Auckland

Thanks to a 15 hour flight to get to Auckland and then finding out that although we left Santiago on Sunday it was already Tuesday, our first encounter with the city was rather disorientated! Our tummies were so confused in fact that we had to feed their cravings for a Mc Donalds before 9am on our first morning! However after a good nights rest we started to come around and take in our new scenery. Arriving in New Zealand after 6 months in Latin America was like coming back from outer space, our taste buds almost exploded at the variety of food in the supermarkets and my celeb gossip cravings got updated with a good read at every gossip magazine on offer! J´Lo had twins?!?! It did also take us a while to get in to the swing of speaking English to everyone and even now, one week on the odd gracias slips out instead of thank you. Oh and of course there was the change in toilets…what a delight to use the super clean, always full of toilet paper toilets in New Zealand…I almost went into shock in one public toilet when the press of a button did everything and you even had some background music to accompany your business!!! However even with all the high tech toilets around here I still find it hard to remember to put the used paper down the toilet instead of into the nearest bin, the habits of 6 months are hard to break! So yes to sum it all up you could say that arriving in Auckland was a bit of a culture shock, a good culture shock. The city in itself is really beautiful, with the sea never far away and the harbour bulging with sail boats, its def a city where you need to have your camera at the ready. A worthy day trip is a boat ride over to Devonport, just opposite Auckland, it has got all the charm of Auckland but in a smaller version. So after 4 days enjoying the sights of the city and adjusting to how modern everything was, the time came to collect our camper and move on. We booked our camper online but got a great surprise on the day when we went to collect it as we were told that we had recevied a free upgrade!! Woohoo!!! 

Bay Of Island

Despues de recuperar nuestro camping car, nos fuimos hacia el norte, hacia Bay Of Island. Segun dicen, es uno de los sitios mas preciosos de la isla del Norte...

Nada mas salir de Auckland, pasamos por unos paisajes realmente hermosos. Yo no puedo mirar demasiado ya que el tema de ir por la izquierda requiere la mayor parte de mi atencion. Al llegar a Pahia, justo en el centro de la bahia, nos ponemos a buscar un sitio para pasar nuestra primera noche en el camping car. Como hay muchisima gente viajando con campers, hay infraestructuras para recibirnos. Segun entramos en la ciudad, viene indicado un parking donde podemos permanecer la noche sin pagar. Hay sitios de pago donde uno puede enchufar el camping car y tener electricidad dentro para enchufar cualquier dispositivo. Realmente no nos ha hecho falta hasta la fecha ya que hay una segunda bateria que alimenta el frigorifico, las luces dentro del habitaculo y la bomba para el agua.

Por la mañana nos despertamos tempranito y estamos encantados con lo que va a ser nuestra cama para los proximos 25 dias. Hemos dormido fenomenal!

Pillamos un barco que nos lleva a la isla de Urupukapuka, donde pasamos el dia pateando por paisajes dignos del señor de los anillos.

Volvemos a pasar la noche en Pahia y por la mañana nos vamos de camino a Auckland pero por el camino turistico esta vez. Despues de perdernos unas veces, acabamos en Waipu Cove donde decidimos hacer una parada picnic enfrente del mar. Esto del camping car es genial, duermes y comes donde te apetece. Ya por la tarde nos paramos en Orewa para hacer un footing por la playa. Aprovechamos para ducharnos en las duchas de la playa. Vuelta a las duchas frias, como en america central...

Pasamos Auckland de noche, con unas vistas preciosas de la ciudad desde el puente Harbour Bridge. Decidimos hacer noche en Hamilton

