Black Water Rafting and Mt Taranaki

We realised in writing this that we’ve been up to quite a bit in the last week and a half - so settle in for a long post!

After completing the Coromandel loop, we opted to save the rest of the Bay of Plenty for later in our trip and cross over to the west coast of the North Island. This meant passing through the Waikato district and a stopover in the city of Hamilton. We spent the following morning ticking off jobs and decided to check out the Hamilton Gardens, a free public garden in the centre of the city, in the afternoon. This turned out to be a great choice and we had a lot of fun exploring the collection of 20+ unique displays that offer an insight into gardens through history. We’ve included photos of the Indian Char Bagh Garden and the Italian Renaissance Garden below.

Our next stop was Raglan, a small coastal town west of Hamilton known for its surfing and hippy culture. We had a lovely couple of days here over the Labour Day bank holiday weekend, enjoying the All Blacks defeat of Argentina, but England’s loss to South Africa not so much. However, our spirits were soon lifted by a stop off at the nearby Otorohanga Kiwi House, where we got to see the elusive nocturnal bird for the first time. This was a really special experience and another NZ bucket list item ticked off.

The NZ bucket list items continued as we experienced black water rafting for an adrenaline-fuelled birthday present from Josie’s parents. After gearing up in our 3-piece wetsuits we walked, scrambled and crawled 80 metres down into the Waitomo Caves. Once down there we were treated to thousands of glow worms illuminating our surroundings as we floated in rubber rings through the vast network of tunnels. The tour also featured some tight crawls, which Josie was less fond of; two underground waterfall jumps and a hot shower with complementary soup to warm us back up! Overall, it was a fantastic experience and a real highlight of our trip so far.

We then continued south to New Plymouth, which boasted numerous other South West themed road names to keep us entertained on quite a misty and cloudy day. After arriving we explored the free zoo and beautiful surrounding parkland in the heart of the city. Then we ascended into the clouds and up the northern side of Mt Taranaki. After popping into the visitors centre and being told a snowstorm was expected to hit overnight we went for a short walk up the mountain (which we still hadn’t actually seen because of the cloud) and then found a campsite lower down to escape the Antarctic-like conditions. 

We awoke to more rain and cloud but joined Surf Highway 45, named for its popular surfing beaches along the coast as it circles the Mount Taranaki volcano - sadly it was too rough to take a dip whilst we were there. After another wet night this time by the ocean, which treated us to some very dramatic waves, we finally got a clear day and got our first glimpse of the summit of Mt Taranaki. Naturally, we drove straight up to another visitors centre and went on an 11km hike this time around the southern side. After the TikTok algorithm worked its magic and produced a video telling us that the volcano we were on may only give 24 hours notice before an eruption, we decided to take our chances - it has been 250 years since Mt Taranaki erupted - and freedom camp up the mountain in what was the coldest night we have had in the van yet. The next morning we made our way back down to finish Surf Highway 45 before we head across to Lake Taupo.

The Coromandel

Josie celebrated her 25th birthday this week and to begin the birthweek festivities Nathan booked a whale and dolphin watching safari! This meant travelling back into Auckland to board the Dolphin Explorer and head out into the Hauraki Gulf in search of friendly sea mammals. Sadly we didn’t see any whales, but we did have the most amazing encounter with a pod of dolphins - at least 50 (including calves) came swimming right up to the boat. It truly was an awesome day!

We then headed south of Auckland and round to the Coromandel Peninsula - known to be the spot where Kiwis go for their summer holidays. 

Josie’s birthday day was celebrated in the town of Thames, by visiting a café featured in the New Zealand based Netflix movie “Falling Inn Love” and going on an amazing hike up to the Cookson Kauri Tree. For a birthday meal we decided to do a taste test of NZ Domino’s and Pizza Hut. We were both surprised to crown Pizza Hut the standout winner, sadly NZ Domino’s has nothing on its UK counterpart. The evening was topped off by Nathan roping in the British couple in the van next door to sing “happy birthday”, after which we all tucked in to cake and wine. A birthday well spent.

We then carried on our travels north to Corromandel Town. Our stopover here coincided with the All Blacks’ semi-final game against Ireland. We weren’t hopeful of finding anywhere to watch it at 8 am on a Sunday morning in this sleepy little town, but tried our luck at a local bar, and to our surprise it was absolutely heaving. We bagged the last free table just before kick off, only to realise Nathan had chosen the wrong day and place to wear a green jumper. Fashion faux pas aside, it was an awesome atmosphere and just the Kiwi rugby experience we’d both been hoping for.

After the All Blacks came out victorious, we ventured over to the east coast of the Coromandel and stumbled upon some of the most stunning beaches yet, as well as some awesome surfing towns.

