Te Whakarewarewatanga O Te Ope Taua A Wahiao

Sunday we awoke to a very rainy and windy Rotorua, we also could not figure out how we had slept for a solid 10 hours! It wasn’t until later in the day that we realised the clocks had gone forward and spring had officially arrived in New Zealand (although I think somebody had forgot to inform the weather).

Bubbling mud pool 

And so we set out to Whakarewarewa. I did not know what to expect from a living thermal village or even what one was. Whakarewarewa or to give it is full name Te Whakarewarewatanga O Te Ope Taua A Wahiao (no matter how often they said it, I still couldn’t pronounce it!) is home to the people of Tuhourangi Ngati Wahiao and they welcomed us to their village with a Haka (a war dance), waiata a Ringa (song with accompanying actions) and the ever entertaining poi dance.

We both thoroughly enjoyed our welcome to the town with Matt even saying that it was the best thing we have done in New Zealand so far and as New Zealand is a geological wonderland that is saying something!

One of the many bubbling pools

Following our welcome we were taken on a tour of the village by a very knowledgeable village resident. The families in the village all use the natural geothermal resources as part of their everyday lives, from the area to live, their houses being built directly on top of the area heating up their homes a treat. Our guide also showed us how he cooks his tea placing the food in a Hangi- a wooden box built to cook food via steam, much like a steamer at home except using the natural land rather than electricity. He simply prepares his food in the morning, warps it in tin foil and places it in the box. When he arrives home at night the food is ready for him. Other food is dipped into the lake which at 50* above boiling point cooks the food quickly and efficiently.

Meeting hall

Another highlight of the tour were the geysers, erupting water 10-14 meters into the air in a splendid fashion. Although by now we were rather soggy from the rain the steam off the water kept us nice and warm and you could still appreciate the sheer force of nature. 

Luckily the weather improved dramatically and we were able to enjoy this sun set from our camper on our penultimate night in the van! 

Wonderful Wellington

It may be windy but 'Welly' is also wonderful.

Wellington has to be our favourite place so far in New Zealand, that might have something to do with our brilliant hosts but it is a great city and deserves far more than the two days that we stayed there.

We were graciously invited to stay with some family friends while we were in the Wellington area, of course we jumped at the chance not to be in the van for a couple of nights. From the moment we stepped through the door we had a hoot (and an amazing view when it was not cloudy) Amanda, Lawrie and the rest of the family (ill teenagers, mad cats and all) made us very welcome.

Cat 1 performing tricks for Aimee

Wellington harbour when the clouds broke

We had a fun day wondering around Wellington checking out some of the museums (colossal squid in a tank - worth the trip on its own) and soaking up the welly vibe. There were loads of great restaurants and it would have taken us several days to see everything we wanted to, we didn't even make it to the planetarium.

After a second wonderful nights sleep (and some delicious scrambled eggs) we did manage to squeeze in a trip to the Wellington zoo. It may be smaller then some of the zoos we have been to (the marathon San Diego zoo comes to mind) but the all of the creatures were in great surroundings and the talks by the keepers were really informative.

Pretty birdies

Cheeky Red Panda

Chimps are always cheeky

Lazy Sun bear

Monkey like monkey peach - also know as kiwifruit

We managed to get only a taste of Wellington but anybody heading to New Zealand should brave the changeable weather and spend a bit more time here because this has been one of our favourite cities of our trip so far.

Who is that?

Who is this? Nobody knows!

Before leaving Gisborne we had a sweaty stroll up Titirangi to Cook's Plaza to get some great views over the bay and soak up the history. In the plaza stands this statue, it was supposed to be Captain Cook but it doesn't look anything like him and the uniform is all wrong so nobody knows who it really is, brilliant.


We jumped back in the van and headed along the coast to Napier. We enjoyed a walk around the town checking out the Art Deco architecture and enjoying a bit of swing courtesy of a free open air concert near the beach. Napier was a brilliant town that we wish we had spent more time in, on the day we visited as well as the concert there was a classic car rally and hoards of rugby fans in town.

Open air swing classics

Napier was rebuilt after a big earthquake and has some really nice architecture

The locals schools had knitted some nice wooly scarfs for the trees on the high street

We meet our old Australian friends again when we arrived at the camp site but they were not their usual selves after the Ireland vs Auz game.


