New Zealand!

After our remaining few days in Fiji, where our team of twelve said emotional farewells to one another and, of course, to the emerald islands we had called home for five weeks, Jen and myself departed for Auckland, New Zealand. Being rather optimistic (or other people may call it ignorant) about Kiwi weather, I found myself wearing beach attire on the flight and I was in for somewhat of a shock when we stepped out of Auckland airport into our first taste of NZ winter weather. However before I could deal with my slight clothing issue, we were whisked away by shuttle bus and taken to our campervan rentals depot.

We were quickly briefed and soon we were on the open road in our new camper, ‘Ted’, yet we had quite literally no idea where we were. Despite this, we found a supermarket, stocked up on vital supplies (including blonde hair dye) and navigated our way to a campsite in Remeura, a suburb of Auckland, where we started to acclimatise. It was on that same evening that I made a decision, that would effect and continue to effect my physical appearance to this day; to utilise the recently purchased hair dye. With the aid of Jen, (who may it be known did a fantastic job of fully covering my brown head of hair with the blonde dye) I was under the impression I would emerge from the shower with a tone of hair reminiscent of the colour I sported only year ago. However as I wiped the condensation from the bathroom mirror and peered through the mist at my reflection I was in for a shock, a gingery shock. Needless to say, the attempt to dye my hair had gone rather awry and I now bear the shame of an angry ginger muff, lesson learnt the hard way (and hopefully that explains why I am wearing a hat in most of my NZ photos!)
After a couple of days in Auckland, where we briefly met up with Emma S from our Fiji expedition, saw the sites and vitally stocked up on some cheap warm clothes, we started out on our tour of North Island. Heading east from the city, we negotiated the winding coastal roads of the Coromandel Peninsula, stopping off at towns Miranda and then Thames where, to our disbelief, we coincidentally met Emily from Fiji in a supermarket! After a second goodbye, she headed to Rotorua with the Kiwi Experience, whilst we headed north toward Coromandel on what we were told by many was some of the most beautiful coastline in all of NZ. Yet our hopes were soon dampened as a very wet weather front moved in and all the beautiful scenery was shrouded by heavy showers and fog. This relentless rain did not cease for two straight days and caused flash flooding in Auckland, meanwhile we continued  around the peninsula the following day to Hot Water Beach. Famous for its ‘hot’ natural pools on the beach, I was keen to get involved, so I stripped down to swim shorts to scout out the pools, a decision I would soon regret. Whilst Jen found a local café to warm up and have a chai latte, I was lashed with a biting high wind and freezing rain so upon finding the pools to say I was fairly cold would be an understatement. As a result, I’m afraid to say when I eventually found the pools, I took total disregard of the several elderly couples stewing away, and eagerly leapt in the nearest one that was free. However it was within the space of about five seconds that I was back out of the pool cursing under my breath, the reason being that the natural water wasn’t hot at all , it was boiling. Being rather disgruntled, I trudged back to the camper and we made our way to Waihi Beach where we endured the rest of the shoddy weather.

The following day we headed inland to Matamata in an attempt to escape the appalling weather. Though, we also visited this small farming community because it is home to the set of Hobbiton from The Lord of the Rings! (It may now be a good time to explain to people who don’t know that I am somewhat of a LOTR freak, being a huge fan since the tender age of twelve. For this reason I took it upon myself to visit as many sets and filming locations from the movies during our time here. However I will try to keep my LOTR descriptions and discoveries to a minimum in attempt not to bore you.) Thankfully when we reached the farmland on which the set has been permanently built, the rain had stopped completely and the sun was trying to come out, in my humble opinion, conditions were perfect. During the two hour tour which I highly recommend to anyone, we passed such Hobbit abodes as Bag End and we were even allowed inside one of the homes. Due to the set being so large and utterly convincing, apart from the abundance of Japanese tourists, it really felt as if one was in the movie and I came out of the tour on a high on which I don’t think I have yet come down from.
We spent that same night in Rotorua, a lakeside town, with some spectacular scenery. The following morning we drove up to the locally famous Blue and Green Lakes, which lie at the roots of mount Tarawera, an active volcano. However the lakes were shrouded with a thick mist, so instead of waiting around for it to clear we headed to Taupo, a city which lies on the northern shore of Lake Taupo which is the crater of one of the two only active supervolcanoes in the world! On the way to the city, we drove down ‘The Thermal Explorer Highway’, a fitting name, as we could look north, south, east or west and we could see signs to geysers, hot springs, hot mud pools, or the natural wonders themselves. One of these wonders was Kerosene Creek, a piping hot river reaching highs of forty degrees which, of course, I couldn’t resist, so we parked up and I took the plunge. Unlike Hot Water Beach, the water wasn’t scolding and thankfully there were no OAP’s slowly cooking in the vicinity. The only problem; I left the water carrying an odour of rotten eggs that clung to me for the rest of the day until I showered in Taupo.
We left the lakeside city the following day for Napier on the east coast, and after a long day of driving we parked up the camper mere inches from the charcoal black sanded beach and headed to one of the many local wineries the area is famous for. After a very delicious free wine tasting session, sampling ten scrumptious wines, we headed back to the campervan where Jen inevitably went for an impromptu wine snooze, whilst I went for coastal walk in the cool winter sunshine. That same evening we decided to go back to the same winery, indulge in much more of the wine we had earlier tasted. We then headed into the city, went to a few bars, however, I soon noticed that Jen was snoozing again, so we retreated to bed. After a rather hungover skype session with home, we departed down the coast toward Wellington, stopping off at Masterton. On that very journey, after stopping off at a Kiwi sanctuary below Mount Bruce, I was forced to pull over the vehicle because I thought we had a puncture. The steering became very queer all of a sudden, yet when I inspected the tyres everything was in tiptop shape. It was only later that we found out we had driven during an earthquake and the seismic waves had affected the cars steering!

