Night one on our own, camping was not a great success!
The tent Maria and Paul had very kindly lent us, didn’t suit our comfort needs. There was nothing wrong with the tent itself, just that in pursuit of comfort, we had bought air beds to sleep on. The very small tent however did not accommodate such luxuries and after lots of deflating and folding and bending we tried to sleep with most of our bodies pressed against the ceiling. I slept surprisingly well, but in the early hours, I was woken up to a claustrophobic fiancé Insisting we slept in the car.
Lucky for us, the car seats went pretty much flat and so we finished our nights sleep out of the rain in Norman the Nissan Note.

We even managed to sleep in, so our planned early morning run didn’t go ahead, oh well another day without exercise won’t hurt I’m sure!!! We quickly packed up our wet tent, made some breakfast in the camp kitchen and I let Evie loose at the wheel for her first time driving outside of the U.K.
Seeing as they drive on the same side of the road over here and the car is set up pretty much the same way, other than the wipers and indicators being on the wrong sides of the wheel, she was fine and we carefully drove north into the Kauri forest.

We stopped in the forest and went for a walk to see some of the larger kauri trees. Te matua ngahere, the second largest tree but with a 16.3 metre girth and Tane Mahuta (father of the forest) the largest tree in the forest. They were very impressive and over 2000 years old. It was a nice walk too through dense forest cover in huge ferns.

 

The drive from the Kauri forest to the east was spectacular, passing huge sand dunes, stunning bays and countless forests and hills. We stopped halfway to pick up a slightly bigger tent. At only $50 it was a bargain and was big enough to fit our things and even sit up in.

 

We arrived on the east coast in no time and were at our next destination, the Bay of Islands. Driving in you could see out to sea and all of the amazing islands surrounded by turquoise waters.
We were spending the night on the waterfront in Paihia in our new, roomy tent. We set her up and went into town to see what was on offer. It didn’t take long before we had to get an ice cream which set us up nicely for a dip in the chilly waters of the bay. The sun was out by this point so it wasn’t so bad, Evie stayed in the shallows whilst I swam to a floating pontoon a bit further out to sea.

We had a slap up meal of lime & chilli corn on the cob, sticky sesame chicken and kale, all prepared from scratch on our camping facilities and enjoyed overlooking the calm waters.

We slept very well that night and were in good spirits waking up to the sunshine. From Paihia we were heading down the coast slightly to Whangaruru (pronounced Fan-ga-roo-roo I think) We would get there via Russell, only a few km’s away via a 5 minute car ferry or a 3 hour drive. We opted for the first option and after writing a few postcards and finally buying a hat in Paihia, we were soon across the water and en route to Russell.
A signpost saying ‘Vineyard’ caught our attention on the way, so I broke hard and turned into the driveway. Our first New Zealand winery and it didn’t disappoint. Overlooking the Bay of Islands across rows of vines, it was an idyllic spot for a bit of wine tasting.

 

Going the budget traveller way, we humoured them by suggesting that we’d be buying loads of wine, but really just taking advantage of the tasting, which was only $5 and was very nice indeed.

We slipped out without buying any expensive wines (the $7 bottle we got from Pak’n’Save was tasty enough for us) and were soon in Russell. We had a picnic lunch on the beach and then headed about an hour south to our campsite.

The very windy coastal road was great fun to drive with beautiful views around every corner. The peninsula we were staying on was also a nature park. This made for a great location with lovely bay for more chilly swimming, more great views and thousands of rock oysters growing on the shallows.

We didn’t eat any of them, but spent a lot of time investigating them and then skimming stones into the sunset. Corny but true! Evie’s so good at skimming stones its unbelievable.
That night we had camp stove pizzas (taught to me by Tom on our kayak trip) and had another comfy nights sleep.

The following morning we decided to be on the road pretty early as we had nearly a 6 hour drive back down south, past Auckland to the Coromandel forest. We stopped half way to stock up on supplies, daily ice for the chilly bin, a coffee and a sardine sarny in the park.
Not much going on during the drive, lots of pretty landscapes, plenty of inappropriate New Zealand radio hosts and Evie made a phone call home. We arrived at our next location Whangamata (fan-ga-ma-ta) a huge curved beach, full of surfers and sunbathers fringed by a lovely, lively seaside town.
The place had a really great feel about it and we were looking forward to exploring it the next day. We had to travel about 5km inland to our forest campsite.

