Vineyards, pufferfish and New Zealand’s sexiest man

Our first stop upon entering the Hawke’s bay region was Napier. The city centre was rebuilt after a large earthquake in the 1930s which shook the city to the ground and raised a new coastline out of the sea. Since then it has become famous for its Art Deco architecture and nearby vineyards, although cyclone damage and the Robbie Williams concert the night before we arrived were all the locals seemed to be talking about.

Whilst here we visited the national aquarium with its wide array of native animals including little blue penguins, stingrays, turtles, pufferfish and the rather un-aquatic kiwi bird. After a nights stay in the city we ventured just a few kilometres south to the nearby city of Hastings where we had booked into a wine tasting tour.

The following morning we were picked up from our campsite and informed that it was only us booked on today, so we’d be having a private tour! We the spent the afternoon visiting 4 vineyards in the Hawke’s Bay region. Brookfields was first up, a family-owned vineyard that had suffered significantly in the cyclone back in February and only just reopened. Here the winemaker gave us a great introduction the process involved in producing wine and the art of tasting it. A very special gold label Cabernet Merlot blend turned out to be Nathan’s favourite of the day.

Next up was Askerne, also a family-owned vineyard, named after the town in Yorkshire where the family originated from. Here we not only enjoyed a huge range of wine but also a cheese board featuring feijoa chutney - a NZ specialty.

Third on our trip was Paritua, a gorgeous organic vineyard in the Bridge Pa triangle. The Sauvignon Blanc quickly became Josie’s new favourite wine and the rest we tried were also great, so much so that we came back the next day to buy 3 bottles!

We ended the day at Sileni, an internationally recognised winery, with a sister vineyard in Marlborough, meaning we could compare wines from both locations. Considerably more knowledgeable about wine and sufficiently pickled, we were dropped back to our campsite, having had one of the best days of our trip so far. 

Over the next few days we made the most of what Hawke’s Bay has to offer, going on a beautiful walk up Te Mata peak and sampling some delicious pastries and pizzas in Hastings. We then continued our journey south on our next themed highway - the Classic New Zealand Wine Trail. This took us to our next stop, Palmerston North, where we visited the New Zealand Rugby Museum and enjoyed putting our kicking, tackling and scrumming skills to the test. The extensive displays on the evolution of rugby in New Zealand kept Nathan busy whilst Josie checked out the advertising posters featuring Dan Carter in his boxers. Although he was voted New Zealand’s sexiest man in 2004, 2005 AND 2008, so who can blame her! The weather turned pretty horrible whilst we were here, so we went to the cinema to watch the new Hunger Games in order to escape the downpours.

Due to the limited freedom camping between Palmerston North and Wellington, we trekked down to the south coast. As we parked up for the night on Cape Palliser we looked out over the Cook Strait and spotted some snow capped mountains in the distance… our first glimpse of the South Island!

In a final bit of exciting news, we’ve booked our ferry across so will be spending our final few days on the North Island exploring Wellington. Our next blog post will be from the other side of the Cook Strait!

Journey along the Pacific Coast Highway

From Taupo, we headed north towards Rotorua, stopping off on the way to test out our monkey skills at Adrenaline Forest. Similar to Go-Ape, this involved us adorning harnesses to climb, swing and jump between trees on an aerial assault course. Our favourite obstacle by far was the ‘flying fox’, where we clipped on to zip-lines and flew through the canopy, a technique Josie also cheekily adopted on some of the more challenging obstacles. Four hours later, and throughly exhausted, we had completed all 6 difficultly levels and headed back to our campervan for a well earned beer.

The next day, we continued north and arrived in Rotorua a town famous for its Māori heritage and its geothermal activity. Boasting a plethora of bubbling mud pools, active geysers and heated spa pools, it sounded like the ultimate relaxation experience. Unfortunately, all this geothermal activity results in the production of copious amounts of hydrogen sulphide, which gives the town quite an overwhelmingly unpleasant ‘rotten egg’ smell! After a quick look around the town and a visit to a few of these attractions, we decided we couldn’t stomach it much longer and continued our journey north to rejoin the Pacific Coast Highway.