Before reaching Wellington, we decided to hike up to the Putangirua Pinnacles which again featured in LOTR as the ‘Dimholt Road’. The Pinnacles are naturally formed towering limestone rock faces weathered over millions of years by wind and water in to huge mythical shapes and structures. The same night we spent the night in Upper Hutt, a suburb of New Zealand’s capital, and stayed up till 5am in a freezing campsite kitchen to watch the Wimbledon men’s final on a tiny 10in X 10in TV with terrible reception. I don’t think I need to tell you more other than it was a very cold and disappointing affair. Upon arriving in Wellington, which is considerably smaller than Auckland, we spent the afternoon walking around art galleries and museums. On our second and final day in the city, whilst Jen spent another sight seeing, I decided to go on a rather nerdy eight hour Lord of the Rings set locations tour in and around the city. Over the course of the day, we were taken to such locations as Isengard, Rivendell, Helms Deep, Minas Tirith, Outer Shire and many more. At the end of the day we were also taken to the Weta Cave to see how the CGI and special effects were done in the films and then to Stone Street Studios to see where the rest of the trilogy was shot!

The following day we left the capital and we headed north toward Fielding to visit Jen’s kiwi relatives. As we left the urban sprawl and made our way north close to Palmerstone North the landscape gradually started to look more and more like the valleys of Wales. The only few things that reminded us that we were thousands away from home were the Fern Trees (exotic looking and local to NZ) and the white peaks of the Ruahine Range soaring into the sky in the east. Jen’s relatives who we stayed with were sheep farmers and it was very refreshing to live within an agricultural setting for three days. We were welcomed very warmly into the household of Richard, Rachel, Emma and Daniel Pettigrew and upon our arrival we were offered a delicious lunch and a beer instantly appeared in my hand (naturally I felt right at home.) We were given a tour of the farmland and local area during the afternoon and in the evening Rachel cooked us roast pork (which coincidently was the first roast either of us had laid eyes on let alone eaten since leaving the UK in May) whilst Richard made sure we always had a drink in hand. Needless to say I had one too many and unsurprisingly it was my turn for a booze snooze in the guest bedroom. The following day Emma, Jen and myself went for lunch at Norman and Jill’s home (parents of Rachel and godparent of Jen‘s Dad) where we were joined by Jill’s sister Bridget and again over a lovely meal Jen was told about the very confusing history of her family (her grandmother and Jill are double cousins; Jen’s grandmother’s mother married Jill’s mother’s brother… very complicated) and about those who moved over to New Zealand in the 1940’s. That same evening back on the farm we went out Possum hunting. For those of you who do not know Possums are a cross between a rat, squirrel and monkey. For several hours we went around by quad bike with two rifles whilst Rachel shone a powerful light into the trees where the Possums were lurking. NZ farmers hunt Possums because they spread TB and their fur is worth $100 per kg. We were shooting late into the night which meant getting up in the morning when we left the Pettigrews all the more difficult. We left the farmhouse fed up, looking much healthier, however not looking forward to our first night in two sleeping back in camper.

After leaving Fielding we were met by some astounding views of the snowy white mountain peaks that fill the Tongariro National Park. We made our way back up north from Feilding passing through Turangi and Cambridge, however another awful weather front moved in and we hardly left the camper due to the severity of the rain storms. When the rain eventually started to subside we spent a night in the rolling fir covered hills of Waingaro, in what was probably the creepiest campsite in the world. As we paid our fee at the gate and made our way up to our allotted spot, we realised that all around us coiled the skeleton of an old water park. The pools were all a murky brown and the old faded slides were caked in dirt. (It reminded us both of the stereotypical haunted carnival that feature in horror films). The campsite was also home to a rather loony old crone called Rose, who made a habit of calling Jen, Jan and myself David, and also kept warning us not to make a mess?!  Unsurprisingly we made a quick escape the following morning when we heard the river levels were rising which would in turn trap us there for the at least another night of horror.

We made our way north of Auckland and into the most amazing clear blue skies and sunshine to visit more of Jen’s relatives who live in Mangawhai Heads: Pat and Beatrice. Living in a beautiful area that reminded me of the affluent neighbourhoods you see in the California we were both taken in by the sunny and stunning views. On top of that the coastline is one of the most popular for surfers in all of NZ! Like the Pettigrews they cooked us up a feast and we were later joined by their children who brought pictures of Jen’s Dad looking very youthful and again gave Jen lots of family history. We left them this morning and we tried to explore as much of the Northlands as humanly possible in one day, visiting Waipu, Whangarei, Matapouri and Matakohe. Thankfully due to the subtropical climate of Northlands we have experienced some amazing sunny hot weather, and it is truly bizarre that Kiwi’s call this winter! 

Tomorrow we part with our campervan and spend two more days in Auckland before we fly out to Hong Kong and start our tour of Eastern Asia. New Zealand is such a beautiful country and even though it is a real shame we could not find the time to explore South Island, we have been travelling to different locations on North Island on a day to day basis. We driven over through some of the most beautiful contrasting scenery and met so many lovely people, especially the family that Jen has out here. I can only hope that I can return to New Zealand within the next few years before its too late so I can fully appreciate what this country has to offer, because three weeks is nowhere near enough time to fully travel a country that offers so much.