Having left Rotorua our destination became the small town of Opotiki by the coast in the Bay of Plenty. There was nothing particular to see in the town but it was the start of the Pacific Coast Highway which runs round the East Cape, and is one of the best coastal roads in the country. Our two day drive around the cape would pass through some very remote towns so we decided to pay for a powered site the night before embarking on the drive. Our campsite for the evening was owned by an Englishman who I really wish had been confined to our own country rather than being let out to engage with other nationalities. He was an angry miserable git. On our arrival he barely let us leave the reception as he thought that we wanted to hear his one-sided, stereotypical views on young travellers in campervans. He was clear to point out he didn't mean me and Linz but specifically those with the super budget vans who he summed up as all being ignorant, selfish youths who had no time for anyone but themselves. Frankly, he was as ignorant to what was going on outside his park as he made these people out to be. I’d have liked to correct him but seeing as we were staying at his place decided to let it slide.
The following morning we had more issues with our leaky grey water tube. Spotting the opportunity to speak to his only customers again, the git soon joined me by the van but actually pointed out the problem. We were missing a vital O-ring which would seal the connection. He could have just left it there but he decided to continue the story of his life until I had to pull out a line to do with being in a hurry, at which point he reluctantly let me go.
The I-Site in Opotiki was only small and the lady I there was only working there as a temporary favour, but it was actually a very useful stop. She handed over a free guide to the East Coast road pointing out what we would see at various distances and gave us information of a cheap campsite. So, having filled the van with diesel due to the lack of fuel stops on the cape, we set off.
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| Views were this good all day on the East Coast |
Our initial scepticism regarding the weather in a New Zealand winter was starting to fade as we had awoken to another sunny day. We knew the Pacific Coast Highway would be a good looking road but in reality it puts up a serious challenge to the Great Ocean Road for scenery and views. The road rises and falls around the cliffs as it passed around large and small bays offering spot after spot where we could have got out to take photos. The I-Site had warned us although we could do the road in one day that we would have too much to see that two days is more realistic. I completely see why. We stopped for lunch upon a hill overlooking Hick’s Bay where we could indulge ourselves in our standard lunches which hadn’t changed since Australia. After a filling peanut butter sandwich (or ham, cheese and cucumber if you’re Linz) we continued down the hill to the small town of Te Araroa.
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| We came across this river having drifted inland |
As we sat and had our late lunch the weather had started to turn so we decided to go no further than here for day one, hoping to finish the road the following day in good weather again. Other reasons for stopping here were because it was the tip of the cape and about half way, but also because of its proximity to the East Cape Lighthouse. The lighthouse is apparently the first thing in the world to see the sun each day and the prospect of being able to say we were the first people in the world to see the sun the following day was one we both liked. That evening we got our first taste of being somewhere completely remote as we had no phone signal and saw very few people except for the local Maori people.
In order to see the sunrise form the lighthouse we obviously had to be awake before light, and based on local information we would need to leave an hour before we needed to be there. This meant leaving at 6:15am but the reward for getting to the lighthouse made it slightly easier. However, in order to get there on time we would need a smooth journey. This was not to be as we hit our first obstacle before even covering a metre. In fact covering that first metre was the obstacle as we had become bogged down overnight. Consequently Linz had to jump into the driver’s seat for the first, and only, time in New Zealand as I had to push from behind. Linz didn't like the prospect of dealing with being stuck in the mud in a seven metre automatic so I had to run a few of the basics through with her first. Conveniently during the lesson we became surrounded with local Maoris who it seemed were already awake and up for helping. This meant I could get back in the driver’s seat, much to Linz’s relief, and slowly we managed to get the van out. Of course this meant that once again we had made a thorough mess of a campsite’s grass.
Within a few minutes of leaving the park we drove through the small village and started the 21km gravel track which lead to the lighthouse. The van dealt with the large gravel very well but we soon found ourselves face to face with our second and third obstacles. The horses we came across in the road panicked and ran off themselves, but the boulders which had fallen into the road overnight were slightly more annoying. Most of it was smaller rocks we could drive round but the larger one needed to be shifted manually, but we managed it and soon reached the lighthouse. Well, sort of.
