, but not for hired vehicles, so with Tina Fey safely parked we took a wander.

It was on our route back down the peninsula where our first van incident took place. We were looking for an ATM after our few days in the middle of nowhere and I pulled into a supermarket car park. Chris jumped out and I, stupidly, tried to pull into a space that was clearly too small for me. I heard a scrape, decided I'd pushed my luck and moved to a clear, open space with no other vehicles around. Chris comes back from the ATM and looks at me and the van in horror. His face, furious and exasperated, made me think the van was slowly disintegrating around me. It wasn't but I had knocked off/destroyed the waste water pipe. Whoops! Luckily it was only for the small sink in the van and we hadn't used it that much yet. With us both thoroughly annoyed we headed to our campsite for the night, named Broken Hills, it was a DOC campsite (department of conservation), despite the lack of electricity, running water and flushing toilets, these were the types of sites we were expecting and the ones we sought out. They were in the most beautiful locations: surrounded by mountains; next to a lake; a clear water stream that doubles as your shower the next morning, next to an old forest, camp sites were rarely marked out allowing you to choose your own desired spot. However, these sites do have their disadvantages, being generally unmanned, you are pretty much left to your own devices with an honesty box for payment. On this particular night, heading to Broken Hills, we arrived later than planned in the dark (never ideal but it was becoming common for us as we were getting up later and later). The site was at the end of a 5 km gravel track, with signs along the way telling you not to stop as there is a risk of falling boulders. We drove in, and instead of doing the sensible thing of parking up on the first flat bit you came to, I was being fussy saying it was too far from the toilet or too close to the toilet or too close to another van. This site was over a few levels and had some hills. Hills in a camper van at night after rain is, it turns out, a recipe for disaster. Chris got out the van to see me back to turn around and go back to the flat area we had spotted when we first pulled in. So, I reversed, a little down a slope, and then trying to pull forward we found we were stuck. Oh. The next few hours were spent inching our way forwards before being defeated by the mud puddles our tyres were buried in. We must've been making a lot of noise as a German couple came to help us out. We used our towels from the van to try and create some friction for the tyres to grab onto. Remember this was all being done in the dark. After a while we called it a night, going straight to sleep, making sure we slept with our heads higher than our feet in our sloped van. We awoke the next morning to see the van of the now not so friendly couple leaving the campsite. They had obviously gotten up early to try and avoid us and get stuck helping us! Alright for them! So with no one to help us we tried again, inching forwards only to be defeated by the ever growing puddles of mud. We had tried everything we could think, the campsite was unmanned but there was a phone number. Excellent, we had a UK pay as you go sim card with us so we found our mobile , and regained a little hope as we thought we could phone the ranger. The phone was out of battery. So I started the 30 minute walk to the nearest house while Chris started taking some weight out of the van (turns out it us actually better to have more weight to try and get more grip on the tyres). Turns out there was no one in at the house and I didn't know how long it was until the next house so I didn't risk the walk. On the way back I spotted an identical van to ours, there was no one about but I left a note on their windscreen explaining our situation and asking if we could borrow their phone. The note turned out to be unnecessary as when I heard them return I raced up to them, their phone had no signal but they were very willing to help us. This couple were Dutch and were so helpful, but we still didn't manage to get us out of the mud and up the hill. We tried pushing, pulling, reversing, we had the towels out again (which now had several holes and burn marks). I was nearly crying, we had lost all hope and our last option was to phone the fire brigade. The Dutch guy offered to try and tow is out with his climbing rope, we were dubious this would work but had no other options by now. Then, by some miracle, we spotted a 4x4 driving on the road parallel to the campsite, now, this road leads nowhere and the only reason to come down it is to go on the nearby walk. I ran to the car, explained our situation and without even asking he said 'Do you want a tow?' This was the best thing he could have said. He was there with his family and they all seemed quite excited about the drama, bringing their cameras along. I'm glad they were excited, I was nearly in tears! It all seemed very simple as he attached his tow rope up, I used the neutral gear (I told you I would need it) and bing, bong, bash we were out. I could have hugged the man. Once again we had experienced true Kiwi hospitality. His wife seemed very pleased that they had got to use the tow rope they had bought but never had the opportunity to use. I didn't care, I was so happy we were out. We said our thank you's and goodbyes, washed in the nearby stream and then celebrated with some eggy bread. We didn't hang around long in case the ranger came by and had something to say about the mess we had left his campsite in. He probably thought someone with a quad bike had been riding around. It was quite a state. With enough fun for one day we packed up and headed north.

