New Zealand: Campervan - Taupo/New Plymouth

Our campervan
see all photos »

After staying the night in Auckland we were picked up from the Hostel by 'Explore More' who we were hiring a campervan off for the next 38 days! We picked up the van successfully which is a Toyota Hiace Hi-top (much bigger than the Spaceship that we hired in Australia) and navigated our way out of Auckland to head south to Taupo.

Taupo

We arrived at the 'All Seasons Holiday Park' in the mid afternoon and sorted out the van before cooking dinner and relaxing after the drive. The next day we took a walk along the east bank of the Waikato River towards 'Huka Falls' which is apparently the most photographed natural attraction in New Zealand. The falls were really impressive though and the water was travelling so fast. We found a good spot and had lunch beside the falls before taking loads of photo's and walking the route which was very hilly back along the river. We have apparently got used to walking too as we did the route (average predicted time 50mins) in 25 minutes! That afternoon we drove to Taupo centre and parked by the lake looking at the view. The lake itself is massive and you have to remember that you aren't looking out to sea (it really is that big!)

The Waikato River
see all photos »

The next day we drove around the northern edge of the lake to Acacia Bay which had a nice beach and lots of Ducks so Teresa obviously had to go and feed them! We then headed north of Taupo to the Aratiatia Dam and rapids which is the location of a hydro-electric power station. The floodgates are opened every 2hrs which we were told would send loads of water flowing down the river into the Waikato below. We found a good location at a view point and waited for the gates to be opened. When they were opened the amount of water that was released was huge. As you can see from the pictures the before and after shots of the rapids are very different. In the afternoon we headed to the Honey Hive which is a place where funnily enough - they make honey! There were loads of Bees (who would have thought it?) and we were able to see right inside the hives. We then headed back towards Taupo and stopped off at Huka Falls on the way to have another look before going back to the campsite.

Huka Falls
see all photos »

New Plymouth

After leaving Taupo we drove to New Plymouth in the Taranaki region in the western part of New Zealand. The drive took about 5.5hrs and was mainly due to us having to drive along the 'Forgotten Highway' for most of the way. Before starting the Forgotten Highway we passed a sign saying 'No petrol for 150km' which gave us an inkling of what was to come. The road was so hilly and windy and we averaged about 50km/h for most of the journey which included single track roads, rocks in the way from landslides and passing through a mud tunnel more suited to a coal mine before driving on 15km of unsealed road which was pretty much a dust track. We stopped off for lunch outside of New Zealand in the Republic of Whangamomona (a republic because it fell out with local councils and declared independence!) After what seemed like ages we saw our first glimpse of Mt. Taranaki and knew we were nearly there. We arrived at 'Belt Road Holiday Park' and were directed to our site which is situated right on the coast and we have an amazing view out to sea. As it was Valentines Day we treated ourselves to a Chinese Takeaway and sat beside our van looking out to sea to eat it while having a drink from our essential piece of backpacker kit....goon (a wine box)!

Huka Falls
see all photos »

The next day we drove to Pukekura Park which got voted as the 'Mayfair' on the New Zealand version of Monopoly and the park itself was really picturesque. We had intended to have a row on the lake but as it was a Sunday the boats were not running. In the afternoon we had a drive to a beach which was really nice and had black sand (as do a lot of New Zealand beaches due to all the volcanic activity).

We had intended to climb Paritutu Rock which apparently has amazing views but Mt. Taranaki had been hidden by cloud for the whole day so instead we headed back to the campsite and made some dinner. After dinner just as the sun was beginning to set we saw that the cloud had cleared and quickly chucked everything in the van and headed to Paritutu Rock. The climb up the rock was described in the Lonely Planet as a 'scramble' and this proved to be true as there was no real path and we had to use our hands to pull ourselves up part of the way. Once at the top we had fantastic views out to sea of the Sugar Loaf Islands, Mt. Taranaki and along the coast towards our campsite. The climb was hard but was well worth it. When we got back to the campsite the tide was out so we had an explore of the rockpools as the sun went down. After making our way back to the van we made a well needed mug of Hot Chocolate before going to bed (how old do we sound!)

Acacia Bay
see all photos »

The next day we had a sorting day and made some more campsite booking as well as doing the ever so fun job of laundry!

We next head to Wanganui for a night before heading to Wellington to pick up our passports before heading over to the South Island for 4 weeks.

Until then,

Barney and Teresa x