Travels in a campervan

We had another long drive today, to Rotorua. I had marked a couple of places in Lonely Planet in the city centre.

First we went to Kuirau Park,  which is a park for the towns people to have picnics and play games etc, but it has lots of thermal pools and hot springs just dotted about. Mostly there were just native plants but some of it was town park planted with begonias etc. Unfortunately it was drizzling but we put macs on and walked round. Then we went into the city, round by Lake Rotorua, and after a coffee, walked to the very smart Government Gardens via a sculpture trail.

Rotorua was very much more sophisticated and elegant that I expected, but with steam rising from around random corners. Great fun. It cleared up a bit, it stopped actually raining, but remained overcast.

We found a fabulous campsite on Lake Rotorua,  our pitch backed onto the lake and we sat with the tailgate up, looking at the water and birdlife. I finally identified New Zealand scaup  which I had seen before, but not so closely. I have a check list of New Zealand birds that I picked up when we went on the Albatross Encounter and I have been thrilled at how many I been able to tick off.

Early this morning a flat bed truck turned up with a campervan on the back. It went round to another area where people were camping, then it reappeared and went into the overflow carpark. We thought this was rather strange so went to investigate. Apparently someone's hire van had broken down and this was the replacement. Unfortunately the tilt bed on the truck has also broken and they were trying to work out how to get the replacement camper off the truck and the broken one on it. Here's a picture of how you do it!

As we now have such nice weather we decided to try again to do the drive round the Tongariro Trio of volcanoes, Mt Ruapahe, Mt Tongariro and Mt Ngauruhoe. The drive from Waikite to Tongariro was odd, as we seemed to get ourselves into a Bermuda triangle in all 3 of the map/satnav apps that Andrew has. We drove past a sign that said Effluent Equipment Farm, which I thought was odd, how can you farm Effluent equipment? Then we went over a pot hole area, which is very unusual in New Zealand. We kept turning left and we passed the sign again. Then the pothole area, and Andrew mentioned that there were more potholes, and I said I thought it was the same one. That was Google maps, which had taken us round in a circle, then Maps.me couldn’t work out where we were at all, and finally Osmand, which just kept repeating the same illogical instruction in a hysterical fashion.

Eventually, we escaped and came to the road that circled the 3 volcanoes. As we had driven the temperature had plummeted and the sky darkened. The weather was better than it had been but was still very overcast here. So we weren’t able to see the volcanoes without clouds covering the top.

We went for a good climb to see a waterfall, with a board walk over a marshy area, which was very similar to a walk we had done on the southern tip of Tasmania. We camped back at Mangahuia Campground in the same spot as a few days ago. It wasn’t raining this time, although it was quite chilly.

24 February

The weather wasn’t brilliant this morning but was brighter than yesterday. So we drove to Orakei Korako, which was strongly recommended by Lonely Planet. From the visitors centre we took a boat across the river to a thermal landscape. There was a 2.5km board walk that took in thermal pools, bubbling boiling water, calcified terraces, boiling mud and geysers. It was fascinating,  I’ve never seen anything like it. We took short videos mostly as photos don’t really give the best idea.

After this we came to Waikite Valley Hotpools, where Andrew had booked a site for the night. As part of the price of the site we had free entry into the pool complex. First I did an eco walk, up to where the hot springs bubbled up, at 99°, with information boards, and then I spent about an hour in the hot pools. They were carefully regulated as to temperature. I had a wonderful time. This is the first time this holiday my swimming costume has come out. They drain the pools every evening and refill them in the morning so it is much more hygienic than some. Sadly Andrew didn’t join me. The pools range from 30° to 41° so he can’t claim they weren’t warm enough.

25 February
I have no mobile signal here, but Andrew has full strength,  so to do anything on my phone or tablet I have to use Andrew’s hot spot. I got up about 6 and had no signal. It wasn’t until about 7.30 when Andrew put his phone on to charge that my phone began beeping to alert me to messages from Hannah. She had desperately been trying to get hold of us to tell us some good news. She has a 2 week paid work experience job in the Easter holidays, making weapons and armour for an upcoming Netflix series. She is over the moon. About 20 students on her course sent in video CVs and only 3 were chosen.
 
I couldn’t get Andrew to come in the pools yesterday afternoon, but this morning I gave him a hard time, telling him he couldn’t come and stay at a hot spring resort in New Zealand and not try them out. Ten minutes after sitting in the Garden pool, which looks out over the lush valley with wisps of rising steam Andrew asked if I would like to stay here another day! So we had a very indulgent day, in and out of the pools, having coffee and then lunch at the cafe. The forecast had been rain nearly all day but in fact it was sunny, even when there was a lot of cloud the sun found its way through. When I wasn’t in the pools I sat outside and read a book.

