New Zealand North Island - March 15 - March 19

Tongariro National Park was NZ's first national park and is made up of three mountains, Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu which are all still active volcanoes. Both Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu were used for Modor's Mt. Doom in the Lord of the Rings but primarily Ngauruhoe. Mt. Ruapehu was the last mountain to erupt and that was in 1995. We arrived at the park early afternoon and set about getting information about the tramp we wanted to do the next day, the Tongariro Crossing, and finding a place to park the RV for the night. It rained that afternoon but that was ok because we were gathering the info and preparing for "the crossing". The Tongariro Crossing is a 18.5 km, 7-8 hour hike excluding photo stops, food stops and heart stops. It is often described as the best one day hike in NZ and climbs the saddle between Tongariro and Ngauruhoe and continues up to the Red Crater (1900meters) by climbing the Devil's staircase before it drops down to the Emerald Lakes and then on to Blue Lake.


That day dawned clear and sunny which was quite lucky on our part because we were told that the area gets on average 190 days of rain and, even on other days, can be heavily overcast. We took a shuttle bus from Whakapapa Village at 7:00 am to the start of the tramp and started hiking. This tramp is graded as "challenging" and they are definately correct. We now know how the Devil's staircase go its name.... However, it is also awesome with amazing and very different scenery from your typical hike. You are hiking up to, into and across craters and lakes formed by the volcanoes. There is absolutely no vegetation and it is what you would think you would find if you were walking on the surface of the moon, but the colors are what really bowl you over. The pictures can't really duplicate the feeling of being there.











The other hike we did in the park was to Taranaki Falls. This was an easy 3 hour hike and was a nice place to have lunch and take some photos. We got back to the van in the afternoon and left the park and headed towards Wanganui. As usual, we took the longer, and what we thought was to be the scenic route, along the Whanganui River but that didn't pan out. So after a long, bumpy, dusty, dirt road ride we arrived in the town of Wanganui and parked for the night outside of town at the fishing and surfing beach. It's all good! The next day happened to be St. Patrick's day and as the luck of the Irish would have it, there was one Irish pub in town and we just happened to find it. Can you imagine that!









New Zealand was coming to a close and we had one more day to get close enough to Wellington to return the RV and make our flight. So we drove to a park in the town of Paekakariki, packed up the suitcases and backpacks sitting beachside and then checked into an RV camp for the night. One last barbecue, one last bottle of wine ( a very good one by the way), one last cigar under the stars and say goodbye New Zealand......



Things New Zealand.........

Sheep and cattle rule the land
Kids go to school barefoot
Two lane roads and one lane bridges
Roundabouts
Rugby is the national pastime, followed closely by cricket and then temporary roadwork
Thanks or thank you is "cheers"
Thank you very much is "cheers" with a thumb up!
Birds that don't fly
Fish and Chips are everywhere
An RV is called a Campervan
Campervans reproduce on the South Island and rarely travel to the North Island.
A hike is called a Tramp
A Cooler is called a "Chilly Bag"
Sand Flies Suck!!! ( so do Possums)
Great Walks are really huge journeys
Peppers are called "capsicums" and pumpkin is good.
As they say, "lovely"
They have NO pretzels........
Kiwis are all very proud of their country.
Bad pizza is everywhere!
Flat whites are great
Great vine tomatoes in Feb.

Kiwi's are awesome people

We really loved New Zealand and the people!
NO WORRIES.......

New Zealand North Island March 8 - March 14

Our next destination was Goat Island. It was a long day at the wheel and we drove thru many little towns on the way looking for an RV dump station (very strange) and a place to park for the night. It seems those things are only around when you don't really need them. We finally found one in Warkworth so we took care of the RV, had a pizza for dinner, and drove straight thru to Goat Island for the night. Goat Island is the first New Zealand Marine Park Reserve. Since we were camped with the RV illegally at the reserve that night we were the first to arrive bright and early in the morning. We expected to have the place to ourselves but didn't realize its popularity and by 8:00 in the morning divers and snorkelers were already arriving. So we donned our snorkel gear and set ourselves afloat. We expected the water to be extremely cold because most people going in were in wetsuits but it really was not that bad and we had a great time snorkeling on a beautiful morning. Afterwards we started our drive towards the area in the Northeast called the Bay of Plenty and stopped about halfway at a beach in Matapouri (forever more called the Tom Wynne beach because his look alike was sitting on the beach reading his book).


At sunset we were almost the only ones there (one other backpacker van) and we barbecued up some New Zealand lamb chops with all the fixings and had a great night.