Bay Of Island

So with super Sammy on the road (yes we were actually sad enough to name our camper!!) we left Auckland and started heading north towards the Bay of Islands. Apparently it is really beautiful there so we decided that it would be a good place to start our New Zealand adventure. Along the way we stopped for some supplies and took in the amazing scenery as we followed the coast north. Although I got to enjoy it more that Antoine who was just getting the hang of driving on the left, he had to concentrate more on the road than the views!! We weren’t disappointed that night when we arrived at one of the small towns in the bay called Pahia, really picturesque. Finding somewhere to park for the night was easy as we found a free carpark open for campers, so we parked up and got to grips with converting our dining table into a bed! Thankfully it was as easy as it looked in the campervan rental video and before long we were spending our first night sleeping on 4 wheels. Thanks to our free upgrade Sammy was really comfy and spacious so we slept sound all night, just as well seeing as it was night 1 of 26 nights! The next day we got a speed boat over to one of the nearby islands called Urupukapuka, and had a gorgeous day there exploring and enjoying the rugged northern coastline. So far the weather has been fabulous so the campervan has worked out to be a good idea. After another good nights sleep in Pahia we said goodbye to The Bay of Islands and made our way back down towards Auckland, but taking the scenic route this time. We passed some beautiful little villages and coastal areas on the way down and stop for a picnic lunch in Waipu Cove. Then by late afternoon we are tempted by the touristy beach town Orewa, so we stop there for a run on the beach and take a nice cold beach shower afterwards. Most people use the beach shower just for a quick rinse but we took full advantage and got out the showergel and shampoo, hey Sammy is great but he has no shower so we have to take what we get! After our refreshingly freezing showers we got back on the road and made it back to Auckland. This time though we didn’t stop, we took in the beautiful views while driving over the harbour bridge after dark but then we drove on a few hours more and spent the night in Hamilton. So far we are loving Sammy, he offers a good comfy bed for sleeping in and more than enough room inside to be able to cook and eat. The freedom of having a camper is great, we want to eat, we stop to eat, we want to sleep, we stop to sleep, we want to go left, we go left. So far we have been parking in really beautiful places so enjoying some great views while we have breakfast, lunch etc. ….not even a 5 star hotel could offer better views, and they change everyday!!! Viva Sammy!

Hamilton y Waitomo

Pillamos una calle tranquilita y aqui te pillo aqui te mato. Por la mañana nos vamos a los jardines tematicos. Muy bien para pasar un par de horas. Despues toca organizar un poco los dias siguientes e intentar repartir bien los dias entre la isla del norte y la del sur. Conducimos por la tarde hasta Waitomo donde hemos leido que hay unas cuevas espectaculares. Al llegar alli nos llevamos una pequeña decepcion ya que los precios de las actividades son desorbitantes. Eso si, deben de ser una pasada. Ofrecen un dia entero de escursion, empezando con un rappel de 100m  y luego varias horas dentro de las cuevas, con actividades acuaticas, escalada y la posibilidad de ver gusanos luminosos.

Al final no habra escursion para nosotros, pero nos vamos unos kilometros mas allá donde podemos hacer una pateada de 1 horita en la que tambien se ven los gusanos luminosos.

Hamilton and Waitomo

After waking up in Hamilton and having a nice quiet breakfast in the sun we decide to go for a walk around the well-known Hamilton gardens. They are really beautiful and keep us wandering for a few hours. Afterwards we drove and found yet another scenic spot to stop and have lunch!! Apparently New Zealand is having an unusual extended summer this year so we are really lucky with the weather J. Once lunch had been digested we did some homework, planning our route for the next few weeks. That out of the way we made our way to our next stop which was the famous caves of Waitomo. The plan here was to do some adventure activity but unfortunately they were all way too expensive. However we did do a night walk into some of the caves and got to see the famous Waitomo cave gloworms. Pretty impressive little guys! Once again we parked in a random place without paying, camper parks are available everywhere but they cost around 15 euro a time and since we don’t need to be in a camper park we prefer just to park somewhere for free. In camper parks you can plug in your camper to have electricity but we have lights inside which work from a second battery and everything is gas so we are sorted. Once again viva Sammy!!

Rotorua

Nada mas entrar a la ciudad, vemos anunciado unos remontes y unos trineos con ruedas que no pintan nada mal. Nos paramos para preguntar y nos decidimos. Skyline, ahi vamos. Basicamente hay 3 pistas, la de los principiantes, la papichula y la rápida. El trineo es como un cochecito, facil de manejar. Nos ponemos los cascos y nos tiramos un buen par de horas bajando por las pistas. Bastante cachondo he de admitir. Luego al volver a subirme al camping car, tenia la impresion de conducir un tanque...

Una compras en el supermercado y nos buscamos un sitio para pasar la noche. Nos siempre resulta facil encontrar un sitio adecuando para pasar la noche. No es plan de aparcar en mitad de la calle pero tampoco queremos tomar el riesgo de aislarnos por completo. Al final encontramos una calle centrica pero tranquila. Hacemos unas partidas de cartas mientras tomamos el aperetivo y cocinamos. Leemos en la guia que hay un bosque no muy lejos, altamente recomendado para el mountain bike...ya tenemos plan para mañana!

Efectivamente, al dia siguiente alquilamos unas bicis y nos vamos al parque Whakarewarewa. Empezamos a peladear por los senderidos y plaff, antoine al suelo. Pero por qué? Porque estas en Nueva Zelanda chaval! Y aqui todo se hace al reves. La maneta derecha es la del freno delantero...no la del trasero como estas acostumbrado...

Enfin, nada grave, unos buenos rasguños. Ni los primeros no los ultimos.

Al devolver las bicis preguntamos si podemos tomarnos una ducha, lo mismo cuela. Si, la primera ducha caliente desde hace 5 dias!

