Welcome to the North Island, New Zealand! That is what we thought we would hear when we got off our plane in Wellington (the port town at the south of the North Island). Instead, we discovered that the depot where we had to pick up our campervan was an hour’s drive from the airport, and we had to cram into a shuttle to get there (which we also had to pay for!)
We had decided to rent a campervan in the North Island to save money and also for the experience. We had no idea the headaches we would have to endure with the company that we chose to rent from, and at the end of the day, it probably would have been cheaper had we not gone with the campervan... Oh well, it has definitely been an experience! To not take up too much room with complaining, I will not mention specifics about the hassles we had to deal with in getting the campervan (besides the shuttle one above), but the company ended up giving us an upgrade to make-good by us. We had originally paid for a Backpacker 4-berth campervan (which is the cheapest) but instead were given a Maui 4-berth (top-of-the-line!) for our troubles.
The Maui has literally been our home on wheels for pretty much the past two weeks as we have explored the North Island. I was first to drive the beast, and with the diesel engine and high-up driver’s seat, I felt like I was driving a school bus! Fully equipped with sleeping room for 4 (Vic and Amy sleep above the driver’s seat and Mark and I sleep on the tables and chairs in the back - which we have to put together and take apart each night), a gas stove, microwave, refrigerator, heater, shower, and toilet (really just one 2’x2’ room with both that we decided not to end up using so we wouldn’t have to empty the waste - ew!). The “bathroom” has actually come in handy for luggage storage haha.
After picking up our campervan on our first night in Wellington, we had planned to meet up with my friend Jack, who I had travelled with in Australia. He had been in New Zealand for the past 6 weeks or so, so we wanted to get his opinion about what to see and do on the North Island. He ended up giving us his map book (which he got from a hitchhiker he had picked up!) and Lonely Planet New Zealand book since he would be leaving to go to South Africa in a few days for the World Cup.
One of our first adventures with the Maui was picking up Jack at his hostel in the middle of Wellington city center (the capital of New Zealand btw). I was terrified driving down the narrow streets battling with traffic and pedestrians, and I ended up parking illegally and running to get Jack an hour and a half after we were supposed to meet him. (My Australian cell phone is pretty much useless in New Zealand, and it is almost impossible to coordinate meeting up with people we have discovered.)
The next struggle with the campervan was deciding where to park for the night, every night. Although not technically illegal to just park and sleep, many parts of New Zealand do not allow this because people in the past have disrespected the rules and made a mess. Most areas have designated campervan parks, however they charge up to $20 per person per night! If we pay that much, then we would have been better off just staying in hostels... As you will see, we have been very creative with where we park at night, starting with our first night in Wellington.
That first night, someone at Jack’s hostel told us we could park down by the ferry terminal which is still walking distance from the city. Even though there was a clearly marked motorhome park there, we paid $4 each to use the overnight parking lot and went to sleep. In the morning, we were awoken by a heavy knock at the door and the parking lot surrounding us was packed with cars of people who were taking the ferry to the South Island. Even though we clearly did not follow the rules, we were kindly told to move to the motorhome park next door for the following night. Since we wanted to see more of Wellington, we decided to stay here for the night, and we ended up paying the correct amount. This meant we got to plug in and have heat as well as showers and toilets which was well worth it!
Jack was our tour guide around Wellington (he had been there for nearly a week and knew it well) so we met him in the morning and saw the sights. We took the cable car up to the top of the city where the Botanical Garden is and then walked back to the city. By the way, the weather in Wellington was very similar to what we had been experiencing on the South Island, cold and rainy! When it started to drizzle, we decided to make a stop into Mac’s Brewery by the harbor and grab a pint.
From there, we visited Te Papa, Wellington’s free museum. We did not have much time to explore the museum, (because we were going to play in a free poker tournament that night and we still needed to eat dinner first) but I am amazed by what I saw. For a free museum, they had many interesting exhibits including a colossal squid (the only one in a museum in the world), an earthquake simulator, and a sheep cam (a camera on top of a sheep’s head that showed what it would be like to be a sheep haha).
I was not entirely ready to leave the museum, but the thought of winning the poker tournament convinced us it was time to go. In Australia and New Zealand (and maybe even in America?) they host poker tournaments each night at different bars. They are free to enter into, but you have the chance to win $200 or a bar tab if you place in the final three. During the night, you have chances to re-buy or gain additional poker chips if you purchase more drinks or enter into raffles. We all entered into the tournament and played for a bit until gradually only Jack and I were left at the same table. He got knocked out by an amazing hand, and then I was the only one in our group left. Unfortunately, I did not win the tournament but I had a great time (and got some amazing hands!)
