Christchurch

04/02
We wake up early, we clean the van, we sort out the bags, we are giving Pepe back to its owners. On the way, we stop by the Coachman, our hotel tonight, a large Victorian building of four storeys where we store our bags on the way.
Some complaints later (we are able to get a refund for 2 nights of van) we go back into town for an afternoon of shopping. Christchurch is full of souvenir shops ... difficult to find something else, it is very touristic... It takes a while to find a more sympathetic Christchurch, gardens, Victorian houses etc. etc. The buildings are low rise and Victorian, many in stone. Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island and the 2nd largest city in New Zealand. It is known for its cathedral, gardens, parks, museums. We knew the city was very British, but we are both surprised by this influence... The museums and official buildings although recent are similar to some English churches, we could be in England, with canals, boats-punts as in Cambridge, red telephone booths etc etc ... Very different from the rest of New Zealand. The weather is grey today and it is cool.

We go for a wander, we are getting used to the cit, slowly, it has 400,000 inhabitants, a 'great' city here, but the centre is small enough, we quickly get a feel of it, waling around. It is actually very good. After the great outdoors and wildlife , a gentle immersion before the real urban environments of southern Australia, good for us. Last dinner in NZ, a Thai restaurant, then we go for a digestive stroll on the main square in front of the cathedral and in the cultural district. Back in our room for a small glass of champagne, before a good night. Our first night warm, in a real bed, with no bugs, wind, humidity for a month. It is very pleasant, we get re-accustomed very quickly to a minimum of comfort, but we miss something…yes the good old Pepe... we will remember this van fondly!!

05/02
Again we wake up early this morning, after a real good night sleep in our (large) room, it has four beds (but we are just two !!!!). We ge the bags ready, go to the post to send a parcel, back home... We decide to spend the last morning in the Museum of Canterbury, and then depart for the airport.
We are stuck in the airport for two hours. The plane that we should take is victim of a bird attack (!). Apparently, a plane crashed in Boston few weeks ago for the same reason...quite serious! We need to change aircraft, a brand new airbus. And once again, we receive an upgrade (we have more space for our legs, good). Fab is happy! 3 and half hours later we touch the Australian soil in Melbourne. It's hot and clear here. We go for a small bus ride, the city resembles an American city, highways, motorways, an impression of grandeur, a huge change from the cities in New Zealand. We arrive at our hotel located in the heart of Melbourne. A little faded, a small room without bathroom, but the Internet is free! A great luxury for us as we have to do lots of planning and booking...

We go for a quick walk through the neighbourhood, the CBD, the city centre, we are tired but not hungry, we ate again in the plane around 4pm, so off to bed and no alarm clock tomorrow, no specific program... Ah, idleness, finally! We still have these desires to see everything, learn, explore everything but we need to do less... Not yet clear and easy but our pace is slowly changing...

South Island Fiorland to Otago Peninsula

30/01
After a restful night and more browsing on the net this morning, we drive to Queenstown, the drive is nice again with many fields, green pastures, fields and mountains, still very few houses....it feels isolated! We see no people but tourists stopping to take piccies of the scenery. The one thing we see all the time is what we call sheep fields!!! Hundreds of sheep scattered in plains or hills, from far away they look like little rocks…but are sheep...amazing to see the number of sheep, there is a joke that there are more sheep than people in NZ. It must be true as there are only 4.5 millions people in that country and it feels like we have seen many more sheep!!!
We see sheep and cows and mountains and hills, green hills...That will become a private joke, every time we drive we count the number of sheep fields...
It is nice to arrive in Queenstown, a busy little town, fairly international, we hear lots of accents, it seems very cosmopolitan, many people come for the adventures and stay here, in this action packed little city...it is the adventure's capital of the country where everyone comes to do bungy jumping, skydiving, jetboating, etc etc...it is a nice town on the shore of a lake as well, very scenic but quite hectic. We do some shopping, Fab needs new walking boots as his are painful and they have to last six months...There are lots of people, many young coming to do adventure activities...we watch a video on the nevis highwire jump, where people jump from 134 metres high, really scary! We both feel tempted to do something mad but then decide to do it somewhere else!!!
it feels nice to be in a city again, we have a nice stroll, we even have a Thai lunch, big change from our home made sandwiches... then we hit the road again to drive to Te Anau, the town entry gate to the fiord land, we do some food shopping as there will be nothing in the area, complete wilderness...The drive to the entry of the Fiordland National Park is great with many misty peaks, cute lakes and a real remoteness feel... no house or human here...in the middle of the way, we stop for the night in a conservation remote campsite, on a very nice green field, there is only one tent and us, the Totara campsite in Fiordland. This part of the country, the Deep South is protected as a World Heritage Area, with glacial fiords, dense rainforest, it is supposed to be raw wilderness and it is!

