We had a big disaster with rental agency!
So imagine the little f***k-up situation we had with renting the campervan:
We placed an order online, got a confirmation email about the booking and after the last windsurf lesson we took (ridiculously expensive) taxi ride to the other side of Auckland to collect the van. Once we arrived we learnt that there is no van waiting for us! What??? We just paid 75NZD (40GBP) for taxi and we were told to come back the next day. And then like a little angel a woman from the garage offers us to stay overnight at her place nearby. She says: "If you don't mind that my partner is a woman then you can stay at my place". Cool, eh?
We placed an order online, got a confirmation email about the booking and after the last windsurf lesson we took (ridiculously expensive) taxi ride to the other side of Auckland to collect the van. Once we arrived we learnt that there is no van waiting for us! What??? We just paid 75NZD (40GBP) for taxi and we were told to come back the next day. And then like a little angel a woman from the garage offers us to stay overnight at her place nearby. She says: "If you don't mind that my partner is a woman then you can stay at my place". Cool, eh?
And this way we ended up at South-African and Kiwi lesbian couple house. The girls were very nice and made us feel like at home. We got pyjamas, bathrobe and even sleepers! They fed us and refused to pay back for the dinner...that is what we call amazing hospitality, especially to strangers like us ;)
We again had conversations about South-Africa and their political system, Mandela and apartheid. White SA are often living their terror life and fight with attacks.
Once we got our campervan we hit the road. The plan was easy follow the road to the north and stop at pretty beaches to chill.
We were driving from Auckland to the top of the north (Cape Reinga) and back down. There are twin coast discovery roads but we mostly went through the east one. Overall the destinations we visited:
Mangawhai - beautiful beach popular with the surfers, Francois joins them for a swim.
Waipu and Waipu cove beaches - very beautiful beaches next to each other.
Whangarai town is dead at night, so our night out plans died and we decide to go back to our previously found spot for wild camping and watch a movie.
Abbey caves - hidden in a native bush and surrounded by limestone boulders and outcrops. The undeveloped for tourist caves: Organ, Middle, with river streams running through them. It was very dark inside and we needed light but only got an iPhone! Glamorous XXI century ;)
There were supposed to be glow worms but somehow nothing was glowing when we were there, to our disappointment!
Whangarei Falls - used to be popular with locals to spend the day. We admire the falls of 63m and move on to continue the road.
Matapouri - a small town with dive departures to Poor Knights Island. And to our big sorrows we had to forget about diving due to sky high price. They asked for 250NZD (125GBP) for 2 dives and quite frankly we think it is a robbery!
The islands were named (according to the legend) based on their look from a distant ship. A sailor captain said they remind him a medieval pudding the poor knights used to have: pieces of bread bathed in eggs with red marmalade on top. Seriously... That's a bit too much for our imagination but maybe in XVIII century after sailing from England to NZ ones imagination increases ;)
Karikari Peninsula - weirdly shaped peninsula with beaches on the north, south, east and west. Depends were the wind comes from one can choose spot to custom its needs, including preferences for sun-rise or sun-set.
We had an odd swim in cold but beautiful sea. We didn't know the water temperature but we hoped that after a few strokes we will feel warm up, well we didn't.
We chat with a German kite surfers met on the beach. Both were instructors and offered us a quick lesson, unfortunately they eventually didn't because the wind wasn't too strong.
Karikari península lunch break
The Far North - sounds a bit remote? Well, it is!
Cape Reinga is a mystical place for Mauri people. Its the most northern point of NZ where the spirit departure back to its origin island mystical Hawaiki.
The view is breathtaking, feels like the end of the world...or should we say the bottom of the up-side-down of the world!Cheeky camping on camp ground and not paying :)
No one person on the beach...
Here meet the two fairly different waters: Tasman sea from west that is stormy with big waves with calm waters of Pacific ocean. The merge of those two causes some turbulent water with waves up to 10 meters high.
90 miles beach and Te Paki giant sandy dunes - quite famous 90 miles beach is actually only 88 km long! Looks quite spectacular the endless sand beach.
We had a go on the sand dunes that were just enormous!
Some people were sand-boarding but we didn't rent the boards from the town ;(
We had a go on the sand dunes that were just enormous!
Some people were sand-boarding but we didn't rent the boards from the town ;(
We did our little / big drawing.... see th photo !
This was pretty much the last stop on the north of the north... we move on to the middle of north island. As any lower than that would be bloody freezing at nights in a campervan!
We must admit that the Far North is full of beautiful beaches and after 4 days there we headed to lower part of the island. On our way south is Hamilton where lives an old mate from Weronika's previous job, a kiwi called Jared. We stop on the way to say hello, we have a great time catching up after about 7 years of no seeing each other.
Moreover, we both had great idea to have shower at his place, as trust us, living in a campervan and sleeping in a wild means shower is a luxury ;)
Moreover, we both had great idea to have shower at his place, as trust us, living in a campervan and sleeping in a wild means shower is a luxury ;)