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New Zealand

February 2018 - April 2024
An open-ended adventure by Amanda Read more
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  • TravelerNew Zealand
    Day 1

    Take Off!!

    February 5, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 22 °C

    05.02.18 the day we finally leave for New Zealand.
    Chris woke up at 5am and went into work to finalise a few things. When he got back I woke up and we started to pack. Of course Chris hadn't packed his bags yet. Once we showered and packed Chris's dad took us to the airport. At this stage we were definitly getting excited. We arrived at the airport at roughly 10:30am after checking in we had a look at the shops for a while. We bought a memory stick for the go-pro and had some yummy subway. After a short delay we started boarding around 12:30 and take off was just after 1:00pm.
    We had some average food (some chicken and veggie fried rice) on the plane and watched Thor, which was hilarious if you ask me. After just over 3 hours we arrive close to 8:00pm. We got our phone sims sorted and made our way out of the airport. After about half an a hour on the shuttle bus we were at some corner shop in Aucklands city centre collecting the keys from a random guy, very strange. The shuttle driver then dropped us down the road at our whalf appartment. Our appartment was on the top level and we had the best views over looking the entire harbour! We relaxed for a little and showered, Chris then fell asleep lol. I bought some uber eats which I hadn't done before - the McDonalds here was delish. After some fatty food we then headed to bed. Cant wait for the adventures to start tomorrow!    Read more

  • TravelerNew Zealand
    Day 2

    Auckland Museum and Mt Edin

    February 6, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    The day was a slow start due to Mandy being tired lol. Opened the blinds to see where the loudspeaker announcements were coming from. We found a cruise ship docked literally next to the appartment!! After showering we made our way down to the wharf where we found an info booth, we took a lot of brochures and booked the war museum tour. We decided to walk to the war memorial. We got lost a couple of times but found our way to Queen St where we went to a few stores, we didnt buy anything though lol. We found our way to the war memorial walking through Auckland University and Albert Park. We spent about 3 hours at the museum, which was a great insight into maori culture and the world wars, Chris also found his dad in one of the vietnam war books which was quiet humbling. We had lunch at the museum Chris had a salad sandwich and ginger and apricot slice, Mandy opted for the chicken burger and chips. After we left the meuseum we walked to burger king for ice cream. We were planning on walking to Mt Eden however decided to catch the bus as our feet were sore. We caught a bus to Mt Eden area where we walked up to the summit of a inactive volcano, the view was great. Once we finished there we then caught the bus down to sky tower for a look. We then walked down the the wharf and checked out the menus of all the restaurants, we decided to order food at a place called the fox. We both ordered the chicken parmy, which was the smallest parmy we had ever had lol we then went and got ice cream again. The main flavor we got was kiwi fruit, it was quiet nice. After ice-cream we headed back to our appartment were we watched all our videos from the day as well as some foxtel before bed.Read more

  • TravelerNew Zealand
    Day 3

    Van Collection Day

    February 7, 2018 in New Zealand

    Woke up again early from Chris's alarm lol then finally fell back asleep. We both properly woke up around 8:30am showered and then started packing. We left our appartment about 10:45 and headed to the city center where we thought we would get a taxi. We then decided to walk to the bus stop however we got lost for a little while. We finally found a stop and hopped on heading back to the airport. After about 45 minutes we were at the airport waiting for a juicy shuttle to take us to collect our van. Had a quick maccaz and we were on our way. Signing the paper work only took us roughly 5 minutes, the lady who helped us was super helpful and chucked in a free dvd player and some dvds. They showed us the van and how everything worked then we were on our way. We decided to go get some essentials before we hit the road. We went to The Warehouse and bought several things and then headed to Woolworths to buy enough food for 3-4 days. We decided we should see the top of Auckland first so started heading towards the Bay of Islands. We headed from Auckland airport to Helensville and then headed to Warkworth and upto Wellsford and then onto Ruawal. We first stopped near Warkworth were we went off road and took some photos up a mountian. We nearlly died here from my attempt to 3 point turn on a cliff haha. We then stopped around Ruawal where we made some sandwiches, the view was amazing here - we were over looking hills, the ocean and a huge mountain. We continued onto Dargaville were we half set up the camper and had a short stop. It was now getting fairly cold and dark so we decided to go only a little further. By now it was about 9:30pm and we were at Baylys Beach. We were going to stay there however the camp site was $40 I think not lol. After about half an hour driving trying to figure out where to stay we went back to Dargaville and parked in a carpark at the back of the local shops. It was then nighty night for us as we were super tired.Read more