We were camped by a shallow river and there were lots of tiny biting bugs to assist us in pitching our tent. Pretty soon we were completely covered up with trousers tucked into socks and only our faces out in the open.
We chose this particular campsite mainly on the basis that it had free bbq’s, it was more of a hot plate but still a treat, so after a $2 hot shower we started cooking our jacket potatoes, rump steak and prawn skewers. Evie made a tomato, avocado and rocket salad and after a few games of cards it was ready (tatties taking over 90 minutes) Not bad for a camping meal, surf n turf and it was delish!

We set the alarm early the next day so we could fit everything into our day. We started at 7am with a walk up to a waterfall, straight from our campsite, it only took around 45 mins to get there and it was a lovely way to start the day.

When we returned to the campsite, we packed up and had a nice coffee, then headed back toward the beach.

We had our breakfast there on the sand dunes and spoke to Luke and Yolanda back in the chilly U.K.
Seeing all the surfers the day before made us want to give it a go, so I hired a surfboard, Evie had a bodyboard and we both got wetsuits for the cool waters. Having only 2 hours surfing experience I took a larger beginner board and loaded it into the car, hanging out the back with me ducking beneath it in the passenger seat. It was only around the corner to the beach though and it wasn’t long before we were in our neoprene out on the water.

It didn’t take me long to find my feet, surfing on the already broken waves, it was great fun and most importantly I impressed Evie with my totally rad skills. She had a go on the bodyboard but it was a bit of a rubbish one so we used the surfboard as a bodyboard and she was loving it. Firstly with me pushing her along and then letting her loose on her own! She was even hanging ten (fingers not toes) and nothing could wipe the smile off of her face.

It was about time I tackled the bigger waves though, so I ventured out to sea with the pros and after 3 or 4 total wipeouts, board hitting my head, fins cutting my shin and all orifices filled with water I soon realised I was way out of my depth so it was back into the shallows.

My wetsuit was too small too and the legs had filled with water unable to escape at my ankles so I looked like I had be biggest calf muscles in the world. It was easier to go just in my swimmers and it was raining by this point but still nice and warm.

Leaving the beach a converted surfer dude and chick, we treated ourselves to lunch in an actual restaurant, well cafe but it was very nice to be waited on and we made use of the free wi-fi, becoming that couple everyone looked at wondering where our relation went wrong as we weren’t taking to each other, glued to our phones. It was the first time for a while though and we have to keep our blogging fans happy don’t we.
That afternoon we drove a couple hours into Cambridge, a very pretty town sometimes known as the English village of NZ. It was filled with lots of little shops, cafes, English style pubs, with street names like Victoria street, St. George street and even a Royal Mail postbox, it was almost like Cranleigh, except everyone speaks funny.

 

The reason for our visit was to meet some of Evie’s family, her Grandads nephew Jeff and his wife Margaret. They had invited us for dinner and we had a great time meeting them, looking through old family photos, having a slap up meal and spending time with 2 of their grandchildren Jasper and Scarlet.

Jasper (9) introduced me to the fascinating world of geocaching whilst Scarlet (5) and Evie sang ‘Frozen’ songs and looked though Scarlets collection of ‘Frozen’ dresses.
We were very kindly put up for the night and it was a treat to be back in a real bed, even though it was only after a few nights in a tent. Needless to say we slept very well and had a lovely breakfast in the morning before saying goodbye and travelling just a few miles away to meet Liam and Emma at Hamilton Gardens.

We met Liam and Emma in Fiji and this was the 4th time our paths had crossed. They are working nights shifts at a blueberry farm down the road, so before their shift started, we managed to catch up whilst walking around the stunning gardens.

It was a labyrinth of different styles, Japanese gardens, Tudor, Maori, tropical, Chinese gardens, the list could go on and we were all very impressed, even more impressive though, it was free! We like free.

We managed to find our way out and Emma made burritos in the park outside. We shared a bit of a feast until they had to go to work and we hit he road again.