The next morning we grabbed an early breakfast and popped into visit the National Aquarium of New Zealand. This was a really fun morning, we got to enjoy time with my favourite sea turtles and also check out a Kiwi. The Kiwi was amazing it was the size of a football and had a distinctive loping walk, it was like looking into the distant past.

Who can say no to a good coral reef

Pretty - but a pest in New Zealand

Happy Anniversary!

Matt and I celebrated our 1-year wedding anniversary on September 17^th (Thank you for all your messages and E cards!) so to celebrate, on the 16^th we started the day in a very sunny Ohope beach where the campsite was right on the sand dunes at the edge of the beach.  

We then travelled along the East Cape of NZ stopping of at Opotiki, a comparatively larger town with lots of interesting new age shops. As if spending our anniversary in NZ wasn’t enough, Matt had booked us into two fantastic places to stay for the next two nights. The first being the gorgeous Tui Lodge. To say that the lodge is gorgeous is actually an understatement; this house is in some of the most picturesque surroundings I have ever seen.  Looking out from the lounge we had a fantastic view of not only the perfect garden but also White Island, New Zealand’s most active volcano, which was steaming away nicely.

Our hosts at Tui Lodge were the fantastic Joyce and Rex, two of the loveliest people we have met in New Zealand. We could have chatted with them all day and they made us feel so welcome, providing us with cups of tea and cake as we set foot through the door.

Other than Nelson the cat and the dogs we were the only people staying at the lodge that night, it was great to watch the rugby (All blacks v Japan) match in front of the roaring wood fire at the end of a fantastic day.

The next day began with a fantastic breakfast and then we were on the road, heading towards Gisbourne. On the way we stopped off at Tolga Bay, where we walked along the longest Warf in the Southern Hemisphere, and met a group of kids fishing for their tea (very successfully so, too!) at the end of it.

Actual one-legged seagull. 

A familiar face!

We then carried on to Gisborne and our accommodation for the evening- Te Kura B&B, a 1920’s riverside home.  As we approached the driveway we were sure we were in the wrong place, this house was too beautiful, with its stained glass windows and magnolia tree, the camper definitely looked out of place! We got to play lord of the manor with our very own corridor in the house including a claw-foot bath.  Our host Paul was again great and hospitable suggesting some restaurants in the town for our anniversary meal (it was their anniversary as well!). 

Lord of the Manor

Thai dinner

Before we left for the next part of our trip down to Napier there was just time for breakfast. As Paul was originally from Sheffield he knew how to make a proper cup of tea and a fantastic cooked breakfast.

A great way to celebrate our first year of Marriage. It was fun to think about the things we were doing this time last year, surrounded by all our friends and family. I wonder how Matt will top this next year??

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY also to Janet and John and Paul & Bronwyn!  

Mount Maunganui

Ok, so my navigation skills might not match those of Christopher Columbus but lets not forget the age old adage its not the destination but the journey! So moving swiftly along the next day we visited Mount Maunganui, an extinct volcano in the town of the same name in the Bay of Plenty. It was the windiest and wettest day yet in NZ for us so we only managed to complete the base track, but this was a really interesting walk that took us through an amazing shell beach where we saw some seals, somehow, relaxing on a nearby rock. 

And I can not believe it has taken us this long, but our ovine friends have finally made it onto the blog!

Shhhh... Dont wake the baby!

We ended the day at a lovely little restaurant called Bluebiyou which was right on the Papamoa beachfront. We had a great time talking to people who had gathered for the impending rugby matches in front of the roaring wood fire followed by a delicious meal. 


Next was Ohope beach but this time my map was ready! 

Where are we going again?

I thought that I would use the age old literary device of a cliff hanger to build the tension.

So after a lazy lunch on 13th September we headed out for Papamoa on the Bay of Plenty, looking at the map I had guessed it was about 2-3 hours. Aimee programmed the sat nav and off we set, still relaxed from our foot spa.

After about 2.5 hours drive time, about 5.15pm we arrived at a large supermarket and stopped to buy our tea, we grabbed some crusty bread, cheese and veg to make a tomato sauce. I was guessing that we were near to our destination now as I had started to see signs for things we would be doing the next day.

Back on the road sat nav guiding us we carried on enjoying the drive as we went up and down mountains getting more and more remote, all the time the sat nav giving us directions. Something should really have clicked when we started to go over the second mountain but it wasn't until we saw the welcome to Rotorua sign that we clocked we might be going the wrong way. We pulled over and checked where the sat nav was actually taking us.

