19/02/10
Arrived in New Zealand in the early hours so we rang for our pickup and waited in the rain for our taxi to arrive. Our hotel was really close to the airport so it wasn't long before we could go to sleep! In the morning we walked to the nearest bus stop and got a bus into Auckland. We booked into Scholar Apartments, very sparse but had what we needed, it seems to be full of foreign students. We dumped our stuff and had a walk around Auckland city centre, 'The city of sails' it's pretty much the same as any other city, not much to do but shop and spend money! We did find a good Thai restaurant close to the apartment though so that was dinner sorted!
20-22/02/10
Spent a couple of days getting our bearings and deciding what to do. We had a good walk around the harbour which was beautiful, the Auckland bridge is like a mini Sydney harbour and there were hundreds of yachts and boats sailing about, it's a really busy harbour and there are some amazing old ships moored up that you can have a good look at. We also managed to sort out our IRD (tax) number and open a bank account so were good to go with a job now! We decided to rent another campervan so we could travel around at our own pace, this time we got one for 22 days! We're gonna head up north out of Auckland up to the Northland to see whats about.
23/02/10
We spent the day driving about but not really having a clear plan so we didn't get very far before it was time to find somewhere to stop for the night. We finally found a picnic area in Algies Bay (near Snells Beach), it wasn't much and we had to park on a slope but it was better than driving all night! The roads in this country are abominable, really really bad, bloody potholes everywhere, we've smashed the bottom of the van so many times already it's not even funny! One of these times we'll just see the whole bottom of the van left behind on the road ha ha!
24/02/10
Carried on heading north, gonna head up the west coast right to the top and then back down the east side whilst looking for work. The weather is weird in NZ, one minute it's boiling and dead sunny and the next it's cold, windy and raining! We drove for most of the day, stopping off for stunning views on the way, the landscape here is awesome! We entered the Kaipara District and into Waipoua Kauri Forest which has the largest Kauri tree in the world (Tahne Mahuta) which is 51m high and 13.8m round! We carried on a short way and came to Omapere and Opononi which are two small towns next to the sea. We decided to stope early today so we pulled up in Opononi. We're right by the water so we decided to go for a swim. We dipped our toes in the water and I squealed it was that cold, like ice water! We decided to go for it so we dived in, it was so cold I can't describe it but we both felt refreshed after! We dried off and we're now sitting in the van with a nice brew looking at the amazing view, it doesn't get much better than this.
25/02/10
Had a weird nights sleep. We'd parked up and it's late so we're in the van, Simon was reading and I was asleep when all of a sudden some freaky bloke banged on the door and asked if we'd got a lighter. Simon shouted "No" and he walked away. This woke me up and it really scared me in case he came back. I managed to doze off again and about 15 minutes later Simon said "He's coming back again" which really freaked me out 'cause we were pretty isolated and he looked like a proper weirdo! Luckily he carried on walking past us but his behaviour was very strange and we came to the conclusion he would've broken into the van if we hadn't answered him, there is a lot of car theft in NZ and it was enough tpo give me nightmares all night!
Thankfully the rest of the night was uneventful so in the morning we carried on north through Rawene, Mangamuka Bridge, Kaitaia and Awaniu and right the way through the far north to Waitiki Landing, Te Paki and finally Cape Reigna. We took the road alongside ninety mile beach and it was half road, half dirt track but boy was it worth it. Cape Reigna is the very tip of the far north and it's where the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean meet, it's absolutely amazing! The view is breathtaking, really really beautiful. Maori consider Cape Reigna (Te Rerenga Wairua) the jumping off point for souls as they depart on the journey to the spiritual homeland. At the tip of the cape is a spiritually significant 800 year old pohutukawa tree, souls are believed to slide down it's roots into the ocean. When we managed to drag ourselves away we had to go back the way we came till we reached Awaniu then we turned off for Doubtless Bay. We decided to park up for the night at Taipa right by the sea, that's the good thing about the Northland, you're never too far away from the sound of waves.
