Our journey through the North Island
Trip Start
Aug 15, 2005
1
15
31
Trip End
Dec 21, 2005
Lake Taupo, Rotorua, Waitamo and Wellington,
New Zealand
Saturday, October 22, 2005
This morning when we got up it was freezing cold so we whacked the heater on full blast to warm up the camper van. I was up early for the loo as usual so got dressed and went to use the phone. Kate and Andy were leaving us today as they have slightly longer in New Zealand and want to go and check out the Bay of Islands further North. We said our goodbyes, packed up Errol and off we wen. I was driving this time and Dan giving directions, so we made the one hour or so trip to Lake Taupo. We decided to stay at the holiday park there so went to check into pitch 22 and had a spot of lunch as we were so hungry. We later took a drive into Taupo town which was lovely and the weather today has been absolutely beautiful, definitely T-Shirt weather. We took the opportunity to get the photo's put onto disc and update the travel pod. We stopped off to get some mince for tea and headed back to the site to cook up
Dan and I at Huka Falls
! We used the kitchen facilities on the site as it's much easier than washing the dishes in the camper van. I've had a nice rest today so shoulder is much better. Dan went off for a walk down to view the thermal springs here and I chilled out in Errol to catch up and read some of my book. Dan wrote some postcards and I updated the travel diary. We showered and had an early night tonight as we needed to catch up on some sleep. Dan's got a new friend (a duck that keeps coming over to the camper van...name Dougal).Wednesday 19th October 2005
Leaving Taupo and driving to Rotorua
After a good nights sleep last night and a good lie in I got up and showered and Dan sorted the van out and wel left the campsite at Taupo and drove up the road to check out Huka Falls which was just fantastic. We parked the van up and walked a few minutes to the falls themselves. The water was so blue, like turquoise colour and the rapids were great. We walked to a few spots to take some good photos (to follow!). Huka Falls are New Zealand's best known falls and what a sight they were too! The blue waters of the Waikato River rush at 250,000 litres which is equivalant to 2 olympic sized swimming poos a second over an 11 metre ledge!!
Dan's Birthday morning, Wanganui!
! We even saw another rainbow as the water hit the bottom which was just beautiful as the sun was shining and it was a nice day. After leaving Huka Falls, we drove some more on our way to Rotorua. We made a few stops, the first being the 'Craters of the Moon' a reserve where you had to pay only a donation to walk round the track a 45 minute loop where you can see the thermal activity that goes on! Steaming craters and geysers, it was really smelly like rotten eggs from the sulphur! We then drove some more and made a brief stop at the 'Honey Hive' a little place just off the road. You can go inside and see the bees making the honey and buy ice-creams (of which we had one of course!). After the ice-cream break (weather very nice!) we headed off on the Thermal Highway (They call it this as they have so much thermal activity over this way) to Rotorua. The closer we drove to Rotorua, the more of rotten eggs we could smell! We decided to stop off at 'Wai-O-Tapu' Thermal Wonderland as we were passing, New Zealands most colourful volcanic area. It was a walk which took us about an hour or so. We saw pools, lakes, craters and geysers, all the pools were strange bright colours and you could see the hot mud bubbling in the pools, it was really cool. After spending the afternoon here we continued on stopping off at Waikite Valley Springs, you had to pay and as we are on a tight budget we just parked up for some lunch before going into Rotorua town. We decided to stay next to the blue lake in Rotorua, it is very pretty here and secluded. People were swimming in the lake which was surrounded by trees and mountains, it was especially pretty when the sun had gone down. We booked our ferry crossing for the 23rd October which gives us two and a half weeks in the South Island. Dan decided to go take a walk round the lake in the evening but ended up joining a runner and came back out of puff!Thursday 20thOctober 2005
Day in Rotorua, driving to Waitamo
We got up this morning quite early, I went over to use the Internet whilst Dan sorted himself out (and had a bit of a lie in!)