That night, we said goodbye to Jack (he would be headed to South Africa the next day) and we left Wellington in the morning for Tongariro National Park. One of the main reasons that we were visiting Tongariro is that Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings is located there on one of the most beautiful walks in New Zealand. During the Tongariro Crossing all-day walk, you go between two active volcanoes and there are glacial lakes and along the way. Besides Abel Tasman National Park (in the South Island), Tongariro was another thing that I really wanted to see while I was in New Zealand. However, because we were there in the winter, I was unable to see either due to bad weather. If I do go back to New Zealand on this trip, I will definitely go in the summer to do both walks again.
Even though it was rainy and cold, we decided to do the beginning of the Tangariro Crossing walk just in case we could see Mt. Doom (really Mt. Tangariro) through the fog. I wore a purple poncho that was enormous on me so that I would not get soaked (and definitely for the fashion!) and looked ridiculous. We froze on the walk and did not even get to see anything because the fog was so thick, ugh!
The night before we did the walk, we parked our campervan at a Department of Conservation campsite. Rangers patrol these, but since it was winter, we were not bothered throughout the night. We even parked up next to a river and could hear it rushing by as we slept. Since we were not at a paid campsite, there were no plugs for us to hook up to which meant we did not have heat or electricity for the night. Luckily, our stove is gas though so we were still able to cook dinner (and the burners actually heated up our camper a little bit.)
After our disappointing walk in Tongariro National Park, we decided to drive north to Lake Taupo for the night. As soon as we got into Taupo, we stopped at a laundromat to do our laundry. We had not done our laundry since Franz Josef so it was about time...
That night, the first World Cup soccer games were on, so Mark and Vic planned to pull an all-nighter to watch the games. Due to the time difference, games are shown in New Zealand at either 11:30PM, 2AM, or 6:30AM. They decided to park our campervan in a parking lot outside of the bar so Amy and I could sleep while they were watching soccer. Unfortunately, people in New Zealand are not as excited about World Cup as they had hoped, and the bar did not stay open all night. They closed for a few hours at 3:30AM, so the guys came and fell asleep in the camper and did not wake up in time to watch the England vs. USA game at 6:30AM.
Parked outside the bar that night was one of the worst sleeps I had in the camper. Since we were outside of a bar, drunk people kept walking by and knocking on the windows and loud music was playing late into the night. We were also scared that someone would come tell us to move or we would get a parking ticket. Luckily, we were able to stay through the night without too much trouble. Even still, Amy and I woke up early and moved the camper (while the guys slept) just in case.
The guys had barely slept the night before and Amy was still tired in the morning, so they all went back to bed. Even though I did not have a great sleep either, I decided to get out and walk around Lake Taupo since the weather was not too bad. On the shores of Lake Taupo, there are areas where hot water springs meet the lake, and people swim here even in the winter. I just put my feet in the water and in some places it was really hot! I watched some kids dig a hole with shovels to swim in and also watched some black swans and ducks swimming in the warm water. Since it had been raining for the last few days (and would start raining again later that day), there were so many rainbows.
On the way out of Taupo, we stopped to see Huka Falls. Although not really impressive in terms of size (I have seen some much bigger waterfalls!), the amazing thing about Huka Falls is how much water is moved each day and how fast it moves. A guy we talked to while we were there told us about some kayakers who had made it down the falls which would have been an incredible thing to see!
The North Island is known for its many volcanoes (some of them still active) and thermal pools. We were excited about getting to swim in some warm water since it was so cold outside, so we decided to devote the rest of the day after Huka Falls to thermal areas. Our first stop was Orakei Korako which is a thermal area where you can see geysers, mud pools, and an amazing cave but you cannot actually swim in any of the hot pools. We took a ferry across from the car park and entered into a world that did not appear to belong on Earth. There was steam coming up from the ground and in many places the water and mud were so hot, they were actually boiling! The cave had clear water that glowed blue, and the workers there told us to wash any jewelry we had with us in the cave water.
After looking at all of the thermal pools, we decided it was time to actually go swimming, so we splurged and stayed at a campervan park in Waikite Valley that night that had its own thermal pools. Swimming here reminded me of being at Arenal in Costa Rica at the thermal pools, so fun!