26/02/10
I'd forgotten how hot it is in one of these vans! Today we decided to start heading down the east coast so we aimed for the Bay of Islands. We went down the SH10 (highway) to Keri Keri where we went to the Stone Store which is the oldest stone building in NZ (1836). It was full of stuff that was used in the house at that time, it was really interesting, especially when we spied a whole load of blue and white Spode china on the wall, they also had pudding bowls from Derbyshire so we felt right at home! We walked from there to Kororipo Pa which is the fortress of a famous Ngapuhi chief Hongi Hika. There's a river running right past the Stone Store so on the way back we sat for a bit and cooled off by dipping our toes in, it was lovely! After we'd finished relaxing it was back in the van and off to Russell, well I say that but guess what? On the way we got lost and ended iup in Kawakawa which wasn't too bad because we stumbled across the Hundertwasser's toilets! I know it sounds weird but these are the most photographed toilets in NZ (possibly the world!) and were built by an Austrian recluse eco-architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser. The toilets are brilliant, loads of different coloured tiles, glass, mosaics and ceramics were used to build them and there's a tree growing out of the roof in the centre of the toilets, it's pretty cool!
After our 'detour' we headed back the way we'd come and tried to find Russell. We'd gone wrong because we hadn't realised we had to get on a ferry to get to Russell so we'd missed the turning and carried on for around 50km's! Once we'd figured that out we got the 5 min ferry from Opuha to Okiato through Orongo Bay to Russell. This is the place of the first European settlement and it's beautiful. There's one small main street with a church (NZ's oldest church) thats scarred with musket and cannonball holes form 1845. It's that old Charles Darwin made a donation towards the cost of it's construction! We had a look at the harbour and made our way up the hill to Maiki (Flagstaff Hill) where Hone Heke chopped down the flagpole four times, basically saying he didn't want anyone on his land, especially Europeans! The view from this place is absolutely amazing, I mean really breathtaking, I can't explain how amazing it is but try to picture looking down from the hill around you and seeing a harbour with beautiful boats, a tiny town filled with quaint wooden houses, hills and mountains in the distance and the pacific ocean going on for miles that was the same colour blue as the sky, it was bloody awesome!
We had to literally tear ourselves away from this view and get back in the van. We got back on the ferry to Opuha and headed south (back down the road we'd 'detoured' on earlier!) through Kawakawa to Whangarei. We'd decided to go see a waterfall tomorrow so we headed that way to camp for the night. We found a car park but of course there was a 'No Camping' sign so we basically pulled into a little lay-by on the edge of a housing estate right next to the car park and slept there!
27/02/10
We walked a little way to Whangarei Falls which apparently is the 'Paris Hilton' of NZ waterfalls, not the most impressive but reputedly the most photographed! Well we thought it was really pretty, we did the circular walk around the area and no, it probably isn't the biggest waterfall in NZ but it still deserves to be acknowledged as a damn fine waterfall!
After we'd done the walk we headed to Abbey Caves which is an underground network of three caves full of glowworms and limestone formations. We parked up, put our 'activity sandals'(!) on, grabbed our headtorches and we were away! After a good ten minute walk we found the first cave. We just had a look through the entrance of this one 'cause we weren't quite sure if we'd found the right place and there were a few too many spiders webs for me! We carried on walking through the fields, there were large rocks everywhere, it was like they'd just fallen out of the sky and landed all over these fields, it was very strange! We eventually came to Middle Cave, this time we decided to venture in, it was quite steep and very dark once we were inside, I didn't like it much, I said we needed Pom with us (think back to Khao Sok!) and I didn't last long before I wanted to come back out. We carried on to the next cave, Ivy Cave and this one looked the most scary. Simon went in by himself, I was having none of it but he came back out ten minutes later and told me I was missing out if I didn't go and look. He went back in and I followed. It was steep and slippery but I gritted my teeth and went for it. Once we were inside we had to walk through freezing water and clamber over loads more rocks for about 15 mins till we got most of the way in. This was where it paid off, we turned our torches off and the whole cave lit up with glowworms, it was awesome! They looked like little green stars, it was brilliant! We climbed a little further in and there were loads of them, all over the walls and ceiling, I was loving the cave now! The only downside was that I now had to get out of the cave. This I managed only with a little bit of 'gentle' persuasion from Simon! Once I'd finally got out (man it was steep!) I was happy I'd actually done it and seen all those glowworms, I was really glad to be out of there though!
