New Zealand - North Island

After having so much fun on the South Island, it came as no surprise that there wasn't as much money to spend in the North. It's a good job that the Wellington Te Papa museum only requires a small donation to get in. The musuem itself is the pride of Wellington and it shows with floors and floors of exhibits dedicated to showing people what NZ is all about. After a hard day at the museum, and with money tight, we decided that we had to go out for somethng to eat, luckily it was at the campsite and was pretty cheap.

The next day we set off for the Tongariro National Park in order to the the 17km Tongariro Crossing over Mt Ngaunaki, aka Mt Doom from LOTR. Unfortunately when we arrived, not only was it raining, but we discovered that you needed experience in alpine conditions to do the tramp in the winter, so unless we paid for a guided tour then we couldn't do it, as money was short we decided that going a few smaller walks around the park was a better (and safer) idea. The first of these walks took us by the Whakapapanui stream, which was very nice to look at, but nothing compared to the Taranaki Falls which are just sensational. After walking for almost the whole day, it was nice to have the next day driving to Taupo, unfortunately the weather was not so nice and it rained (again) all day.

Our campsite at Taupo was probably the most expensive one we have stayed on ever, so we decided that we had to make the most of the facilities and spent a good few hours in the free hot tub that they had there, this was after spending the morning walking the hilly path to the Huka Falls, another spectacular waterfall. Our next stop was the smelly town of Rotorua, where the natural sulphur pools give the place a rotten eggs smell all year round - NICE!!!! Our campsite though was just out of reach of the smell and also had a natural spring pool, heated to a nice 38 degrees, which is where we spent a good few hours each day.

After spending a few days in Rotorua, and not getting used to the smell, we moved on to Waitomo to actaully do somethign that costs money - blackwater rafting. We got there a day early though and decided to take a walk through some of the caves on foot, as well as the surrounding area, on the Waitomo Walkway. The next day was the big one, going underground through a cave system with only a rubber ring and 11 other people for company, we spent our time jumping down small waterfalls, climbing through cave streams and lokking at glow worms on the ceiling, as well as sitting in our rings and trying to paddle down the river, which is a lot harder than it sounds, a good time was had by all. After our adventure in the caves of Waitomo it was time to head further north to Hamilton.

We didn't actually do anything in Hamilton, but we are sure it is a great place with plenty to do and seeif you have some money. After a short stay we headed to Waiwera and the promise of a great hot spring water park. The reality however, was slightly different (isn't it always) as the park was overrun with kids and the pools weren't the cleanest things we have ever seen, thankfully the campsite we were staying in meant we got money off the entrance fee, so it wasn't that bad. Our next destination was Whangarei, aka chavtown. Probably the less said about Whangarei the better, lets just say it reminded us of home, and not in a good way.

Making a speedy exit from we headed even further north up near Cape Reinga to a charming place called Pukenui. It's wasn't really a big place but it was ok for a stop-over on our way to the very tip of the North Island. That journey started the day after and involved driving through some stunning scenery, until we hit the unsealed road about 20kms short of the Cape. As we were not allowed to drive on unsealed roads in our campervan we had to be very disappointed and turn round, so no photo of the Cape :-(

After turning round and going back the way we came we had to take the long journey back down towards Auckland, with a stay at a campsite on Bayley's Beach along the way. We arrived in Auckland the next day and had a little trouble finding out campsite for the night, but we eventually prevailed and spend our last night in the campervan, getting harassed by an old couple who wouldn't let us leave the camp kitchen without giving us their life story (only joking they were very nice). The next day we dropped off Bro'town and made our way to our hostel in the suburb of Mt Eden, just outside of Auckland City Centre.

Yesterday we took a walk into the City Centre and had a little look around, there wasn't too much to see for people who haven't got a lot of money, but we managed a trip to the cinema which was good. We treated ourselves to a dinner last night at a local resturant called Circus Circus, which was delicious and made a change from soup and bread. Today we are preparing to leave for Fiji tomorrow, where we have booked an exciting 12 day trip invloving loads of cool things and plenty of Kava.

So look out for the next update when we arrive in LA.

Miss you all as always

Dave and Rach xx