We were in the Coromandel region by now and drove up to Mercury Bay and hot water beach, unfortunately we arrived at the wrong time. If we had arrived a few hours earlier we could have dug ourselves a little hole in the sand and it would have filled from underground hot springs seeping up through the sand. In hindsight we should have checked the tide times; it is only within two hours either side of low tide that it is possible to dig into the sand and allow hot water to escape to the surface forming a hot water pool. The water can reach temperatures as hot as 64°C. It was starting to turn into a habit of Chris' to make sure he could get wet or muddy at every opportune. Our lunchtime stop offs at a waterfall or short walk somewhere provided lots of opportunity for this, and he made the most of the high tide time at hot water beach and waded in, leaving me to laugh from the edge as he realises maybe this water is a little too deep.

Further up the coast I found my new favourite place at Cathedral Cove. We took a short 20 minute walk and ended up on a beautiful beach. We took a quick 'shower' underneath a small waterfall and then dove in for a short swim despite the freezing temperatures. People looked on at us in awe as they stayed safely on land, snapping some photos and keeping their feet dry.

People say New Zealand is beautiful; they don't lie. Chris soon got used to me shouting 'look at that!', pointing at beautiful scenery as we drove around. He would soon remind me to look at the road as the van swerved, my attention briefly distracted. It was easy to settle into the camper van lifestyle, enjoying not having to order from a menu, having our own space and I definitely enjoyed not having to carry my backpack every few days. We loved New Zealand already. We would start the day with a rough idea of where we wanted to be that night and get as close as we could, stopping off at incredible waterfalls, walks or supermarkets to stock up on our new favourite chocolate, Whittaker's!

Kiwis really are the friendliest people and they proved this to us when we got our waste water pipe fixed. We were going to try and fix it ourselves with some cable ties and a new piece of pipe, a friendly man at their B&Q equivalent suggested we tried a local farm machinery repair shop. The guys there were eager to help, making sure they didn't overcharge us, and laughing at the muddy hand prints on the bonnet giving away that we'd got stuck in the mud the previous day.

My birthday was a memorable one. It started in a balloon and banner filled camper van with birthday cake number one and pancakes for breakfast. We spent the day at Hobbiton, the film set used in the lord of the rings and the hobbit films. It was awesome. During and post filming they had managed to keep the location of the set secret. However once the films were released local residents recognised the view in the background and started asking for tours of the set. The owners of the farm soon realised they were onto something and it was written into future contracts that the sets must be left in tact when filming is finished. We had a tour around all the hobbit holes, our guide pointing out important locations from the films. We got to visit Sam Gamgee's garden, party under the party tree, try and tell the difference between the fake and real trees, and pose for photos outside the Baggins'. We ended an awesome trip in the Green Dragon with some cider, a ploughmans and pork pies. We weren't too full for an ice cream stop on the way back, where we learnt what hokey pokey is (it's like honeycomb). We ended a wonderful day in the hot springs at our campsite with birthday cakes number two and three! (Number three had to be eaten the next day we were so full).

Our next stop was Rotorua, famous for its geysers, geothermal activity and rotten egg smell. We enjoyed a day here at a Maori village, seeing how they lived, eating corn cooked in a hot springs and witnessing the Prince of Wales feather geyser, that was named in honour of a royal visit to Whakarewarewa. Chris enjoyed a couple of hours mountain biking down various trails of varying difficulty at Whakarewarewa Forest, a redwood forest which conveniently also had some walking trails for me. There were some beautiful walkways through the sky high trees and some awesome views of the geysers erupting. We had thoroughly enjoyed our time in Rotorua, staying at a DOC campsite on the edge of a lake with only a couple of other camper vans and ended our time on a recommendation from our helpful water pipe fixers at Kerosene Creek. The thermal waterfall provided bathing temperatures of 30°C in lush surroundings, if not a bit smelly!

