Hello, I’m back with another update. We still had 4 weeks to go on the North Island and that is now over. We are now in an AirBNB in Auckland because we sold our campervan and still have a few days until we go to our next destination. More about that in a moment, but first let’s rewind 4 weeks!
So, we celebrated New Year’s Eve in Wellington and then headed to Napier, which is on the East Coast. Napier is known as a wine and art city, there are many buildings with murals and there are also many tours you can do here that are about that. Just walking around is also a lot of fun because the city is built in a classic look. There was also a historic hike and a beautiful viewpoint from which you could look over the entire region.
After Napier we went to Taupo and that was a very beautiful region. There is plenty to do, there are beautiful waterfalls, natural hot springs, and a park called ‘Craters of the Moon’ because the craters with steam coming out make you feel like you are on the moon (unfortunately you can’t float here). And it is also the closest town to the Tongariro Crossing…
The Tongariro Crossing is a 19.4 km hike that you can do in about 7 to 8 hours. This hike was recommended to us by several people, and we therefore put it high on the list. We set our alarms early and parked our campervan at the end point and booked a shuttle bus to the starting point, as was recommended to do. It is a hike over a mountain, so of course the first part is up, and the last part is down. It was of course quite tough, but we flew up the mountain (even without Red Bull). The recommended minimum time to reach the top of the mountain was 2.5 hours, the maximum time was 4 hours, but we did it in less than 2 hours! The view was truly beautiful and with the famous ‘Emerald Lakes’ it was complete. From then on it went, in the best sense of the word, downhill. So, it didn’t take much effort. And when we returned to the parking lot there was a stall selling ice cream and of course we treated ourselves to that 😊
Then we went to New Plymouth, which is on the West Coast. Here was the Festival of Lights, which was also really cool. An entire forest completely renamed with all kinds of lights and lots to do. We also did another hike, but unfortunately the weather was not that good. We should have had a very nice view of a lake and a mountain but it was way too foggy for that, luckily we did have fun. We then drove via Hamilton to Rotorua, which is known for its natural hot springs. You can also smell it when you are in that region because it smells like sulfur (eggs). So, if you want to fart indefinitely without anyone noticing, this is where you should go! Rotorua was really nice, we had booked a day at the spa (and we deserved it after all those hikes!), so that was nice.
Then the end became more and more in sight, and we had to start thinking about selling the campervan. We had put it up for sale on the 23rd and so had about a week left to complete our trip. This week we went to a peninsula with a ‘hot water beach’. Everyone goes here with a shovel and digs their own hot spring. The ground is super warm and you can dig your own warm bath, which is fun to do! We then drove to the northernmost point of New Zealand. Here two seas meet, the Tasman Sea and the South Pacific Ocean. This gives a funny effect because in the middle of the sea you see waves arising from the collision at the moment they ‘meet’ each other. Not far away there are also large dunes where you can race off with a boogy board. Of course we tried that too and it was a lot of fun. You just have to accept that you will still find sand everywhere in the coming days!
As I said, we had our campervan for sale from the 23rd, and luckily we had enough interest and therefore several people were scheduled to look at the campervan. The only thing you don’t want is for something to happen to the campervan, and you guessed it of course… the evening of the 21st we were on our way to our camping spot when the campervan suddenly could no longer drive. That was a real moment of: oh no. Ultimately, there is little you can do about it, and fortunately we have now created such a mindset after all that traveling. You can be angry or stressed, but that will not solve the situation. So just take it step by step: call a tow truck, find a mechanic and wait to see what the outcome is. So, the tow truck took us to the mechanic’s parking lot and the mechanic found us at his door the next morning. Fortunately, he was very nice and also had time for us that day, so we were lucky with that. We told him the story and he would go and look at it. Around 2 pm we had not heard anything from him and we were already worried that things would not be so good. We decided to call him and he promptly told us that the campervan had just been fixed! That was the best news we could get! We were very lucky because apparently only a cable had broken. And he was also able to find a replacement cable at a shop in that village, so we didn’t even have to wait.
So, we went straight to Auckland to show everyone the campervan and luckily we were able to sell it quickly. In the previous update I already indicated that it can be a lot cheaper to buy/sell a campervan instead of renting it, and we were even able to make a profit on our campervan. So, in principle we have received money to live in New Zealand, which is more fun than paying rent or mortgage 😊. We’ve certainly been lucky, so it’s obviously not a given.
So now we are in Auckland and we are waiting for our flight to…. the Philippines! We’re leaving on the 31st and will also be traveling with other people, so we’re really looking forward to that. New culture, new travel style; so, the next update will be about that, see you then! 😊