Central North Island

Rotorua was good to us - we found a lovely campsite where we had a spot right next to the river and we stayed for nearly a week. Everyday we woke up, looked at the gorgeous view from Jaffa (our van, now so named) and decided to stay for another night. During our week there we went Zorbing (which was hilarious, you get tossed and bounced all over each other) visited Wai-O-Tapu (which was hot, steamy and smelly but amazing to see) went for a long walk in the redwood forest (I chose the 3.5hr trail and I think Isaac had almost forgiven me by the end), fed numerous ducks (but didn't feed many more, as our campsite was rife with them), went kayaking (there were free ones at the campsite) and got splashed by Maori kids jumping in from a bridge, and went out on the town with Ben & Coleanne. An English couple came to stay at the campsite, Nick & Lynn, and we got chatting to them, mainly about fishing because that was Nick's over-riding passion. On Monday we were all leaving, but he was going out on a guided trout fishing tour that morning at 5am and said that if he caught two fish, he'd give one to us. He came back at 9am having caught only the one - but he gave that to us anyway, gawd bless 'im (clearly recognised poor hungry travellers when he saw them). We took it over to the smoker that was round the back on the campsite but couldn't work out what we were supposed to do with it, so we asked the handyman who was always around doing a spot of this or that if he could explain to us how to use it. Well. He took to the job with gusto, chopping wood, filleting our fish for us and showing me how to cover it in salt & sugar, revealing that he had in fact built the smoker himself out of an old fridge; we vowed to do the same when we get back to Canada. Only an hour after the fish had been caught we had some beautiful smoked trout, which we took over to Ben & Coleanne's to share for lunch, along with some of her homemade soup. Quite the most delicious meal we've had out here. Thanks Nick!

We headed to Taupo, where we wanted to go jet boating. We arrived early evening and went to the nearest campsite so we had somewhere to stay; the one we found was alright but uninspiring. We checked out the Rough Guide and it suggested a free campsite which was 3km out of town which we thought we'd have a look at the following day, to see if it was an option. It was amazing, right on the banks of the most incredibly blue - and fast moving - river and, although there were a couple of other vans and tents around, we felt like we had the place pretty much to ourselves - we even had long drop toilets (mmmm) available to us. We ended up staying 2 nights, moving to a more secluded spot the second night, and on the second day we went jet boating with Rapids Jet. The ride was amazing - at first I found the combination of the wind in my face from the ridiculous speeds, the exhilaration and (I'll be honest) the fear, meant I had tears streaming down my face but you quickly got used to the feeling and then it was just fun fun fun!

So now we've decided to head up to the Bay of Islands - via a quick stop at Jude & Glynn's in Auckland, hence the decent internet access for a change* - and tomorrow we're doing an overnight cruise which includes fishing, night kayaking, snorkelling etc., so I suspect we'll be incommunicado for a little while again but will hopefully have lots to tell at next blog. Still not sure what we're doing for Christmas, but Jude & Glynn have offered us a spot on their driveway campsite so we might well take them up on that!

*just to give you an example, the internet costs somewhere in the region of $8 per hour here, and that's when you CAN find somewhere to get online, and when it doesn't kick you off every 2 minutes. Hostels & campsites do not provide free internet as they would do in most other countries these days. Most frustrating, as I'd prefer to blog much more frequently and get a bit more detail in - I always feel like I'm cramming it in when I do get online - but sadly you're just going to have to bear with me on this one...

Activity central

We made it to Waitomo Caves the other day and did the Blackwater Rafting I'd booked as a surprise for Isaac, which was just as good as I hoped. The abseil down was amazing. Floating down a stream on a big rubber tube in pitch darkness save for a million glow-worms was incredible. We even went to the very cave where they filmed the bits on glow-worms on Planet Earth - every Canadian teenage boys' favourite ever programme - Isaac was stoked. We squeezed through small holes in the rocks and tickled an eel. We even had hot ribena and chocolate sitting down there on the rocks. More photos are on Isaac's facebook here.

