Napier & Hastings

We arrived in Napier around mid afternoon, after a couple of stops, including one on a black sand beach, which was pretty cool. The isite informed us of a hostel run by a nice English couple, so we made our way there. Once we had settled in, we had a little walk around the area, bought some supplies and cooked dinner before chilling in front of the tv before bed. 

The next day we decided to walk into the town. This was actually quite a long way, which we hadn't realised at first, although it was all along the sea front, so was worth it. Even the weather wasn't too bad (no rain). As we got nearer the town centre we noticed there were a lot of classic cars on the road. There were even more in the town and lots of people dressed up in vintage attire to go with the time their car was from. It was all pretty cool. It turned out you could make a gold coin donation to go for a ride in one of these cars, so we duly obliged. We got a 70 year old Pontiac. The couple in the front were very nice and they took us for a drive through the town. After this we stopped at a burger place for lunch before heading back to the hostel via a viewpoint on the way. We got back to the hostel, tired from the walk, so watched some more tv, ate and relaxed.

The following day was spent moving on. We were making our way towards Wellington but as it was still quite a distance away we knew we had to stop somewhere in between. We headed for Hastings, which isn't that far from Napier. Although we did stop at a winery on the way. The weather was horrible though and there wasn't anyone around, so we didn't stay too long. The same could be said for Hastings. It was cold, wet and nothing was going on, so we found a Pak n save, got some lunch and headed up a nearby mountain/viewpoint. We couldn't see anything from the top because of the cloud and rain so we headed back down and had a hot chocolate in a nice cafe looking out over the town. Afterwards we carried on towards Wellington.

As it was getting late we decided to stop at a campsite in a little town called Pahiatua. The campsite was dead, we thought it was abandoned at first, but turned out the owners were away and we were expected to sign in on a register and leave our money in a box, which we did being the honest, generous people that we are. The site was still pretty creepy, with lots of empty looking caravans dotted around. So after cooking, and playing cards, we retired to bed to allow morning to arrive quicker. Needless to say the campsite was less creepy in daylight. So after sorting ourselves out, we hit the road again heading for the capital.

Urrm...you want a pizza?...with no cheese?...I'm not sure that's allowed

We had booked into our campsite for a couple of nights, so that gave us a day to check out what Gisbourne had to offer. There seemed to be a few cool things to do, however not so much when the weather wasn't good, and the weather we were experiencing was pretty horrible. However we still wanted to venture out and check out the area, so decided to go for a walk along the river and back around into the town.

After looking at a few statues and taking a few pictures, we wanted to stop for lunch. We fancied pizza as dominos has a $5 pizza offer, which isn't too bad. However this proved a little more difficult than we had anticipated, for Emily more than myself anyway. The girl behind the counter couldn't comprehend Emily creating her own pizza but without cheese, and had to ask if it was allowed. She then returned and insisted on reading the entire list of options for toppings, and when we asked how much it would be, she still had no idea. I don't know if we were asking too much, or this girl was just dim. We left to avoid the hassle, finding a Pizza Hut with the same deal, and who were also happy to make a cheese-less pizza, instead. 

The rest of our time in Gisbourne was spent at the library making use of the free wifi, so contacting people and attempting to upload photos.

The next day we left for a short drive to Napier, another coastal town. 

Creepy house

We set off to the coast hoping the weather would stay sunny. We had a nice lunch of chip sandwiches by the sea in a town called Whakatane. The weather was pretty sunny so we were hopeful. As we continued round the little peninsular it got windier and we could definitely feel it in the camper. However the views were 100% worth it.

By the time it got dark, we found ourselves in a small village called Te Araroa. We knew there was a campsite somewhere but it look a while to find it. It looked like a really creepy old house so we were reluctant to stay. The alternative wasn't too appealing. However they did have a really cute dog. We cooked dinner in the almost dark and had an early night as we wanted to go to the East Cape Lighthouse,  the most Easterly in the world, the next morning.

The road to the lighthouse was uncovered so we spent 45 minutes driving at 30kph. We passed a few remote houses, lots of animals and a few places where the road was crumbling down to the sea. The walk up to the lighthouse was tough as the steps were wet. The view was incredible though. 

We carried on our trip to our next destination,  Gisbourne. We wanted to stop off at Tokomaru and Tolaga bay but the weather was so horrible we couldn't even see them! We arrived in Gisbourne and found a camp site where we could stay. The weather was still horrible so we had a cosy dinner hoping the weather would improve.

Rotorua

We arrived in Rotorua late afternoon, and were instantly hit with the smell of sulphur from the thermal pools. Apparently it is pretty much constant so living there can't be too much fun. We decided to stay at a hostel which let camper vans camp in the car park and, despite having all the hostel facilities available to us, we cooked dinner out the back of Carlos in the car park. After a pasta dinner, and knocking up some falafel which we had bought, we went for a walk into town, mainly to go to the isite to make use of their free wifi. We also had a wander around the centre, in what is quite a pleasant town. After walking back to the hostel, and watching a bit of tv, we headed to bed. 

The next morning was quite an early start, for me anyway, as I got up for the World Cup final. After a fairly dull 120 minutes I was back at the van ready for breakfast. The weather was fairly good so we decided to head to the nearby park where there are loads of thermal pools. It's quite an odd place, with various pools filled with bubbling water everywhere and surrounded by steam, almost eerie. It was a cool place to have a walk around though. 