The lighthouse is in fact at the base of a rather substantial set of stairs which we have heard to include anywhere from 600 to 984 steps. Given by this point the sky was becoming rather bright it was seeming considerably less likely that we would be at the top of the list of people to see the sun that day. To get to the first step we actually had to open a farmer’s fence, walk through their horse field and passed the house which seemed odd but we had been warned of this before so continued on. The stairs were a bit of a slog and it took quite a while to complete them, but we made it to the top in time to see the sun. Not in time to see it rise but at least before it set.
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| Having reached the lighthouse |
The lighthouse itself was your standard white lighthouse with fairly good views especially down into the valley below as we could make out the beast which is our van. Having been beaten by the sun we retreated back down the stairs, much faster than we had climbed them, and got back to the van. The drive along the gravel road back to Te Araroa was much easier in the daylight and soon enough we were back on the tarmac of the Pacific Coast Highway. The tarmac did at least offer us a tiny reward for our efforts in the form of a small purple Hot Wheels car we picked up off the road. I actually saw it as we drove over it, stopped the van, and reversed back twenty metres in order to claim this minute consolation. It took pride of place on the dashboard where it will remain until we drop the van off in Christchurch.
Our second day on the East Cape wasn't quite so clear as the day before and the road headed slightly inland so it couldn’t quite match up, however even a lesser day still throws up fantastic scenery in this country. At one point we came across a couple of farmers herding their cows across the road so being a sensible driver I stopped at a good distance and put my hazard warning lights on. No one told me this is not usual practice when dealing with a hundred cows. Within seconds a few cars had appeared behind me at which point the immediately overtook me, each making a point to stare at me, and then continue to plough directly through the centre of the herd. Not wishing to be left alone on the wrong side of the cows I followed in behind them praying a cow didn't decided to jump in front of the van or lash out. Thinking back on it I'm not sure how capable a cow is at “lashing out” at anything, but it was an odd situation anyway.
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| Part of the herd |
We stopped in the town of Gisborne for lunch before decided we still had time to make it inland to Lake Taupo before their I-Site closed. It was no common to make sure we got somewhere before the I-Site closed so we could find out if it was legal to freedom camp, and if so where we should go. Just like we had encountered all over the East Cape, the journey to Taupo took us through pine tree covered hills. Unfortunately we would see far too many hills completely decimated by deforestation. Although this poses a threat to the natural balance of the country I was more concerned with the immediate effect it had on our health. If there’s one thing deforestation needs its logging truck and lots of them. We saw considerably more of these double trailer vehicles than standard cars and on winding roads than can come out of nowhere.
With time to spare we emerged from the mountains to a great view of the 606-square kilometre lake and soon enough found ourselves in the town of Taupo itself. The wind had picked up over lake causing it to be rather choppy but the weather was still good enough to make out snowy mountains on the far side of it to the south. The I-Site gave us the great news than just down the road there was actually a car park which didn't just allow campervans, but almost encouraged it. When we got their we found signs for the first time welcoming us and saying we were allowed to stay for two nights free of charge. Even better when you consider this car park was directly beside the lake.
The majority of activities and sights available in Taupo are in fact outside the town itself so the following morning we headed north in search of Huka Falls just a few kilometres away. Lake Taupo drains into New Zealand’s longest river called the Waikato River, and at one point passes through a chasm less than 15 metres wide. Some much water being pushed through such a small crack in the rock results in some incredibly fast flowing, and loud, water. At the end of the chasm the water plummets 10 metres over the falls themselves making for a very spectacular section of river. Although being just a river and a relatively low waterfall I was surprisingly entertain by it and we planned to return later to see it again.
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| 200,000 litres of water passing over Huka Falls per second! |
All our sights for the day we along the same stretch of road, so following on from the falls we headed for the Volcanic Activity Centre. This centre would give us some background on all the seismic goings-on in the area and we came here next as later on we were heading to another volcanic area, similar to Wai-O-tapu in Rotorua, which we wanted to know a little more about. The centre sounded impressive but having entered we were rather taken by surprise to find it was just one room, unless you count the wardrobe sized earthquake simulator. In fact they probably could have saved money by using an actually wardrobe and just pay someone to shake it as customers sit inside it, seeing as that’s what it felt like. Other than watching a few short films on recent eruptions in the area the highlight was a working seismograph recording all earthquake activity in New Zealand. On any ordinary day this would not be very interesting at all but at around 9:30am that morning Christchurch had been hit by an earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale, and first hearing this news from a genuine seismograph was amazing. A Facebook check later that day let us know that Claire and Andy from Australia, who had just landed in Christchurch, were actually there during it. We left the centre a little disappointed with it size but given that it cost a couple of pounds couldn’t really complain.