31/01
We feel lazy again this morning but have to sort out our bags. As we have been infested by bedbugs...We are now sleeping in a plastic bag cover and in silk sheets that protect us from the bugs but they probably are in every cloth we have, oh joy!!! So we clean, sort out the bags, it is a nice morning alone in our quiet campsite, very pleasant. We then drive to Milford, the scenic road is amazing apparently but we are unlucky as it is completely foggy, we can't see more than 2 metres in front of us, stressful on a mountain road in a big van....After a tortuous long road, we reach the Homer tunnel, a one way tunnel of 1207 metres, it is small and very dark. Fab feels very uneasy driving it and starts having claustrophobia symptoms, not a nice feeling....the tunnel has been carved by men and is the only way to access fiorland. We stop after the tunnel and we decide not to cross it again tonight and stay in Milford for the night...we have a walk on the township, go and see the sound, magnificent, with imposing peaks. We sleep at the Milford Sound Lodge because it is the only place there! Feels nice to have hot showers, to cook in a kitchen, we spend the eve, chilling out, Fab writing, me reading in the big lounge, amongst other travellers.

01/02
We book a small Milford sound cruise, it is the best way to see the fiord and cruise through it. it is A nice small boat, we are only 9 people as it is early morning. We chat to a German girl, she has been travelling around for 4 weeks, we exchange tips and marvel at the fiord. She tells us about a rape that happened in a campsite close to here, quite scary...
The fiord is simply stunning, it is inspiring and feels exceptional, Fab takes so many piccies! We cruise through the fiord and see lots of peaks, luxuriant rainforest clinging to rocks and mountains, all washed by many small waterfalls. The Mitre peak dominates the skyline. It has been raining heavily this night so the peaks are full of rainfalls, some are temporary and will dry in two hours. It is a gentle start of the day, with magnificent views, we see more dolphins close to the falls, and we even get a muffin on the boat, I am happy!!!
We then decide to tackle the tunnel as Fab is worried he will feel uneasy again... this time, he managed to overcome the claustrophobia feeling and feels OK driving through it, what a relief. I really wished I did take my driving test before leaving London! We stop for a picnic then go for a long walk-climb in the Milford region, the Key summits walk, a steep ascent to see many peaks and lakes, it is truly beautiful, we really want to come back to walk the Milford Track (4 days walk, 54 kms). We drive the alpine road again to Te Anau, and this time we enjoy it much more as it is sunny. It travels through impressive alpine scenery. We stop to admire the valleys, the summits, the waterfalls. We do more driving as we want to get closer to Dunedin, we drive to a very muddy campsite, looking more like a building site...I start feeling uneasy, what the German girl told me didn't help....A car with two men stops next to us and I am now worried...what if? They move their car but then come close to us again around 1 am and I start panicking....We both won't sleep much, checking the car!! But at 6am, the both leave...and we fall asleep...till 10 am...silly me, anxious for nothing!! They were probably campers too tired to set their tents in the middle of the night, under the rain than thugs!!!!!!!!!!!