We walked back to the van, stopping so Simon could feed the horses we'd found on the way, we headed off again this time to Whangarei Heads until Simon realised he'd gotten Whangarei and Mangawhai mixed up and we were going the wrong way! (It is easy to do though with all these bizarre sounding places!) We turned around and headed for Mangawhai to see if we could get something to eat and a place to stop for the night. We drove through Bream Bay, Waipu Cove, Langs Beach, Mangawhai Heads, Kaiwaka and into Mangawhai itself before we even saw a pub! It's weird in tis country, it's as if they don't want to feed you! Anyway we finally found a pub and had some dinner, we also took the opportunity to steal some of their electricty so we could charge up our camera and lap top under the table, needs must when you live in a campervan! Once we'd eaten we needed to find a place to stop for the night so we drove until we stumbled upon Pakiri. We saw a sign for the beach and going on past experience there's always a place to park at the beach so we drove down 2km's of unsealed road till we hit the shore. Sure enough there was plenty of room, you probably can't park here but it's dark so we can't see the 'No Camping' signs!
28/02/10
Boiling again! Decided to head to Goat Island, this place is beautiful, loads of rockpools leading to the sea and all sorts of fish swimming about. We walked along on the rocks for a bit and went for a quick swim, it was freezing! We had a little explore and Simon went to the cove at the end of the bay while I soaked up the sun. It's a really beautiful place. The only worry was that as we arrived at Goat Island we saw a noticeboard that said in big red letters TSUNAMI WARNING. We just looked at each other and decided that loads of people were about so it can't be that serious! We heard on the radio that there had been a massive earthquake in Chile and now there is a tsunami warning in place in NZ and people were being advised to stay away from the beaches. We just looked at all the people around us, lying on the beach and swimming in the sea, there were even scuba divers out there so we didn't take it too seriously but we decided it was time to head back to the van for lunch anyway!
We decided to leave the Bay of Islands and head to the Coromandel Region. We had to get on SH1 and head back towards Auckland and then on the SH2 and SH25 through Kopu across the peninsula to Tairua, From there we went to Cathedral Cove which is in Hahei. We parked up and started walking, it was a really nice walk and on the way you could detour off the main path to Gemstone Bay where you can see snapper, crayfish and stingrays and sandy Stingray Bay. We went to look at both, it was a bit of a trek up hills and down steps to the coves (which meant coming back up!) but it was definitely worth it. We walked for about 25mins till we reached Cathedral Cove, we wished we'd gotten here earlier in the day 'cause it's a brilliant location with an excellent beach and plenty of giant waves to fight. The sun was setting when we got there but Simon still went for a dip, I settled for dipping my toes in as I didn't have my bikini and didn't fancy the walk back soaked! We hung around for a bit and then trekked back before it got completely dark. The tsunami warning has been downgraded so hopefully we'll be safe tonight, especially as we're sleeping right by the sea at Cooks Beach!
1/03/10
Can't believe it's March already! Woke up early and went and dipped my toes in the sea, I'll never get bored of doing that! Today we headed south out of the pennisula and down into the Bay of Plenty. This is the 'Kiwi capital of the world' and in Te Puke where we stopped there's nothing but fields full of kiwi's! We'd rung about jobs last week and they'd told us we'd have to come in and fill out application forms in person so we headed to 'Trevelyans' to see if we could get lucky. As we drove down to it it looked like a professional outfit which made us feel better, we pulled up and went to the 'employment' entrance. We were given a basic form to fill by in and that was it! We asked if we'd have to come for an interview or anything and she said we'd definitely got the job, she'd ring us at the end of the week to come for a training day the next week. We asked about accommodation and she told us there were caravans available for $150 per week for both of us just up the road. We went to have a look and it was a cute caravan park literally next door owned by a lovely couple who were really friendly and welcoming. We had a look at one of the vans and it was perfect for what we need, and it has electricity and a fridge, luxury! We told her we'd definitely take one and we'd be there on March 15th, can't believe how easy that was!
