Central North Island, New Zealand
08/24/2007 - 09/03/2007
Yes, another campervan trip for us. This time we set out to explore parts of the Central North Island.
Living on a boat during winters in New Zealand can be a bit of a challenge. Winter 2007 marks our third winter on board Whisper. In March, we decided to postpone cruising to Fiji until 2008. At the same time, we decided to make the most of winter in New Zealand by staying busy and doing a bit of travel. Renting a campervan and exploring more of the North Island sounds like a perfect winter break. No crowds, cheaper van rentals and a road trip with no set destinations - what fun!
First stop - Mount Manganoui. "The Mount" is about 2.5 hours southeast of Auckland. The beachside/mountain side campsite is just yards from the ocean and the walking track. This is the view from the dining room/bedroom. Only three other campervans occupied space at this fab campground. In summertime, getting a spot here requires much more planning.
For a couple of years, Duncan longed to try out the BloKarts. With BloKart headquarters only 1/2 hour from Mt Manganoui, we had to stop and give them a go.
The BloKart race track is set up for a variety of wind directions. With a few minutes of instruction, Duncan is off and sailing on a BloKart.
Definitely having fun...
Still fun....
Duncan's smile from his first round of BloKart-ing did not go away for the entire week. So, we stopped back in on the way back toward Auckland. This time, the course was a bit more crowded and there was a bit more wind.
Anaura Bay, site of Cook's second landing in New Zealand, proved to be a scenic spot even on a cloudy/rainy day.
East Cape
Reviews of the East Cape ranged from "Why would you go there?" to "Amazing". Given this diversity of opinion, we had to go see for ourselves. Leaving Mt. Manganui & Papamoa's BloKart Heaven, we started the approximately 400 km curve around the East Cape.
The East Cape is quite rural with a very strong Maori presence. The northern coast of the cape is quite rugged in appearance. Then, as you curve around the northeastern corner of the cape, beautiful bays, cliffs and coastline.
The drive around the East Cape takes at least 6 hours in a car. The campervan seemed to be happiest at 80km per hour which meant the drive takes longer than 6 hours. So, we decided to stop at a motor camp mentioned in our camping guide book.
The campground at Anaura Bay provided us with site inside the sheep paddock.
For eight kilometers we curved down the hill toward a remote, picturesque bay. Hmmmm, no real signs of a campground appeared and no signs of other campers emerged. However, signs along the way indicated the motor camp should be at the bottom of the hill.
Once at the bottom of the hill and almost on the beach, what looked like a deserted family retreat was on the right. Let's go knock on the door. As we walked toward the door, a truck came down the hill and sped around the corner. Interesting, yet it kept on going on the road to the left.
Our knock on the door brought a gorgeous Maori woman with an intricate moko (tattoo) on her chin. Facial mokos - partial or full - are quite common on women in the predominantly Maori regions such as the East Cape of New Zealand. As we inquired about a campsite, the truck came speeding back to the house. We assumed this was to make certain we were not trouble-makers.
Yes, powered campsites were available - in the sheep paddock right by the beach and river. Duncan maneuvered the camper around the sheep dung. Before you could say "Bah", we were settled in for the night.
Another oceanfront campsite. This great spot is near Cape Kidnappers and the gannet colony.
Napier & Hawkes Bay
During the night, non-stop heavy rain plinked on the camper roof. Thoughts of the nearby river overrunning its banks motivated us to leave early the next morning. We finished up our East Cape tour and headed down to Gisborne and Napier. We made a quick stop in Gisborne for breakfast and kept going to Napier.
We spent the night in Napier and then moved on to the Hawkes Bay region - home to some of New Zealand's excellent vineyards and wineries.
We visited the National Aquarium in Nelson to stalk the wily Kiwi. No, not the people, but the bird. Kiwi are nocturnal and Robin cannot stay awake late enough for us to try to find them in the bush at night. So, a visit during the day to an exhibit tricking the Kiwi in to thinking it is night time is perfect.
Who is this guy? He seemed quite interested in our campervan, so Duncan took his picture.
Kiwis make a holiday homes out of campervans and awnings. Sites and campers such as this one are permanent in the campgrounds. Not a bad way to go camping.
Even land cruising draws us to be near the ocean.
A rousing game of Scrabble is about to ensue. The bottle of bubbles is sure to help us with our word power.
One issue with Travel Scrabble and no dictionary - how does one challenge words? We gave each other a few "benefit of the doubt" words. Finally, we resorted to our "Phone A Friend" lifeline for a word. Dang, jamb is a word. In the end, we took a photo of the board to double check how many invalid words appeared on the board. Can you find them?
An eclipse caught "on film" by Duncan. Cool
Here is an arty eclipse shot. Perhaps we enjoyed too many bubbles during Scrabble.
One of our favorite New Zealand wines is Craggy Range. We decided to visit the winery.
We enjoyed a delicious, long lunch celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary
Some people arrive in campervans. Others bring the family in helicopters. A Taiwanese family visiting NZ and staying at the post Huka Lodge zipped over from Taupo for lunch at the winery.
Here is the real Craggy Range from which the winery was named.
On approach to Lake Taupo, Mt. Ruapehu shows itself.
Lake Taupo & Rotorua
With only ten days for the whole trip and many more places to see, we moved on to Lake Taupo - New Zealand's largest lake. The lake is in a caldera formed by a volcanic eruption ~26,000 years ago. The area remains volcanically active especially near Rotorua.
This region is very popular with tourists and New Zealanders. Its proximity to Auckland makes it quite accessible to a large population. We spent the night in a lakeside campground - nice, but too close to the road. Plans for the next day were to zip over to Mt. Ruapehu to visit the ski areas, but the wind and clouds rolled in and we decided to skip it on this trip.
Next stop, Rotorua -home of thermal features, land luges and tourists. Given the time of year, even Rotorua was not crowded. Yippee.
Beautiful Huka Falls.
More Huka Falls
Waterfalls everywhere.
En route to Rotorua
Rotorua Museum of Art & History is quite impressive.
Expectations that Rotorua would be touristy or tacky filled our heads before we arrived.
The smell of sulphur let us know we arrived in Rotorua Hot springs, geysers and mud pools turned up in the strangest places. This is not Yellowstone by any stretch, but the fact that people have mud pools in their backyards/gardens makes its mark. Our campground had a hotspring pool and a bbq fired by a steaming hot spring.
Surprisingly to us, we thoroughly enjoyed Rotorua, its culture, its history, its land luge and its thermal features.
This thermal feature is in the center of the town.
The birds eye view of Rotorua.
Like Queenstown, Rotorua has a land luge. As a matter of fact, there are 3 different courses. We tried them all.
Robin loves the land luge!
After Rotorua, we headed back up to Papamoa and the Mt. Manganoui area. The Papamoa holiday park is a fantastic place to camp.
Check out our campsite on top of this beachside dune.
From the campsite, walk down to the beach.
See our campervan up the hill. What a beach!
Many, many shells in perfect condition washed up on the shore.
Facilities at the holiday park are comprehensive. This is the common area available for anyone to BBQ or picnic. You may notice a screen handing from the ceiling. TV!? One night, a group of folks convened to watch the rugby on the big screen.
Kitchen facilities for all. Sweet.
Papamoa also has "huts" available to rent. Some of them have spa tubs. There is also a spa tub and sauna available to anyone in the campground.
Papamoa Beach and Mt. Manganoui - love it.
We returned to Papamoa for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, Duncan wanted to BloKart again. Secondly and almost as important, this area is incredible. What a perfect way to wrap-up the trip. Now this is how winter should be spent in New Zealand.