4th – Flew to Auckland to pick up Harakeke, our campervan for the next twenty-something days. Got supplies and went to Otamure to spend the night with high hopes for NZ.
5th – Spent a lazy morning at the beach and drove north to the Bay of Islands.
6th – Sailed around the islands on an 80ft sailing boat built for the late Sir Peter Blake to compete in the 1985/86 Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race, in which it finished second. It also won the 1984 Sydney to Hobart Race. Brilliant experience being on such a fantastic boat and even had a pod of several dolphins playing around the bow on our outward journey. Bonus! Also paid for an incredibly disappointing Maori culture display. Booo!
7th – Drove north again to Cape Reinga, the northern-most tip of the north island and walked about 100 metres of 90-mile beach.
8th – Drove south from Hokianga area to Wenderholme to visit more rustic beaches.
9th – Drove to Auckland.
10th – Drove to the Coromandel Peninsula and visited Cathedral Cove and had a bizarre and surreal experience at the originally named Hot Water Beach where you dig a hole, which fills up with hot water and hey presto, you have your own personal hot spring.
11th – Drove to Rotorua.
12th – Visited one of many thermal geoparks around Rotorua. Unique experience exploring the geothermal activity for which geologists would turn down sex.
13th – Went to Lake Taupo, a beautiful lake in a volcanic crater containing crystal clear water where we had a swim while keeping a keen eye on any volcanic activity.
14th – Wellington, aka the windy city. Visited Te Papa museum and saw the world’s only giant squid on display. And it was a giant.
15th – Ferry to south island where we immediately found a spot to grab a few hours sleep as a night in the queue for the ferry the night before was hardly profitable. Drove west to Nelson and stayed at what amounted to nothing more than a trailer park. No wonder it was a bargain.
16th – Visited much heralded national park, Abel Tasman. Or at least it would have been if it wasn’t pissing it down with rain. Went for an hour’s walk but essentially, owing to the weather, nothing to see here people, move on.
17th – Drove the wild and woolly west coast and visited the ‘pancake rocks’ and Hokitika beach that contained more driftwood than we had ever seen and made us ponder over the possibilities. Slept at lake Mahinapua.
18th – Went to Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers. Fox glacier, incidentally, was named after a former Prime Minister Sir William Fox, who narcissistically named it after himself in 1872. Interestingly, Franz Josef usually advances at a rate of one metre per day, but sometime ramps up to five metres per day – ten times faster than the Swiss Alps' glaciers. Visited Kiwi sanctuary to see the fiercely nocturnal New Zealand icons.
19th – Drove from Fox Glacier to Lake Wannaka where we met many retired Americans touring in shoebox campervans so removed from what they’re used to. Don and Judy from Texas, for example, usually roll in a full-size rockstar-style bus that makes a National Express look small, while towing a full-size Hummer behind. Unbelievable. Well, what else are they gonna drive around in, it is Texas!
21st – Drove to Queenstown, the extreme sports capital, which was more akin to a snowy resort in the Alps except, because of the time of year, there was no snow. Explored pretty town and ate fish and chips on the lake front.
22nd – Drove to Te Anu to stay the night before heading out to Milford Sound the following morning.
23rd – Drove to Milford Sound, a picturesque but overrated experience that frankly, wasn’t worth the long drive. It was overcast and raining on the day we went, which was supposed to be the best conditions for seeing the area but the jury is well and truly out on this one. Of course, since the weather is regularly like this here, my cynical side tells me that they have to promote this or they’ll have no visitors. My realistic side bluntly acknowledges that the whole thing is bollocks.
23rd – Drove to Milford Sound, a picturesque but overrated experience that frankly, wasn’t worth the long drive. It was overcast and raining on the day we went, which was supposed to be the best conditions for seeing the area but the jury is well and truly out on this one. Of course, since the weather is regularly like this here, my cynical side tells me that they have to promote this or they’ll have no visitors. My realistic side bluntly acknowledges that the whole thing is bollocks.
24th – Drove to Dunedin and the Otago peninsula to see Yellow-Eyed Penguins. Usually one has to jump on the tourist conveyor belt that pulls wads of money out of your pocket as you move along just to see these little guys. But we read about a beach where we could see them for free and in their most natural surroundings. It was a bit of a trek but we saw two clumsily make their way up the dunes to their burrows. At the end of the same beach, big male sealions noisily fought for dominance by butting chests and barking. Scary. But we did get to pretend we were David Attenborough for a brief spell and that was worth it alone.
25th – We went to a beach to see the quirky Moereki boulders, huge and cool marble-like rocks formed over thousands of years of weathering that were the subject of a long photoshoot. Visited Omaru, also known as Penguin Town for their obvious public displays of affection for the little critters. Drove to Christchuch to spend the night.
26th – Drove to Kaikoura, a place famous for the whales that pass through during migration and subject place for the brilliant film Whale Rider. Must-see film by the way. Stayed at Christchurch again.
27th – After getting the van sorted for handing back we hit Christchurch, though we had significantly less of an impact than the volcano a couple of months previous. Weirdly, random scattered buildings were affected rather than a concentrated area but the devastation was plain to see nevertheless. Flew to Perth to continue our Aussie adventure.
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