Another uneventful flight, this time to Auckland arriving in the afternoon to pick up our campervan for the next four weeks. After completing all the paperwork and watching a video about how to fill it with water and empty the waste (we insisted that John watched this bit very carefully!) we set off on our way. Jackie and I had compiled a shopping list of 'camper van' essentials so we stopped at the local supermarket to stock up. It was quite nice setting up home for the coming weeks as we had been on the road for such a long time it was nice to have our own bits around us. Driving the campervan is a bit of a change from a car but rather fun once you are accustomed to the additional width and length.
The journey north was fabulous, the scenery a cross between the drama of Australia and the rolling hills of the Devon or Cornwall. On the way we stopped off at the Waiomio Caves. We had seen these signposted from the road. The ticket office was run by a chap called George who was Maori, his wife's family owning the caves. He was a real character and kept us amused while we waited for our guide to come and take us round. We were lucky in that a coach party was leaving as we arrived, so we had our own tour of the caves. It was the first time I had been in a cave with running water and where there was no illumination. The reason for this soon became clear, when the guide switched off her lamp the place was aglow with the light from glow worms which were all over the ceiling and upper walls of the cave. At one point there were so many of them that the light they cast enabled us to see one another in the gloom. It was an awesome experience and like gazing at the stars at night.
Our first stop was in Orewa and gave us the opportunity to stow away our shopping and to find out how the whole campervan thing works. Kath and Sid had hired a car and caught up with us there. They had followed a different route and had been paddling in the sea and lunching on sea food - so a good day, if not a long day was enjoyed by us all.
Kath and Syd had rented one of the cabins on the site and we all had our first night's meal together. At bedtime, it was just the three of us in the van and as there are three double beds we decided to have one each; I have the top bed over the drivers cab, John has the middle bed behind the driver and Jackie the one at the rear of the vehicle. Going to bed is like being in boarding shool, lots of chat in the evenings when we know we should be asleep. All in all a wonderful start to our NZ experience.
The following day, Kath and Syd went their separate way as they were meeting up with an old school friend of Syd's. We arranged to meet back at the ferry on the following Tuesday, for our onward journey South. Jackie, John and I headed north and drove up to the Bay of Islands. Whilst there we decided to take a boat trip round the Bay of Islands as we had heard just how beautiful they were - we were not disappointed. There were some similarities to Halong Bay as some of the Islands were just small limestone outcrops covered in vegetation but others were inhabited and had beautiful houses overlooking the water. The boat picked up some more passengers from Russell, which is a very pretty place and I believe was once going to be the capital of New Zealand, it would have been very picturesque had that happened. We also dropped off some hikers on another Island and later, on the return, we stopped and had some lunch there. This Island had wonderful rolling hills down to the sea and one in particular just needed Julie Andrews to come skipping over singing the theme tune to the Sound of Music as it was just so alike the iconic imagery of that film.
The trip took us around many of the larger Islands and one of the advertised highlights of the trip were to see dolphins which we certainly did. They were performing on cue, jumping out of the water, swimming alonside the boat and generally putting on a show which made everyone Oooh and Ahhh. The other highlight was to drive the boat through 'The Hole in the Rock'. It was one of those times when I was thinking to myself that I could possibly do without this particular highlight. The sea was quite rough and the boat took quite a while lining itself up for the whizz through. I was somewhat reassured that all was going to be OK when I heard an American say that they wouldn't risk a million dollar boat if they weren't confident that they would get through. The fact that I am writing this blog tells you that it was a success.
At lunch time we set of again down the coast heading towards Napier. We wanted to get as far as possible as we were very conscious of the limited time we had in the North. We were so focused on the journey that we did not take into account that fuel stations are few and far between, we were running short of fuel and it was getting late. At Miranda we came to a T junction and a dilemma: left or right. We turned left - wrong - the campsite is right. However, we spotted some camper vans parked by the sea and we had stumbled across a free camping area so decided that this was for us. We had a super evening camped on the beach, which was covered in empty cockle shells, and eating beans on toast. It was funny the next morning we were all packed up and ready to go when I happened to look in the wing mirror and we were about to drive off leaving our table and chairs on the beach.
Our next destination was Rotorua, the land of hot springs and geysers. The journey there is just through more stunning scenery. One thing New Zealand has in spades is beautiful views. For those who have children or grandchildren and have seen the teletubbies, there is a lot of scenery which looks like teletubbie land. Round mounds of grassland which roll and roll away into the distance. In the far distance there are mountains and in the foreground there are gorges cut by tumbling streams. It seems that there are stunning vistas everywhere we go.