A stand-out stop off was ‘Hot Water Beach’, where at low tide a small area of the exposed sand is heated by a volcanic vent. The general idea is to take a spade along and dig your own spa pool. After some trepidation we joined a Swiss couple in finding a good spot and got digging. Overall the experience was, well… unique. The water was surprisingly hot and you could almost call it relaxing, once you’d settled into the communal vibe.

Another highlight this week was hiring a kayak at Whangamāta Beach. We paddled a kilometre out to sea to a small group of islands which are sacred to the local iwi (Māori tribe). Our early wake up was rewarded by being the only kayak on the water as we got to explore a large collapsed volcanic blow hole that has created a turquoise lagoon in the centre of one of the islands - aptly named Doughnut Island. We also crisscrossed through various rock formations, much to Josie’s delight, and spotted a stingray in the shallows. Another awesome experience on this epic adventure.

You’ll all be pleased to hear that van life has been very smooth sailing of late. But if our fortunes should change, fear not, for Josie’s friend Sam very generously gifted her a Bunnings GiftCard for her birthday, so we will be able to continue our home improvements for the foreseeable future. In all seriousness, thanks Sam for the awesome present and to all of you for the lovely birthday wishes!

Cape Reinga and the west coast of the Northland

We made it to the top - yippee! After a long drive up the Northland Peninsular and a quick stop off at Henderson Bay for our first swim in the Pacific, we made it to Cape Reinga!

Although you can imagine our disappointment when we discovered that it isn’t in fact the most northern part of New Zealand, that’s actually the cape on the north east - the aptly named North Cape.

Despite this set back, our spirits were quickly raised again by the Te Paki Dunes - the largest sand dunes either of us had ever seen and one of our favourite stop offs so far. These dunes also lie at the top of the 90 Mile Beach, another real highlight and big one ticked off the NZ bucket list.

Spot Nathan in the photo above!

On our journey south through the Northland we travelled down the west coast. Whilst this coast is noticeably quieter than the east, there were still some lovely stop offs to break up the driving. These included the quirky town of Rawene and the huge trees of the Waipoua Kauri Forest. These are the second largest trees in the world and we saw Tāne Mahuta, the biggest Kauri in NZ, which is also sacred to Māori.

Van life is continuing to go relatively smoothly - you’ll all be pleased to hear that our sink fixing mission was a success and we’re both continuing to get a lot of enjoyment out of improving and fixing up our little van home.

We’ve spent the past few days around Auckland and are heading out on a whale watching safari today for Josie’s birthday present! Fingers crossed we see some!🤞🏼

Van Life Begins!

We have now spent a whole week on the open road exploring what the east coast of the Northland has to offer, as we near the northern tip of New Zealand - Cape Riange.

Our biggest take away from our first week on the road has been just how stunning this country is. It’s difficult to put it into words without sounding like a kiwi travel agent, but in the small patch of New Zealand we’ve travelled through, we’ve seen the most awe inspiring and ever changing landscapes - beaches, forests, cliffs, rivers - you name it. Definitely a country to put on your bucket list, if it’s not already!

Our 2nd week in NZ and our 2nd day in the van started with getting the all important gas bottle filled up so we could cook our own food - a trip to Bunnings was in order! Bunnings, a kiwi hardware store (think B&Q or Wickes, but better), has quickly become one of our favourite haunts and after this first trip we not only had our gas but also numerous other items to improve our van. 

The maintenance continued into Day 3 where we noticed our drinking water system leaking, which turned out to be a missing stopper in one of the water drums. So after another trip to Bunnings, we had our stopper, another bag full of random van improvements and a air of Mrs Armitage about us (niche children’s book reference there). Although our purse strings certainly hoped the teething process had come to an end.

A few days of smooth sailing saw us pass through some beautiful spots, the most notable being Omaha beach, Goat island, Whangarei falls and Whale bay. The van coped well with a mixture of gravel tracks, grassy carparks and heavy rain and wind.

The latter half of the week saw us visit some of the big New Zealand highlights. We walked the southern hemisphere's longest footbridge; visited Russell, which was once the southern hemisphere's busiest port, and spent the day at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds where New Zealand became a country and signed a treaty with Great Britain in 1840. The week has come to a close with a stopover at Doubtless Bay before we head up to Cape Reinga tomorrow. 

Despite our busy schedule, Nathan successfully took apart one of the sliding doors to repair the lock and Josie fixed the gas cooker so we now have two working hobs - who knew we were such DIY masterminds. And of course, our week couldn’t be over without another trip to that favourite shop of ours and a leaky sink provided us with the perfect excuse. On this occasion we were lucky enough to visit New Zealand’s most northerly Bunnings to get our sealant - what a treat! We’ve come to the conclusion that van ownership will be a journey, much like our travels.

PS. you can now have a look at where we’ve travelled on our map section.