The filming location of Mordor and Mount Doom from the Lord of the rings films in Tongario National Park was our next stop. Tongario is the oldest national park in New Zealand and is home to the Alpine crossing, one of New Zealand's nine great walks. We had been hoping to do this but arrived out of season and so it would have involved a guided walk, crampons and axes! Not what we had had in mind so we decided instead on a one day walk up to two crater lakes, Tama Lakes, taking in the views of the surrounding ski fields, heathers and spectacular snow capped mountains. We ended up bumping into our Dutch saviours from Broken Hills, we are pretty sure they were glad we were on a gravel tracked campsite and their stay wouldn't be disrupted by us getting stuck.

Something we had been looking forward to was our trip to Waitomo glowworm caves. A long drive got us to Waitomo and slim pickings left us at a campsite with music piped into the bathrooms, a little bit of luxury for us! We ended up not actually visiting Waitomo caves but Ruakuri where you can enjoy a morning black water rafting. This involved cave tubing, basically sitting in a big rubber ring and floating through dark caves as you gaze up at the glowworm larvae lighting up the vaulted ceilings with a few waterfall jumps thrown in too. An awesome trip and definitely a highlight of New Zealand so far.

We headed next to Patea, home to Barbara and Graeme, relatives of my Nan's friend who had very generously offered us a stop at their home. It was a lovely couple of days with a delicious home cooked meal, a yummy carrot cake for my belated birthday, and walks on the black sand beach with their dogs Molly and Bella. There was one moment when I nearly tipped the camper van over, tilting a foot or two off the ground as I tried to turn the van onto a steep driveway, but we'll quickly skip over that! The next morning we had a trip to a farm that isn't on every tourists checklist. Graeme is a farm vet and very kindly invited us to one of his, very early, morning appointments to see some health checks and newborn calves. Considering we had never met Barbara and Graeme and were very loosely linked to them, they truly lived up to the Kiwi's hospitality reputation and gave us some much welcomed home comforts for the night. What a treat.

Our aim was to head south, making our way towards the capital city, Wellington and the ferry crossing to reach the South island in a couple of days. First we had more Lord of the rings location hunting to do and ended up walking around a park looking for the filming location of Helm's Deep before later reading it was in a working quarry site and is inaccessible to the public. We had more luck at Kaitoke regional park, the location for Rivendell, where Chris got to pose in the same spot Orlando Bloom took his publicity shots for the film.

Moving further into central Wellington, we spent an evening enjoying a belated birthday curry on Gareth and Christie, yum, thanks guys, and Chris got to show off his brand new All Blacks shirt watching them play South Africa, unfortunately only at a bar and not at the nearby Westpac stadium, some forward planning might have guaranteed us tickets!

Whilst we were in Wellington we also visited an awesome museum, the Te Papa museum. With exhibits and stories of New Zealand's indigenous people, the Maori, alongside a colossal squid, the largest specimen to be on display anywhere in the world. It was a really fun museum and best of all admission was free.
We also visited Weta Caves, we got to see some of the models and props the Oscar winning company had created over the the years for films such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Tintin and District 9. While there we booked onto one of their 45 minute guided tours and got to get a behind the scenes glimpse at the model and prop making work they do there, including seeing them working on the tiny set for the new Thunderbirds TV series! Chris loved racking the brains of our tour guide about their different processes and methods they use in their model making.
And of course, Chris' Friday night was spent playing Magic the Gathering, and gathering more goon points from around the world.

Our last night on North Island was spent at a very odd campsite, built solely for convenience to the ferry terminals, it was just a concrete car park with a small block of toilets. It served its purpose to us, allowing a short 2 minute drive to catch our early morning ferry.

Everyone says the south island is more beautiful than the north. We struggled to see how this could be after witnessing some amazing sights in the north. We were about to be shown how....

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