The weather had got even better in the afternoon, so we drove down to nearby lake rotorua for a picnic, and after eating lunch, we went for a walk around part of the shore. The lake itself was pretty big and looked quite spectacular in the sunshine. After a pleasant afternoon we went back to the hostel, ate (cooked in the kitchen this time), watched some my kitchen rules Australia, and then went to bed. 

The next morning we headed for the coastal road towards the east cape lighthouse, hoping that the good weather would continue. 

Hobbits!

Te Aroha didn't have much excitement for us as it was pouring with rain. The thermal pools didn't seem such a great idea so we headed to a nearby campsite and settled in for the day. We watched tv and cooked dinner ready for the next day, hoping for better weather. After a night of rain,  the morning was bright and dry! We decided to head to nearby Matamata which we had never heard of, but is famous for being the setting of Hobbiton in the Lord of the Ring & Hobbit films. I've never watched them, but Jay was excited and there was a free drink at the Green Dragon pub.

We bought our tickets and headed to the countryside. Peter Jackson found the land in a helicopter and paid the local family to use it for the films. After the locals got wind of what was going on they all wanted to see the hobbit holes so the family convinced PJ to let them keep them. Hobbiton is entirely intact and how it was in the films and was amazing to see regardless of seeing the films or not. The attention to detail was incredible.  We even met a star! The local cat who lives in the pub is apparently in the third hobbit film and loves live in a cosy pub with lots of attention! It was a great day out. Next we were heading to Rotarua,  the geothermal capital of New Zealand!

Thames, no river but might as well be!

We arrived in Thames hopeful of a nice campsite in the countryside bonding with nature just like we imagined.  Twenty minutes up a gravel track we reached the campsite and were ready to settle down for the evening. Despite the weather being on and off all day, we were still cheerful and hopeful. This didn't last long when we realised it the campsite was closed due to flooding. We headed back on the windy and wet gravel back to the centre. The only other place to stay was basically a glorified car park with a room for showers, cooker and seats. This night might well be our most memorable. We parked up and went for a wander round the town which reminded me of a stereotypical American town.

When we got back we had just sat in Carlos when a man came and knocked on our window and told us to come in.  In England people keep themselves to themselves so being invited in by a stranger was not what we expected. There were 3 older couples, one being a Somerset couple. They kept pouring wine and were getting more and more merry.  An American couple joined us too. The night went on pretty late with travel and camping stories. Writing it now,  it doesn't sound amazing,  but drunken older people can be hilarious!

The following day we were all ready to head around the Coromandel peninsular. All packed up and ready to go, we were told the roads were flooded and to head South instead. We consulted the map and headed to Te Aroha!

Bay of Islands

After picking up our camper, we hit the road leaving Auckland for the north, and more specifically, the Bay of Islands. On the way out of the city we noticed a Pak n Save, a New Zealand supermarket. We duly stopped for our first food shop of the trip. Pak n Save was ace, not too expensive and plenty of bargains, although it became clear that fruit and veg is expensive in New Zealand. After stocking up on pasta, sauce, rice, bread, biscuits (even some vegan cookies) and other bits and pieces, we were back on the road, however not for long as we had to stop at a service station to pay for the only toll road in the country. It did also give us an opportunity to have lunch. So after lunch, we hit the road once again to head up north. During the day the weather wasn't particularly great and it didn't get any better the further north we went, but that didn't put us off and we carried on anyway. The roads weren't too busy once we had got away from Auckland and there was some pretty cool scenery despite the weather. The roads were however quite different to England as they were a lot more bendy, having to wind around mountains and scale fairly steep hills, which I found weren't much fun in an automatic van. Around four hours after picking the van up, we were well into the northern region with still no improvements in the weather. If anything it was worse, with very heavy downpours and lots of flooding in the fields alongside the road, and in some areas, where the fields were obviously quite saturated, water was getting worryingly close to the road itself. However we carried on and stopped at a petrol station to refill. I was surprised to find someone already waiting for me before I had even reached the pump, ready to refuel for me. It seemed a bit old school but I didn't complain, plus they were able to warn us about the flooding further north and to expect possible road closures. Still we carried on, not getting the hint. It wasn't until we got to around 25km from Paihia, one of the towns in the Bay of Islands, that we came across a 4x4 parked over both sides of the road. The driver got out and informed us that the road north was closed due to flooding, and the only other possible route left to take wasn't far off being closed either. This news wasn't what we wanted after a good three and a half hour drive. However we didn't think waiting around for the weather to improve was the best thing to do, so decided to head back down south so not to waste too much time. It was about 5pm by this point, so after around an hours drive back in the direction we had just come from, we stopped in a town called Whagarei, where we found a nice little holiday park to spend the night. 

After arriving, parking up and plugging in, we cooked our first meal in Carlos, pasta obviously, despite there being an on sight kitchen and the fact it was still raining. 

The next morning we had breakfast in the van, and made use of the shower facilities before making our way back down south. A few hours went by before we reached Auckland, however this time passing through it. The weather at this point was quite nice and the city skyline with the sky tower looked quite pleasant, which was typical as the four days we had spent there before were all either, wet, windy, stormy or a combination of all three. Anyway, we carried on, hopeful the clear skies would continue. Our destination at this point was a town called Thames, with our plan to stay there before driving around the Coromandel Peninsula, weather dependant obviously....