Hot thermal pools at Lake Taupo
. We left the lovely campsite by the blue lake (which was just lovely in the morning) and started driving to the Bay of Plenty, Papamoa beach, when we arrived it was raining, windy and miserable so when we pulled onto the campsite and we were sat in the camper van wondering what to do we decided to head straight over to Waitamo instead so we could go and see the glowworms! We had planned to walk Mount Maunganui but the weather was just miserable. A guy was actually walking down the beach in just his shorts and it looked like he was going to get blown away! The drive to Waitamo wasn't too bad or too long and Dan drove so I took in the scenery! On our way we came across a full size 3D maze which looked cool for kids and adults so for $2 each we decided to give it a whirl as it had stopped raining. We went in there to 'get lost' and we really did! We spent about an hour trying to find each coloured corner but it was still fun, Dan was actually tall enough in some places to see over so I'm glad we stuck together! Dan was going to do the Zorb today, a big clear ball that you stand in and roll down a hill like a hamster but when we drove past, as the weather was so miserable, most people were giving it a miss and all the wet grass was stuck to the balls! When we arrived at Waitamo, it was STILL raining so the walk here was also out of the question! After sitting about reading, we had our arms twisted and decided to head over the pub across the road for a handle
Huka Falls
! We got chatting to a couple, Alex and Hayley who had come over from the South Island, they also had a camper van and were giving us tips on what to see and where to go. We sat drinking until the pub closed and the kind barman treated us all to a last free drink! We went back to the campsite lounge, Hayley supplied wine and beer and I supplied the crumpets and jam for late snacks!! Kebabs are definitely out of the question! After doing a 'book swap' with them and after them checking out our Errol, we headed for bed! We are planning to see the glowworms tomorrow.Friday 21st October 2005
Waitamo, driving to Wanganui
Another night of getting up for the loo....great (it must've been the wine!). We got up at 8.30 am and showered, had breakfast for 10 am. I saw Hayley this morning who was a little worse for wear, she is off to do the black water rafting with Alex later (head permitting!).
We left the campsite and drove 2 minutes down the road to the glowworm carpark. We got our tickets (discount with your youth cards yey!) and had the 45 minute to an hour tour of the caves (we weren't allowed to take photo's so sorry no pics from this entry)
The thermal pools, nice smelly eggs!
. We had the brief history of the caves and then we boarded a little boat which took us through the caves where we saw thousands of glowworms (lovely we thought!). It was really cool but we were a little bit disappointed as we expected a bit more! When we finished the tour we headed back to Errol and on the road to Wanganui, a half way point on our way to Wellington ready to cross to the South Island. The rain hadn't stopped today and all the way there, a 3 hour drive it rained! We drove for miles (me driving) through what was like the postman pat village with hills and winding roads. The river we were following was no longer a river, it was like chocolate, and as we drove through the hills and steep roads, the chocolate was running down the hills and stones onto poor Errol! The wind was strong and there was chocolate hurtling everywhere! We arrived at Wanganui about 3 pm so after lunch we took a short drive into Wanganui town (still raining). We are parked behind the chocolate river, and the odd tour boat would honk the horn on it's way past packed with people in bright coloured rain macks! We sat watching other campers trying to pitch tents in the miserable weather!Saturday 22nd October 2005
Wanganui, driving to Wellington (Capital City)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAN - 26 TODAY
When we got up this morning, I made Dan go and have a shower so I sorted out the camper van and filled it with birthday balloons and put some 'beer can' candles on a cake (well actually it was a chocolate brownie) but the closest thing to a cake I could find at these barely stocked supermarkets
Wai O Tapu Thermal Wonderland!
! When he came back to the van I played 'have a nice day' and made him birthday breakfast (sugar puffs!!!). Around 10 am we took our drive South to Wellington. Our ferry leaves in the morning at 8.45 am to sail to the South Island. The drive was just over 2 hours and whilst Dan was driving I had plenty of time to sit back, relax and take it all in.....there are soooo many sheep here it's untrue and after having the time to study them I've found that some have really long, fluffy heads!(not sure what kind they are but I'm sure Wayne will be able to tell me more!). We arrived into Wellington at lunchtime and were staying in Lower Hutt, it's the closest campsite to the city but still a drive in. We had some lunch and then drove into Wellington to check it out! We drove right beside the sea, past the ferry terminal we will leave from tomorrow right into the city. Just as we were about to pull into the car park, Dan realised that there was a height restriction, it was a good job he had realised otherwise we would of had a hefty insurance job!. We found a small carpark (outdoor) paid and parked up. We hit the shops, some of which had great snowboard sales. We printed off our ferry crossing voucher and hit the sportsbar for a 'birthday beer'. We were going to go to the cinema but everything is on late here so we had a few more beers at the local and went for a 'cambodian style' birthday tea. We didn't have long left on the carpark ticket and we were 4 minutes over, as we got to the carpark, the tow-away guy was there who saw me getting another ticket. I had visions of a damaged roof of a camper van being towed away, what a day that would of been!We nipped to the shop to get some 'birthday' corona for Dan and went back to the site to have a few birthday beers. Dan made some calls home.