We drove to Dawsons Falls visitors centre at the foot of Mt Taranaki. Unfortunately the visitors centre was only open Thursday to Sunday so we didn’t get to see the history of the volcano. We didn’t get to see the volcano either, as it was wreathed in clouds!

We did go for a couple of good walks. First we did Wilkie’s Pools Loop which was a well laid path with rubber grip underfoot. It wound through moss and lichen covered vegetation, so spooky that they are known as goblin trees. At the pool a group of schoolchildren had just finished having a swim. We continued on and the terrain changed remarkably, with very steep rickety steps, and then rocks. We had to step across a small waterfall, getting rather wet, and then we had to clamber across a river. There was an older lady, and possibly her husband, although he seemed younger,  very nervous about crossing. She had two Alpine type sticks and sandals on. Andrew forged ahead and found a route, and I followed, balancing on boulders. He asked the couple if they wanted help but they said no.

Back at the carpark we had lunch and then did a walk to see Dawsons Falls, an 18m drop, although the steps to the bottom were being refurbished so we couldn’t go down. On the way round we met the couple again, so she had obviously managed to get across and was game for more.

We chose a caravan park, although it is more of a farm stay, for the night, which boasted a view of  Mt Taranaki.  As I sit typing this the clouds are dispersing so perhaps we will be able to see it before dark.

I wanted to go to Zealandia before we left Wellington. Zealandia is a wildlife sanctuary full of native birds in a predator proof area. We were advised to have a guided tour as we would then have the birds pointed out to us. We were unlikely to spot them by ourselves. However, there was no availability for the tours today, and Andrew felt we had spent quite enough time around Wellington and wanted to get moving.
 
It is difficult to work out an itinerary because at the moment Napier, on the west coast, has been completely cut off from the neighbouring areas due to floods caused by the recent cyclone. So we will go north east to Mount Taranaki, which is a volcano, and then in towards the centre to Rotorua. After that we can see how the west coast is faring.
 
We drove up the coast, taking the windiest, most interesting route we could find, and found ourselves on a road high above the sea. We stopped at a lookout and the first thing I noticed when we got out of the van was the most marvellous smell, of herbs, like a combination of thyme and curry plant. I could see lots of a likely looking plant, but I couldn’t reach it over the barrier, and I didn’t want to go round as the drop looked as though it was about 200m down. I finally found some over the other side of the round, but when I smelt it I discovered it was fennel, not the right herb at all.

We stopped for lunch at a beach, with black volcanic sand. I was going to make tuna sandwiches but when I opened the food cupboard I discovered that a bottle of soy sauce had fallen over and emptied. I spent some time cleaning up the mess. The liquid had primarily been absorbed by a cardboard box of tea bags, I have yet to discover whether soy infused tea is palatable!

While eating we investigated local camping options and Andrew found a freedom camping site above a beach about half an hour along. It was a gorgeous location, on a grassy headland, but sheltered from the wind. The beach was black sand with interesting driftwood (they call it ‘slash’ here). I went for a long walk along the beach. Andrew stayed at the van, delighted with the mobile signal strength.

Another busy day for us. We went to the Botanical Gardens, which you probably remember, Dad. Colleen said she took you there via the cable car from the city centre. We drove, are were very pleased to find unlimited parking, as it was a Sunday.
We spent 2½ hours exploring: native species and well tended flower beds, a sun dial and sculptures and a begonia house. I attach some photos.

After a coffee, and chocolate cake, we took a drive round the peninsular,  and spent an hour parked by a sandy beach, which was busy with families on a sunny Sunday afternoon. We ate the plums that Jeremy had given us from his garden.

Then we went to the Weta Workshop. This was a guided tour around a company that made props and costumes and scenery and miniature landscapes for the film and television industry. We were very disappointed to discover that we were not allowed to take pictures, as Hannah had very excitedly asked us to take lots. The tour was conducted by a very enthusiastic young man. We were shown how they made the helmets and weapons for the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films. And then lots of other techniques.

We then walked to another site where we saw the most amazing miniature film sets that they created for the Thunderbirds are Go series. Hannah would have loved it so much. They had made Chatsworth House as Lady Penelope’s residence, and Tracy Island. It was fascinating to see how they made different levels of detail, for distant filming and closer shots. They had the swimming pool that Thunderbird 1 launched from, It was so basic, a person had to lay underneath to operate it. There was a fabulous launch pad for Thunderbird 5, made of old computer parts and circuit boards and a vacuum cleaner. Lemon squeezers featured too. Someone complained to them when they spotted the lemon squeezer so they have tried to include one in every model since.

