North Island

16/01
We wake up and get a lift in order to pick up the campervan, we are a bit disappointed as it is a gigantic van, yes with shower and toilet but more suited to a family than a couple...well, we will have to get used to it, but Fab is really unhappy about it as it is heavy, not stable and drives very slowly....we then leave Auckland and stop in a massive supermarket to do the big food shopping. Off we go on the motorway for a drive to the north. It's not easy to get used to driving this campervan. Whomever has ever lead a filled up to the top supermarket trolley will know how it feels. Heavy, slow and really hard to manoeuvre around (less the visibility!). We take it slowly and watch the landscape. Val mainly.
We pass Whangarei, and misjudging our way we end up driving for miles on a gravel road to a wild remote conservation campsite on Otamure Beach near Whananaki. It's right on a marvellous bay with black sand. We settle down. The campsite is not too busy but with basic facilities, pit for toilet and this is it!! The big van is useful as we can have a cold shower (not hot in there!!going to be fun for the next three weeks!!!). We have diner, read for a bit. Night comes to unveil one of the most fantastic sky we have ever seen...the milky way is very visible, and there are millions of stars, truly amazing.

17/01
after this resting night, we head up to the Bay of Island, in the north, and drive to Paihia. The bay has many small islands, turquoise water and it is apparently a great spot, it is also an important place for the history of this country th as the first European base and the stat of European colonisation...Pahia is a little town, nothing exceptional, we walk around, then spend half the afternoon on the grassy beach, reading, watching people making sand sculpture and baking as the sun is really hot!!! We then walk to the Treaty grounds and the Treaty House in Waitangi (Vive la reine!) where the maori chiefs and the British Governement signed a treaty in 1840, giving Brititsh sovereignity over the whole country and protection . Officially, it is an agreement between two people to live together in one nation, but isn't it the start of colonialism??? The treaty house is nice, cute, and there are amazing gardens with a maori meeting house. We then drive to a campsite, owned by Maori family. We stat to get up really early so we go to bed around 10!!

18/01
Today is not great, we planned to go swimming with dolphins but we wake up and it is pouring rain, the trip is cancelled and we decide to leave the Bay of Islands, we didn't really appreciate the place or had time to see anything that retained our interest...WE then make the mistake to drve to Ranglan, on the WEst Coast. We are looking for surf and beaches to compensate, Fab wants to surf and this town is supposed to be the perfect surfing town, with amazing breaks and rugged beaches. We sped many hours driving through nice green countryside, it is Very windy when we arrive. Nothing as described in the lonely Planet (from now on, we will followour instincts as it seems the gide keeps telling fibbles..), nice little town with great surfing beaches, we go and watch the surfers, great waves , the place is famous for competition....We ten spend lots of time trying to find a free spot for camping,m of course, there is big business here so all the parks and car parking are forbidding overnight stay so we end up in this horrible tacky campsite with hundreds of caravans lined up one after the other and people looking crap and red necks....Very depressing...Some people probably live here, and have recreated a home with planpots, garden floor slabs and mini dwarfs!!!!! HORROR!!!! We freak out, argue, feel so annoyed with the trip....From now on, we will have to plan better as the itnerary is really long and we are slow...We don't enjoy and drive too much so we decide to do less stops and relax a bit more, as it is very unsettling...