We drove down the coast to Whakatane. We spent the night by the sea again just outside Opotiki which is a bit further down the coast. We parked up in one area and had dinner but then had to move to another rest area a) because I saw a weird man and he freaked me out and b) there were loads of tiny flies everywhere and they were doing our heads in!
2/03/10
We didn't feel very active today so we mooched about, made bacon sarnies and then I drove from Opotiki to Gisborne down the SH2. The drive was nice, I went at my own pace as there were some serious bends on this road which went through the forest and was also on the edge of the mountain! Once we'd gotten to Gisborne we decided to go to the outdoor swimming pool, the main reason was so I could have a hot shower and wash my hair! We stayed in the pool all of ten minutes, it was freezing, especially when the wind blew!
After a nice warm shower (that was over too quick!) we decided to go see the observatory which is open every Tuesday apparently. Well we got here and it looks pretty shut to me! Simon went to investigate, yep it's shut, due to repairs or something so we scrapped that idea and drove to the beach to find somewhere to stop for the night. We found a spot and started cooking dinner, it was dark by this point so when we heard a dog barking near us we were a little concerned, more so when we actually saw it, it was MASSIVE! No owners were with it and it was just wandering about right by the van, it was pretty scary 'cause it was a big dog and it obviously didn't think we should be here! We turned all the lights off and watched it through the window, every time it wandered off we got out of the van but it kept coming back so cooking dinner was a nightmare! Nothing is every easy is it?! I wonder what drama it'll be tomorrow night ha ha! We finally watched it go up the road and disappear which was a relief 'cause I really needed a pee and Simon needed to drain his rice that had been boiling for nearly an hour!
3/03/10
Last night we talked about what we thought of NZ so far and we both agreed that we couldn't really describe it so far! The thing is, it's really beautiful and the scenery is stunning but that's kind of all there is! In the Lonely Planet book there's a lot about the history of NZ and it's all about Captain Cook arriving and being met with hostility and agression from the Maories to which he responded by turning the surrounding area into a massacre. I can totally understand the Maories being hostile then but you can still feel a vibe, especially here on the North Island that the locals don't really want you here, it's not that they're unfriendly but they just seem unapproachable and since that night in the van I haven't felt 100% safe here. There's also a whole lot of nothingness here and I know that might suit some people, but when I say nothingness I really mean it! We keep saying we should stay somewhere for a couple of days but we've yet to find a place that's not a ghost town! It's a good job we've hired this van otherwise we'd be completely stuffed, this is definitely a country where you need a set of wheels! Anyway we discussed it and decided to change our plans (again!) and stay in NZ in the van for three weeks and go see the South Island now and then head to Te Puke to work for five weeks to earn some spending money and then we're gonna fly from Auckland back to Brisbane and spend the last four weeks of our trip in Australia 'cause we loved it so much there!
I spoke to Steve who said it was cool for us to come and stay with him again, so we changed our flights and thats the new plan! Now that's sorted we decided to head to the South Island and see what's about before we have to return the van. We set off from Gisborne on SH2 and seven hours later we were in Wellington! We headed for the port (Bluebridge ferries) and because we'd just missed the 21:00 crossing we went to buy tickets for the 03:00 crossing thinking we'd be able to have a sleep in the van on the way (the journey is 3.5hrs).We parked on the carpark, had dinner and a snooze while we waited to board. When we finally got on the ferry one of the crew told us we'd have to leave the van and sit upstairs, not happy! And to think we paid $250 for the privilege! We went upstairs and found a tiny sofa to sleep on, managed to sleep a bit so it wasn't too bad and the trip went quite quickly.