02/02
We drive to Dunedin, a city proud of its Scottish heritage, with lots of Victorian buildings, we decide to not stay here as we will soon be in Christchurch and in big cities. We go and go visit the Otago peninsula, which stretches along the southern end of the Otago Harbour, it is very close to Dunedin, it is a nice scenic drive with small bays, green fields, mini beaches. Cute. This place is also known for its wildlife...We go to the Albatross centre but decide not to pay to see the colony, we saw some flying at sea in Kaikoura and it as great...we don't want to pay to see some more but enjoy reading about them, they are so endangered, mainly because of human fishing and long lines...It makes us more aware and from now on we will be cautious when buying fish...it will have to be dolphins and albatross friendly! We then go to Sandfly bay, where we walk in sand dunes and see some ...sea lions!!!! A mother and its pup playing in the sand, so close to us, truly magical!! By chance, we meet some conservation volunteers on the beach and they tell us the baby is only 1 month old and he is special as he is the first one to be born on that beach!! We feel very privileged to see them playing in the sun!! We continue walking seeing seals and more sea lions o the beach, then we reach the viewing hide (hidden in the dune) to observe the penguins!! Nice to seat there, chat to the volunteers, they tell us about the different penguins, the seals who love the rocks and the sea lions who love the sand. We wait, we wait but see nothing, the volunteer advises us to go to another beach, close to where we were planning to camp...so we leave the beach and lucky us, just at the end of the beach, we see two small penguins and they are yellow eyed penguin, one of the world rarest penguins!!!! Slowly, we sit down and watch them, mum and chick are coming back from the sea to their nest!!! A true moment!!! Touching AND magical to see those amazing animals so close to us, free and undisturbed in their natural habitats. We drive to the other reserve, in Moeraki, through a mountain road, the Highcliff road, quite impressive...sea and mountain again. As soon as we arrive, the lighthouse keeper tells us we only have 5 minutes as the reserve closes when the lighthouse lights up...it is around 9.30pm so we rush but from the hide, we see more seals and two penguins, coming out of the sea and walking along...amazing!!! We then drive to another to see more seals and penguins. After a little drive on gravel road with nearly no petrol (tank is nearly empty and we couldn't find a petrol station so late), we arrive safely at the conservation campsite, Trotters gorge. So funny to drive on gravels roads in the dark for 10 minutes in the middle of nowhere and suddenly be surrounded by few other campers!!! Late dinner and off to bed!!!

03/02
We wake up late again and decide to go for a beach walk before leaving the area, so we go back to Moeraki to see the Boulders, some weird big rounded rocks, looking like big balls scattered on the beach, nice walk then we managed to find some petrol and make our way to Oamaru, it will be our last stop before Christchurch. We stop there for lunch and walk around the cit, it is a very historical little town, with many limestone buildings, it was very prosperous in the 19th and could have been the capital...funny to see little streets and stone buildings as we have seen so few on them, most of the architecture in the country is made of wood, even the old government buildings in Auckland! We visit a whisky cellar, we see some arts galleries, then make our way to CC, a long drive, the last one as we are giving back our Pepe, our campervan tomorrow morning! We find a campsite in Christchurch, no free camping here! The eve is spent writing, washing our clothes and getting ready...one more day and we are off to Australia...

South Island, West Coast

24/01
Before leaving this morning, we go for another big food shopping, I love it, I always find supermarkets interesting, always funny to see what a country eats…similar to ours…but I love discovering and tasting new cookies, biscuits etc etc…naughty me!!! We then drive to Arthur's Pass National Park, the village is in the middle of the park, it is the highest altitude settlement (around 950 metres) in NZ, we arrive around lunchtime and after a nice picnic on a car park (!!), go for a walk on the bed of a river, the Bealey river, it is a great walk, easy but with beautiful scenery. We observe the river flow and relax under the sun sitting on rocks. We both really love this national park and start to feel more connected with the nature around, good feeling. We feel less tired and happier to be here together. We manage to find a nice conservation free campsite, Klondyke Corner; it is great, a nice large open campsite close to a river. We just chill out, watch the amazing sky, again so many stars and the Milky Way and off to bed early.

25/01
We are going for a long walk so before we head up to the mountain, we go to the alpine village to get some bread for the sandwiches, it is early around 8ish and already full of life, everybody seems to leave so early to go walking, climbing…a nice feel. We see some kea, the local parrots on the car park, they are very funny animals, trying to steal food from humans…We have a laugh observing them. We spend the day ‘tramping’ – the NZ way of describing hiking-walking, the Bealeys Spur Track is hard but beautiful, we see amazing views of the river Waimakariri, the valley where we sleep ad have a great view of many peaks in the Southern Alps (yes called like that too here!). It is quite challenging, sometimes very arduous, there are lots of walking up hills, after a really long climb, we stop for lunch close to the hut, and relax under the shade (sun is way too hot here!). I feel like resting as I am exhausted…but Fab is braver than me and wants to climb till the top!! I settle in a nice spot and watch him ascent and go to the top of the mountain. It was really hard and took some time but he made it and came back with some amazing piccies, as usual. Such a nice walk with diverse landscapes, some peaks, mountains with snow, lots of alpine flowers. The diversity amazes us, and it will be the case every time we go for a walk here, you can find many different landscapes in 5 minutes, lakes, swamps, mountains and even the sea!!! Amazing to have such diverse ecosystems so close!
We go back to our little campsite and spend the eve in the same spot, it is actually quite nice to have a sense of routine!!! The evening is not brilliant as we both feel annoyed with the van company: the fridge is not working and the battery seems to be dead…we are losing some food and the smell is not great in the van, cheese and butter melting in the sun, lovely cheddar smell!!! Fab calls them and they cannot do anything as it is Sunday, we will have to call back Monday a.m.