In the morning, we made use of the thermal pools one more time and then were headed to Rotorua, another place known for its volcanoes and thermal pools. In fact, we could even smell the sulfur as we entered the town! One of the reasons that we wanted to go to Rotorua was to zorb (zorbing= getting into a huge plastic ball and rolling down a hill, you can either do dry where you are strapped in and roll head over heels= stomach sickness or wet where you are loose inside ball with some warm water= feels like a water slide). We drove to the zorb site, but we decided to pass to save money even though it looked like a great time. I am going to look into zorbing in Australia, because I really want to do it!
Even though we were disappointed we did not get to zorb, we were comforted by the fact that we would be having a feast for dinner. We had bought tickets to go to the Mitai Maori Village (Maoris are the native people of New Zealand, like Aborigines in Australia). As part of the night’s festivities, we would be watching a show while we learned about Maori culture and then afterward eating a traditional hangi (feast!) that is cooked underground for 3+ hours. We had a great time and I definitely ate my money’s worth of lamb, chicken, kumara (sweet potatoes, yum!), and dessert. After the feast, we went on a nighttime bush walk (to walk off some of the food) and saw some glow worms.
When the show was over, we had no idea where to park for the night. We wanted to just park on a random residential road, but we did not feel safe. Instead, we ended up parking at a campervan site, however the reception was already closed when we drove in. Since Vic was waking up early to move the camper so he could watch the 6:30AM World Cup games in the morning, the reception was also closed when we drove out. Hence, we did not end up paying to park there!
From Rotorua, we were headed to Waitomo Caves to go blackwater rafting. I had been whitewater rafting in Costa Rica, but I had never heard of blackwater rafting until we arrived in New Zealand. Basically it is a combination of abseiling, rock climbing, and tubing down rapids only it is done in a cave. We met our guide for the day, Mike, who was a kiwi version of Tristan, my friend from college (aww). We changed into our bathing suits, wetsuits, gum boots, and helmets with torches.
It was one of the coldest mornings so far, and we were not looking forward to getting into freezing cold water in an underground cave. However, we had heard from numerous people that the experience was a must, so we knew we had to do it. We practiced abseiling on the grass before actually doing the 27m down into the cave. I am sure that we looked ridiculous on the grass in all of our gear, but it was worth making sure we actually knew what we were doing.
I went first and Amy followed behind abseiling into the cave. Apparently, Mike told the boys that we were the only girls he has seen go so fast (especially since we went first). We waded in the water upstream for a bit looking for eels in the water - we did not see any though, because the water was dark and moving too fast. We also learned more about glow worms and saw tons on the ceiling of the cave when we turned off our head torches.
In case anyone is interested, glow worms are not actually worms at all but more like maggots. They glow the brightest when they are hungry, and the glowing bit is actually a sticky trap for their flying insect food. When they are extremely hungry, they become cannibals and eat each other. Like caterpillars, they make cocoons but do not turn into butterflies. When they emerge from their cocoons, they are more similar to flies as adult glow worms but they do not have mouths. Since they cannot eat without mouths, their sole purpose is to mate and then they die within a few days. Very fascinating stuff, I know...
Anyway, after we walked a bit further upstream, we tubed in inner tubes down some rapids. It was actually pretty scary tubing in the dark, because you could not see how deep the water was. In some shallow areas, you would hit rocks without warning and fall out of your tube! For most of the tubing, I spun around and was facing the wrong way haha. It was great fun.
Apparently, blackwater rafting can also be dangerous. At one point, Mark lost his footing while walking across the river, and he was carried a bit downstream. Luckily, he was able to grab onto some rocks on the side and hold on until Mike could save him. I was honestly scared for his life. At another area, Amy also fell and was swept into Mike’s arms. She lost one of her gum boots and was underwater for about 15 seconds, scary! She was saved, but she would have to do the rest of the trip with only one boot.
When we were finished for the day, we had to rock climb back out where we had originally abseiled down at the beginning. Again I went first, and it was a little bit of a struggle for me since I have absolutely no upper body strength. I was used to indoor rock climbing, and even though Mike was holding my weight from the top, it was a little bit more difficult than I expected. We all made it safely out of the caves (even with some close calls) and we were excited for our hot showers and warm soup that were included with the tour.