Por la tarde nos damos un paseo por el parque Kuirau que esta en pleno centro de la ciudad. Aun asi, esta llenos de geysers y de charcos de barro hirviendo. Hay una zona habilitada para meter los pies en remojo. Charlamos con una pareja de las islas Samoa que pensaban que Annemarie tenia 19 años y yo 20...Ella encantada, claro.

Como he perdido la apuesta de quien iba a conseguir meter primero una castaña en el cubo de basura, Annemarie es la reina de la noche y yo hago toco el curro, cocina, fregar, la cama.

En nuestro tercer dia en Rotorua, fuimos a ver una introduccion a la cultura Maori. El lugar se llama Te Piura (Nuestro hogar en Maori) y ahi hay un recorrido cultural, unas interpretaciones de cantos y de haka. Muy interesante. Podreis ver unos videos mas abajo. Nos vamos antes de la hora de comer y nos paramos para hacer un pic nic de camino a Taupo.

Rotorua

On arriving in Rotorua it doesn’t take long to guess that you are in one of the areas with most thermal activity in all of New Zealand….the place stinks of rotten eggs! The town is basically sitting on a hot pot and everywhere you look you will find hot boiling mud pools and steam coming out of random holes in the ground. However the first thing that catches our eye on entering the city isn’t one of their many spas, its something a bit more fun, a gondola ride up to one of the highest city points and an afternoon luge riding. A luge is like a small go kart without an engine, but don’t let that fool you as it can go very fast! So all afternoon was spent screaming like kids on the luge track, trying to out do each other and of course not crashing!!  After all the racing it was time for a supermarket stop to stock up on some food and find somewhere to park for the night. Finding somewhere isn’t always easy when you don’t want to pay but eventually we found an area in town and stopped there for the night. Our second day in Rotorua was just as busy as our first day as we rented some mountain bikes and headed to the Whakarewarewa park, we had been told that it had lots of good bike tracks. We weren’t disappointed and spend a few hours rambling around the woods, although things came to a crashing end as Antoine took a bit of a fall….unfortunately he learned the hard way that here in New Zealand the brakes are the opposite way around! Nothing damaged though just a few cuts and bruises. We chanced our arm afterwards when leaving the bikes back and managed to get our first hot shower in 5 days in the bike rental shop!!! It felt good! Once cleaned up we went for a walk around one of the city parks, Kuirau, which is full of hot mud pools, boiling water ponds, and basically has steam popping up everywhere. It was a nice walk and did wonders for our confidence. While sitting in one of the hot spa areas soaking our feet in the water we got talking to a native Samoa couple who thought we were aged 19-20 years old! Then just after that a Thai lady almost tripped over herself with excitement to sit beside us and get her friend to take a picture!!!! Then on our third and last day in Rotorua we went to Te Piura (which means Our Home in Maori) to get an introduction into the Maori culture (and also to see the haka as I refused to leave New Zealand without seeing it live!). It was really interesting learning all about their culture and yes I got to see the haka…not only did I get to see it but I got to laugh at Antoine up on stage in front of everyone trying to do it! Although he also got his chance to laugh as I was taken up on stage to try out a typical Maori ladies dance in front of everyone…not easy facing the public at 10am!!  

Nada mas llegar a la ciudad de Taupo, aparcamos el camping car a horillas del lago Taupo para observar las vistas al lago y al parque Tongariro y sus volcanes. Sobre la derecha se situa Acacia Bay y segun va bajando el sol, la mezcla de colores se hace cada vez mas impresionante. Una de las puestas de sol mas impresionantes que haya visto...

Volvemos a orillas del rio Waikato para pasar la noche. A la mañana siguiente, vamos hasta las cascadas Huka y desde ahi nos vamos pateando hasta las esclusas. 1 horita caminando rapido y llegamos justo para la apertura de compuertas y ver como fluye el agua dentro de la garganta. Volvemos al camper haciendo un footing y segun llegamos volvemos donde pasamos la noche para tirarnos directos al agua. Que fria!

Dia siguiente, 9h de la mañana, hacia tiempo que no nos despertabamos tan tarde! Vamos conduciendo hacia el parque Tongariro pero desgraciadamente no vamos a tener tiempo para entrar dentro del parque para hacer una pateada. Tenemos que estar en Wellington sobre las 6 de la tarde. Hemos quedado con Janet y Gavin, una pareja de Neo Zelandeses que conocimos en Diciembre en Cusco, cuando hizimos el Inca Trail. Segun vamos bajando hacia el Sur, vamos comentando con Annemarie lo gracioso y raro que va a resultar encontrarnos con ellos de nuevo. Un ambiente tan diferente. Pensar que desde que desde que acabamos el Inca Trail hasta ahora, ellos han vuelto a su casa para currar mientras que afortunados de nosotros, hemos seguido nuestra ruta de mochileros. Tantas experiencias que hemos vivido estos ultimos meses. Seguro que tendremos una cena entretenida.

