New Zealand North Island Adventure 17th to 26th Jan

New Zealand, land of the Kiwi Bird.

After two 11 hour flights, a short three hour flight to Auckland seemed like a commute to work. It has to be said that Fiji departure lounge leaves something to be desired, but to be fair they are renovating it. Of course once checked-in and through to ‘air side’, which has recently been refurbished, one is greeted with the usual myriad of duty free shopping, but not a lot else, apart from a coffee shop and a Burger King, which came as a bit of a surprise. The flight over was not too bad, a choice of meal, and some stunning scenery to boot meant that the three hours passed quickly. However, we had been warned that New Zealand Customs and Immigration are very strict about what you bring into their country, and you should declare everything, including the Tesco Finest Tea Bags (even though they were still sealed). So I duly completed our landing forms. I ticked all the relevant boxes and hoped that they would not ask me to show them the souvenir ‘tree bark table cover’ I had bought up in the Fijian islands. This was now packed  securely in the bottom of my case, and, at this point in time, once the case is open, it will not close again without a large elephant sitting on it!

Having gone through a very modern system to enter New Zealand, we collected our cases and headed to Customs. The very nice man at the desk asked me to explain all the ticks I had entered on our forms, but only seemed concerned if we had any fresh fruit. He must have asked at least three times. A few days later, we were told of a friend who mistakenly left an apple in the outside of their rucksack (having thrown all other fruit and veg away before entering the country), was fined $200NZ (£100) for entering NZ with an apple… Having confirmed we had no such fruit on our whereabouts, the very nice man let us into his country.

Now, as previously stated, we were to be met by sailing friends – Steve and Jenny from Lila (previously Tashinga), who sail with us in Greece. They are South Africans visiting their daughter and family who live in Auckland, which is all rather convenient for us. Hoping that Steve would have made a big sign…’welcome The Perrett Brits’, we were in fact met by Steve, who is not a short man it has to be said, waving his arms frantically from within the midst of the waiting crowd…got to love him.

We last saw Steve and Jenny (some of you will remember who read my blog regularly) when we sailed around the Peleponese last summer. Steve and Jenny have kindly offered to collect us, take us to our hotel, collect us again tomorrow, take us to our motor home collection depot, and finally take us back to their daughter’s house, who has kindly offered to let us stay on their drive tonight, and then drive us to the supermarket to provision. I have to say without all this help I think it would have taken us days to get organised. As it turned out we had a lovely couple of days with them before our motor home adventure truly began. We cannot thank them enough for their hospitality.

Way back, when we first began to organise this trip, one of the main deciding factors was to have a motor home that sleeps four, so that you do not have to keep making up a bed every night. So, night one, we make up the bed over the cabin. It is a very cosy space, it’s just unfortunate that you have to climb down a bunk bed type ladder to get down. Those of you who know me of old, will know how accident prone I am, and to this end, we felt this may be a ladder too far. It was also a bit un-nerving when the wind blew, and the whole motor home shook! However, with the provisioning done, unpacking done, everything in its place and a place for everything, we say our farewells and start to head north on the North Island, Bay of Islands here we come. A drive through Auckland and out onto Highway 1 sets us in the right direction. Having taken advice from the locals, we stop at Waipu for the night, a camp site right on the Pacific Ocean. This is our first experience of camping, albeit in a motor home, and we’re not really sure what we’re looking for in a camp site yet. However, this one wasn’t it. It is still school holidays here in NZ and this site was designed for those with many children to entertain, and we were truly surrounded by tents full of children, and yoof! It’s a great site if you want to spend all day at the beach, which I have to say was stunning (Camber Sands with massive Pacific rollers), but if you were after a peaceful spot to watch the sun set with a cold G&T, this was not it.

Moving on the next day, our hosts had suggested we visit Russell, a quaint little town just at the edge of the Bay of Islands, and having now downloaded ‘Campermate Ap’ I duly began to investigate our options. I had head Steve and Jenny talk about Top 10 sites, but had not realised they were talking about a company renowned for the quality of their camping and motor home sites. “There’s one in Russell” I tell my driver… I’ve not yet attempted to have a go at driving our ‘Van’ (since renamed as ‘Vin by Van’ now that we have loaded it with wine!)…I read the reviews, which all have ‘smiley faces’ and enter the co-ordinates into both our on-board TomTom and our Tablets, never knowingly wanting to get lost! The trip will take approximately 3.5 hours. I have phoned ahead (at the advice of everyone…it’s Christmas school, holidays, the sites get booked up…) and they have a spot.

