Friday – The final drive!

It was a sad morning, the day that had always been so far away had finally arrived…today we had to hand the van back to the rental company!

We had a ‘special’ last breakfast treat of scrambled eggs on English muffins in the van, and then had a quick cleaning blitz.

It was a brighter morning, and as we crossed the harbour bridge into the city centre we had perfect views of the Auckland skyline.

We dropped our bags off at our city centre accommodation and made our final drive to the rental depot at the airport. 

After 95 days and a grand total of 10,124 kms we arrived at our final destination – the Happy Camper depot.  We said a fond farewell to our friend, who has safely transported us the entire length and breadth of New Zealand.  We have some amazing memories that neither of us will forget, and 1000s of pictures and countless videos, for that we say ‘Thank You’!

We got a transfer from the rental company to the airport, and then caught the bus to the city centre.  We checked in to our new accommodation, the City Travellers Hostel, where we have a budget apartment.

We have everything we need in our little apartment, so after a quick shop we are spending the evening on the sofa in front of the television!

Thursday – Takapuna Beach (Auckland), and rained in for the last day in the van!

This morning we awoke to torrential rain pounding on the van roof.  The ground we were parked in was a bog, so we decided to spend the morning in, sorting our stuff and starting to pack up.

After lunch the rain looked as though it was easing slightly so we drove down the peninsula to the holiday village of Devonport, which sits picturesquely across the channel from Auckland city centre.  A place with an impressive collection of Victorian style buildings, it is styled on the big British holiday towns like Blackpool and Brighton.

As you can imagine we have accumulated quite a bit of stuff over the past 95 days spent in the van, so the bits that are no longer needed were given to a Church Charity shop today.

We then went for a walk along the coast, trying to catch a glimpse of the Auckland City skyline across the channel, we were not very successful though as the mist was thick.

We drove up to North Head, a former Maori Pa, and more recently used as a Navy fortification. 

Now retired from use we were able to explore the gun embankments and tunnels. 

The impressive set of fortifications were constructed in the late 19th century, in response to the Russian threat of invasion.  They were then expanded during the two World Wars.

As we climbed to the summit we finally got a better view of the Auckland skyline.

We drove back to the campsite for our final night in the van, eating our last dinner and then heading out to a couple of bars to toast our 95 days spent in the van!

Wednesday – Taupo to Takapuna Beach (Auckland)…not before seeing the Waikato River from a different viewpoint!

This morning we decided to stop off at the Waikato River before leaving Taupo, as it was such a beautiful river we had decided to see it from a different viewpoint one last time.

This however involved free falling 47 metres above the crystal clear waters, and letting nothing but an elastic cord prevent us from going in…yes folks, you guessed it…WE DID A BUNGY JUMP!!! 

We have been considering this for awhile now, but have not mentioned it as we are tightly tied to a ‘secrets act’ by our mothers…any planned dangerous adventure sports have to be disclosed after the event once over, and we have both survived unscathed!

It took a lot of deliberation on Nicola’s part, but how could she refuse when Ben offered to be by her side…through the whole event – a TANDEM BUNGY!!!

We signed up, and went out onto the cantilever platform, which extended out above the river.  As we looked over the side the waters below seemed a long way down, but were a beautiful colour!

We had our feet strapped into braces, connected by an adjoining strap, which the bungy cord was then attached to.  It was a nerve wracking couple of minutes sat out there, but then we were ready to go!  All cross checks were done and we edged towards the side and after smiling for the camera we left the platform…express route down!

The sensation was like no other, a complete feeling of weightlessness, and that the ground was growing ever nearer - scary.  Can you spot the small boat that rescued us in the distance?

We fell at approx 60kph and when the bungy cord stopped us from going no more we were suddenly flying back up towards the platform again!  It was only after the first bounce that Nicola realised she had been screaming at the top of her voice…poor Ben!

 

After the 3rd or 4th bounce we were close to the boat and reached out to grab the stick that we had been instructed to seek.

Hallelujah, we were in the boat and not dangling upside down anymore…and the first conversation with the crew was about Ben’s football shirt and the England match last night!

As we walked up the slope back to the office we talked through what we had just done – phew, what an experience!

We obviously bought the photos and dvd, how can you not after just living through that?!  So, below is a link to the video that we have uploaded to YouTube – enjoy, and try not to laugh too hard at Nicola’s embarrassing screams…in her defence she didn’t even realise she was doing it!

Next we jumped in the van and drove north towards Auckland.  We stopped for a picture break in Tokoroa, an unknown town in the plains, apparently famous for it’s timber trade, as these giant timber statues show.

We then blasted up the highway, arriving at Takapuna Beach on Auckland’s north shore at 3 just gone.  We checked into the Takapuna Beach Holiday Park and parked up on our site overlooking the beach and Rangitoto Island, it is a beautiful spot.

We are here for 2 nights, seeing the north shore and sorting the van out before we return it to the rental depot on Friday.