In the morning we had just a short drive left to the ferry that would take us to the town of Russell so we got there early, scoped out where we were going to spend the night on Long Beach and checked out the town. The town of Russell is a small compact cottage town much like Block Island. It has its own little harbor with small ferries shuttling back and forth to the main town of Paihai and lots of boat companies offering tours of the bay from the town dock. We went to dinner that night down by the dock in the bay to the Duke of Marlborough which is a grand old hotel with a great veranda facing west for the sunset. They had a bistro menu and we tried our hand at the local delicacy in northern New Zealand, green lipped mussels. All over the island, especially on the Coromondal peninsula, you saw people out "musseling". These things are the rage here. Pat just couldn't get enough of them!




In the morning we started our drive South along the east coast on the old Russel road. Most people do not take this road, especially in an RV as most of the road is dirt and gravel, 8 feet wide and on the edge of a cliff. But, the bays and the scenery along this coast were amazing. But this part of the road made the next section going to Helena Bay and the Mimiwhangata Coastal Park look easy. We had to drive up a mountain on the edge of a dirt road and then wind our way back down into a valley emerging at the coast where the park was. It was pretty intense. We spent the afternoon walking and swimming at the beach and then started barbecuing which was when the DOC guy and his wife (Department of Conservation) drove up on their ATV and told us "sorry, but you can't spend the night". That really sucked because there was no way we wanted to drive back out of this place at night. After a long conversation with Chris and Nadine..... about New Zealand, the USA, farming and cattle economics and politics, Chris finally said "now, I can't make you leave". We had a great meal, glass of milk (we stopped drinking.....) and woke up to a beautiful morning and a walk on the beach. On the drive out, we met Chris and handed him a bottle of wine with a note saying "thanks much, Cheers"! and continued our drive South.



Our next stop was Waitomo but that was too long a drive for one day so we took the scenic route to Phia Beach, which is a surfing hotspot in NZ, just West of Auckland. This was our first exposure to west coast beaches on the north island. Phia is an iron sand beach with great surfing waves and we were lucky enough to get a great spot to park the RV for the night where we could sit and watch the surfers.

We were also fortunate enough to experience another great sunset. This one was made even more spectacular by the color of the sand on the beach. In the morning we climbed Lion's Rock which is a hugh rock formation in the middle of the beach providing spectacular views and a good morning exercise before we continued our trip to Waitomo.


When we reached Waitomo there was really no place to free camp so, for the first time, we checked into a motor camp. It is amazing how the little things in life can come to mean so much.....We had electricity so the microwave worked but the most important thing was you could take a shower for as long as you wanted. The RV only holds about 20 gallons of water so you really can not call it a "shower", not if you wanted to have any water left afterwards. It was nice to be able to use as much water as you wanted. Waitomo is famous for its glowworm caves and it was the highlight of Tom's trip so far!!! This is another one of those touristy things that people claim you must do. First you walk thru a limestone cave and cavern and as far as caves go, it was pretty impressive. The tour lady wanted to prove how good the acoustics in the cave are so she asked someone to sing a song. This guy started singing Oklahoma and a chorus of Japanese people joined in.... It was like having goomba with us!! Then they explained to us for 10 to 15 minutes what a glow worm is, we still have no idea. Afterwards, they put you in a little boat on a river in the cave which is in the pitch black. You get pulled along in dead silence thru the cave by an attendant using a hand cable and look at the glow worms hanging from the roof of the cave. You have to be very quiet so you don't disturb the stupid little worms! All in all, a pretty useless experience and we were really looking forward to our next stop, Tongariro.

New Zealand North Island March 1 - March 8

The morning of the ferry crossing it started raining and by the time we reached the North Island to pick up the RV, it was coming down pretty heavy. Pacific Horizon had a cab pick us up at the ferry and take us to their location so we could sign the paperwork and get an overview of how the van worked. By the time we left there it was probably about 7:30 at night and still raining. The best advice the guy told us is that it was about a one hour ride to the first mountain pass and he would probably stop before that so we weren't doing the first pass at night. Sounded smart. The one thing we figured out to late, is that there are towns on the map that you never know you are actually going thru them (not so much as a gas station) so before we knew it, there we were on the mountain pass. Driving at night, in the pouring rain over a pass was quite an introduction to driving the RV! Once we got over the pass we actually drove for a short distance and then pulled over and slept right on the side of the road. It's all good!

The next day we drove to Cape Kidnappers on Hawkes Bay which is an area famous as a wine producing area in New Zealand. We stopped at a winery the next day but we weren't impressed (maybe it was because it was 10:30 in the morning) and drove thru Napier, the famous Art Deco town which is nothing more than a South Beach, Miami, Florida wanna be and continued on to Lake Taupo. North of Lake Taupo is a place we were told to go to by a guy from the Netherlands, who currently lives on the North Island, that we hiked with on the Milford track.