The next day we headed to Rotorua and met up with Ben, who was our friend and the IT guy at Sunshine, and his girlfriend Coleanne. We went out for Nando's (so happy they have them here - Isaac had never had Nando's before and is now a convert, of course) and the following day they took us Street Luging, which was huge fun even though, as Ben told us, safety is about seventh on their list of priorities. To ably demonstrate the point, on our fourth run of five, Ben managed to burn out his brakes, take a corner way too fast, go wide and bank off-track, then flip himself over, ripping open both elbows and his right knee, as well as his jacket. We'd have felt sorry for the guy but we just couldn't stop laughing...

Gooooood days

The other day we arrived in Raglan, the ultimate NZ surfer town, went to the campsite which is situated on a sandy spit and is reached by footbridge from the town. After a ker-razy night on the town (the Yot Club bar, along with about 4 other people), which did at least result in our finding a rugby ball floating in the harbour, we dragged our sorry arses out of bed the next day and wondered over to the Tongue & Groove cafe for brunch. Isaac had scrambled eggs on toast, I had the most fabulous Caesar salad I've ever had (with little crispy bacon bits and a poached egg on top). Isaac bought me a cushion - a squishy one with an Orla Kiely type design which I love - and we wondered down to the shore to meet with our sea kayaking guide, Steve.

Steve is awesome - he has one of those looks that says he knows something you don't know...and it's goooooood - and we took off in a tandem sea kayak to explore the shoreline and the famous pancake rocks. They're ancient sea bed, made of limestone,
which has weathered and had the softer layers eroded, giving them an amazing, almost unreal effect. We happily pottered in and out of the caves and narrow paths in our kayak - Steve was impressed we did it without arguing once, which apparently most couples do in a tandem - and got ourselves wedged a couple of times. Then we stopped on a beach for freshly-made stove top lattes, danishes, biscuits and fresh pineapple. Yum. I went for a wander in the water and watched as a stingray floated gracefully past me. Great trip and Steve couldn't have been more hospitable or responsive to all our various needs, gawd bless 'im.

Next we popped into the grocery shop in town and found the most amazing bargain - a 10ft telescopic fishing rod AND reel for only $56 - most of the ones we'd looked at started at around $115 - so Isaac was made up. We left town happy and headed south towards our next stop of Kawhia, which took us past the Bridal Veil Falls, so that warranted a stop. Amazing, well worth the effort. Further up the road Isaac achieved a lifelong dream when we rounded a corner to find our way blocked with sheep. Around
600 of them, being herded by 2 dogs and a friendly sort of chap on a quad bike, who was obviously a bit lonely and wanted to chat. Onwards to Kawhia where our hosts at the new campsite, Snow & Bronwyn, were hilarious. He called me honey and they were at each other's throats constantly. Ha ha. The bathroom block at the site was brand new and we were practically the only ones there again, so that was nice. As soon as we arrived, we headed down to Ocean Beach, known for it's thermal springs so around 2 hours either side of low tide you can dig yourself a small pool on the beach and sit in the boiling hot water. We were dubious. When we arrived it was rather windy and cold, and the sea water was damn chilly too - what the hell? We got chatting to an English couple nearby who gave us some tips about how to find the hot stuff and soon we had ourselves a lovely hot pool. Fabulous. We even stopped to chew the fat with some great local Maori boys on our way back, but I'm sure it was Isaac's presence, not mine, that made them so friendly towards us - they recognised a fellow gansta, clearly.

It was nippy and getting late when we were heading back to the campsite so we stopped in town at the only bar/restaurant we could see to see if there was any food available. A small dog, sitting in the middle of the road, took a liking to us and followed us there. They'd closed the kitchen but the two lovely ladies there opened it up again to cook us a bowl of huge green-lipped mussels and delicious chips. We went to bed feeling we'd had a very very good day, all in all.