Tuesday – Taupo…busy doing nothing!

Yes folks, you guessed it, we awoke to the sound of rain…and wet feet!  Our roof leaks when we have a heavy downpour and this morning it had dripped through onto the bottom of the bed…oh well, only 3 more nights in the van.

As we had seen the sights of Taupo on a previous visit, and had nothing planned for this visit except a long walk, our options were suddenly cut with the monotony of the rain.  We instead opted for a day reading and researching Hawaii in the van.

Thinking warm and sunny thoughts must have been a positive thing, as the rain finally stopped after 36 hours around noon today!  We however, were quite carried away with Hawaii, and with great enthusiasm have carried on planning…remaining, like two hobbits in the van for the day.  As we have a long drive to Auckland tomorrow we figure we should relax while we can.

As we have no pictures of our exciting day today, we have added a couple of the ‘official’ zorbing photos from a couple of weeks ago, enjoy!

Monday – Whakapapa to Taupo, back to the Great Lake! And 24 hours in the rain!

Last night as we drifted off to sleep it had started raining – hard…and when we awoke this morning it had not relented. 

We left the campsite in miserable weather, and as we headed down out of the mountains the rain marginally improved…by this we mean it was not as hard!

We arrived in Taupo at lunch time, a return to the Great Lake as we had already visited here with Tracy several weeks ago.  We checked in to our campsite, the All Seasons Holiday Park and wandered into town (in the rain) to watch a movie at the local cinema…it was all we could think to do in such dire weather. 

The movie in question was The Expendables, a 80s style action flick with several big name action stars, who if you ask us have had one too many dates with an unknown Hollywood surgeon!

After the film we walked back to the campsite and spent the afternoon planning our next destination after Fiji…Hawaii, lets just say planning a warmer weather leg of the trip made us momentarily forget about the rain pounding on the roof!

And yes, those are our wet rain coats hung in the background of this photo, the van suddenly becomes a lot smaller in wet weather!

Fingers crossed it will stop soon, as of bed time though it had not given up.

Sunday – Whakapapa, exploring the alpine environment!

Today we decided to have a day out walking.  The weather was not great, the clouds had dropped and there was an occasional spell of misty rain, but nothing was going to stop us!

We started on the Silica Rapids trail, a 2 hour, 7km hike through alpine forest alongside a beautiful stream. 

We arrived at the Silica Rapids, named for the silica mineral deposits formed here by the rapids on the Waikare Stream.  The rocks that the water flowed over were a bright orange colour.

After a quick stop at the campsite to have some lunch we started our 2nd walk of the day – Taranaki Falls loop track, a 2 hour, 6km hike.  On arrival at the falls we sat and watched as the water plummeted 20 metres (66ft) down a major lava flow.

The rest of the walk was through barren open country where lava had once flowed from previous eruptions.

Saturday – Napier to Whakapapa and the central plateau

As we left the coast this morning it was wall to wall sunshine and blue skies, we had finally converted to short sleeve tee-shirts and flip flops!  It was hard to believe therefore the ‘winter driving conditions’ warning on highway 5 as we headed inland.

The last time we had taken this route was when Tracy was with us, and the weather was awful, today it couldn’t be any more different from then.  We stopped at a scenic lookout to take in the powerful beauty of Waipunga Falls.

Rather than going into Taupo town centre we headed south on highway 1, and hugged the lake edge, admiring the stunning views down to Tongariro National Park.  (Tracy – this is what the view of the Lake Taupo is like on a clear day!!)

Tongariro National Park is home to 3 active volcanoes, which you can see in the photo above.  From left to right; Mount Tongariro (1967m), a multi vent volcano, Mount Ngauruhoe (2287m), a conical, single vent volcano, and Mount Ruapehu (2797m) the multi vent volcano is the tallest and most active, with it’s last eruption in 2007.

We stopped at a scenic lookout above Lake Taupo for lunch, and took in the stunning views.

We then entered Tongariro National Park, and drove up to Whakapapa Village, a small alpine ski village nestled high in the park.  As we neared the small village it was clear they had just had a fresh helping of snow…a challenge when parking the van in our campsite! 

We have been lucky enough to snag a spot with the best view, overlooking the stream below and Mount Ruapehu above!

We headed straight out on foot to take in the views before the clouds moved in, and the winter woollies were back out of storage!  The iconic Bayview Chateau Tongariro stood majestically in front of Mount Ruapehu whilst we posed for photos.

We played around in the snow on the golf course, however, we cannot lay claim to having rolled the beauties below!

Back at the campsite we sat in the van admiring our view, and watching the sun go down on Mount Ruapehu. 

We then read the ‘warning’ brochure in the camp kitchen; we are now fully clued up on what to do if there is a lava flow, volcanic eruption, earthquake, cyclone and/or bombing!  Phew, what a dangerous country we all of a sudden appear to be in…luckily we left Christchurch when we did!!

Oh, and Nicola did the blog…