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| Arriving at the Volcanic Discovery Centre |
If we were to complain about anything this day it would be our next stop. Just south of the centre we visited the Craters of the Moon described as a similar attraction to Wai-O-tapu. If I owned Wai-o-tapu and my business was being liked to Craters of the Moon I would be gutted as the later is plain and simply terrible. In forty five minutes we walked around what can only be described as an area of steamy bushes. There is one boardwalk around the park which passes so called points on interest but each time we got to one it was nothing more than a tiny hole in the floor surrounded by some ferns. Even their larger craters had nothing in them. I think it was out of desperation that I felt the need to take photos of empty craters as they had nothing else going for them. We think maybe it was due to how good Wai-O-tapu was that we thought this would be just as good.
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| Craters of the Moon...rather tame |
We stopped briefly at a honey farm to get some free tasters before moving onto Aratiatia rapids. The rapids were fairly impressive and we could enjoy a bit of a walk to get to the view point which made for a nice trip, before heading back to Huka Falls. As we had enjoyed the falls so much earlier we opted to take a brief walk down to the western side of the river which was not as accessible as the eastern side we had been to earlier. Here we got to enjoy the falls from the our own private viewing point as not many people seem to come that way before driving back to town and our second night of free camping by the lake. There was little to report from that night except Linz had to do her first of a few trips to McDonalds to steal salt sachets rather than pay for an entire shaker from the supermarket.
We woke up the next day eager to visit an attraction of Taupo that we had seen on our arrival in town but had yet to do. This of course was the “Superloo” which was no ordinary public toilet as it had toilets, showers and even its own receptionist. Having paid our 50cents each we entered, via turnstiles, and emerge later to find that actually there is very little super about them. And we had been looking forward to it for so long.
After a brief wander round the town centre we left Taupo having had an excellent couple of days. The lake itself looks just as good as all the other lakes New Zealand has to offer, although we didn't get perfect weather, and the town is a lovely little place filled with small shops and restaurants. We could stay long that morning as we planned to tackle the 375km journey to the capital city of Wellington at the very bottom of the north Island.
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| Me with Mount Ruapehu. Bloody Power lines |
In case these blogs haven’t already revealed enough about my enjoyment of wizard based fiction, we now came to a point where we could get some Lord of the Rings action. Seeing as the entire trilogy was filmed in New Zealand we were always going to come across filming location and we had both been rather excited about this. Today we would be driving passed Mount Ngauruhoe which is more commonly known as Mount Doom. We also passed Mount Raupehu which, as the Volcanic Activity Centre had taught us, had violently exploded in 1996 so identifying which was which was a little hard but in the end we worked it out. Frodo and Sam make it much harder to reach Mount Doom than it needed to be, Highway 1 goes straight passed it.
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| A snowy Mount Doom |
As we reached Wellington it was getting dark so we just planned to find the campsite for the evening before doing anything else. Known as Windy Welly we could easily see where the nickname came from as I found myself once again having to fight a campervan to stay on the road. This was the first time in almost two months in campervans that we came across as campsite which was fully booked so had to come up with a plan B. Seeing as we’ve been getting by without an atlas and had no Wellington map or battery on the laptop, finding a new site was a little hard, but we managed it. The new site was fine but will always be remembered for the owner who was the complete opposite of the tool we encountered in Opotiki. He was incredibly laid back insisting that we take long showers and had a lie in, refusing to give us a check out time and ensuring that we just do what we liked. We had to let a bit of casual racism from him slide but other than that he was a good lad and we were very pleased to come across his campsite.
Being a Saturday night it was becoming traditional to have the weekly Mogridge family Skype session including James, by now in Cambodia, and the parents in exotic North Holmwood. The drive in to the town centre wasn't so fun as the rain was pretty heavy and the wind only seemed to get stronger. In addition we were now taking the van into its first major city in the dark and had to find a place to park. We surprisingly found an outdoor car park which we made a note of on the map as we would need to use it tomorrow as well.