As we approached Rotorua you could smell the sulphur in the air. Rotorua and the surrounding area is volcanic, a thin layer of rock riven with a mass of geological faults that allow steam and boiling water to escape into the air. Puffs of steam can be seen in much of the surrounding area. The camp site we stayed at had mineral pools heated by thermal activity. In the evening John, Jackie and I all had a soak on one of the pools which was so hot you had to limit the time in there but I did sleep well that night as it was so relaxing.
The following morning we went across the road to the visitors centre for access to the Geysers. There was a guided tour just about to start so we joined in on this. The Maori guide who took our tour was just lovely and delivered the explanation on Maori culture and history in such a way that we were all engrossed and hanging on his every word. One of the explanations which was particularly enlightening for me was about Maori carvings. It started with the fact that the culture is primarily an oral culture and to remember the stories they have the carvings. He said if you saw a carving of a girl, a cloak and a wolf you would immediately know that this was the story of Little Red Riding Hood. In the same way their carvings remind them of their own stories. Don't you think that is wonderful? The whole of the tour was like that, we all felt it was one of our best experiences this holiday.
From Rotorua we set off for Napier, a bit later than we had intended. The weather was just perfect and when we arrived the sun was still shining even though it was the evening. We decided to have a walk around the town centre and to see the buildings which are all built in the style of the 1920s. The town seems to have retained its integrity as it was rebuilt following a severe earthquake in 1931 which devasted the town and much of the surrounding area. The Napier seafront is also in the Deco style and to add to the atmosphere there was a jazz concert taking place with people sat on deck chairs enjoying the evening. We sat in a cafe having a drink and taking in the atmosphere, it was a perfect time.
On our travels we had been recommended a vineyard in Napier called The Mission so we decided this was worth a visit as it was on our way out of town. The setting was just perfect, this beautiful House set on a hill surrounded by vineyards. The grounds had a couple of nights previously hosted a concert by Sting and I understand that concerts by visiting celebrities were a reasonably common feature. We had a brief tour of the house which had been used by an order of monks called the Maris. The house was a wooden structure and had at one time been further down the hill on a flood plain from the river. The house had been flooded so many times that they decided to cut it with saws and move it up the hill out of harms way. There were photos on the wall documenting this mammoth undertaking. Looking at the house today it was certainly worthwhile.
Our next stop was our last in the North Island as we had arranged to get the ferry over to the South Island the following day with Kath and Sid,who were driving down from friends on the Coromandel Peninsula. We decided to spend the night in Hutt which is just outside Wellington so we were ready for the Ferry the following day. The drive again from Napier was fabulous and made us realise that to make the most of the north you need to spend a lot more time than we did. New Zealand so far is just wonderful we can't wait for the South.
The journey north was fabulous, the scenery a cross between the drama of Australia and the rolling hills of the Devon or Cornwall. On the way we stopped off at the Waiomio Caves. We had seen these signposted from the road. The ticket office was run by a chap called George who was Maori, his wife's family owning the caves. He was a real character and kept us amused while we waited for our guide to come and take us round. We were lucky in that a coach party was leaving as we arrived, so we had our own tour of the caves. It was the first time I had been in a cave with running water and where there was no illumination. The reason for this soon became clear, when the guide switched off her lamp the place was aglow with the light from glow worms which were all over the ceiling and upper walls of the cave. At one point there were so many of them that the light they cast enabled us to see one another in the gloom. It was an awesome experience and like gazing at the stars at night.
Our first stop was in Orewa and gave us the opportunity to stow away our shopping and to find out how the whole campervan thing works. Kath and Sid had hired a car and caught up with us there. They had followed a different route and had been paddling in the sea and lunching on sea food - so a good day, if not a long day was enjoyed by us all.
Kath and Syd had rented one of the cabins on the site and we all had our first night's meal together. At bedtime, it was just the three of us in the van and as there are three double beds we decided to have one each; I have the top bed over the drivers cab, John has the middle bed behind the driver and Jackie the one at the rear of the vehicle. Going to bed is like being in boarding shool, lots of chat in the evenings when we know we should be asleep. All in all a wonderful start to our NZ experience.
The following day, Kath and Syd went their separate way as they were meeting up with an old school friend of Syd's. We arranged to meet back at the ferry on the following Tuesday, for our onward journey South. Jackie, John and I headed north and drove up to the Bay of Islands. Whilst there we decided to take a boat trip round the Bay of Islands as we had heard just how beautiful they were - we were not disappointed. There were some similarities to Halong Bay as some of the Islands were just small limestone outcrops covered in vegetation but others were inhabited and had beautiful houses overlooking the water. The boat picked up some more passengers from Russell, which is a very pretty place and I believe was once going to be the capital of New Zealand, it would have been very picturesque had that happened. We also dropped off some hikers on another Island and later, on the return, we stopped and had some lunch there. This Island had wonderful rolling hills down to the sea and one in particular just needed Julie Andrews to come skipping over singing the theme tune to the Sound of Music as it was just so alike the iconic imagery of that film.