19/01
After a bad night, Fab decides not to surf here and want to escape, we drive to Rotorua and after many houes of driving we arrive in this very famous geothermal town with a strong Maori influence, thee are many amazing natural phenomenon here, and the sulphur gas (the town smells of rotten egg....unique!!). It is a very touristy area in NZ but we must be lucky as it doesn't feel too crowded... The city is surrounded by many lakes and we decide to go to one for lunch...we spend some time at the Blue Lake, have lunch and a break on the lake's beach. It is a bit chilly but sunny...Back in town to book the visit of Te Puia, a geothermal park with a cultural maori show, it seems to be less commercial than other Maori type shows as it is run by the Maori Arts institute. The Maori culture is heavily commercialised here and we will find it difficult to escape that vibe... It is an interesting mix in that place, we walk around a nature park, discover hot springs, geysers (the biggest one Pohutu erupts every hour and up to 30 metres...), mud boiling from the earth, bubbling mud pools but we also have a visit of some Maori workshops, weavers and carvers, we learn about the culture, the way of life and how people try to cultivate some elements of it and blend it with a more contemporary lifestyle. We have the same feeling as in Auckland, it is a very rich and complex culture, with guardians of natural elements, many subtribes, a strong sense of the spiritual and natural world. We then see a maori cultural performance with dance demonstrations and of course the haka, the war dance where the dancers are really scary with eyes bulging and tongues out, they seem to get themselves really ready for a fight. We then have a painful dinner, eating traditional food, but seating with strangers...the dinner dampens the evening as it feels commercial and way too touristy for us, we try to communicate but our neighbours are not our style a all...drinking beers and beers...and stuffing their faces...The evening finishes with a nice touch, a beautiful singing moment in front of the erupting geyser with a hot chocolate, it is touching, to witness the beauty of a human voice in front of such an impressive nature. Then we drive back to our lake, to the remote nature reserve behind, in the Whakarewarewa reserve car park whe we have decided to sleep...It is hard we both want to save money, not stay at horrible campsites, as we hire a campervan to be autonomous but find it difficult to be isolated in the wild...We start discussing the dangers of being here, far from town, alone, anything can happen...blah blah...Luckily for us, a car arrives and a young Brit Michael travelling alone is also spending the night here. we both feel a bit reassured to have another human presence with us and sleep then but an uneasy feeling is still here for both of us, maybe we see ourselves as cooler and funkier than we are in reality...We would love to still feel careless and at ease in those kind of situations but it is not the case, we worry about our safety (there might be no reason)and both feel disappointed about ourselves...Then we decide to see how we feel each night, travelling is also trying to challenge ourselves but it shouldn't be too hard...We want to be adventurous but not so much,is it that bad?? We should relax and camping in very isolated places might not help...we decide to find some alternatives to the wild and horrid campsites for the next weeks, the free Department of Conservation campsites seem a good compromise: they are in remote places with basic facilities, toilets and sometimes water from a stream, for the moment they will amongst our options, as staying in less isolated places, in car parks with other campervans...and from time to time to have a hot shower, go to a nice campsite...


20/01
We wake up and offer Michael some breakfast as he is literally living in his car, he left England a year ago and has been working in OZ before coming to vist NZ, he is going up North, nice to chat a bit and get some tips on where to go. Our day then starts with Hell's Gate, a visit to another thermal park but also a spa!!! The real name is Tikitere, but George Bernard Shaw renamed it after his visit in the early 1900's. Atfer seeing the post apocalyptic aspect of the area we understand why!
The specificity of this spa is the proximity of the pools heat source, being only 1.5 or 2km underground. Others sources are generally around 10km. The temperatures of the pools range between 68C to 145C for the hottest. The different pools have different colours depending on the mineral they contain and the type of sulphurous waters and mud. After the visit we treat ourselves at the spa facilities, a private mud bath and a dip in the sulphurous waters. Colder though: the temperature is only 40C!
We then have a picnic lunch near the Rotorua lake before deciding to hit the road, our itineray is still too full at the moment and we have to drive many hours to reach the South Island...We both feel a bit restless and we need to replan our South Island bit, not that many stops and more time to enjoy and settle for few days in each place....A very long drive follows, to the south of Levin through the desert and mountains range of the Tangariro National Park (Mordor in the famous NZ movie) and plains. We have a laugh driving through 'Gumbootville' the world capital of the gumboot.Nice landscapes but we see very few humans and towns, many regions seem pretty wild and remote, we drive miles and miles without seeing anybody or any houses, feels weird...and isolated.
At 9pm we reach our destination: a lovely conservation campsite on a river stream near to the Tararua Forest Park. We hear what We think might be Tui birds. Their singing sounds like they're saying Ti Tu-i! It's sort of short but sweet, added to the stream gently flowing, the atmosphere is very serene.it is isolated but there are few campers and few tents...in the middle of nowhere!
In a dreamy mood we have a quick diner, and lights off.

21/01
After a healing night (we did not sleep well the night before!!), We wake up and are greeted by a rooster on the van doorstep! We have a morning walk in the park to start the day gently before heading off for a little drive to Wellington.
we walk around city. The time is a bit short, so we do a quick visit of the capital centre. Once again we are not too impressed with the city. There is an undeniable american influence here. The buildings (even the older victorian, they look like small versions of the ones in Mahattan), the look of the shops, the widespread burger shops, the urban furnitures (traffic lights...), the lorries (we see loads of them as we spend loads of time on the road!). It sometimes feels like we haven't left L.A.
Wellington is very similar to Auckland, with the financial district overlooking the industrial harbour. We see wooden houses up the hill, in the distance. They look nice. But time's up for the ferry to Picton.
It is not a very nice ride for Val as the big swell rolls between the two islands. The coastline from offshore is spectacular though. Hopefully a sign for the south island! After arriving in Picton, we drive at night until we reach a DOC campsite on a remote beach, beautiful setting and again an amazing sky. We both feel tired but a bit more positive...