Exploring North Island

Hello everyone!

Well it feels like it's been a while as I have done a lot. After my last email I packed up the car and headed north to explore the northern tip of New Zealand. The weather had been pretty bad with a lot of rain and when I say rain I mean rain like you've never seen. When it rains here it really rains. For some reason I quite liked it. Reminds me of home perhaps. Heading north through Auckland it changed from driving rain to sun with showers from hour to hour. I hit Auckland at a good time and missed the traffic so carried on with the aim of getting as far north as I could in one day. I got to Whangerai on the Northland East Coast pretty easily in about 4 hours along the demanding but good highway. Whangerai is a fairly big town and I didn't fancy staying there. I wanted to get as close to Cape Reinga as I could so I got some supplies and carried on. I aimed for Kaitaia, another 3 1/2 hours north. I was making pretty good time. The scenery was more beautiful the further I went. The roads had little traffic and as I got north they became more and more demanding especially as it got dark. There are many fatal accidents on NZ roads and I can see why. In the driving rain and dark the roads are very hard to read. They snake through the hills and valleys with steep gradients and varied surfaces. It felt very much that I was in the wilderness and the landscape was impressive but sometimes quite lonely. Many big logging trucks are on the road in this heavily forested area and it looks much like the pictures you see of Canada and Montana but with subtropical coastal beach towns breaking things up. Sort of Canada meets Fiji. By 7pm I was quite tired. I had been following a logging truck quite fast through a very tricky road. The rain was very heavy and there was a thunder storm not far away. It was very dark but despite the car being quite old it coped pretty well. I'd say the roads are some of the most demainding and hardest to read that I have seen and are much like the roads of Cornwall and Wales.

I passed some small petrol stations in the middle of nowhere and some single street towns and eventually came to Kaitaia feeling very tired after 7 or 8 hours behind the wheel. My plan was to get north quickly to catch the good weather and then head down slowly exploring. There is little in Kaitaia and only 1 or 2 hostels. They aren't the best either and rely on the fact that they are close to 90 mile beach and there is nothing else about. I think the prices have gone up for the Lions tour as well which was unfortunate. I didn't get much sleep either as a large group of Dutch guys were very noisey. They shouted over the TV for most of the late evening and early hours. Not sure why.

I left early the next day and headed for 90 mile beach. It's not 90 miles long but it is big. I cought the morning low tide and decided to make the 1 hour drive up the beach to Cape Reinga on the northern tip of the island. The wide flat beach makes a great highway and is much faster than the road. The weather was dramatic with big white and black clouds and a big surf both being driven by a very strong wind. This meant that there was bright warm sunshine which was broken by the clouds and showers. I made it all the more beautiful though. They call it the winterless north and with temperatures not much lower than 20 degrees it's t-shirt weather in the day. It does get pretty cold at night though. On the beach I had stopped to take photos and as I snapping away when a man with a large backpack approached. I had passed him earlier and he seemed to be walking barefoot with all his gear. He turned out to be a Lebanese called Whasseem who was walking around the country. I offered him a lift and we set off. Apart from the tour buses I was pretty much the only car and after a long drive we eventually got to the end of the beach but no lighthouse and no road? Luckily a couple of cars were there and I asked the local Maori driver where to go. He explained that I should drive up the nearby creek and so I went looking. Seeing what I was about to drive though I stuck the car into 4x4 Lo ratio as I had already noticed that some places were soft and the car wanted to get stuck a few times. The creek drains from the hills onto the beach and I looked for tracks to find my way out. It was great fun but you had to keep moving to prevent the car digging itself into the sand. As we went further we passed through huge sand dunes where some jacked up tour busses brought people for sand boarding. It was an amazing landscape with the creek running through it but I had to carry on as I wasn't sure about the tide and didn't want to get stuck. The car was great and got us through with little trouble. Shame I got no pictures.