The trip took us around many of the larger Islands and one of the advertised highlights of the trip were to see dolphins which we certainly did. They were performing on cue, jumping out of the water, swimming alonside the boat and generally putting on a show which made everyone Oooh and Ahhh. The other highlight was to drive the boat through 'The Hole in the Rock'. It was one of those times when I was thinking to myself that I could possibly do without this particular highlight. The sea was quite rough and the boat took quite a while lining itself up for the whizz through. I was somewhat reassured that all was going to be OK when I heard an American say that they wouldn't risk a million dollar boat if they weren't confident that they would get through. The fact that I am writing this blog tells you that it was a success.
At lunch time we set of again down the coast heading towards Napier. We wanted to get as far as possible as we were very conscious of the limited time we had in the North. We were so focused on the journey that we did not take into account that fuel stations are few and far between, we were running short of fuel and it was getting late. At Miranda we came to a T junction and a dilemma: left or right. We turned left - wrong - the campsite is right. However, we spotted some camper vans parked by the sea and we had stumbled across a free camping area so decided that this was for us. We had a super evening camped on the beach, which was covered in empty cockle shells, and eating beans on toast. It was funny the next morning we were all packed up and ready to go when I happened to look in the wing mirror and we were about to drive off leaving our table and chairs on the beach.
Our next destination was Rotorua, the land of hot springs and geysers. The journey there is just through more stunning scenery. One thing New Zealand has in spades is beautiful views. For those who have children or grandchildren and have seen the teletubbies, there is a lot of scenery which looks like teletubbie land. Round mounds of grassland which roll and roll away into the distance. In the far distance there are mountains and in the foreground there are gorges cut by tumbling streams. It seems that there are stunning vistas everywhere we go.
As we approached Rotorua you could smell the sulphur in the air. Rotorua and the surrounding area is volcanic, a thin layer of rock riven with a mass of geological faults that allow steam and boiling water to escape into the air. Puffs of steam can be seen in much of the surrounding area. The camp site we stayed at had mineral pools heated by thermal activity. In the evening John, Jackie and I all had a soak on one of the pools which was so hot you had to limit the time in there but I did sleep well that night as it was so relaxing.
The following morning we went across the road to the visitors centre for access to the Geysers. There was a guided tour just about to start so we joined in on this. The Maori guide who took our tour was just lovely and delivered the explanation on Maori culture and history in such a way that we were all engrossed and hanging on his every word. One of the explanations which was particularly enlightening for me was about Maori carvings. It started with the fact that the culture is primarily an oral culture and to remember the stories they have the carvings. He said if you saw a carving of a girl, a cloak and a wolf you would immediately know that this was the story of Little Red Riding Hood. In the same way their carvings remind them of their own stories. Don't you think that is wonderful? The whole of the tour was like that, we all felt it was one of our best experiences this holiday.
From Rotorua we set off for Napier, a bit later than we had intended. The weather was just perfect and when we arrived the sun was still shining even though it was the evening. We decided to have a walk around the town centre and to see the buildings which are all built in the style of the 1920s. The town seems to have retained its integrity as it was rebuilt following a severe earthquake in 1931 which devasted the town and much of the surrounding area. The Napier seafront is also in the Deco style and to add to the atmosphere there was a jazz concert taking place with people sat on deck chairs enjoying the evening. We sat in a cafe having a drink and taking in the atmosphere, it was a perfect time.
On our travels we had been recommended a vineyard in Napier called The Mission so we decided this was worth a visit as it was on our way out of town. The setting was just perfect, this beautiful House set on a hill surrounded by vineyards. The grounds had a couple of nights previously hosted a concert by Sting and I understand that concerts by visiting celebrities were a reasonably common feature. We had a brief tour of the house which had been used by an order of monks called the Maris. The house was a wooden structure and had at one time been further down the hill on a flood plain from the river. The house had been flooded so many times that they decided to cut it with saws and move it up the hill out of harms way. There were photos on the wall documenting this mammoth undertaking. Looking at the house today it was certainly worthwhile.
Our next stop was our last in the North Island as we had arranged to get the ferry over to the South Island the following day with Kath and Sid,who were driving down from friends on the Coromandel Peninsula. We decided to spend the night in Hutt which is just outside Wellington so we were ready for the Ferry the following day. The drive again from Napier was fabulous and made us realise that to make the most of the north you need to spend a lot more time than we did. New Zealand so far is just wonderful we can't wait for the South.
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