The journey is not too arduous, the roads are excellent, and the scenery amazing. Rolling, undulating green fields, not unlike to Kent but with more cows! Our route seems to tell me that we need to go on some sort of ferry to get to Russell, or we will have to go on a road that our ‘on board tourist advisor’ tells us is unsuitable for motor homes, or other such vehicles. Our on board tourist advisor in a clever bit of kit that plugs into the radio and happily sits there, saying nothing, until something of tourist interest is nearby. It is linked to a GPS, so it knows where you are, and when something of importance is coming up, it cleverly turns off the radio and starts telling you all about the upcoming feature. Now this is all well and good, until the Tom Tom is trying to tell you some important directions, which at exactly the same time disagree with Google Maps on the Tablet. We have since turned off our very useful tourist information gizmo.

I digress.

The ferry turns out to be a five minute roll on roll off car ferry, that happily charges £10 each way to get to Russell. However, once on the other side of the waterway, you are greeted with a very pretty, laid back, quintessentially English village. It holds the revered position of having the oldest hotel/bar in the whole of New Zealand, the Duke of Marlborough, among other things. Our guide informs us that “At the turn of the 19th century, Russell, then known as Kororareka, served as a shore station for whalers. It became a lawless town, earning the title of “Hell-hole of the Pacific”. It was renamed Russell in 1844 in honour of the British colonial secretary of the day. (Eyewitness Travel Guide to New Zealand).

We arrive at our Top 10 site and are pleasantly surprised by the very friendly and helpful staff, who invite us to take a ‘deluxe’ spot for just an additional £4 per night. At first we decline, but are then told of the benefits that will behold us if we decide to upgrade. At this point I informed David that I was worth an additional £4 per night. As it turns out, it meant we had a beautiful spot above the rest of the camp site and other ‘vans’ and ‘families’, and were above, but not too far away from the ‘facilities’ and had our own power and grey water drainage. We were hooked. In addition, we signed up for a Top 10 Discount Card, that to date, has not only paid for itself, but has saved us heaps everywhere we go. The very nice staff also helped us decide on which of the boat trips around the Bay of Islands we should go on the following day.

That evening, having ventured into town in the afternoon, and got soaked as it decided to rain just as we had got half way to town (and yes, we had forgotten our umbrella and weatherproof coats!), we headed for the pub we had found that seemed to have a reasonable menu (well it had chicken wings and ribs!). We had enquired during the day if they had entertainment, as we had seen a small stage with a guitar set up. Unfortunately, we were told that “live music was only on a Sunday” and this was Tuesday. So it was a great surprise that we found a guy playing his guitar as we went in. However, we were the only people in there, and he was finishing in 30 minutes to catch a ferry back to the mainland…timing, as always was never our strong point.

One of the problems we are going to have on this trip is that we do not have time to do everything we want to do, let alone everything that everyone has told us we ‘must’ do. We are going to have to be selective in our route and our days out. We always knew that three weeks would be no-where near enough time in NZ. So I apologise now if you are one of the many people who have given us advice on things to do, and we have not managed to do them…it’s an excuse to come back.

The following day we headed back into town to catch our half day boat trip around the Bay of Islands and up as far as the Cape Brett Peninsula and to the famous ‘Hole in the Rock’ on Motukokako Island, with a guarantee of spotting dolphins on the way (voucher for another trip if no dolphins spotted). Maori legends tell of warriors paddling through the Hole in the Rock before departing for battle, drops from the cave above were a good omen. Personally, it seems a long way to go before a battle; they must have been exhausted before they started! Now, as sailors, we were prepared for what the Pacific Ocean may hold, and having checked the marine forecast, knew that we had a reasonable breeze and a 1.5-2m Pacific swell. 

After a brief liaison with a group of four dolphins (from a distance, no repeat voucher for us), we headed further out to towards the ‘Hole in the Rock, and the open Pacific Ocean. The Captain, (the most courteous professional skipper we have ever come across, having not only made a detour to go behind a sailboat under sail, he also slowed down so as not to cause any wake for him…). Sorry, the Captain steered the boat expertly across the oncoming swell, however, it made for even more fun watching those who had chosen to sit right at the front of the catamaran as the boat bounced over the swells. Only one person was sick! 