  • TravelerNew Zealand
    Day 4

    Heading up North

    February 8, 2018 in New Zealand

    Woke up from our scary night in the carpark about 7:30am. We then headed to the local toilets to get changed before we were on our way. We first headed up the south highway where we were last night. We decided to stop off at Lake Taharoa where we ate some cocopops over looking the lake. We then continued our journey up through Aranga Beach and onto Waipoua Forest. The forest was really lush and thick not to mention very windy. We turned off several short gravel roads where there were a few good look out points. One we went along for about 5kms and then climbed a small firemans lookout, to be honest the view was rubbish and we were pretty cold. The weather today was terrible, high winds and very cold. We then continued though the forest where we stopped off at a river running next to the road. The next stop in Waipoua Forest was Kuri Tree where we hiked about 100 meters to the largest tree in New Zealand - Lord of the Forest. This tree was epic!!! Tane Mahuta is where the tree was located in Waipoua Forest. We then continued on along highway 12 to Opononi where we stopped at several amazing look outs here sand junes and mountains were right next to one another, insane view! One of the look outs was called Arai-Te-Uru Recreation Reserve which over looked Hokianga Harbour near Opononi. We filled up for the first time at Opononi which was $2.26 a liter.Read more

  • TravelerNew Zealand
    Day 4

    Cape Reinga

    February 8, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 17 °C

    We continued along highway 12 to Paihia where we filled up again and not long after we stopped for some lunch on the side of the road. We had a freaky lady try talk smack to us haha was so weird. We then continued up highway 1 where we stopped in Kaitaia for a short while. From Kaitaia we headed up to Cape Reinga which took us roughly 2 hours as we stopped off at a few look outs along the way. We finally reached Cape Reinga which was so beauitful! There were several sand dunes around which looked amazing. It was so cold and wet here and even started to rain whilst we were walking to the look out. We hiked up this small mountain which was amazing, so windy though I thought we would fall of the mountain and die. The wind was easily over 80km up there. After we took some snaps we headed to the light house. The light house was amazing as it had all these signs which pointed the way of several countries around the world. At the light house you could see where The Pacific Ocean meet the Tasman Sea, this was awesome!! We then headed back to Kaitaia where we thought there would be showers but unfortunately they were closed by the time we arrived which was annoying as we were drowned rats. We then grabbed a quick feed at McDonalds (again lol) as our chicken was hot because the fridge didnt work - boo!! After a yummy McDonalds feed we headed to Taipa where we found a cool beach cove where we parked for the night.Read more

  • TravelerNew Zealand
    Day 5

    East Coast - Bay of Islands

    February 9, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 21 °C

    Woke up at Taupo on the beach about 7:30am. It was so peaceful with no body around. We quickly got changed and then had some coco pops on the beach. After breakfast we got back on state highway heading towards The Bay of Islands, along the way we saw a tourist drive which we decided to drive down. This went all around Wainui Road. Along this drive we went down one of the roads which lead to Whangaroa Bay. The views here were great however it was very cloudy and over cast. We took a few videos and photos and then we were on our way. On the way down to Bay of Islands we called Jucy and spoke to them about our fridge not working. They told us to go to Keri Keri and an auto electrican there would fix the fridge. We had to wait and hour so we drove around and found a large stone building that sold old stones. We went to go in however it was pouring down rain so thought we would go purchase umbrellas first. We shopped around in the $2 shop and Amanda bought ponchos whilst Bully filled up the car - $2.09 a litre which was a fair price. We then decided to go to the automachanics as it had already been an hour. We dropped the car off and the receptionist then drove us back into town. We grabbed a bite to eat, Amanda got a steak and cheese pie and chips and Chris got a pork pie and x2 sausage rolls. Chris's pie wasnt that great, very interesting tatse. Chris then decided he wanted to go to the opshop of course haha. He got 2 alright tops I must say. Chris is telling me to say with brand new labels lol. The lady from the automachanics called us about half an hour later. We then collected our keys and were on our way. We had a quick shop at Woolworths to replace the food that was off and then headed on our way to the Bay of Islands.Read more

  • TravelerNew Zealand
    Day 5

    Bay of Islands

    February 9, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 21 °C

    After our shop at Woolworths we headed to the Waianwaniwa Rainbow Falls which were pretty small however still good. It was raining heaps so we had to quickly run to the falls and back. We then continued on the State Hwy. We took a right at Puketona Road towards Paihia. On the way we took a short detour to Haruru Falls. These falls were taller than the others and had 2 amazing look out points. It was raining again so we hurried to the falls. When we got back to the van there were about 400 hundred chickens in the car park lol. We continued on this road and ended up at Waitangi Treaty Grounds. We wanted to go into the grounds however they were $130 plus the reviews werent great so we decided to continue on. We headed along Paihia Road where there were some pretty amazing views down to the beache. Amanda wanted to get closer to the bay so we decided to go down a road which she believed to be sealed. It was not!! About half an hour later we were still on this gravel road in the Russell Forrest which was pretty amazing mind you. We came to a stop where the road was covered with water after about 10 minutes of deciding whether or not to go through we did. We were now heading around the Te Rawhiti Inlet. We first stopped at Dicks Bay and then headed to Parekura Bay. This bay was our favourite so far. We stopped at several different places along the road and explored several beaches. We loved how the farms and the beaches literally joined next to one another right on the beach.Read more

