December 8th
Arrived in Aukland international at 2:00 and rented a Jiucy Campervan as we were tired of the busses and wanted some fredom to do as we choise. First day was a lot of strait driving to get as far up the North Island as far as we could with a few unwanted detours but we made it about 3é4 of the way. Still getting use to the narrow roads and the driving on the left side of the raod not to mention the roundabouts that are odd too. We have found a quit little place to camp for the night by a river with showers for the morning and will call it home for the night.
December 9th
Made our way up the West coast on some crazy windy roads. We went and found some glow worm caves and continued to our goal the most northern tip of New Zealand. We did make it and saw some amazing views. I hope the pictures can let us see how amazing it was. We are camping at a site only minutes from the tip and plan to go to the sand dunes and 90 mile beach tomorrow.
December 10
I got up early to and headed onto the road to go to ninty mile beach. Holly stayed in the back and slept as she didnèt get much sleep. An hour down the road and we arrived at the beach as she awoke to a beautiful clear day right on the sand. We had breakfast and asked a local if we could drive on the beach.. They said sure so we cruise down the famous 90 mile beach for about 20km and then found a road back inland as we were know headed to the inland park and forests to cross over to the east coast were we would be staying for the night at a place called sand spit camping. We made a few stops along the way at the forest sites a few times by some nice beaches and then at goat island where they do all of the diving. We haven’t swam as the water temperature is similar to Nanaimo. Holly almost braved the water but instead we got ice-cream. Of to explore our campsite and then another early day tomorrow as we head to the surfing beach for surfing lessons. I hope they have good wetsuits.
December 11
We headed back out of the road to Stop in Hamilton to do a bit of shopping. The city was quite like Nanaimo in size so we felt right at home. Holly got a new bathing suit and I got some new sandals as mine have gotten wrecked. Then it was of to the town of Raglan to see if we could find a place to stay before we looked into surfing lessons. We got there quit late and had dinner from the back of the campervan. We didn’t see any surf lessons that we wanted to do so we headed off on another crazy road that turned to dirt and after reading the map it said we were going towards a place that seemed like the end of the earth. Sounded like a good place to camp so we continued on.. I did seem like the end as we headed along a narrow foggy road that seemed to be going nowhere. But we did eventually find our way and camped at a place called Rruapuke beach park. We again had the place all to our selves. Tomorrow we will head down south some more to the glow worm caves and see about surfing again.
December 12
We found our way out of the end of the earth and happened upon Bridal Vail Falls. It was a short walk to the falls where a 150 foot waterfall cascaded down. As we had just had rain all night the falls were spectacular. A few quick shots from the top and then we walked the trail to the bottom.. We wanted to go swim but it was a cool damp day so we decided not to. Besides the water was not the warmest. We headed out and pulled off the road for a quick bit to eat on a bluff. As I was eating I noticed a very tiny twinkle coming from a small muddy spot in the parking lot.. I went to see as it seemed out of place and to my surprise I pulled a 1 kart diamond out of the mud.. Well it is yet to be proven it is actually a diamond but we will find out when we get home. If it is then it may be a $10,000 find J .. After lunch we headed out and again just by chance we decided to follow a road that said park and ended up at an amazing black sand beach with a waterfall that cascaded right into the ocean. Another special place. We passed through New Plymouth and wanted to stretch our legs so we went the the park in the center of town called Pukekare Park. We did the 45 minute walking tour saw the big trees, the ponds, and small zoo. There was monies, lemurs, and few other odd animals. As we left town there was a sign indicating we were in the sheep shearing capital of the world whooh hooo.. We decided to treat our selves to dinner out or in I guess so we went to a place called Garry’s. I ordered a burger that on the menu said chicken, steak, egg, and hamburger. Little did I know it would come with all of them. It was crazy huge and we had leftovers for the next days lunch and dinner. It was getting late so we decided to make tracks and head to town to camp for the night.. We have been paying for the odd site but tonight we just wanted a free place to stay so we pilled up in a parking lot for the night just out of the town center.. 2:00 rolled around and of course the boozers left the bars and it seemed they all came right past us waking us up and causing a ruckus breaking a city tractor window and just yelling a screaming.. After that it was a peacefully night. Well as piece full as it could be near the city.
December 13
We woke up today and headed for the beach to have breakfast with the fishermen. I talked to one and he said they were fishing for Travaley what ever that is.. Something close to salmon I think as they were migrating up the river. He said they could get up to 20lbs. But they had fishing gear that could hall a 200lbs halibut or sturgeon from the river.. Very strange fishing methods but they were all doing to so it must work. After breakfast we headed out of town and were now headed back up north. We stopped at a few small waterfalls, and the odd quick lookout along the way. We made our way to lake Taupo for lunch and parked at a quit spot right at the water where a goose tried to eat Holly. Well that is what you would think from the picture. Looks harmless to me. LOL We continued on after lunch and decided to see what the hype was in Rotorua. We stopped at a volcanic field and a few bubbling mud holes.. We weren’t all that impressed so we headed out to find our home for the night.. A few u turns, backtracks, and misdirection’s as usual and we found a great little place right on the beach. Our front tire is literally 6 inches from the see.. Hope the tide doesn’t come in over night LOL.
December 14
Today we awoke to the sound of the ocean again. This was our last day with the car rental in on the north island as we will be heading down in two days. We made a quick stop in Hamilton to book our ferry and a night in Wellington before we get on the ferry to Picton. We also decided to go to the zoo as we had time. There was tigers rhinos and giraffes. We arrived back in Auckland right on time dropped off the van and headed for the bus depot. The bus was a very nice double decker bus but was still torcher for me to sit for 8 hours over night to get down to Wellington.
December 15
We arrived in Willington right on time (7:00am) It was a short was after we grabbed some breakfast to your hostel. We decided to do the trolley ride to the top of the city and do the city walk through the parks and back down to the shopping district and water front. We are going to rest for the remainder of the day as we have to get up very early to catch the ferry over to Picton in the morning.