The scenery as you can imagine was stunning, and nature showed off some of her best features in giving us a lesson on orographic clouds and weather conditions. The return journey was of course less exciting as we now had the swell following behind us, but the scenery was still as dramatic as we watched the Pacific waves finally crash onto rocks on the shore as we returned to the safety of Russell’s harbour. 

The view of the harbour yesterday had been grey and rain soaked, and ruined by a sizeable cruise ship sitting at anchor in the deeper water. Upon our return, the sun was shining and the view of the harbour was delightful. All in all, a good time had at Russell and the Bay of Islands. Where next?

After another night stop with Steve and Jenny in Auckland (thanks again), we decided to head to Rotorua, thermal boiling pot and Maori centre of New Zealand. Again, we booked ahead into the nearest Top 10 campsite and set off on our way, another three hour journey. By now, we have booked our ferry over to the South Island, and the previous night’s accommodation, so we only have two days available to us, one to get to Rotorua, and one to explore, before a six hour drive to Wellington on Monday.

Having arrived at our destination, we spend time deciding which of the various Maori ‘experiences’ we should go for. They are all much of a muchness, and we have great difficulty in making our choice. The main attraction I/we want to see is the Pohutu geyser. Pohutu, meaning big splash in Maori, is a very reliable geyser, erupting nearly every 20 minutes, but definitely once an hour, and is the highest in the Southern hemisphere, reaching 30m at times. It sits between two Maori experiences… we decide to go to the Living Maori Village at “Te Whakarewarewatanga O Te Ope Taua A Wahiao”, or its shortened name, Whakareware, or even shorter Whaka. Translated it means ‘The Gathering Place of the Army of Wahiao’. Three centuries earlier a Warrior Chief named Wahiao gathered an army to avenge the killing of his father and the people adopted the full name for the village.

There are many interesting features to this village, where Maori people have lived since the middle of the 18^th century, and our guide explains them all expertly to us as we walk around the steaming, phosphorous smelling village.  We walk past the ‘Steam Box Hangi’, an ancient  form of steam oven, whereby villagers each morning, will place their evening meal, in any form of container, and leave it for the whole day to cook. No oils or fats are necessary, and no burning ever occurs, just perfectly steam cooked food. 

Next, we move onto the ‘Murderous Ripples’, the largest hot pool in the village, which ‘erupts’ around every 45 minutes. The water starts to pulsate and rise, after which the water level drops and bubbles rise, giving in to the name ‘the champagne pool’. The pool is used for cooking vegetables and corn (which one can buy, if one chooses to). 

Moving on through the village we come to the ‘Baths’, which are exactly that, baths that the villagers use, even today. Each morning, the elders first, come down to the baths, and communally bathe. This happens twice a day, outside of any tourists visiting, obviously. Shampoos, soaps and conditions are used, and the oily substance on the water, from the minerals naturally found in the water are known to cure such ails as lumbago, arthritis and rheumatism…David of course is sceptical of such things. However, the next two features are more meaningful to him…

The Butterfly, which is a pool affected by the weather and atmospheric pressure. When the water level drops, the villagers know the weather is going to change, not dissimilar to a barometer. Next, we meet the ‘Grumpy Old Man’. This is the most volatile spring, gushing super heated water to the surface, and you can actually see water exploding out from the ground, and has a constant temperature of 120+ degees Celcius. 

Having spent some time watching the geysers perform their upwardly mobile explosion of water and steam, we are then treated to a Maori performance including the infamous Haka (the war song), the Waiata a Ringa (action songs) and Poi dancing. All very impressive, if not with a few scary faces during the Haka. 

All in all, a very informative, interesting and impressive day. To end the day, we take a soak in one of the two thermal pools on our camp site…and guess what…David believes the pool actually helped his sore ankle. Those Maoris know a thing or two about hot thermal pools!

The following day brings us a six hour drive, along the remainder of Highway 1 (we have now travelled Highway 1 from north to south on the North island), as we drive through spectacular scenery of mountains, ancient volcanoes, forests, hills and valleys before reaching our final destination on the North Island, Wellington. Unfortunately, we have no time to spend in the country’s capital city, and after a long day’s drive, are only happy there is a restaurant on site, which can save us having to cook on board. 

Our ferry leaves at 9am, and we must be at the port at 7:30am, ready to embark on the 3.5 hour crossing over the Cook Straits and onto the South Island, where even more adventures await us. Here’s hoping for fair winds and calm seas.