New Zealand North Island

Hello everyone!

So this is my first actual blog post- exciting times! I’m going to give you a round-up of our time in the North Island of New Zealand,  which was 15 days in total.  As this is the first destination on our trip, it’s been a chance for us to start finding out how we need to plan our time, budget our money and work out what types of accommodation we are happy to stay in.

We started our journey with a really cute little tent (a Vango Mistral 200) which was purchased for us by my wonderful parents (shoutout to the Weebals!).  We planned to camp as much as possible in New Zealand, both to save money and because tents are awesome! We’ve ended up doing about half and half: in total we’ve spent 5 nights in hostels, 8 nights in the tent and 2 nights in an airbnb.

So,  to the details! First of all,  the weather; we flew into Auckland on the 1st of March into late NZ summer.  Overall it’s been Hot, mostly averaging between 24-28°C in the daytime.  Nights have been cooler,  with the temperature dropping very suddenly in some areas.  We saw our first rain this morning as we drove down to Wellington but it eased up in the afternoon.  I’m really fair skinned so I’ve been rocking the factor 50 since we got here. I’ve also been drowning myself in 55% DEET since our first night camping,  in which I got bitten 24 times by mosquitoes and once by a wasp (I KNOW?!) Rich was fine by the way,  as was EVERYONE ELSE on the ENTIRE campsite,  not that I’m bitter or anything…!

So, on to the information.  I’ve split this post into locations for ease of reading so hopefully it makes sense/isn’t too dull.

AUCKLAND

We flew into Auckland and stayed for 3 nights in Nomads Auckland hostel in a private room with an en-suite.  The hostel itself was great – it couldn’t have been more centrally located and had a fab little roof terrace which was really nice to eat breakfast on in the mornings.  Our room was the only downside- it was pretty small and had no window,  meaning it got really hot.  The double bed also had a single bunk above it,  which would have been fine except previous guests had scrawled gruesome details about their sexual exploits on the slats underneath which you couldn’t help but read when you were lying down!

Auckland is the biggest city in New Zealand but it’s still pretty small so it’s easy to walk around. The city itself is nestled in between lots of tiny ancient volcanoes. On our first full day we walked up one of them – Mount Eden,  and saw really spectacular views of the city from the crater rim.  We would definitely recommend this as a free activity in the city.

On the second day we walked to Auckland Zoo,  which is actually pretty far… So maybe taking a bus would have been wiser! The zoo is pretty cool,  the highlight being a darkened enclosure where you can see shy nocturnal kiwis really close up and personal (I was desperate to see a kiwi in NZ and apparently it’s highly unlikely to see them in the wild). They also have a big bird enclosure with a really cool pigeon that sits right next to you and looks at you politely like,  “hello,  how are you enjoying the zoo?”. Anyway,  worth a visit! On the way back we stumbled across this really cool sprawling indoor hipster market called Ponsonby Central.  It had everything from artisan meats and cheeses,  to fresh fruit and veg,  local crafts and trendy bars and coffee shops. Great for a poke around.

HAHEI

We wanted to see Cathedral Bay after Auckland so our next stop was Hahei.  We just rocked up and happened across a really nice campsite.  They had vacancies so we pitched up for two nights.  Our pitch was literally a stones’ throw from the most beautiful beach and the facilities were nice and clean.  It even had a little coffee shop on site and a small store just down the road.  FYI this was the scene of the great bug attack so wear insect repellent if critters tend to find you delicious like me.   We walked down to Cathedral Cove,  which is a really stunning beach with some epic rock formations.  The path was under repair though,  so we did almost die of heatstroke when the 15 minute journey was rerouted to about 40 minutes of hard toil in inappropriate footwear. Still worth the walk though I think.

We also went to Hot Water Beach – a beach where,  if you dig in the right place at low tide,  you can bask in a pool of hot volcanic water whilst enjoying delightful views of the sea…which all sounded rather magical and relaxing.  In reality,  you rent a shovel and fight for a square metre of beach,  after which you frantically dig a hole,  chase your flip flops around for a bit after they get washed away and then burn the soles of your feet in what feels like boiling water until you bid a hasty retreat back to your car.  Not for us but hilarious all the same!

