New Zealand, wide open spaces of the North Island!

I’m not even sure how to start this post….part 1 of a 2 part post so bear with me. Back in late March/early April we took the most amazing family holiday we have been on to date- a 2 week RV trip around the gorgeous country of New Zealand!! Now, let me tell you having survived it, 2 weeks is not even close to the kind of time you need to see the country. Its just so massive, especially by RV with all the driving times, so we weren’t able to see everything we wanted, but we did get a taste of how amazing NZ really is. If I could go back and do it all over again with just our 2 week window, I would pick just 1 island to see…and I would see the south island. This is not to say the north island isn’t spectacular, its just more “bang for your buck” on the south island with that small of a window of time. If you have all the time in the world, spend 2 weeks in the north island and 3-4 in the south island. That would be the best way.

Anyway, we were lucky enough to fly on miles so we flew into Auckland on the north end of the North Island and flew out of Christchurch, on the east coast about halfway down the South Island. It was an absolute whirlwind….but also an absolute blast!! Plus the added bonus of a nice departure from SE Asia….we really needed a break, LOL. After months of research, we chose to go during a “shoulder season” to both save money as well as enjoy some cooler and crisper air, but not too cold (its pretty stuffy in Asia). We went at the perfect time- warm days and cool nights for the northern hemisphere’s spring, NZ’s autumn season. Perfection.

Now the crazy part- how to choose a RV? We happened upon a great website called Rankers , its basically a travel review website like TripAdvisor, but on a much smaller scale, and based solely for New Zealand. Here we were able to enter in parameters of what kind of RV we were looking for- including budget, capacity, extras, etc and then the bid went out to multiple companies who then contacted us with their availability of vehicles. The website even has other traveler reviews so you can see who is better with service, newer vehicles, etc, etc etc. We ended up choosing what we think is a fantastic company- Wilderness Motorhomes. We had some pretty specific requirements due to traveling with a then 8 month old (forward facing rear seats for her car seat, multiple beds, toilet and shower on board, etc). Wilderness was able to get us everything we needed at a great price! We even were able to rent a BBQ from them and book our ferry tickets (without a specific date set yet) for our trip from the north to the south island through Cook’s Crossing. Upon arrival and at departure their customer service was fantastic!! The only glitch was at arrival the check in process was a tad long with a tired and jet lagged baby and at departure they wouldn’t give us a ride to our hotel for our flight home the next day but otherwise, no complaints! Very receptive company plus the RV itself was new and nice and clean and worked great. Loved it.

So there are the basics….lets get in to our adventure shall we? I will say this: this was the first time in our lives we didn’t do any planning for a trip. We just ran out of time with my parents in town and a last minute trip to the Philippines and just life with a baby in general so we took a guidebook we borrowed from a friend and our iPads and literally planned the next day as we were driving that current day. It was such a nice departure and such a breath of fresh air to “fly by the seat of our pants” a bit. It was relaxing and fun to be just a family of 3 on the road with not a worry in the world :)!

Here were our 5 main goals for this family holiday:

1. “Unplug” from life (minimal use of internet) & reconnect with simple face to face conversations about life, future, etc.

2. Stargaze every night

3. BBQ nightly, rarely eat out (accomplished with only 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, and 1 dinner outside of RV grilling!!)

4. Hike daily, or as much as time and baby allowed- which also meant no cities…we only visited small towns and the countryside!

5. Drink great wines and great beers

…and #6 applied to myself only: minimal makeup, comfy clothes only, and minimal hair drying :):)

So here we go, I think New Zealand is best told through pictures so I am going to give you as much eye candy of this country as I can! Enjoy 🙂

Day 1:

We arrived in Auckland around lunchtime, got RV & groceries (our fav spot was Countdown grocers…so similar to the states- LOVED IT!) & drove 1 hr east to the tiny town of Miranda to camp at the Miranda family holiday park. We were so tired from our flight down so we didn’t want to drive too far but wanted to at least get on the road. As you can see, we also didn’t spend any time in Auckland. Anyway, we thought this little town and its 1 and only holiday park was on the water but it wasn’t. It sat across from the marshlands leading up to the water so that was a bummer but honestly the 3 of us were so tired we just wanted to take showers, BBQ some dinner, and enjoy a nice IPA beer and discuss our general idea of where we were going to go next. After dinner and some planning, we passed out! The holiday park was a bit too “commercialized” but hey it was clean and convenient and for day 1 it sufficed this tired and overwhelmed family just fine!