He told us about a place called Kerosene Creek, which is a stream with pools and a small waterfall fed from a thermal spring. The water was like a hot bath, really cool. Around the waterfall was like a jacuzzi!That night we parked the van at the riverside just before Huka falls and ate Chinese take out that we had picked up in town. You should have seen Tom trying to negotiate for extra noodles and soy sauce.

Between Lake Taupo and Rotorua, which is a large thermal region with geysers, hot springs, spas and other tourist traps, there are many places to stop and view the geysers. After Kerosene Creek, we decided we had seen the best and it couldn't get any better, so after walking around Rotorua, we headed out and started towards the Coromondel Peninsula via the Bay of Plenty.That night we stayed at Pios Beach, a small cove on the Bay right next to the inlet from the Tasman. So far, we haven't been bowled over by the North Coast. Nice but not as dramatic as the South Island.

But then we hit the Coromandel Peninsula and it blew us away. You drive around the coast of the peninsula with breathtaking beaches on the East coast, rugged rocky beaches on the west coast with the Coromandel Forrest Park in the middle. It is an intense drive with long, steep, narrow hilly winding roads and both nights we were there, we parked the RV right on great beaches.

The first was Cooks Bay which is close to another wonderful beach called Hahei. Right past Hahei is where you start the hike to Cathedral Cove, which is an absolutely mystical place.











This is all in the vicinity of a beach called Hotwater Beach which is one of those things you have to see to believe. Everyone says to go there and what a mistake other than for comic relief. The lore is a thermal spring runs under the beach. Some ingenious person figured they could charge you $4 for a shovel so you could dig a hole in the sand at low tide and stick your buns in it. To our amazement, there were hundreds of people on the beach, all ages and sizes, doing this. Quite a site.
The next night we found a virtually deserted spot on Otama beach at the northeast point of the peninsula. We definitely did not want to leave that spot or the entire peninsula but we were on our way to Auckland. Even though we had not done well so far in big towns or cities, we were looking forward to spending the weekend there. We started towards the big city and spent the night at RV CO-OP City south in the Firth of Thames. After driving all day we were desperate to find a place to park the RV and ended up in Kaiaua which is a long, shelled strip of beach along the bay which is populated by locals in their RV's because they all fish for flounder there. They motor out in the bay, drop their nets, come back and have a few cocktails. The next morning they motor back out and pick up their nets with, hopefully, a few fish for dinner that night. We talked to one couple who live in Auckland and go there every other week for this ritual.


We arrived in Auckland, the self proclaimed city of sales, on a beautiful sunny day and walked along the wharf. The Auckland International Boat Shoe was going on and there were some beauties filling the harbor. We toured the city, watched someone jump off the skytower and drove out to Mission Bay, which is a great section right outside of town. After walking the beach, we stopped for a quick one at the Belguimxxxx and then got back in the RV and drove over the Harbor bridge to check out Devenport, a quaint little town at the end of the peninsula. Auckland was beautiful and has a lot going for it in terms of the sights, the beaches the harbor but after those things it was still a big city to us so we bugged out.



The rest of the slide show pictures will be added next time.....way to slow!

New Zealand South Island Feb 22 - Feb 29

OK, let's start with the Camelbacks. Tom called the lodge where we stayed and there was a very interesting conversation about how to get them to us. Tom kept asking about FedEx, which this guy didn't get at all, and he kept talking about the post courier service. Eventually, we figured out this was the way to go but we had to call the courier service to get the details on where they could ship it to because we had no idea where we would be staying over the next few days. The Courier service recommended a store in the town of Motueka but we had to call them to see if they would accept delivery. Oh yea, they couldn't give us the phone number because they can't give out phone numbers of their clients (even though this was a retail store) and, we couldn't pay for it because we were not a client of the courier service. So Tom had to call the lodge to see if they would pay for it and charge it to our credit card which they agreed to do. Next, we had to drive to a Travel Information Site to get the phone number of the place we wanted to ship it to. We called them and they agreed to accept delivery. Called the lodge, gave them the information and waited to see if this would all work because the guy at the lodge had to pack these things up for us and deliver them to the courier service which he did on his time off before he came to work the next day. We never thought that this package would get to us in time to start the Abel Tasman.

With high hopes that we would see our Camelbacks again, we left Westport and started our drive towards Motueka. That morning we drove through the Buller Gorge which was a scenic drive along the Buller river and even stopped for a few minutes at the Buller Gorge swingbridge, supposedly the longest swingbridge in NZ. Turned out to be a tourist trap (all the buses stop there), figured we had been on enough swingbridges on the Milford, looked at each other, got back in the car and took off. The next stop was Lake Rotoroa in the Nelson Lake National Park. This area has a lot of scenic meadows, rivers and lakes. Unfortunately, when we got to Lake Rotoroa, we were attacked by the nasty sandflies. They swarm all over you so we took a few pictures got the hell out of there. Did we mention we hate sandflies.