26/01
We leave early as we want to call the van company to sort out the battery, after few phones calls and a bit of stress, we have to drive to Greymouth, the big town on the West Coast to get it sorted, a tiny detour from our initial plan but manageable. The route is interesting, amazing landscapes and some little gold mining cities, feels very much like we would imagine a Far West region in the states!!! Despite so many little gold towns, it feels very empty. We read about the Gold rush in the 19th century and it is hard to imagine it happening here!! We arrive at Greymouth to sort out the van at a garage, it takes 1 hour, we then stroll and go for some shopping, internet and we are ready to go again, a little picnic then a drive till the end of the afternoon to the Glaciers region. We arrive in Franz Josef around 5ish, but we really want to see the glacier despite being tired so we go for a short walk to see the glacier: spectacular!! Nowhere else at this latitude do glaciers come so close to the ocean. The danger is real as two tourists died here two weeks ago, getting too close to the ice.. We will have to be cautious and stick to the tracks. It is an amazing scenery, the ice is blue at some point, the glacier seems so tranquil but it actually moves every day!! We find another conservation free campsite close to a lake, the lake Mapourika, it is a nice site but infested with sand flies and mosquitoes, we have a hard time all eve, chasing them as we become their dinner!!! Many people told us about sand flies, so far we escaped them, here they are, in numbers, biting and attacking…pure bliss!!!!!! We will both from now on have tons of little red bites on our legs, very VERY itchy….

27/01
We again wake up early and go for a beautiful all day walk-climb, in the rainforest. Yes, weirdly enough, there is a real lush rainforest, very close to the glaciers. It is very dense and humid and at times, it feels like being in a tropical country…weird…we will then find out that ecosystems here are a bit all over the place and coexist where they normally shouldn’t. The walk is steep and hard, with many hours of climbing up, river crossing to reach a nice spot with great views on the glacier as we climb to the top, exhausted! Franz Josef glacier (named after the emperor) is very impressive, it advances 1 metre per day!!! We see the blue ice, the canyons created by the snow and ice, the high peaks. It is truly magical to see an amazing glacier, which descends deep into the rainforest of the Westland National Park. After a difficult descent, where I managed to slip and fall in the mud in front of the only person we meet on the track (!), we go back to our campsite for the night. I wash my hair with a bucket outside, helped by my lovely hubby….the joy of no hot shower and freedom camping!!!! We just chill out for the eve, I read about the Maori legend on the glacier: the Maori name is 'The tears of the Avalanche girl', Hinehukatere loved climbing in the mountains and persuaded her lover Tawe to climb with her, he fells from the peaks to his death, she was broken hearted and her many tears froze to form the glacier!! We both reflect on the incredible landscape, the superb scenery. The West Coast region is really wild and untouched, with serene lakes, birdlife, fern everywhere, lots of streams and rivers, mountains and of course dramatic glacial valleys but I miss the humanity…the nature is impressive but not many human beings here and I miss the human touch, the human arts, the human touch on the landscape….Fab connects more with the mountains, the gigantism and the purity of the peaks touch him a lot.