Rotorua town centre! How did that get in there?

After putting the correct directions in we realised that we about 5 minutes away from the camp site when we left the super market. We were now an hour away from our destination, the time was 6.45 and the site doors shut at 8.

There was much less singing and joking on the trip back over the mountains, each bend that had seemed so fun on the way out now felt like a deliberate attempt to slow us down.

We made it by 7.50 and were greeted by two very friendly reception staff who played us Stevie Wonder I just called to say I love you and made me sing the chorus back to Aimee (and gave us two of the most delicious golden kiwifruit).

No harm no foul but from now on I will be checking the sign posts as we go, just in case.

A beautifully constructed hot water foot spa

With an overnight stop off in Orewa again to breakup the journey we moved onto the Coromandel peninsular for a few days. Our first stop was a beautiful walk down to (and backup from) Cathedral Cove which has been sculpted by the unforgiving waves. The huge stone arch has been roped off (it seems to be finally giving into the elements) so we could not venture far along the beach or see the blow holes but it was still very pretty.

Part of the amazing water carved cove

The waves are this big

Our over night stay was at Hot Water Beach Top 10 park and again it did not disappoint, the facilities were very new and there was a really nice communal lounge/eating area where we got chatting to a few of the other campers. It was rather difficult not to as a gregarious Australian guy with his son in tow made himself the host introducing everyone to each other. We had a fun evening trying to chat to people from all over the world (although mainly France and Germany). Who knew that car insurance was so cheap in Australia?

The morning of the 13th we made an early start to beat the tide (and the crowds) to the highlight of New Zealand so far, the hot water at the beach. After a few minutes poking around trying to work out what to do we located our own area of hot sand and started to dig with everyone else (there were about 20 of us at this time). At a few points half way along Hot Water Beach (only accessible near low tide) hot water warmed by the volcanism in the area bubbles to the surface. We quickly found that the temperature of the water varied over a very small area, within 6 inches it could go from boiling to freezing. Being my geeky self I realised that the nice temperature areas ran in a band down the beach so dug a long trench with a pool at the end rather than a wide pool like everyone else, once I had finished building the walls we had our very own perfectly constructed hot water foot spa where we lounged for the next few hours until the beach got too crowded.

Me digging with a saucepan

Aimee enjoying my creation - note the large retaining wall

Is Aimee smiling because of the hot water or the view?

Relaxed like only a free, all natural, foot spa can make you we stopped at the Hot Water Beach cafe and had a delicious platter of fresh bread, hummus, salmon and other such goodies and read magazines. Now totally chilled out we departed on the short two and a half hour drive to Papamoa beach, but how long would it take us to get there…

Top 10 camping

Our cosy van

Since leaving Auckland we have been spending the night in Top 10 holiday camps in our funky van. So far the sites have ranged from good to great and we have not had any problems with dirty bathrooms or noisy neighbours. The camp sites have been so good that we have been using the communal kitchens to cook most of our meals.

September 10th we spent our last day in the far north exploring the beaches around Doubtless Bay, even with the occasional gust of wind we had a great time peering into the rock pools and looking at the amazing shells. We also treated ourselves to a meal out at a Thai restaurant that served one of the best Thai salads I have ever eaten (the brilliantly name Pattaya.

Can you spot the duelling hermit crabs

Tropical but chilly

I guess I used all of my good luck on the Thai salad as that night we were treated to something of stormy night, the flat metal roof of our van acts as a beautiful natural amplifier for each rain drop giving us a free steel band concert (although we were warm and dry). The wet weather came and went over then next day and we were able to glimpse some of the beauty of the rugged, west coast. The weather held out just long enough for us to visit some of the largest Kauri trees in New Zealand nestled in some very dramatic fern jungle. As we passed through the small towns we both thought that it would make a nice place to spend a few more days but we had an appointment further south.

Some of the Kauri trees are huge and can be thousands of years old

Mossy stuff

Read this and thought of you

I just read this article on the lonely planet blog and thought that I couldn't have put it better myself.

We are finding everywhere we go that there are people just like us that want to have a chat and get to know a new face.

New Zealand Food

New Zealand food stream on Flickr.

Edit: Food photos should be working again now