Where the road meets the creek you can start heading in land on the rough gravel so I headed for the Cape Reinga lighthouse on the northern tip. It was a longer drive than I had imagined and I was going pretty quick on the very enjoyable gravel roads. We got there after a good 1/2 hour though. Whasseem didn't say much and I think he had become used to his solitude. Arriving at the Cape there were a few tourists by the lighthouse. The car was covered in sand and some other people said they had watched us flying up the beach at over 80km/h envious that they couldn't take their hire cars up. It did look cool covered in sand! Whasseem said he fancied a walk but only if it was a 2 hour one so I said I would wait and take pictures but he decided to go off with his pack and make a 2 day walk through the bush to the next village so we said goodbye. Strange chap. Several bus loads of tourists turned up so I left after snapping away myself. The state of my car was a source of amusement for some.

I headed south on the road as the tide would be in now and I fancied seeing what was inland. It was a pretty long drive on gravel and then tarmac before I came to the first services. It didn't look very exciting so I went on. The counrtyside was very beautiful with sheep and cow farms, hills and valleys and the coast visible in the distance. I filled the car up and enquired about a place to stay. The fuel is very expensive up there at $1.70 per litre compared to the norm of $1.30. I was pointed in the direction of the YHA hostel in Houhora Warf nearby and checked in. Very pretty place and a very characterful little hostel on the waterfront. I made a dash up to Cape Reinga again to try and catch the sunset but was side tracked by the lovely countryside with the camera. I made it just for the last rays of sun but no photos. Some people were camping in the adjacent bays and I thought about sleeping in the car but wasn't really equiped for that. Back at the hostel I had an early night as there weren't many people around.

After little sleep due to a young American girl's incredible snoring I made a late start towards the beach again. This time I approached the beach through a thick forest half way up which is a major logging area. Again I was on rough gravel roads until the huge trees parted and I arrived on silver sand with the sea crashing away in front of me. It was a good day to drive down on the beach so I went back to fuel up and returned to the beach with a campervan following. As I sat on the beach the brand new hired camper drove down to turn round and sank straight into the sand. He called me over and I basically told him he was stuck good and proper much to his dismay. They were a Welsh couple on holiday. I knew the tide was coming in soon and we had an hour or 2 to get help and pull him out so I went like the clappers back to town with his wife to get help. Great fun....I had a reason to drive as fast as I could! The local tow truck was called and as I left a huge 1950's monster of a thing pulled up with huge sand tires. The lady kindly gave me $20 for my trouble and I left them to it making my way to the Bay of Islands by road.

It was another good drive and it was dark before I got there having taken the very long but very scenic route. I arrived in Paihia which is the main town along with Waitangi where the Maori's signed the treatty with the British. Bay of Islands was a surprise. It was lovely with a wonderful beach town feel, excellent hostels and a couple of good bars to while away the evening. I felt very relaxed there and spent the evening having a few beers with some kiwi's and a brummy in a wood fired bar with excellent live music. The beer is excellent here by the way. My dad would love it. The next day I spent driving around Bay of Islands and Russel which I got to via the ferry. It's a fantastic area and would make a perfect holiday. I found some very idilic bays with a couple of boats, a few holiday homes and a quiet silver beach where maybe 1 person would be walking a dog. I stayed a second night and went to the same bar which was very quiet but had even better live music. I would have happily stayed longer but I was keen to start heading south to the snow and to meet up with Maartje who I had met in Cairns and who was now in NZ heading north to meet me in Rotorua. We planned to head to Queenstown together and hit the slopes. So I began the drive back to Tozan's in Hamilton. Along the way I stopped to take a look at my friend Olivia's farm in Northland. I hadn't expected it to be quite as remote as it was, between Whangerai and Dargville in Northland. The landscape became different again with rolling hills and farmland and little people or traffic. To get to the farm I had to turn off the sealed road and travel on gravel for a long way. At one point a cow was sitting having a rest in the road but after a minute or 2 kindly got up and moved so I could carry on. It was a lovely drive and very much like the rally stages in Wales and I would have loved to sprint down it in a rally car but the Pajero was good to. After having a nose around I planned where to go next and whilst snapping a few pictures I was approached by a farmer in his ute. He asked if I was ok and I explained I was just taking a few pics. He said 'You're not one of those council people taking photos of my farm so you can tell me how many trees I need to cut down are you? Cos I tell them to fuck off! Fed up of people telling me how to farm my land!' I explained that I wasn't and found him quite funny and very nice. Sorry Liv! Didn't mean to upset the neighbours.