28/01
We go to see Fox glacier this morning, it is 300 metres deep, we take a little walk close to the river to see the terminal ice face. This one has more stones, feels rockier but has an amazing blue icy colour. After a nice stroll, we drive to visit the Lake Matheson, to see reflections of Mounts Cook and Tasman in the water. It is a nice easy bush track around the lake, we see the Mount Tasman but the Mount Cook, NZ highest peak, hides behind the clouds!!! All around, it is still the rainforest, even on the mountains which have huge canopy of rainforest…again it feels like an untamed wilderness, great natural beauty with a beautiful flora. We both again are puzzled by the fact that the dense rainforest is so close to the alpine vegetation, WEIRD!!! We then go for a picnic on Gillespie beach. Gillespie was a small gold town gold, but quickly became a ghost town less than 2 years after the gold rush….we can sense this, a feel of the isolation but also something of a pioneer era. The beach is a beautiful black sand wild beach with a lagoon, we walk for hours, it looked more like swamps, tropical, it feels like Asia!!! We walk, write our names with stones, Fab attempts to sculpt the dead wood on the beach, we hesitate: shall we stay here tonight or move on?? We both feel restless again and in need of new scenery…. But numbers of campervans invade the small beach campsite, so we decide to drive a bit for 2 hours before sunset to find another spot….We are heading towards Lake Wanaka so we need to stop in between and decide to go to the Mount Aspiring National Park. The night arrives when we find a conservation free campsite, it is already 10 pm and hard to cook here as you are not supposed to make noise after that time, it is buys and everyone is so quiet and goes to bed early…the eve feels short, we both fall asleep quickly but struggles with bed bugs…yes the mattress seems to be inhabited by many insects and the multiples bites on our legs are annoying!! We thought that would happen in India, not here!!!!!

29/01
We wake up early again and decide to leave to reach Wanaka in the morning, we both feel tired and a bit low, it is grey and we need to chill out, Fab dreams of a hot shower as it is cold and humid today. I feel sleepy…The drive is nice, amazing mountains and lakes, Fab is touched, I am sadly finding it a bit monotonous…how bad is that, amazing landscapes yet I find it repetitive now…mountains, lakes, forests….We arrive in Wanaka around 10ish, it is a nice little town on the lake front, yes people!!!! I am glad to see some houses, shops and people, yes!!!!! We both decide that after many days of cold showers and freedom camping, we need a treat so check in a nice commercial campsite with spa and sauna!!!! The morning is lazy, internet, shower, shower, shampoo and that is it!!!! Nice to wash, to wash clothes with powder and not soap, yes we are not 20s anymore and sometimes it is nice to recharge the battery!!!! We go for a walk around town, nice shops, organic food, people, we even go for lunch in a pub…nice treat!!!
We then go back to the campsite and enjoy the spa and sauna…Fab decides to BBQ some lambs in the communal BBQ area, he has a chat with some Swiss guys, I stay in, writing and relaxing before a nice meal.

South Island

22/01
After waking up on the beach, we drive to Kaikoura, a sweet little town with mountain plunging in the sea, it is amazing to have the sea and the mountains together!!! The area is famous for its wildlife: penguins, whales, dolphins, seals etc etc.... On the coastal road, we already see many seals colnies, they are called kekeno here, so close to us on rocky beach, amazing to see seals in their natural habitat!!We look around the town, then have lunch at the view point, watching the black beaches. Fab is still unhappy with the campervan, so we spend lots of time on the phone trying to change it...not working...we got it cheap for a reason: relocation, in fact us driving it to Christchurch is a favour to the company...so we got a deal but we have to stick with it and deal with it!!!! We then decide to go for a long walk, the Peninsula Walkway, three hours walk through cliffs, a lovely peninsula, an amazing coast track, it is truly beautiful and feel serene. We both start to really enjoy the country and its amazing landscape. aftert this walk, we drive around and find a nice spot close to the beach where other vans are parked, this will be our place for the night!!! We have a chat with Collin, our neighbour, again an English man, him and his family left England 6 months ago to relocate here and start afresh, they have been living in the campervan since September and enjoy the freedom of it, while they wait for their house to be built! Daring people starting all over again....inspiring! We chat a bit, he tells us about places we are going to,whee to find free spots for camping at nights, what to see, we talk about England and how they hopoe to become self sufficient here. Nice night despite opur battery running down and our fridge getting warm...horrid smell in the van!!!