17 February

The ferry was delayed again and didn’t actually leave the harbour until 10.00, but finally we off to the North Island. We had a big breakfast, and the first part of the trip was very calm, protected as we were in Queen Charlotte Sound. However, once we turned into Cook Strait the sea became distinctly choppy, and I deposited my breakfast into 2 sick bags. Andrew has a much stronger stomach, and was even able to dispose of them for me. Actually, at no point did I feel nauseous, so it wasn’t too bad.

Once off the ferry we headed for a supermarket to buy some groceries, and I was a nightmare in the shop. I was so hungry that I wanted to buy everything. I settled for an apple, then at the holiday park I bought some ice-creams.

We didn’t arrive till 3.30 so I had to tell Colleen we couldn’t meet her at 2.00. I am now waiting for her to get back to me if she can make an alternative time. The weather is dry and sunny here so we must begin to plan the next few days.

18 February

I had a look through the Lonely Planet recommendations for Wellington and chose a self guided sculpture walking tour of the city centre and harbour area for this morning. I was also very taken with a Weta Workshop tour. Weta are the props company that made a lot of the props for the Lord of Rings films and others. I suggested it to Andrew and he looked it up but told me there was no availability. I insisted there was so he told me to book it myself then. So I did.
 
I thought Hannah would be thrilled, so I messaged her saying ‘Look up Weta Workshops, you’ll be green with envy’. She replied ‘I know all about the Weta Workshop, Mum’, very dismissively. So I said ‘Were doing the tour tomorrow’.  That got a response, ‘What!!!! Unfair.’
 
We knew we would be in Wellington for a couple of days so before we left I booked us another night here, although with a powered site, as we hadn’t done much travelling the last couple of days and our battery was very flat.

Parking in the city centre needed planning. We did the sculpture tour, but I wasn’t very excited by it. There were a couple of nice pieces, one that was a series of jade dots that followed the original route of a river that was built over by the city, and another of some sea urchins. But the brass plaques next to each one didn’t describe the pieces and say what they meant, they just reeled off the companies that had sponsored the artist.

The harbour area was lovely, and it being a very warm summer Saturday was bustling, with street performers and buskers, including one excellent brass band. We had walked for about 5 miles so we stopped for a coffee. As parking had been so problematic I thought I would just have a look and see where we had to go for the Weta Workshop tomorrow, and to my horror I discovered I had booked a tour in Auckland 🤣, the other end of North Island.  No wonder Andrew and I had such different results when we were trying to book. Back at the van I rang the company and explained. They very kindly told me it wasn’t uncommon, and transferred me to a place on the Wellington Tour tomorrow at 4.00.

By now it was time to go and see Colleen and Jeremy. They were very welcoming and we had an hour’s chat about where we had been and where we might like to go, and then Jeremy took us to see Brian’s plaque at the Memorial garden at Wainuiomata where Brian and Colleen used to live, and where they were when you visited them in 2001.

We got back to the caravan park at 5.30, but we couldn’t open the gate with the code we had been given, and when I asked at the office they could find no record of my having booked for tonight. It took so long to sort out that I rewarded Andrew and I for our patience with an ice-cream!

Today we were booked on the 2.00 sailing from Picton to Wellington across Cook Strait. We found a lovely parking spot looking onto the marina to spend a couple of hours before we were due to report at the terminal. It was raining so we watched the sea birds and observed the setup ready for a regatta.

We had an email to say that the sailing had been delayed until 4.00 and we didn’t have to check in until 2.45, so, as the rain had eased, we walked into Picton and had a coffee, and bought a couple of meat pies from a very well recommended bakkerij. I fancied having a look round an op shop (charity shop),  but we couldn’t locate one. Perhaps it was too touristy an area!
 
Back at the van we ate our delicious pies and had a cuppa. Then I sat outside on a bench and watched the regatta, which was for children  in tiny one person sail boats. It started spitting again so I went back to the van where Andrew informed me that the sailing had been cancelled due to rough seas.

We needed to find somewhere to stay for the night so we looked up campgrounds on the east of Picton, which was an area we hadn’t explored There were 3 DOC campsites that sounded promising. We investigated Rarangi, but it was very flat and open and close to a road, so we went further along to Whites Bay, which was idyllic, grassy areas, trees and far from any roads, with a surf beach. I notified Colleen of our change of plan, and also the Wellington caravan park we were booked into for the evening.