Of course it ended up being a sunny day - the one day that we spend 5 hours underground, it decides not to rain! We wanted to take advantage of the nice weather, but instead decided to drive straight through to the Coromandel Peninsula. We stopped for the night in a small town called Paeroa near the entrance to the peninsula, because they had campervan parking (with plug-ins=heat!) for a $5 donation.
The next day, we drove along the Coromandel coast with amazing views of the ocean and many bays. The sun was shining which made the grass look extra green and the water look especially blue. When we arrived in Coromandel, we decided to do one of the walks at Long Bay to see some of the large kauri trees that New Zealand used to be full of. Nowadays, they can only be found in some areas, especially protected areas like national parks. Amy and I strolled along while Vic raced ahead, and we took time to see the trees and sunset. Apparently, we were taking a little too long and Vic was worried so he came looking for us with a knife from the camper haha.
Later that night, we parked in a random residential neighborhood and were not bothered for the entire night. We should have noticed though that when we were washing our dishes for the night that the water was coming back up the drain. We had forgotten to empty our grey water (water washed down the sink) for the past couple of days and it was backing up the pipes. This would not have been a big deal if my suitcase were not over the shower drain... The water seeped through my suitcase and most of my clothes were wet and smelled awful. When we discovered this in the morning, we immediately found a place to wash my clothes and rinse out my suitcase and the camper to get rid of the awful smell. We learned the hard way to make sure to empty the grey water!
I was determined not to let this fiasco ruin my day, because I was really excited about our next destination, Hot Water Beach. On a larger scale than the shores of Lake Taupo, people come to Hot Water Beach two hours before or after low tide to dig hot pools in the sand and swim. We got there right on time and dug an enormous pool for the four of us to sit in. I do not really think we understood the logistics of how the hot water stream worked under the sand, because our pool ended up either being too hot or too cold. Instead of continuing to dig and maintain our pool, we decided to just steal other people’s after they had left. We had such a great time relaxing in the hot water, and we stayed until after the sun had set.
That night, we treated ourselves to a campervan park with hot showers, but we said we only had two people in the camper to cut down on costs (they charge by person). In the morning, Amy, Vic, and I did the Cathedral Cove walk while Mark stayed in the camper and slept. The walk to Cathedral Cove is well-known to New Zealanders because it is often featured in music videos and was a set in the movie Prince of Persia. We decided to do it for exercise (we have been sitting in the camper too long) but also to see Cathedral Cove Beach. It was a nice walk, and the beach was lovely. If only it were sunny...
We only had a few more days left in New Zealand, and we wanted to spend some time in Auckland (where we would also be flying out of). After doing the Cathedral Cove walk, we drove the few hours to Auckland and stopped at Mt. Eden along the way. From the top of Mt. Eden, you can see panoramic views of the city as well as an extinct volcano crater.
Once again, we had to navigate the Maui through the streets of Auckland (which was even busier than Wellington!) and find a parking space. We headed to Sky City which has a shopping mall, and more importantly a casino and place for the boys to watch the World Cup game. We gambled a little bit (again, no luck!) and watched New Zealand rugby and World Cup.
At one point, when I returned to the table where Amy and Vic were sitting, they had two new friends, Wani and Tania. They immediately offered to buy us all rounds (and rounds!) of drinks. Apparently Wani’s (who is from Fiji btw) dad used to pick up hitchhikers and travelers all of the time when she was younger, so she was continuing his legacy. She invited us to come back to her house instead of sleeping in the camper for our last night, and after much convincing, we took her up on the offer.
Wani called a designated driver for our camper, and we drove to her house for the night. When we got “home,” she made us an amazing meal of prawns, rice, and salad, even though it was almost 4AM! The next day, we were also treated to a barbecue of chicken, steak, and lamb. She was really spoiling us...
We were planning to return our camper by 3PM on June 20th at the Auckland Airport, but since our flight was not until 7AM on June 21st, we were going to just sleep at the airport. Well, Wani would not allow us to do that and instead drove us back to her house for another night. At 4AM on June 21st (after we watched New Zealand and Italy tie, ugh!), she drove us to the airport in Auckland for our flight. We were exhausted but definitely glad that we met Wani because otherwise we would not have slept at all at the airport.
Now it is time to go back to Australia and warmer weather! I have completely lost any traces of a tan, so it is time for me to go back to the beach. And Humme comes to visit again in a few days! In the meantime, I am going to stay with a friend in Mackay (about halfway to Cairns from Brisbane).