23/01
Val wake up really early (7am) and wach the sea while having her breakfast, nice to be so close to the beach. We drive to a better spot to spend few hours there and meet with Collin and its family again!! Fab chats a bit, then we decide to go to a campsite as the fridge is dead and we ned to plug the van to get some power!!! We choose a nice one with swimming pool and hot shower!! The treat!! We find a nice spot on the grass with a table, we wnat to chill out for while so spend the morning there, doing our washing, talking and not doing much...until we got to our whale watching trip!!! As mentioned before, the region is famous for its marine mamals and we really want to see some...the trip is 3 hours ona boat, we sail around the bay, until we see a gigantic sperm whale: so amazing to see it!! It is resting then go again for a plunge...Truly unbelievable!!We then go on to see more seals colonies and some pods of dusky dophins!!! They play around the boat, swim along ...truly magical!!They are known as acrobats of the sea and it is funny to watch them dance and jump in the air! What a unique day!! The whale watchers organisation is very eco friendly and we learn a lot talking to the guide....New Zealand has a law to protect all marine mammals and they ban hunting, it is good to know that most of those animals are starting to recover from the human slaughter and that they start breeding again. An amazing encounter with magical animals, we both feel blessed to have experienced it! Picnic on the beach around 4pm then we go for a walk and decide to enjoy the campsite and its facilities: a swimming pool and some hated little jaccuzi!!! Nice to chill out, we chat to a couple from Dunedin (one of our stops) and then really enjoy the dip!! Nice dinner outside, and off to bed!!

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...

Auckland City

13/01
After a 4 hour flight leaving Rarotonga very early in the morning on Monday, we arrive in Auckland on Tuesday!!! The shortest Monday ever...New Zealand...the customs and passport inspection are very long, you cannot bring food, plants,animals,soiled camping gears to this country...to protect the biodiversity...a bit extreme,it takes forever...even worst than the US!!!
We finally take in a taxi, too lazy and tired to take the bus....we make it to the city lodge accommodation, our backpacker hostel for 4 days. Tiny clean room with an even tinier bathroom but at least it is not a dormitory!! Nice big communal kitchen, a laundry and some nice staff willing to advise...good start...It is warm but not too warm, sunny...
After resting a bit, we decide to go walking around the city centre and discover Auckland. We walk to the Viaduct Harbour, the main commercial street Queen Street, the Sky Tower, we wander around and the first impression is not great. Auckland city is not pretty depite the water and the volcanoes: many big avenues, motorways cutting through the city, it makes us feel like we are in a badly designed small US town.
Lots of shopping, big roads and tons of asian restaurants...this is the amazing fact: the Asian population, mainly Korean, Japanese and Chinese, is huge here. In some areas, all the shops and restaurants are asian. All the signs are written in chinese or korean...feels weird, it is so multicultural. In some places, you could easily forget you are in New Zealand!!
We go for a lunch in one of those Asian food halls, a very specific widly spread concept here: a large shop basement lit with neons lights and hosting many food stalls: Malaysian, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Chinese food...all for a very cheap price. We eat Thai food, then walk a bit more but we are not falling in love with Auckland...not very nice city...
Back close to the water, We observe all the commuters taking ferries to go to the islands suburbs (we will later discover that is where many people live). Getting out in the water is part of life here. We see many boats, it is the city of sails after all and the America's Cup Big Boat is exhibited as a Christmas decoration...funny...
We go to bed early, tired and not sure what to expect here, first impressions aren't fantastic...

14/01
The morning is spent sorting out the van, we have to hire one to visit the country...After studying many companies, Fab calls them. One seems to be perfect...nice cute campervan...Luckily for us...they have nothing!!! For once, being late paid off, they cannot offer us the cheap van as they are all booked up, so as a result, we can get a 'luxury' campervan (ie with toilet and shower) for a very cheap rate....a really good deal!!! Even cheaper than the basic ones!!!
We have to spend another night in Auckland as it is not available before Friday...not a problem as we want to get out of the city and see one of the islands in the gulf.
We feel very excited about it!! A campervan, seems fun...We book it then go for a long walk to the Auckland Museum, it is now very warm and sunny, a real summer!! Again not a very nice walk, in between motorways, gigantic ugly streets, industrial estates, shops, nothing really nice for pedestrians...again very American.

The museum is a surprise, it is surrounded by an amazing park called the Domain, has gigantic gardens, on one of Auckland's volcanoes. We get to see the city and harbour from up and it looks stunning with this sea of islands, little green suburbs.
We spent few hours checking the display of Maori and Pacific islands arts and objects. The Maori culture is facinating but quite complex, such an amazing culture, we see a really long war canoe, we enter the Maori meeting house, we look at amazing carvings with details and sculptures.It is a fascinating culture, with a very strong link to ancestors and the land, even the objects are treated with respect and given names... The legends and mythology are very complicated with many gods, we try to understand their story of creation with Rangi the Earth nother and Papa, the Sky father but it gets more and more complex....We then have to walk all the way back to the centre, it is sunny but we both feel exhausted. We still decide to take another way home and explore another area, including the famous K Road, supposed to be one of the trendy-edgy areas, with vintage shops, designers....we arrive there around 6pm and everything is closed!!
Yes, here everything shuts down after 6pm and very quickly the city feels dead....
Another long walk to the food supermarket as we have to feed ourselves, the walk is horrible again, alongside a motorway, no real architectural sense here...
We then spend most of the evening in the communal kitchen, cooking and chatting to people, it is busy, maybe 15 people cooking and discussing...many nationalities. Funny enough, we meet a French couple living in Blackheath, for the past 20 years!!! South London is never far away!!