  • TravelerNew Zealand
    Day 5

    Whangarei Heads

    February 9, 2018 in New Zealand

    From our favourite Parekura Bay we headed down to Helena Bay and then back onto the State Highway. We started heading to Whangarei where we knew there would be somewhere to stay near by. We decided to head down to Whangarei Heads where we had found several free accomodation sites. On the way there we found a sign saying Falls so of course Amanda wanted to go take a look. These falls were called the Whangarei Falls. This falls were AMAZING! There were several look out points and a muddy stair case we climbed down. The falls were so full and heavy that the spray was hitting us about 20 meters from the base. It was crazy, literally felt like we got out of the shower. Definitly recommend this water fall to people. After the falls we continued on to Parua Bay and onto Whangarei Heads. This place was crazy!! The large mountains were covered in fog and there were large rocks in front of the mountains. On the other side you had an amazing coast view and towards the water there was a seaport which had hundreds of shipping containers. We found this amazing camp site on the base of the foggy mountains. We had a quick walk on the beach and tried to find some oysters. Chris found one and eat it - gross!! We then cooked some pesto pasta as the sun set. Today was a good day of exploring.Read more

  • TravelerNew Zealand
    Day 6

    Whangarei - Coromandel Peninsula

    February 10, 2018 in New Zealand

    We woke up to find our van full of mosquitoes which were eating us alive in the early hours of the morning. We spent the next 4 hours eradicating them out of the van, we then fell back asleep for a few more hours. When we woke up we discussed what we were having for breakfast and decided to have vegimite and cheese sandwich which ended up being eaten in our undies in the rain. We left the camp site around 10am and headed back to Whangarei itchy and tired. We got back on the highway 1 heading to Auckland. We took yet again another detour to Ruakaka to have a look at Ocean Bay were there is apparently whale sightings however we didnt see any even though Amanda tried to call for them! No response from the sea haha! We then got back on the highway 1 and headed to Wellsford were we had been before. We decided to explore down the south east coast this time. On the way we saw a sheep sign to sheep world so thought we would have a look. Sheep world was in Warkworth. We didnt do a tour as it was $35 however did buy several things from the store. I bought 2 quality sheep skin white rugs and have then shipped home and Amanda bought some socks for her grandma. From sheep world we headed through Auckland and over the bridge. We made our way down to Drury where I suggested to Amanda we should go over look some Irelands at the top of Ponui Island. As we where heading up through Manurews we saw a sign for a water fall Amanda wanted to.go so we turned around and headed that direction. The water fall was called Hunua. At the carpark of the water falls we decided to cook some cheese toastoes which where good, we then decided to cook our dinner which was pesto pasta again. After we finished cooking we headed to the falls to have a look. It was magnificent lots of water spray coming off and showering us again. We decided to have a look for a place to have a shower, Amanda called this place and they where opened. We then headed straight but got distracted along the way. We stopped at The Warehouse where I got a jumper and we got rain goats. We then departed from The Warehouse where Amanda decided she needed KFC lol. So we went to the drive through and got Mandy food. Once we finished at KFC we departed alongthe edge of Coromandel Peninsula through Orere Point tl Thames and onto Tapu. This drive was amazing we could see all the mountains on the other side of the Bay. After about an hours drive we stopped in a carivan park where we showered and did some washing. The carivan park was pretty cool, it had heaps of small carivans and anxxes connected the carivans. We got talking with the owner and several people actually live in the carivans here. Fairly early night tonight which was definitly needed after our bug episode.Read more

  • TravelerNew Zealand
    Day 7

    Coromandel Peninsula - Rotorua

    February 11, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 19 °C

    We woke up around 8 this morning on the beach of Tapu. The weather was still miserable and raining which was annoying. We decided to head straight down to Rotorua well that was the plan. On the way down we filled up and as Chris was filling the car I was quickly looking through several brochures and found one for this amazing rock in Hahei on the east coast of Coromandel Peninsula. We turned around and headed up the east coast, took about an hour and we were there. The weather was raining at it made it very hard to see the bay and all the large rocks coming out of the ocean. The main attraction was an hour hike from the top of the mountain down towards the beach. As it was pouring and there where no buses or travel boats we decided to give this a miss. I really wanted to see this so we have decided to head back up there on the way home. After a quick look on Hahei beach we grabbed an ice-cream and was on our way to Rotorua.Read more

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