Christmas on the boysenberry farm

We’ve been spending the festive period on a boysenberry farm in Upper Moutere, in the north of the South Island.

‘What exactly are boysenberries?’ we hear you ask! They’re a hybrid berry, a cross between a raspberry, a blackberry, American dewberry and a loganberry. They look like large black raspberries and have a sweet, rich berry flavour.

We’re helping with the harvest on a 16 acre farm. This involves standing on harvesters as they move along the rows of berries and ‘grading’ the berries by picking out leaves and unripe fruit then filling trays with the fresh berries ready to send all over the world. The work is very physically demanding, starts at 4am each morning 😴 and we’ve been working 8-10 hour days, so it’s safe to say we’re both thoroughly exhausted. But happy to be earning money which should hopefully fund our travels for the next few months.

We’ve parked our van up in one of the fields and have access to a small kitchen and bathroom. There are two other couples staying with us - Miri and Vali from Germany and Chloe and Tanguy from France. We’ve been enjoying getting to know them, so as well as the farm owners Jeremy and Alena.

Luckily we had Christmas Day off, so managed to have a bit of a lie in before making pancakes and opening the stockings we’d got each other. We had a very relaxing day and made a Christmas curry with all the trimmings. Nothing like a usual Christmas, but enjoyable for a Christmas away from home.

It’s Nathan’s birthday tomorrow, so we’re planning a birthday BBQ and campfire to bring in the new year and have New Year’s Day off work!

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and wishing you a Happy New Year!

Big walks and big wines

After our trip on the mail boat, we spent the next few days exploring what we could of the Marlborough Sounds. This included multiple walks to secluded coves with stunning views and a very rainy and blustery night spent at Elaine Bay, on the western side of the sounds. It was here that we started our first audiobook of the trip, The Thursday Murder Club, and have since spent many hours listening whilst driving or walking.

We then made our way around to Nelson, the site of the first ever rugby match in New Zealand and stocked up on supplies before the next week heading to the most northerly point of the big island. Our first port of call was the small town of Kaiteriteri where we thoroughly enjoyed a day in the sun: swimming, eating fish and chips and visiting a local geological attraction aptly named ‘Split Apple Rock’.

We decided that we would then stay at a large Department of Conservation campsite in the heart of the Abel Tasman National Park for a few nights and attempt our longest walk to date. The campsite was a one hour drive down a narrow mountain top gravel road but well worth the trip as it was one of the most scenic places we have stayed so far. 

The next morning we set off early on our tramp - a 26km loop, starting with a coastal section and returning inland via a hilltop ascent. We had a great day listening to our audiobook with gorgeous coastal views and even spotting a few fur-seals. Despite at one point having to backtrack 10 minutes to find Josie’s dropped AirPods, we made it back to camp in six and a half hours.

As we cooked up dinner to recuperate and refuel we were inundated with weka, a rare flightless bird, exuding confidence and pecking at anything and everything we put more than an arms length away. These cheeky weka were a theme of the next few days and we saw them stealing many other people’s lunches.

Our route then took us further north to Farewell Spit - the northernmost tip of the island. Here we walked to along the seemingly endless spit which disappeared far off over the horizon and out into the Tasman sea. We were the only people on the entire beach and apart from a flock of sheep we had a lovely undisturbed walk.

On the way back we called into the town of Collingwood, which any Durham alumni amongst you will understand the reasons for, but didn’t stay long as we had our sights set on the Nelson Lakes National Park and besides, Grey4life.

We enjoyed two serene night by Lakes Rotoiti and Rotoroa, only being slightly pestered by overly friendly mosquitoes, ducks and weka. The lakes are home to hundreds of eels which spend their lives living upstream in rivers and lakes before swimming off on a one way trip out to sea, all the way to Fiji, in order to breed. Incredibly the baby eels then drift on ocean currents back to New Zealand to begin the whole process again. Quite incredible creatures as they are, we were both unnerved by the sheer number under the lake’s jetty (see the photo below!).

From the Nelson Lakes we headed back up north into the Marlborough wine region and enjoyed our second day of vineyard hopping on the trip. We found a pub in the town of Renwick which allows visitors to stay overnight provided they buy a drink at their establishment. We rocked up at 11am and decided to wet the whistle with an incredibly generously poured glass of wine each - this set the tone for the day. We visited 4 vineyards and a brewery, all within stumbling distance - Te Whare Ra, Gibson Bridge, Forrest, Framingham and Boom Town - and managed to make it back to the pub in one piece. Of course, with our van so conveniently parked next to a pub, we couldn’t resist the opportunity to carry on the merriment and so topped off the day with a couple more (rather unnecessary) beers and rugger on the telly.

As you can imagine, the next day was hell. But since then we’ve been making the most of our relaxation time as later this week we will be starting our first stint of work! We’ve secured 3-5 weeks of work on a boysenberry farm which should not only top up our bank balances but also see us through the Christmas period where the roads and campsites will be at their busiest. We’re not too sure what to expect at this point, but we’ll update you next week on how the first few days have gone!

Windy Welly and the windy ferry

We finished our last blog post down at Cape Palliser, getting our first glimpse of the South Island. The next morning we headed over to the Cape Palliser Lighthouse, the southern-most tip of the North Island, and also home to the North Island’s only colony of New Zealand Fur Seals! We had a lovely morning watching the seals, and a few pups, as they lounged about on the beach and went swimming.

We then made our way into New Zealand’s capital, Wellington. We arrived on a Friday afternoon and decided to head out on the town for our first experience of clubbing down under. We have to admit that despite our relatively low expectations, it left a lot to be desired. Nevertheless, our years at Durham prepared us well for making the most of shit clubs and we managed to have a sufficiently good time that Josie has sworn off alcohol for the foreseeable future.

Partying out of our system (for now), we had 4 days here before catching our ferry and managed to explore a lot of the city in that time. One of the highlights was the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa. Here we explored exhibits on the country’s wildlife, evolution and culture. We particularly enjoyed the nature exhibit, which featured an earthquake simulator and the preserved body of a giant squid. There was also a brilliant exhibition exploring the ANZAC’s WWI Gallipoli campaign, brought to life by sculptures made at Weta Workshop, the special effects and prop studio made famous by Lord of the Rings. We then took a trip up the famous Wellington Cable Car, and Mount Victoria which both gave us great views over the city and Josie even squeezed in a quick visit to the only Welsh pub in the southern hemisphere 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿.

The time had come to make the trip to the ‘big island’. We woke early to board our ferry and immediately made our way to the cafe for a full English. Full with the comforting taste of home, even the 40mph gusts couldn’t deter us from standing out on deck for the entire 3 and a half hour trip. We were well rewarded with multiple dolphin sightings and even saw some albatross dancing over the Cook Straight. As we wound our way through the more sheltered Marlborough Sounds on towards Picton we were treated to some breathtaking views and seemingly endless waterways to explore.

Picton itself was full of charm and we had a well earned bowl of soup in a local eatery once there. We spent a few nights driving along the Queen Charlotte Drive - a picturesque, if not a touch challenging, clifftop route between Picton and Havelock. Once in Havelock we booked a trip with the ‘sea postie’. The primary purpose of the trip is to transport people and post to isolated islands and stays between Havelock and the Cook Straight, but tourist can join for the ride to get an insight into the places and people that call the Marlborough Sounds home. Along the way we met some locals, along with dogs, pigs and sheep and saw many more dolphins and seals. On top of it all, the scenery was stunning and made it a contender for our best activity of the whole trip so far!

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. 

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.