15/01
We want to escape the city and experience the islands as it seems to be the best bits here. Our choice is Rangitoto (what a name!!) This island is a volcano! It emerged from the sea around 600 years ago with eruptions forming the island.
Rangitoto is the largest, youngest of about 50 volcanic cones in the Auckland volcanic field. This funny name is derived from the phrase: 'Te Rangi totongia a Tamatekapua - the day the blood of Tamatekapua was shed'. Tamatekapua was the chief of the Arawa canoe tribe and lost a major battle with another tribe and was injured on this island. Nice ferry ride, it is a gorgeous sunny day and feel very warm...the sun is strong in the Southern hemisphere and we feel it.
The island is stunning, amazing lush short vegetations and lava fields....It is also a place of significance for the maori but was unsuitable for settlement as as only layers of basaltic rocks. The lava rock seems an inhospitable environment as no soil but there are lots of plants on the island, including the largest remaining pohutukawa forest - the flame tree (the local tree) in New Zealand. Mangroves which usually grow in the mud of estuaries are found here too, growing directly on lava and many lush bushes....We spend the day walking, first we Walk to the summit, a long climb through lava fields and forests, it is warm and the dark lava retains the heat, making it even warmer...specially when ascending a steep path!!!But we make it to the top and are rewarded by panoramic views of Auckland and the gulf. It is stunning. We then go on to walk to McKenzie Bay, a natural black sand beach, we have a quick picnic, attacked by wasps and worry about reaching the ferry warf on time...no rest today for us....feels a bit rushed.

We reach the end of the walk and start seeing all the baches, the holidays homes that were built in the 1920s and 1930s. The bach sites were leased to pay for the development of the island and a community was created at that time, people would come on holidays here....very wild camping first, then they would build out of wood some hut-cabins, then houses with basic equipments then a bit better, using the rain water and kerosene lamps. We are amazed by them, they are all abandoned and derelict but many have some furniture inside, some old clothes...we peep through the windows, go in the gardens, see glances of lifes...feels a bit like being kids again and going to see an abandoned house, a bit scary and exciting...even if we both know they are empty!! Then, surprisingly, one of them seem to have inhabitants, windows are open, shoes, clothes and bath towels outside.we even see a little girl playing in the yard!!!! We decide to be brave and knock at the door...Angela opens the door and we asked her about the house, do they live here? We thought all the houses were empty and abandoned and no one lived on this island!! She laughs and invites us in...Paul her husband is here to with the twins girls and they offer us a drink, we chat for an hour, the bach house belongs to Angla's grandfather, he built it and was amongst the first people in the bach community...it then passed on to her mother then her, she tells us about the governement wanting the baches to be destroyed, the conservation organisation wanting the island to be without humans (apparently the island is now a nature sanctuary). A significant number of houses were removed when the lease expired, some were burnt to the ground. Finally we learn that following a trial and public outcry, the baches are now listed as historic areas and that the government wants to preserve some of the baches for their historic interest but still willing to get rid of the people. We chat a lot, politics, life in Europe, here, we look around the house, Paul shows us all the inventive bits and the improvements done to the house. They might loose the house, when the lease is up...but at the moment, they still manage to come here on holidays...It has an historic significance we feel, as we learn there are many baches sites scattered around NZ coast...may house will be 80 or 70 years old.
In few hours time, when the ferries are gone, Paul, Angela and their twin girls will be the only people on th island until tomorrow, how exciting!! they are very friendly and it is a shame we have to go and take the boat. Paul tells us where they live and we are invited to come and visit once we will be in the area...which we plan to do. Such a great encounter!!
We leave the island and enjoy the ferry ride under the sun, walk home, shower then we finish the night in a japanese take away, eating stir fry at the counter....

Bed time, tomorrow we pick up the camper and go up to the Bay of Island.