Meanwhile Andrew was in a telephone queue to try to rearrange our sailing. After a while I left him to it and went off for a walk that rose up the  cliffs and followed round the coast. After about a mile I had a message from  Andrew that he had booked us onto a ferry that left at 7.45 in the morning. We would have to leave at about 6.00. The only trouble was that the campground we were in locked its gates from 9pm to 7am. So we had to find yet another place to stay the night. The camp host was very kind and understanding,  and suggested we go back to Rarangi, which was closer to Picton, and not to bother about paying again. (This would have been the 3rd campground we had paid for tonight otherwise.🤣)

Andrew had to wait for me to get back to the camp, as I had reached the road and was halfway between the 2 campgrounds.

We are quite happy at Rarangi with a nice level site and a clear run in the  morning.

We went for our tour of Pic’s Peanut Butter factory. I was quite chuffed as we eat Pics peanut butter even in England. When I told Hannah she (quite rightly) told me off about the carbon footprint. The tour was fun and interesting. We saw the production line. It was very low key and small, I can’t believe they supply Tesco, but they do. We were allowed to grind our own peanut butter using a bicycle! The owner, Pic, started off by making it in his garage using a cement mixer. It is just peanuts and salt, which is why we like it, and he made his own because when he started all he could find had added oil and sugar and he wanted unadulterated peanut butter.
 
At the end we were given a taste of their various offerings.  Fresh peanut  butter was delicious, as it was still warm from the roaster. We bought a jar of almond butter, and will try that with our breakfast tomorrow.
 
We made our way from Nelson back to Havelock, and then took the coastal scenic route from there to Picton. This was an incredibly hairy drive, as it was along the side of the hills/mountains with a sheer drop on my side of the van. In several places the road narrowed to a single lane as half the road had fallen down the cliff. There were cones around the areas that had fallen, but there was always the thought that the road could disappear as you drove over it. We could see Havelock from a lookout point, and work out where we were in relation to the mail boat run we had done on Monday.

Just coming into Picton we could see down onto an enormous timber store, hundreds of felled trees ready to be put onto ships to be exported and processed.

We spent a second night at Pelorus Bridge and the weather improved enough for me to walk a track to a second waterfall. I didn’t get to it though as there was a quagmire along the track and I didn’t want to be ankle deep in mud.

It rained and was a bit windy in the night but nothing to what it could have been considering we are camped at the edge of a cyclone. We have been very lucky, as today was the day we initially wanted to take the ferry to Wellington, but it was fully booked and we had to book to travel on Thursday instead. All ferry sailings were cancelled today. Cyclone Gabrielle is getting closer.

Andrew had booked for us to go on the Pics peanut butter factory tour tomorrow, so we booked into a campsite nearby.

12 february

I was wrong, Collingwood is not quite at the end of the track, so before we went anywhere else this morning we carried on to Puponga and Farewell Spit at the very tip of Golden Bay. The tide was out and we walked a short way along the spit. I saw a southern oyster catcher, and several black swans, behaving like wading birds and digging around in the mud, which I have never seen before.

It was very windy so we didn’t go far. We retraced our route all the way back to Richmond, past the hops and vines and apple trees. Just past Richmond we came to Nelson, where my friend Michele’s daughter has  been working on her gap year. It was a very smart town with a marina with a forest of masts. We bought some groceries and had a coffee.

As we drove away the road followed along the sea for miles, with herons and more oyster catchers. There is an unusual feature in Nelson, a 13km long boulder bank  almost completely enclosing the bay. It is a natural feature, and most intriguing.

We are camping at Pelorus Bridge, about 20 minutes from Havelock, from where we are catching the Peloris mail boat tomorrow. The forecast isn’t good so we will see how it goes.

13 February

Today, we went on the Pelorus Mail Boat run. When I booked it I was imagining glorious sunny weather, sitting on the deck with a lovely breeze.
 
There are currently cyclone warnings in the north of North Island, and extreme weather warnings for Fiordland, Queenstown and Westport here on the South Island. So we weren't sure how much we were going to enjoy our trip. It was raining and gusty when we embarked. It was very full inside. A couple had a small dog that had a little spate of yapping, so the skipper told them they would have to sit out the back. They left in a huff.
 
Rather than a mail boat it was more like the Tesco delivery van, as there were far more boxes of groceries than mail. Due to the cyclone everyone has been told to make sure they have plentiful supplies of food, so I think there were more groceries than usual.
 
There were several passengers with luggage that would be dropped off along the way, to stay at guest houses and lodges. One little girl even had a cage with her budgies in, almost like the chickens that would have been transported on the boat originally.
 
