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Chris and Charly Down Under

a travel blog by chrischarly

Bye bye tuk tuks
Bye bye negotiating
Bye bye, 'Hello Mister'
Bye bye long bus rides
Bye bye heavy backpacks
Bye bye savings...
And G'DAY 'down under'!

After plenty of time spent in South East Asia, we have just left Australia after having an amazing time driving around for almost 3 months in a camper and are now in New Zealand doing the same :)


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And then the rain came down

Woodville, New Zealand


Red-sky-at-night-shepherds-delight...not

Free camp spot
Woke up and left our free camp, drank some coffee, did a bit of driving and found a place we could secretly freedom camp alongside a River. Enjoyed the brief amount of sunshine there was by Chris going fishing and by me soaking up as much vitamin D as I possibly could before the rain hit.

permalink written by  chrischarly on February 21, 2012 from Woodville, New Zealand
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Boring day, sorry...

Hastings, New Zealand


The river
Well it was predicted to rain today, and yes, rain it did. So we went and hung out in a café, and then another before going to find a paid camp just outside of Hastings which is the ‘driest’ place currently in NZ even though it is still raining here. So we just chilled, caught up with a few things e.g. washing and Chris went for a fish. Apologies- another boring day to both write and read about…

permalink written by  chrischarly on February 22, 2012 from Hastings, New Zealand
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A 660m wharf

Gisborne, New Zealand


The 660m wharf

The wharf


Driftwood
Today we headed up the east coast, stopping a few times for coffee before going to Gisbourne to try and find some cheap or free camps. We had been told there were loads of free places to camp on the east coast, but it was all lies. Same old same old, you can camp if you have a toilet on board, even in places with toilets, go figure! We ended up in Tolega Bay which had a nice long wharf to go down and then to a paid campsite for the night, hoping for better weather soon, anytime soon!

permalink written by  chrischarly on February 23, 2012 from Gisborne, New Zealand
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A wharf, a church and a big tree

Opotiki, New Zealand


The sea from the wharf

The old and falling-apart wharf

Weather was nice today so we had a nice explore up the east coast, stopping at some nice beaches and wharfs for walks.


An old wharf
We then went and checked out an old Mauori church, trying to fit a bit of culture into our trip. It was nice with lots of cool carvings.


Inside the church

Maouri church

We then scooted around the NO FREE CAMPS OR DOC SITES coastline till we got to a place near Opitiki that had a DoC camp, and a free one at that. Problem was the directions were really bad, and unsure if we were going the right way, we managed to somehow find it.


A massive tree

The huge tree

Oh yeah, and we saw an awesome huge tree with a 19m spread! It is very famous around here apparently and the Maouris used to use it for it's healing properties. It was a really interesting drive, down a little track, with a few stream crossings. When we finally got there, it was a cool little camp right next to a stream with lots of Boulders in it, hence the name “Boulders”. Chris went for an “ing” but after all the rain the River was running pretty rapid and not suitable for fishing – another excuse I’m sure. We had the place to ourselves until a nice French fella turned up and we got chatting and got some good info from him.

permalink written by  chrischarly on February 24, 2012 from Opotiki, New Zealand
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A great campsite down a cute permit road

Kawerau, New Zealand


Lots of sheep heading my way
Went from Opotiki to Kawerau to check out another off the track DoC site. At the information office they said we could go on a private road with a permit. It seemed like an adventure so we headed off and found the site pretty easily. It was a nice camp on the side of a lake with a River outlet. There was a walk down the River to a Waterfall, but it was a few hours, so we decided to save it till Sunday. Chris made friends with some Kiwi neighbours and we joined them for some drinks and banter.


permalink written by  chrischarly on February 25, 2012 from Kawerau, New Zealand
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An under-ground river that changes into a waterfall

Kawerau, New Zealand


Waterfall

Fast-flowing river


Chris and I

Lovely clear water


Rapids

Very violent falls


Underground waterfall
We got up and had some energy brekkie before our walk. It was really nice, down the River to a few small Waterfalls and then the River disappeared underground before emerging half way down a Cliff in a really spectacular Waterfall. It was a nice 8km walk, a little bit tough, and I even beat Chris after he slipped over and stretched his leg badly and we managed to venture off into some ‘out-of-bounds’ areas to check out some of the good bits. But Shhh don’t tell the DoC people we went there.