Happy to be back on the coast and breathing fresh ocean air again, we enjoyed a lovely few days exploring the western half of the Bay of Plenty, home of the kiwifruit! Whilst here we also had our first thunder and lightning storm in the van, which Josie found very exciting. Further along the coast we stopped at the town of Whakatāne, famous for its proximity to New Zealand’s (and one of the world’s) most active volcanoes - White Island/Whakaari. Visiting the volcano via boat from Whakatāne was a popular tourist attraction until an eruption occurred in 2019 whilst people were on the island. Tragically 20 tourists and 2 guides were killed and many more suffered horrific and life changing burns. We watched the Netflix documentary ‘Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari’ before visiting Whakatāne and found it quite haunting to see the tour boats involved still parked up along the quay. This, tied in with the visible steam clouds puffing from the island on the horizon, gave the town quite an ominous feel.

Passage from Josie:

Having studied Geology at uni and specialised in volcanology, I found the mixed emotions of our visit quite overwhelming. This was my first time witnessing an active volcano and I was captivated by it. Even from 50km away, you could feel the island’s power and it reminded me of why I chose to study my degree - to gain an insight into these powerful forces of nature, so completely beyond our control.

The truth is that had Nathan and I visited Whakatāne prior to 2019, I know I would have pushed for us to visit the island. Nathan reassures me that he would have put up a good argument to dissuade me and with how events played out, clearly he would have been justified, but who knows if we would have ended up on one of these tours.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that as someone who grew up fascinated by natural hazards, I can totally understand how extreme places such as White Island become tourist attractions in the first place. Obviously with hindsight we can look back and question how tourists were ever put in such danger or possibly even argue that an eruption was inevitable, but there will always be people drawn to these places. The question I’m interested in is how we can still maintain access to extreme environments like this whilst reducing the risk sufficiently to prevent disasters from happening in the future. Okay, enough of my ramblings, back to the blog :)

With White Island still bubbling away on the horizon, we continued our journey along the coast and out towards the Eastern Cape. Here it was our mission to see one of the first sunrises in the world! We travelled along a seemingly-endless gravel track; stayed overnight in a very remote and rudimentary campsite and woke up at 5am to travel to the easternmost tip of New Zealand… only for clouds to block the sunrise 🙄. Still, it was an awesome experience and one to tick off the bucket list!

Heading south from the Eastern Cape, we passed through stunning mountainous  landscapes with some of the most isolated communities in the North Island dotted in the valleys below. We stopped off at Gisborne, Captain Cooke’s first landing point on New Zealand, and finally made it down to Hawke’s Bay - the North Island’s wine region.

Forgive us if the next blog is delayed… we intend to sample our fair share of the local produce and with 91 wineries to choose from, the hangover may last a while!

Lakes, waterfalls and white water rafting

After completing Surf Highway 45, our next themed highway was the Forgotten World. This certainly lived up to its name, passing through towns rich in history, one of which is a self-proclaimed republic, and alongside a once-busy train line you can now hire adapted golf carts to ride along. Along the twisting journey, over numerous saddle points and gravel roads, we caught glimpses of the central North Island mountain range, which was the ultimate destination. 

We emerged from the Forgotten World Highway into the town of Taumarunui for a much needed shower and a food/water restock before heading down to the Tongariro National Park. This volcanic region is home to the highest mountains in the North Island and our next themed highway of the trip - the Volcanic Loop! We made our way to Whakapapa village, the highest village in New Zealand at 1200m above sea level. From here we did a couple of short walks but plan to come back in the summer when the snow has cleared to undertake the Tongariro Crossing, an 8 hour hike through the park and supposedly one of New Zealand’s best day hikes.

We circled the park on the Volcanic Loop Highway and passed by some pretty spectacular scenery - snow-capped volcanoes with ski fields, winding desert and our first glimpse of Lake Taupō. To the north of the park (and south of Lake Taupō) we made our next stop - Tūrangi. Here we decided to go white water rafting on one of New Zealand’s best (and longest) rafting rivers. We spent over 2 hours paddling over 60 rapids down a 30km stretch of the Tongariro river. With a cliff jump and swim down the river also ticked off in-between drops over the rocks, we have to say that we definitely earned a well needed portion of hot-chips by the end of the morning.

Thoroughly exhausted, we made our way up to Lake Taupō and took advantage of another natural phenomenon, geothermal pools. The Wairakei Terraces featured a series of geothermally heated mineral-rich pools ranging from 31 to 41°C - it was the perfect way to relax.

We had a great few days in Taupō, visiting Huka Falls, Craters of the Moon geothermal park and spending an evening at the Two Mile Bay Sailing Club with pizza, beer and live music. From here, the plan is to make our way north via Rotorua and re-join the Pacific Coast Highway.