Nic's Natural & Inspiring North Island!

Plunging head first into winter after the scorching sunshine of Fiji was a real test of character...luckily, we passed! In Auckland I made it my life's mission to find a cosy coat and hat and succeeded without destroying our budget – in the month that followed I was surgically attached to both items, along with 3 layers of clothes as standard!

New Zealand held mixed emotions for me. I was excited about experiencing the country, especially as so many people we know have recommended it with high praise, but I was also somewhat apprehensive about the living conditions that I felt Sup would be 'subjecting' me to – the dreaded campervan. The idea was to tour both North and South island and to stay mainly in holiday parks, with the potential to stay in the occasional cheap Department of Conservation (DOC) sites if they were decent enough. I was sceptical but trusted in Sup and he did not let me down.

It turns out that touring New Zealand in our campervan was one of the best experiences we have ever had. And Sup had known it would be all along, the cheeky devil!

Sup secured a fantastic deal on our campervan with some serious negotiation which included a discount on our daily rate, snow chains, picnic chairs and our very own travel angel, Barbara the Sat Nav. As a reward, we celebrated at Nandos, the first one we had come across during our world tour, and the reunion was emotional.

We named the campervan Manaia, after the Maori name for Guardian – I felt that we needed some protection and after driving in some incredibly tricky situations and scary conditions, we were extremely pleased that our 'Manny' lived up to his name. Barbara once took us up a mountain with a sheer drop in the pitch black on an icy night, but we won't hold that against her..!

After a few days sorting everything out in Auckland, including stocking up on snacks and 7 huge bags of pasta for a

starch filled month of gas cooking in our van, we headed off to our first destination – the delightfully fragrant Rotorua. For those not familiar with the place, it is famous for its thermal pools and distinctive sulphur, or 'rotten egg' smell...!! We visited an area of natural thermal pools in the town with bubbling mud puddles and steaming sulphur lakes and it was incredibly atmospheric.

Having missed out on the opportunity in California, we decided that a walk through a Redwood tree forest would be a great experience and we enjoyed a long, and at times steep, walk through the tallest trees I have ever seen - truly magnificent. At the very top we were also treated to views of steaming geysers which was quite a show.

Of course we were in a place famous for thrills and adrenaline so it would have been rude not to have indulged a little...
The Swoop was a sky high bungy sort of thing – we were strapped together and hoisted up 40 meters into the air, and Sup was responsible for pulling the cord that plummeted us down to the ground. Had I been responsible, we would still be up there now. After taking my hand and making sure I wasn't hyperventilating from the sheer drop (OK, I was a little) Sup bravely counted down to our doom and suddenly our hearts were above our heads and we were rushing towards the ground and then swinging majestically like a pendulum. Was it worth it? Ahh, hell yeah!

Needing a little peace to recover from the excitement of the day, we took a walk after the sun went down by Lake Rototua and took in the almost ethereal view.

The holiday parks were nice little places to stay, and although the nights were cold, we were toasty warm snuggled up in our little mobile home.

The next stop on our journey was the town of Taupo situated like Rotorua on a beautiful lake. We visited a site called 'Craters of the Moon' and walked around a large field of steaming fumeroles and giant craters burping with gloopy mud. With no other person around, it looked as though we were the only survivors of Earth's destruction, or a nuclear holocaust – spooky, atmospheric and pretty cool. Sup continued on with his vast collection of leaflets, which seemed to take over the whole of our van – New Zealand certainly knows how to promote, that's for sure.

The next day we had a spectacular walk along the Huka River, with its crystal clear water and beautiful surroundings, up to the Huka Falls. The falls were impressive, but it was the rush of violent water leading to the falls that really caught our eye – thousands of gallons gushing down the river, foaming and frothing, resembling nothing of the calm clear river it came from. It was raw nature and a testament to its beauty and its danger.

As I was becoming a natural at driving our monster campervan, we decided to take the scenic route on to the next town, known as The Forgotten Highway. It was winter so we barely saw a soul and we loved the isolated surroundings, feeling as though New Zealand belonged to the two of us. The drive took hours and hours, but chocolate chip cookies kept us going, and the views were wonderful. Rolling pyramid-shaped hills and steep valleys dominated the scenery, and as the weather was still wet the deep green and yellow colours really stood out, at times being very similar to that of the English countryside. Driving from one place to another by this time had become as much an experience as each new destination and we loved the freedom of cruising around, stopping for photos whenever we wanted (often in the middle of the road!) and watching the background change around us.

The Forgotten Highway brought us finally to Tongariro National Park. Sup had his heart set on a day long guided alpine crossing through the park, but unfortunately no trips were running due to the weather.

That didn't stop us though! We drove to the start of the crossing and then walked the beginning ourselves, taking in awesome views and feeling like the only people on earth in the deserted vast expanse of mountains and valleys. After a steep and rocky climb, we decided that we should turn back as the crossing had promised in the leaflets to be tricky. Right on cue the clouds erupted on us, showering us with cold rain as we sheepishly walked 45 minutes back to the van, soaked through to our bones and glad that we had been smart enough not to continue.

By this time we had figured out a way to save money – free camping. We decided that every third night we would stay in a holiday park for decent showers and to power up the camera, and the other two nights we would find a suitable place to park ourselves up without being disturbed. It worked very well and we were proud to be hardcore! We were also rewarded with waking up to some of the most amazing natural views.

After our antics in Tongariro National Park, we continued on to Wanganui where we were met by the gorgeous Lake Virginia. We spent some time walking around the lake, feeding a few of the thousands of ducks and visiting the bird sanctuary, as well as the indoor botanical gardens, before an over zealous goose chased us back into our van! We spent the night by the lake and then took a scenic drive the next day on the Wanganui River Road.

The Wanganui River Road was a scenic loop following, you guessed it, the river. Much like The Forgotten Highway, it gave us impressive scenery and we enjoyed cruising around at our leisure, pleased to have visited NZ in winter. We were told by locals that in summer the road becomes one giant traffic jam.

Our final stay in the North Island brought us to Wellington, ready to catch the ferry with our van onto South Island. We spent the day strolling through a museum and admiring the town and the picturesque harbour. We had to take a bit of time out to get a garage to fix our windscreen wipers as they were near useless in the driving rain, and then we were free again to enjoy the rest of our day, stopping in a park for some childlike fun in the playground and on the Flying Fox!

The following day we went for a walk at Charles Plimmer Park and had a lot of fun on the swings that someone had constructed high up in the trees overlooking a view of the whole town. We then climbed further to enjoy a gorgeous panoramic view before coming back down to earth to make our way to the ferry.

North Island was filled with wonderful surprises and was a real chance to let go, to experience nature and the simple life, and to learn more about ourselves and each other. It allowed me to conquer my fear of camping (!) and opened our eyes to a beautiful world. But for everything North Island had been to us, South Island was about to blow us away...

written by

SupandNic on July 16, 2010 from Auckland, New Zealand

from the travel blog: Sup and Nic's World Tour!

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