However, we've saved the best till last. We drove from Kawhia to Otorahanga the next day on the way towards Waitomo Caves, where we are currently (and where we will be blackwater rafting in a few hours - can't wait!) Now, one thing our van lacks is a power cable - when most new flashy campervans pull up to a campsite, they can plug their van into a special box, with a special plug, which gives them mains power. We had bought a heavy duty extension cord and 4 way splitter for this but didn't realised it needed a special, round pinned plug. We've looked and asked everywhere to see if we could buy one but it seems it's a no go, as it has to be specially fitted by experts. So in Otorahanga we were asking around, as usual, without much
hope. A tractor repair shop (it was that kind of town) said if we walked through their workshop and turned right we could find an electrical shop which might be able to help us. We found it and asked and not only did they not look at us blankly like everyone else, they said they had one! Cut a long story short, they took our heavy duty extension cord and replaced the male plug with the kind we need - fully certified and everything. They were so lovely and one of the women in the office even wanted to buy the van from us when we'd finished our trip! Isaac & I can't stop looking at our lovely lovely cable and we feel like proud new parents.

Latest pics here.

On the road at last

So having finally got our van up and running we, well, got up and ran. Mission Bay first, a favourite Aucklander's haunt not far from the city, where we ate ice creams (Hokey Pokey, a NZ special which consists of vanilla ice cream with bits of crunchie in it - very very tasty) and paddled along the very picturesque beach - Isaac had apparently never heard of paddling before. Next we found ourselves heading to the North Shore of Auckland to see John Bedford, a kiwi guy we met at Sunshine Village. John took us to Piha beach on the west coast, a famous surfing haunt. We did the kiwi thing and went into the sea for a swim despite the less-than-inviting temperature of the water - I'm glad I hung back a bit because when John asked Isaac if he'd heard of rugby, Isaac really should have known this was a pre-cursor to being heavily tackled and
taken under. We thought the waves were huge and pretty strong, though John later dismissed them as pussy waves, and when I saw Isaac disappear under them I had a sudden panic that I hadn't told him I loved him before he'd gone in! We had fush and chups on the beach, along with a few beers - yes, even me* - that John had brought. Home to John's where we headed into the hot tub, a bowl of our new favourite Hokey Pokey ice cream, and an early night sleeping in the van parked up in his driveway.

Early the next morning we got up to go and watch the rugby. Now, neither Isaac nor I are interested in team sports, but the chance to watch England vs. All Blacks in a Kiwi house was too good to pass up (the offer of free breakfast helped) and much to our surprise we both really enjoyed the game. Shame England were trounced, but it seemed to keep our hosts happy and I wasn't that bothered so no complaints. Afterwards, armed with plenty of maps and leaflets courtesy of our hosts, we headed to Takapuna, a small town on the east coast north of Auckland. Here we found a lovely campsite, a decent set of shops to explore, a cinema, where we saw Quantum of Solace**, and a very nice Belgian restaurant, where we had Jamaican curry of all things, which was absolutely delicious.

We took our van in the next day to South Auckland to a mechanic who put 2 new tyres on her, changed her oil and filters and adjusted her brakes, pronouncing them 'mint'. Thereafter we began our trip south, properly out of Auckland for the first time, stopping at our current location in Port Waikato, at a campsite which we appear to have to ourselves pretty much. After our walk on the immense sand dune formation nearby this afternoon we arrived back to see one other campervan - another Toyota Hiace - had arrived, which made us a bit cross, but otherwise we have the tv room, the very clean and well equipped kitchen, and the very clean bathrooms to ourselves.

So, to recap, so far sleeping in the van has been going very well indeed. I've slept like a baby every night, Isaac less so but who cares about that? Oops, sorry Pixie. The campsites are nice, friendly and, so far, very clean. And it's lovely to think that we can up sticks and leave for the next place anytime we want. So pretty happy all round with the whole buying a van business.

I'll upload some pics to this post when I have a moment (they're still on my camera which is in the van, I'm in an 'internet room' at the campsite, my laptop is nearly out of battery and I'm paying through the nose for the use of the internet, which is pretty much de rigeur over here it seems). In the meantime did I mention that I saw Christopher Ecclestone in a bookshop in LA while we were there? Thought not, thought I would.

*well I managed half a bottle, which I thought was pretty good for me
**disappointing, mainly because I still have absolutely NO idea what the bleeding hell was happening at any point