HOBBITON

Our next stop after Cathedral Bay was Hobbiton,  where we booked in a tour around the permanent film set used in the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit movies.  I read all of the books when I was younger so this was always on our must-see list.  Rich is not really too in to the movies but he enjoyed it just as much as me. He also specifically wanted me to mention that the cafe on site has really tasty wraps that are excellent value for money (as this may be a theme you come to notice throughout this blog,  I’ll mention now that food is REALLY important to Rich…like, REALLY important).  The actual tour of the hobbit holes was great and our guide was friendly and knowledgeable.  At the end of the tour you even get a complimentary beer or soft drink in the Green Dragon which was pretty cool.

WAITOMO

We stayed a ‘Top Ten’  Holiday Park in Waitomo,  which is a teeny tiny village in the middle of nowhere surrounded by a massive network of caves.  The village itself basically has one cafe/store called the General Store which is run by a brisk Scotsmen and serves fantastic comfort food.  That evening we went on the 45 minute Ruakuri Bushwalk through the forest and into some of the caves, which was recommended to us by the receptionist at the campsite.  What she didn’t tell us was that these horrendously scary giant cave spiders lurk above you whilst you’re passing through the tunnels, twitching their hairy legs and plotting how best to get tangled in your hair… Apparently they’re harmless but whatever,  we are British and timid and we are very afraid of your scary foreign creatures which may or may not be trying to kill us.. Other than that,  it’s a cool little walk.  Go in the daytime though,  and then at least you can see the majority of the wee beasties so you can make an informed decision about scuttling underneath them!

The next day we booked on to an adventurous cave tour called ‘Abyss’, run by the Black Water Rafting Company.  This trip combined abseiling,  zip-lining,  wading through chest-deep underground lakes and floating along on underground rivers in a rubber tube whilst  gazing up at glow worms on the cave roof.  It was pretty awesome but not particularly cheap (£113 each) .  It was also bloody freezing, despite us wearing super-flattering inch-thick wetsuits the whole time. Seeing the glow worms spread above us like constellations was really amazing though. Luckily they also do less extreme boat rides into the caves for those who don’t fancy losing all sensation in their extremities. 

ROTURUA

Rotorua is a great town to stop at if you don’t mind the smell.  It’s a geothermal town and has geysers and mud pools to go and see,  if you’re willing to pay to get into the parks.  It’s a centre for the Maori culture too,  so we shelled out for a Maori evening experience at Te Puia,  one of the parks.  This has been our most disappointing trip so far.  Seeing the Maori dancing and weapons demonstrations was great,  but the evening meal was actually a very non-authentic buffet and we felt like we were herded around like cattle throughout the night.  Even the geyser we were hoping to see didn’t go off,  so we did feel a little robbed afterwards.  On the plus side the masses of aging Americans we were surrounded by seemed pleased by the whole affair, so at least some of us were happy! 

RAETIHI AND THE WANGANUI JOURNEY

From the small town of Raetihi we embarked on a 3-day canoeing expedition called the Wanganui Journey  which takes you from Whakahoro to Pipiriki (Google NZ Great Walks for more info and some others like it).  The idea is you hire a canoe and waterproof barrels,  pack your belongings and camping gear in and then you get dropped off into the Wanganui River after a brief introduction to the basics of ‘steering a canoe’ and ‘not drowning’.  You have to pre-book campsites along the way which are run by the DOC (Department of Conservation).  The two sites we stayed at were called the John Coull and Tieke sites,  which both offered cabins as well as tent sites and had kitchen areas for basic cooking.  The toilets however,  are long-drops.  My advice: hold your breath,  don’t look down and drown yourself in DEET! The sites themselves are really isolated and it was made clear to us at the outset that help is a two-hour helicopter ride away.  It was therefore pretty unnerving to hear of the various ways in which previous tourists had been thrown out of their canoes or fallen down embankments and broken their limbs etc etc.  At the end of the safety briefing I’d pretty much already decided we’d made a huge mistake and was just staring at our instructor with a look of abject horror on my face!

