On the Road In NZ: March 3-4

Hello from our campervan! We have managed not to kill ourselves (by driving on the wrong side of the road) or to kill each other (by being confined in a very small space together). Our campervan is perfect- it has little mini versions of everything we need!

Tuesday March  3rd  

We left Auckland and drove over to the eastern coast. We stopped for a picnic lunch on the river in Karangahake Gorge and then went for a hike through the remains of the old gold mine.

Our next stop was on the beach in Tauranaga at the base of Mt. Maunganuai.

We camped that night in a beautiful remote DOC campground in Matata. It was on the beach and within a bird sanctuary. We got to go for a walk along the beach at sunset and then fall asleep to the sound of crashing waves.

Wednesday March 4th

In the morning I went for a lovely run through the bird sanctuary in Matata and then we played in the waves in lieu of showering. The ocean is warm!

Then we set off making our first stop at a kiwi plantation. We tried kiwi berries (like a mini kiwi with no fuzzy skin) and golden kiwi puree.

Then we headed inland towards Rotarua where the odor of sulfur was very strong! We did a walk through a redwood grove and then went to Te Puia, run by the Maori, where we got to walk through geothermal fields and see the Pohuta Geyser.

Then we headed south towards Lake Taupo, stopping a free hot spring. It was really neat, the hot stream was flowing into the colder river and the temperature changed with each step we took towards or away from the river.

We camped that night in the tiny village of Kinloch, right on the lake. A really nice local gave us a bunch of corn he had just picked, which we enjoyed for dinner.