Not far this time to Rotorua, a very smelly city, due to the amount of gases escaping the earth in the area. All around the outskirts of the city here are geysers, steam vents, bubbling mud pools and hot springs. Most of them costing quite a bit to view, but we beat the system by staying at a campsite with access to hot pools.

The pools were fed by a hot spring bubbling up at 99 degrees and running down a steamy stream cooling down all the way to a comfortable temperature. The pools were between 35 and 40 degrees and it was very nice to relax looking over the amazing views of the countryside.

We walked up to see the spring, our heat source and then had our first taste of New Zealand lamb on our trip. We made it with peppers, onions and a side of corn on the cob (tis the season for corn) again watching an amazing sunset from our tent.

We had the chance to enjoy the hot pools in the morning before they opened up to the public so it was nice and quiet, a great way to start the day. After breakfast we went back into Rotorua where Evie called her Mum and I researched the Tongariro crossing, an alpine crossing which is meant to be fantastic, but with a bad weather report and after realising we were not very well equipped, we decided against it, maybe next time.
On the plus side, this opened up our schedule so we had more to see. It was only a short drive to the blue and green lakes. They are 2 beautiful lakes next to one another separated by a 30 metre drop and a great place to enjoy lunch and a quick swim. The water being a lot colder than the hot pools we had been bathing in a few hours ago.

We were staying near lake Taupo that night which was only an hour away but we wanted to see the Arotiatia dam on the way and we had to be there by 4. The reason for the strict timing was that the dam opens up at 4pm to create an amazing rapid system which they used to film a scene in the first Hobbit movie.
The dam was about 50 minutes away and it was nearly 3 o’clock, this was not the time for our first argument as fiancés, unsurprisingly over directions. After a quick u-turn and 54 minutes of silence, we arrived at our destination with a couple minutes to spare. We managed to make up before the dam opened and it was well worth it.
The area directly beneath the dam filled up pretty quickly, before it cascaded down the rocks between a gorge creating some very impressive Rapids. The dam opened for 15 minutes, giving us time to walk down river to view it from different angles. As quickly as it started though, it all drained away quickly and the rocks were soon drying out.

There are so many things like these lakes and dams, amazing hills and mountains around New Zealand, so many people have told us to spend more time in the South Island as there is less to see in the North. Well I can speak for the both of us when I say that 2 months let alone 2 weeks, wouldn’t be enough time to see all the amazing sites around he North island, so if the South is even better, we can’t wait to see what it has to offer.

In our earlier silence, Evie had managed to find us a free camping ground near Taupo. It was down by the start of the Waikato river, which ran from the largest lake in New Zealand, Lake Taupo, so big it was tidal and so was the river. Being so close it rose 2 metres and was very fast flowing toward the nearby Huka falls.
The campsite didn’t seem to be regulated like other campsites and it was a bit of a free for all, a bit of a mess and very busy. Nonetheless the river was picturesque and very inviting in the heat, make sure you’re a strong swimmer if you don’t fancy a trip over a waterfall though.
We pitched our tent and went straight into Taupo, overlooking the huge lake of the same name. Another beautiful spot with lots of people out on the water, sailing, swimming, paragliding and waterskiing. We watched whilst having a drink overlooking the water. By this time it was nearly 7, so as we had all of our supplies in the boot of the car we could easily make our dinner by the lake.

We had spaghetti bolognese and Evie was told off for washing the pans in a public toilet, so she did it in a car park, living the dream!!! We packed up quickly after eating because we had tickets to see Leonardo diCaprio’s latest attempt at winning an Oscar, ‘The Revenant’. I really enjoyed it, very full on, very graphic but very enjoyable. Evie on the other hand found it all too much and needed a few cookies afterwards to set her mind at ease before bed.
We climbed into our tent around 11 and were serenaded to sleep by the lullaby tones of Black Sabbath, which was being played very loudly a few metres away from us by some youths, pesky kids. Still it took Evie’s mind off what she had seen in the movie and we eventually got to sleep once the youngsters decided to turn in.
I think we’ll stay in a slightly less refugee style campsite tomorrow night.