Against our better judgement,  we climbed into the canoe (Rich in the back to steer and me in the front as the ‘engine’ which is a joke in itself!) Unluckily,  the river was very low at the time of our trip,  meaning that it was flowing very slowly.  This, combined with a strong headwind,  meant that we had to paddle pretty hard just to make progress.  After 7 hours straight of exertion on the first day we were both pretty done in by the time we pitched our tent at John Coull site! We inhaled our super noodles and were tucked up in bed by 9pm!

The following day was slightly easier and was broken up by a stop-off on the way so that we could take an hours’ round-trip hike to the Bridge to Nowhere.  This is a bridge in the middle of the jungle which was built for the war but was abandoned almost immediately after completion and as such has no roads connecting it to anywhere.  Pretty cool to see.  That night at Tieke site was our coldest yet and neither of us got much sleep 🙁

Our last day’s paddle was the easiest but most scary.  This is because you encounter three of the largest rapids on the final stretch of river,  one of which has a metre high wave right in the middle! Just before entering the last rapid we witnessed a German couple ahead of us sink their canoe and wallow around desperately trying to catch their barrels as they floated off down the river! We just sat there above the rapid,  back-paddling and exchanging looks of terror until they’d dragged themselves out onto the shore and we knew we had to go for it. Anyway,  after some frantic bailing out and a lot of yelling we made it through and I’m pleased to confirm we won’t be doing more than a days’ canoe trip in the near future!

Overall the trip was an amazing experience.  Most of the time we felt completely alone as the trip is unguided and you end up with such big gaps between canoes on the river.  The Wanganui is immense and the scenery is absolutely stunning.  I would recommend the trip as a challenge and an adventure – you won’t be able to wash for 3 days,  you’ll have to exist off super noodles or canned food and crackers and use long drop toilets at really basic campsites.  It’s also physically exhausting.  Girls like me with limited upper body strength will definitely struggle if the river is low so I would check before you book to find out what the conditions are like.

THE TONGARIRO ALPINE CROSSING

This has been my favourite place in NZ so far.  We stayed at the National Park YHA which had the most amazing views of the volcanoes.  As a kid I was terrified of volcanoes.  I watched this film called Dante’s Peak when I was about 12 and it gave me nightmares for years.  Now I’m older I’ve become kind of fascinated with them and the opportunity to walk across a whole bunch of active cones whilst in NZ was one I didn’t want to miss!

The Tongariro Alpine Crossing takes about 6 hours to complete and is absolutely stunning.  We had an amazingly clear day for it which gave us spectacular views of the perfect cone shape of Mount Ngaurahoe (or Mount Doom if you’re into Lord of the Rings) and the Emerald and Blue lakes.  The north side of Tongariro also smokes ominously which is kind of terrifying!

WELLINGTON

Our last day in the North Island has been spent in Wellington,  the compact capital of NZ.  We treated ourselves to a nice self contained flat which we booked through airbnb (after freezing to death in Tieke and then having to book into dorms in the YHA at Tongariro we felt like we deserved a treat!).  We only had one full day in Wellington so we spent a little time wandering in the city and rest at Te Papa,  the Museum of New Zealand. The museum was ace,  and free so worth a visit.  The highlight for me was learning about the fault line passing right through NZ and it’s accompanying volcanoes and earthquakes.  We also visited the Weta Workshop,  where all the costuming and modelling for films like Lord of the Rings and Avatar was carried out.  We didn’t actually go on the tour as you can wander around a mini museum and see a short film for free without paying a penny.  Wellington itself is nice,  but we much preferred Auckland as a city as it seemed more lively and had more to offer.  The presence of big blue lines on the roads that mark out ‘tsunami safe zones’ here in Wellington is also pretty terrifying to me! 

So we are off to South Island tomorrow.  We’ve booked a ferry to accommodate ourselves and Jerky Jim,  our affectionately named automatic Yaris which can’t ever seem to decide on an appropriate gear to be in.  They’ve been having a lot little earthquakes recently on the island so it’ll be interesting I’m sure!!

Jess & Rich

• Auckland
• canoeing
• cathedralcove
• glowwormcaves
• greatwalks
• hahei
• hiking
• hobbiton
• hotwaterbeach
• mounteden
• Newzealand
• North island
• raehiti
• rotorua
• tongariro
• waitomo
• Wanganui
• wanganuijourney
• Wellington