I carried on south and all was going well until I overtook a big lorry going over the Brynderwyns just south of Ruakaka. At the top of the hill I could smell coolant and the temperature gauge was climbing so I coasted down the other side and pulled over. It looked like a hose had sprung a leak but it could also have been the water pump gasket as it wasn't clear so hoping it was the hose I called the AA who sent a mechanic out from Ruakaka. He turned out to be a 60 year old Dutch guy who had lived there for 40 years and like all old mechanics he loved to swear F'ing and Blinding all the way to the garage in his strong Dutch accent. We both checked the car out and it was the gasket so I would have to spend the night at a motel paid for by the AA. This place is nothing in the middle of nowhere and motels are lonely places, plus the only shop closed as I got to the door and the owner completely ignored my attempts to get his attention...NICE! I was so hungry. At least the TV is good on a Friday night. In the morning I bought a pie and beans and stuffed my face. The car was fixed quite promptly and for about $180 which is 70 quid...not bad really. By lunchtime I was well on my way and the sun was out too. I arrived in Hamilton that evening very tired and it was nice to be back at Tozans. The car still had half of 90 mile beach stuck to it though so we spent the next day gardening, cleaning the cars and eating as usual, and the weekend was spent eating, shopping and going to the cinema where we saw Bride and Prejudice which had us in stiches. After the weekend it was time to move on and say goodbye to Tozan. I had gotten used to being there and it had been really nice to catch up with such an old friend and it felt weird to move on. I had ejoyed staying in Hamilton and Tozan had been great fun and looked after me well especially when it came to food!

By now Maartje was in Rotorua 1 1/2 hours south and I set off to meet her. Neither of us wanted to stick around there as it's very touristy and expensive so we headed to Taupo another hour south. Taupo is lovely and home to some of the cheapest sky diving in the world. It's set on the massive Lake Taupo which is overlooked by Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings. We checked into the very good Rainbow Lodge and Maartje booked her sky dive. I hadn't really thought of doing one and was put off by the price but decided to go watch. It was a long wait but she got her dive at sunset which is pretty special and it was all very cool. I was quite jealous and nearly put my credit card on the counter but it seemed like a lot of cash for 5 minutes and would have eaten my diving budget for Fiji. Maartje was buzzing with a big smile after that and we went to the pub where we met some of the others who had done the dive and took part in the pub quiz. Nice pub, nice town and nice food from the night cafe after.

We were on the move again early in the morning heading to Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. It was a long drive with great scenery and some interesting stops which took all day. Pulling into Wellington I was very surprised at how cool it looked and how buzy with cafes and bars it was. It feels very Scandinavian and is pretty with a lot of characeter. Finding a hostel with parking and cheap beds was a bit tricky though and we opted for a little place with a querky reputation near the centre of town called Beethoven House. Beethoven House is owned by a Singaporian man who loves music and who has strange reputation but alas we never met him. It's an old house and is like a student house but it was cheap and relaxed so we gave it a go. There were a couple of nice guys there but also a couple of Kiwi guys who were very simple and very strange. They made everyone quite uncomfortable and myself and Maartje spent little time there which was good as we explored the city. We saw the Te Papa Museum, rode the cable car and sampled the fantastic cafes of Cuba Street. The city is very trendy and the people have a nice style which is very north european. We spent a couple of days there before it was time for us to leave North Island on the Ferry to South Island.

That was a few days ago but I have been on the road since and the internet has been expensive in the touristy south so I'll bring you up to date soon. I hope everyone is well and enjoying the summer. It's winter here!

Kaveh.