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| Looking down on Wellington from Mount Victoria |
Having decided to make the most of our one full day in the capital we opted not to utilise our lie in time and made it into town fairly early. Once again we parked up in the car park from the previous night but had no choice but to take up two spaces rather than stick out into the road. By now you really should be able to predict how we tackled Wellington to begin with: a trip to the I-Site followed by the sightseeing bus. John’s City Tour, which was not lead by John, took us round town including a trip up Mount Victoria which both offered good views of the city but also gave us the chance to claim we had been to another Lord of the Rings filming location. The tour was just in a minibus so our excellent driver was able to make the tour a bit more personal and chat to us as he drove. So much of Wellington is built on hills to such an extent that houses have to have their own personal monorail lifts which take them from the road up to their house on the hill.
It was during this tour that our Lord of the Rings nerdiness peaked as we took a trip to Weta Cave. Rather than be an actual cave, Weta Cave is simply a small museum filled with props and other equipment from films that Weta (the name of the company) have worked on, most significantly Lord of the Rings. We had a good time there and had our photos taken with a couple of characters, however I will leave there. I promise I will mention Lord of the Rings no more...on this post.
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| Showing up at Weta |
The stop here was part of John’s tour so after we left the museum we finished our loop of the town. Wellington has some very nice colonial buildings and even continues to build houses in this style today resulting in some very attraction neighbourhoods.
Today we had to sort out our ferry tickets to get us from the North Island to the South Island the following day, however we had some issues with what type of vehicle we had to register the van as so headed to one of the two ferry companies to talk to them. The price for two people and a campervan is $403 however the price for two people and a commercial van is just $265, so we couldn't see why our campervan, which was built to be a commercial van before it was re-fitted, should be charged so much more. We went to the ticket booth 99% sure that we would have to pay the campervan rate so really we were just wanted an explanation for the price difference considering there is no difference when on board between us and a van. It all kicked off.
On the outside it would look like I was getting angry at the man at the ticket booth, however inside I was genuinely enjoying the challenge of making this man see my point. What started as a simple question escalated to him getting a massive rage on and coming out with silly comments, where as all I wanted him to say was “Yes, I see your point but there’s nothing I can do about it seeing as I just press buttons all day”. The highlight for me was when we suggested I use his phone to ring head office, at which point I countered his empty threat by saying “Yes please” and watched him squirm as he tried to back out of it. In the end we opted to go with their competitor.
I'm not sure where I stand with regards to karma, but maybe toying with this man’s anger resulted in us returning to the van to find a parking fine under our windscreen wiper. We had been penalised for taking up two spaces but only paying for one. Clearly still in the mood to argue with someone I headed off in search of the car park office and soon returned with the relevant appeal form. After a good deal of thinking I had summed up our views in the box available as well as an extra sheet of notepad paper stapled to the back. Among other issues we had with the fine our main one was that the parking officer watched us park and then walked passed us without saying anything, only to slap a fine on us after we had left. Slimy witch.
Amazingly even in the capital city we found an area which permitted freedom camping so having left the car park headed round the coast a short distance to Ballina Bay. Here, on a small car park which jutted out into the sea, we could spent the night watching planes fly over our van and land on the airport’s runway located perilously close to the sea.
The next morning we were up before the rush hour traffic had built up and reached the Interislander ferry terminal for 7am ahead of our 8:30am departure. To begin with everything went to plan as we had some breakfast as we waited to board, parked the van up easily inside the massive ferry and then found some seats for the three hour journey. However, soon after leaving the sheltered harbour we started being hit by waves apparently up to 10 metres high causing the boat to violently rock. We enjoyed walking up and down the ship to start with because as the ship launched itself of the waves you got a feeling of weightlessness before it crashed back down. This enjoyment however soon turned to nausea. I'm not one who usually gets seasick but this journey was horrendous as people all around us were turning ever paler and sick bags were getting used everywhere. Pleasingly I never needed one but I won’t hide the fact that I felt the need to stash one in my own bag. After a rather unpleasant couple of hours the boat reached the shelter of the bays leading to our destination town of Picton. Finally we could disembark and start our journey on the South Island...
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| Pulling into the South Island |
