New Zealand North Island

Arrived in Auckland in the evening. being met at the airport by Jody's mum and Maurice (M&M) was quite surreal - meeting some one from back home in New Zealand! But it was really nice to not have to think about where we were going and how we were going to get there on our first night. We spent the first day in Auckland walking around the shops, the harbour and admiring all the boats. In the evening we went up the Sky-tower to view the city from above and we had a lovely meal in the revolving restaurant at the top. It took 60 minutes to go all the way around and we timed it just about right as we got to watch the sun setting just as we were finishing our meal. The next day we all went to pick up our van for our travels around New Zealand, a Wicked Camper van, an old Toyota about 15 years old named ‘Da La Soul’. it was about the worst van we could have been given, beaten, battered and very scruffy, not in a very good shape at all, and we were to find out later that it like to drink, drink petrol. Great we have 2,500 km to travel! so after we had packed up the van and washed everything in it so it felt clean to use, we said goodbye to M&M and headed to the grocery store to stock up. then to a bedding store as it didn’t come with any at all (luckily we have brought our own mini pillows with us). so after all this, we finally hit the road out of Auckland around 2pm! our first stop was Piha, a very pretty beach not far out of Auckland. the scenery is very pretty and the van wasn’t too bad to drive either - although we do get a few looks! we headed south west after that and Waitamo Caves. this is somewhere we had heard a lot about and were keen to see. they didn’t let us down and our guide Norm was brilliant. a real enthusiast for glow worms and caves. he took us on an underground boat trip through a tunnel lit by glow worms. it was quite magical and a bit like being in a fairground ride! we camped locally and did a bush walk early the next morning which was quite pretty and took us through some more caves. peanut butter sarnies are proving the choice for breakfast as the jar and the bread do not need putting in any kind of fridge. just as well as we don’t have a fridge! we took a couple of days to cross country and we headed to Rotorua where we had planned to meet up with M&M again. we could smell Rotorua a mile away as the stink of sulphur was everywhere. most of the bubbling mud and geysers are privately owned and quite pricy to go into, but we had heard about a little river which had thermal waters and was free. so we headed off to Kerosene Creek and took a dip. the only problem was, a) it stank and now we cant get the smell out of our cozzies, and b)it turned Jody’s silver jewellery black! quite an experience though bryan took a trip on his own to go white water rafting one day. Were we went down a grade 5 river, only to find that at the double dipper section of the river a huge bolder had moved and blocked the way, so we spent an hour climbing down the side to get past. All in all it was a good rafting day, just found it a bit tame, perhaps because everything just went okay without a problem. we said cheerio to M&M again - see you in November this time, and headed south again. we found some spectacular waterfalls - Huka Falls which were quite impressive we also found a place called ‘Craters of the Moon’. more like mars but equally as bleak. here we did see bubbly mud and lots of steam coming out of the ground we stopped at a thermal baths near Taupo and they had these cosy private thermal baths. we chose one at 40.5 degrees C which is hotter than my hot tub! quite an experience and all because we were looking for a shower keeping clean has been the hardest thing on this trip. everyone wants to charge you! we have found the swimming pools here really cheap to enter - equivalent of £2 sometimes, so we have a swim then a shower. not so easy when you take the washing up into the pool with you - they don’t like that!!! the scenery on the way has been varying from very green and pretty, to very impressive volcanos and mountain ranges. the drive past Mount Doom (for Lord of the Ring fans)was stunning. Wellington was our last stop in the North Island. here we popped in to say hello to Christine, whom we had met when staying with Dale & Tannis. she let us use the shower and she gave us a very much appreciated home cooked meal which was just the best thing. Wellington itself is quite windy but quite quaint. lots of little wooden house which reminded us of San Francisco. In the harbour were round the world boat teams getting ready to leave a few days later. Good luck to the British chap. one of only 4 left in the race.they were sailing single handed in stages so not something i’d fancy doing. we left Wellington early the next morning - Wednesday 2nd February, on the ferry to the South Island. here’s hoping it will be as nice as the North!!!