The collapsed bridge

Sneaking past the 'no-go' signs

It was only one collapsed bridge! We got back and had a good feed and chilled out in the sun just as everyone disappeared from the camp and we had it to ourselves.



permalink written by  chrischarly on February 26, 2012 from Kawerau, New Zealand
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Thermally active town

Rotorua, New Zealand


Thermal pools in a park

Natural thermal hot springs
We had a lazy morning before packing up and we moved out towards Rotorua which is a very thermally active area around a lovely lake. The town itself was very touristy but we did manage to find somewhere for Chris to get his head shaved. After this we went for a walk around a local park that had lots of bubbling thermal pools. It was nice to see but very smelly due to all the Sulphur. After this we headed down to a DoC site on a lake which was very nice. Chris went for an “ing”, but to be fair to him he nearly made it into a “fishing”, but as usual… IT GOT AWAY!

permalink written by  chrischarly on February 27, 2012 from Rotorua, New Zealand
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Chris on a kayak!

Rotorua, New Zealand


On the hunt for fish

Chris

We woke up to a nice day and made friends with our neighbours, Ian and Candy. Ian had a kayak and was keen into fishing, but he hadn’t EVER successfully landed a trout. Maybe it’s not just Chris! He went out for a paddle and when he returned offered Chris a go. He was in it in a shot and although said he was only going for a paddle close in, it wasn’t long before we couldn’t see him. Sometime later he returned but without any fish. He had a break and then was off again, it started to rain but that didn’t stop him and he only returned when it got really grotty.


The hook stuck in my finger (not the big one)
We retired to the car to escape the weather but it only got wetter and colder. But when we got back, Chris did actually manage to catch something... my hand in one of his hooks which has been dangling from our mirror in our car. It hurt, a lot and took a lot of pulling. Of course, Chris thought this to be hilarious, but of course he had the third degree for leaving it up there! We went over to Ian and Candy’s for a drink and then Chris made dinner in the rain before an early night.

permalink written by  chrischarly on February 28, 2012 from Rotorua, New Zealand
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Another typical NZ summer's day

Taupo, New Zealand


The most active volcano in NZ
Surprise Surprise, woke up to grey skies but not too much rain, was still pretty cold though. Went “ing” for a bit then packed up and headed to Lake Taupo. Well after driving 50kms in the wrong direction (I of course was blamed as navigator), before finally turning around and going the right way and finding Taupo. Went to the town centre and found a well needed shower before checking out the info centre and finding a free camp not too far from town. Weather still pretty shocking so just chilled and rode it out. Did camp next to a really nice River though, which is the only outlet from Lake Taupo but unfortunately our fishing licence didn’t cover us to get some free dinner.

permalink written by  chrischarly on February 29, 2012 from Taupo, New Zealand
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Some imaginary tourist attraction

Turangi, New Zealand


Fast-flowing water

Huka Falls


Huka Falls
After a night of rain, woke up to find the River at least 1 metre higher than the night before. Packed up and headed downstream to Huka Falls. They are seriously powerful, especially after all the rain. The amount of water flowing can fill 20 Olympic pools every minute. After this we headed south around the very windy and rainy lake before making our way towards a free DoC site and checked out ‘The Pillars of Hercules’. Still have no idea what they were about as we couldn’t see anything that looked like pillars, in fact, nothing interesting at all, apart from a swing bridge which made me dizzy after Chris kept jumping up and down on it.


Imaginary Pillars of Hercules

Swing bridge

I hope the weather gets better soon so these blogs might be more interesting!

permalink written by  chrischarly on March 1, 2012 from Turangi, New Zealand
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