Antes de llegar a Wellington, hacemos una paradida en la playa de Waitarere para estirar un poco las piernas. Es precioso y a camper van le encanta rodar por la playa.

Taupo

On arriving at Taupo late afternoon we are just on time to see the sunset over the gorgeous Acacia Bay. We were both amazed at the colours thrown over the bay by the sun going down, and with the Tongariro National park and it´s volcanos peaking out in the background, it is without a doubt one of the most beautiful sunsets we have ever seen. The kind that makes you stop the car to get out for a look.  Once it was dark we drove to a free camping site along the Waikato river (the longest river in New Zealand), we were not alone but it was still nice to sleep right on the edge of the river. The next morning after breakfast in the sun we went to visit the famous Huka Falls and from there we walked over an hour to visit some rapids further down the river. Feeling motivated by the nice scenery and sunny day we jogged back to the camper before then taking a dip in the river to clean us off and cool us down. Nothing like it! The following day we left Taupo behind and drove through the Tongariro National Park on our way to Wellington.  There are numerous walks and hikes to do there but we didn’t have time to stop as we were meeting some friends in Wellington that same night for dinner. The friends in question were Janet and Gavin, a lovely New Zealand couple who we met in December in Peru on the Inca Trail. Once they knew we were in New Zealand they invited us to stay with them and we immediately took up their offer, really excited about seeing them again after almost 4 months. Thanks to our excitement at seeing Janet and Gavin again the drive down to Wellington flew in quickly with only one stop along the way. The one stop was at Waitarere beach, a beautiful beach where we got to stretch our legs and also try out Sammy´s capabilities on the sand.

Llegada nocturna sobre Wellington y reencuentro con Janet y Gavin. Nos tiramos toda la cena hablando de los ultimos 4 meses. Que pareja mas simpatica de verdad. A punta de pistola, nos obligan a dejar el camping car para dormir en la habitacion de invitados...Se agradece. Nos despertamos el Domingo y tras un desayuno de competi en la terraza con vistas a la bahia de Wellington, pillamos unas bicis (si, son unos apacionados de bici, pero de carretera, ohhh) y nos vamos a descubrir la ciudad. Nos hacen de guia por los diferentes edificios significativos y las calles mas simpaticas. Despues de comer un sandwich en un banco frente al mar, nos dividimos. Annemarie y yo nos vamos al museo Te Papa. Interesante pero muy parecido al museo de Auckland. Tras un buen par de horas volvemos hacia la casa. Esta noche toca BBQ..miam. Y despues de 2 lonchas de carne, dos morcillas y vino, me pidieron que saltara por encima de un banquito con la bici para enseñarle a un amigo suyo....eso si, esta vez me he acordado: los frenos vienen montados al reves!

Lunes por la mañana. Algunos se van a currar, nosotros cambiamos de isla. Nos levantamos a las 6.30 de la mañana y pillamos el ferry que une Wellington con Picton.

Wellington

Apart from Wellington being a beautiful city and the sun shining the whole time we were there, the highlight had to be meeting up with Janet and Gavin again. On our first night they invited us out to dinner and the night flew by with all our story swapping from the past few months, not to mention all the reminiscing about the Inca Trail!!! Of course with all the good food (New Zealand lamb), great company and some fine NZ wine to wash it all down, the night flew in. Although Sammy is very comfy we totally snubbed him during our stay in Wellington and took Janet and Gavin up on their offer of a nice cosy bed instead! It was a real treat to have a whole weekend of hot showers and even get our clothes washed! Slipping back into normal life again even convinced Antoine to shave his beard…..YIPEEEEEEEEEEE!! Although I have to say I´m a typical woman and never happy, as I actually found it really strange seeing Antoine cleanly shaved after 6 months of the bearded look! Seriously, it took me about three days to actually look at him without wondering who he was! So all in all the weekend was really good fun with Gavin and Janet being more than the perfect hosts. After breakfast out on their balcony on Sunday morning we went on a scenic bike ride around the city, of course after all that exercise we got to taste some yummy NZ ice cream. Then we got a bit more intellectual in the afternoon and visited the city museum. Although Antoine and I are not very into museums we found this one really interesting and we spent about 3 hours wandering around…a def record for us uncultured creatures. Then what better way to bring the weekend to a close than putting some tasty steaks on the bbq. Janet and Gavin are lucky our time in Wellington was limited because if not I think they would have had trouble getting rid of us! Thanks a million guys, you spoiled us rotten and we loved it! J