Day 2:

We woke early due to the time change (& because we have a baby!) and after some coffee and a quick breakfast we packed up and hit the wide open road! Such a glorious time with just the clean crisp air, no a/c just open windows and good conversation and amazing scenery. We wanted to check out the Bay of Plenty before heading to Rotorua (our main stop of the north island). Its funny with an RV you have to think a little more about parking and such but no worries, we found a great little spot for lunch in the town of Tauranga. There is an area called “The Strand” that lines a section of the Bay of Plenty with loads of cafe, restaurants, and shops. We chose Brew, craft beer pub (shocker right?! Sidenote: for those of you who don’t know us we love craft brew and never get it in KL so that was a huge plus for us during our time in NZ!). Tauranga, specifically this “Strand” area was pretty, it wasn’t gloriously on this amazing coast like we thought it might be but it was a calm and quiet little bay with a great vibe and awesome food/beer & scenery!

I let David enjoy his beers so I drove after this lunch spot down to Rotorua, where we stayed the night. Rotorua is known as New Zealand’s home of geothermal activity as well as home to 17 lakes and tons of outdoor activities. We couldn’t wait to get started! After arriving into town and looking at the holiday parks to chose from, we stopped in to the ISite, NZ’s version of a visitor center. We wanted to find a park to hook up at but also something more “woodsy” and less busy. We decided on Blue Lake, about 15 drive south of the town center. Wow, we were not disappointed!! What a glorious slice of heaven!!! Fun fact, Blue Lake holds the title of the world’s clearest lake- amazing! We stayed at, wait for it, the Blue Lake Holiday Park! (haha). Situated right at the lake’s edge, it was the only holiday park on the lake and was quiet and serene, just what we wanted. By the time we got ourselves checked in and situated, it was getting close to dinnertime so we just relaxed with Ava in the grass, BBQ’d some burgers, and cracked open some cold IPA beer. Ahh….don’t you feel relaxed already?!

Day 3:

We woke up relaxed and refreshed and ready to tackle something new. We jetted down just another 30 minutes for an experience with their world renowned geothermal center- the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. We arrived in time to see their big geyser erupt (nothing like Old Faithful at Yellowstone but nice nonetheless) and walked around the gorgeous park. Seriously amazing the thermal activity here- such vibrant colors and smells!!

We headed back up to Blue Lake for more fun: made some sandwiches and set out for an afternoon 1.5hr hike all the way around Blue Lake and went to a vista and also saw Green Lake. The hike was about 5.5km, nice and easy with a baby. Blue Lake was actually named for it’s pumice bottom reflecting at the surface and Green Lake for its sandy bottom reflecting. Such a perfect day and it ended with a nice lazy dinner at the campground and some star gazing in the most spectacular sky I have ever seen, seriously, ever. So bright and even the milky way was insanely bright. We just loved it. What a relaxing time “unplugging” from life!

 

Day 4:

We woke up early due to Ava sleeping horribly and decided to get a move on and just started driving south. We needed to get down to Wellington (the southern tip and the country’s capital city) so that we could cross to the south island. We took the quickest way directly down the middle of the island but luckily drove past some beautiful sights. We stopped for lunch at a cute little cafe- The Sugar Bowl, in a small town in Turangi on the east side of Lake Taupo (which is as big as the country of Singapore, no joke). We then drove on towards Wellington with a small stop by the west coast along a nice beach stretch, followed by the craziest drive on the narrowest hillside I have ever seen- seriously I was sweating bullets the entire 15km, down to Wellington. The drive took FOREVER- total 8 hrs including 1.25 break., but luckily Ava slept a ton and was a dream. We were, however, pooped and just stayed at a convenient place by the ferry docks- the Lower Hutt top 10 RV park– where we quickly did laundry, ate and slept…ready to tackle the ferry crossing and the South Island!

Day 5:

We woke up super early to drive to the ferry docks to get in line! So excited for this what will be a fun journey across the Cook’s Straight to head into Marlborough of the South Island! Such great scenery along the way during our 3 hour ferry ride :).

As you can see, the North Island was a quick 4 days for us and I think we wasted a bit of time in the beginning but you know what, that’s what happens when you just go with where the wind takes you. We wish we had more time to see the glory that is the north side of Auckland and wine country down the east coast of the north island as well as a few more spots that looked cool in between, but what we saw was with the time allowed was spectacular and I am so thankful for that!! I wouldn’t change our holiday one bit…..

Until next time, South Island here we come~

Kimbra