We continued our long drive to Montueka and when we got there it was late and we couldn't find a place to stay so we stopped in the tourist center and they hooked us up with Jeffrey and his family in a little cottage on his property. This place was cute and it suited our needs so well we decided to spend an extra day to get caught up with laundry, pictures, the blog, etc. Jeffrey was a wealth of knowledge of tramping in New Zealand. He had spent 4 months with his family hiking in the area and he seemed to know every trail and have maps and books for it. He especially gave us helpful information on where to drive to and leave our car for the section in Abel Tasman that we were going to begin our tramp. But first, the Camelbacks.....we went to the store where they were being shipped and to our amazement the package showed up and the cost was only $16 NZ. Here's to John at the Fox Glacier Lodge!

The next day we left Montueka and drove through Kaiteriteri and Marahau the normal places where most people begin the Abel Tasman hike but then continued our drive to the place that Jeffrey recommended.
To get there we had to drive over the Takaka hill which was a pretty large hill (about 3000') so we're not sure why they call it a hill, but whatever! The town closest to the start of the tramp was called Pohara so we found a place to stay and get packed up for the hike there.

We planned on staying 3 days out on Abel Tasman which is another New Zealand Great Walk. This is a coastal tramp along a tropical forest linking many beautiful coves and beaches which people either walk or kayak. Unlike the Milford where we stayed in huts our packs were enen heavier because in addition to food we had to carry water for a few days and our tent (we started to appreciate, and not consider fanatic, those people that cut their toothbrushes in half to save weight...).

The first day we were supposed to start at Totaranui and hike south to Arowa Bay. When we went to check in, the woman in the DOC's office told us there was a possible wasp problem at that campground so we needed to adjust our plans.

We took a water taxi to the next cove south of Awaroa, Onetahuti Beach, which happens to be one of the most beautiful beaches on the hike and picked out a great campsite just steps from the beach.



Onetahuti is a huge crescent shaped beach that takes about 30 minutes to walk end to end. It was absolutely a magnificent site.













Several places on the Abel Tasman have tidal crossing which can only be crossed at low tide. We had decided to hike from our beach to Awaroa for dinner at the Awaroa lodge and fortunately for us low tide was at 7:00 and you can cross two hours either side of low tide. The walk to the lodge was about an hour each way, so that gave us two hours for cocktails and dinner. Up to about three years ago, the lodge was just a backpackers hostel but is now a high end (they have a helicopter to fly you in for lunch) hotel and restaurant all in an eco friendly setting. They have a huge organic garden and grow all their own vegetables and herbs. Everything else needs to be hiked in. We had a great dinner in a great setting and barely managed to make it back in time to cross the inlet.









Now......let me tell you a little story about a possum. We went to sleep and we could hear the cute little furry things running around the campground. Possums are a common occurrence in New Zealand and, we are told, are not usually aggressive. So when they were actually bouncing off of our tent and snarling just outside, we were not concerned. Tom could actually go to sleep and keep telling Pat "they're just playing"! A few hours later, around 2:00 in the morning, it definitely sounded like they were eating at the corner of our tent. When Tom went and looked, sure enough there was a 3"x3" hole one of them had eaten in the side and then actually started noshing on our backpack which was leaning against the tent. If not for the backpack, he would have been in. When Tom moved the backpack you could actually see his mouth and his beady little eyes! Tom spent the rest of the night with one of the trekking poles in his hand (Bill and Joe, can't you just picture this). He actually whacked the bastard on his nose each time he poked his little head in the hole. About 2 hours later, we figured we could plug that hole with a large piece of moleskin we had in the medical kit. I think Tom gave the cute furry little thing a concussion because eventually he gave up! It's all good!



The next morning (very tired), we packed up and hiked North to Anapai Beach. I know it sounds redundant but it was another beautiful beach. What's nice about hiking north on the Tasman is that the further north you go, the more isolated it is. When we got to Anapai, we were the only ones there for hours. We pitched the tent, made dinner, watched the sunset and crashed for the night (no possums).








The next day we left the Abel Tasman and drove to the northwest end of the island which is called Golden Bay. We went to a huge windswept beach called Wharariki beach. This beach looked like the Sahara meeting the sea. The sand dunes were massive! In the water were large rock formations, caves and arches. This all provided another spectacular New Zealand moment.

We drove back to Motueka for the night. The next day, we hiked Mt. Arthur and then started our drive towards Picton for the ferry to the North Island. Spent the first night in Nelson which was far to large for our liking but truly a nice town and the next night in Picton after a stunning coastal drive. Next stop......North Island.





Hiking Mt. Arthur
This one is for Alex