The skipper had a wonderful dry sense of humour. He told us how the mail run started. The post used to be delivered from Wellington, but as more and more people began to live on the Sound and needed their supplies the government decided to contract out the deliveries privately. It was in the 1920s and they paid £200 a year. This didn't even pay for the boat and fuel, let alone a wage for the boatmen, so right from the get go the boat took passengers and tourists on the mail run to supplement their income.
 
It stopped raining after about an hour so we went on the top deck which was lovely. At 12.00 we stopped at a restaurant bar for an hour. We could have pre-booked a meal there but we weren't sure how choppy it would be and whether we would want to eat, so we took a packed lunch instead. As it happens it was very sheltered and calm so we could have enjoyed a lovely meal of the green lipped mussels, which they grow here and is Havelock's main industry.
 
We were allowed to eat our packed lunch on the restaurant wharf, and were delighted to see 3 huge manta ray swimming in the shallows.
 
After lunch we started up on the top deck but the spray kept soaking us so I went back inside. There was more room now that most of the groceries and some of the passengers had disembarked.

A lady at Springfield had highly recommended Golden Bay which is in the North western tip of South Island and although I hadn’t been particularly interested in it we decided to head that way as we have a couple of days to fill before Monday’s Mail Boat trip. We found a couple of points of interest and headed west. The road was steep and windy for km after km. We stopped at a viewpoint that went on and on. We could see back to where we had come from with acre after acre of apples, vines and hops, all covered in netting, and fields of sheep that were microscopic dots.

We decided against a cave tour that was trying to cash in on The Lord of the Rings being filmed in New Zealand, calling it a Middle Earth experience, and drove to Grove Scenic Reserve.

The carpark was very small and we didn’t have high expectations but we were blown away. It was a 1km circular walk through incredibly atmospheric moss covered limestone boulders, in amazing shapes, all merging in with ferns and palms and lichen and trees. It was evocative of early 20th century adventure novels. We took loads of pictures. It was exactly what I had thought we had missed out on in Oparara Basin due to the road closure.

Then we visited Te Waikoropupu Springs. This was much more popular with a large car park and full of motorhomes and cars. The Springs came up in the middle of a huge lake and the water was so clear you could see right to the bottom. It is sacred to the Maori and you weren’t allowed so much as to put your hand in.

We then went on a little picnic area by the sea for some coffee and lunch and then onto Collingwood Holiday Park. Collingwood is a tiny town at the  very end of the track. The Holiday Park is right by the beach and I went for a long walk, until I was summoned back by Andrew telling me dinner would be ready in 22  minutes.

When I tried to empty the grey waste (washing-up water) this morning nothing came out. We had always thought it didn’t really come out as fast as it should,  probably because it was blocked with fat from previous hirers. I had tried pouring boiling water down the sink but it hadn’t helped. Andrew advocated that we go to a caravan site with a powered pitch so we can deal with it.

Over breakfast a very inquisitive Weka investigated our van, but was unimpressed when I offered it some lettuce. It took it eagerly from my hand then just dropped it when it discovered what it was. Sort of like spitting it out. It was hilarious.

Because we were freedom camping there was no chucking out time, so I went for a nice long walk on the beach. I went as far as I could go, just under a mile, up to a stone breakwater with a lighthouse. I took lots of pictures of the driftwood.

We hadn’t decided where to go today and I looked at the Lonely Planet and was intrigued by Oparara Basin with limestone formations that were in the middle of a forest. This was due north of us on a dead end road. Andrew investigated the route and discovered that the road was closed for regrading from 9th to 12th February, exactly when we would have gone. So disappointing as we won’t get another chance.

Instead we headed back to Murchison,  where we stopped for a coffee, and then continued on to Richmond on the north coast, just east of Nelson. We found a lovely family run caravan park, and were given a prime spot. Andrew jetted water up the grey waste pipe and sorted out the blockage.

Richmond didn’t seem to be very touristy and Andrew investigated what we might like to do here. Wikicamps strongly recommended a tour of the Pics peanut butter factory, and Andrew is so taken with the idea, in spite of it being weekdays only, that he wants to go to Havelock for the Mail Boat trip we have booked for Monday and then come back here for the tour on Tuesday, and then go back to Picton for our ferry to North Island on Thursday.

We drove from Greymouth to Westport along a particularly beautiful road that clung to the coast, across one lane bridges that crossed the rivers opening into the sea.

Our first stop was at Pancake Rocks and Chimney Pot blow hole. This was stunning. Rock stacks with layers like American Pancake stacks. And then vegetation growing at the top like hair. I attach pictures. We were there at high tide, which was fortunate,  as the water was forced up through the hole and came out like steam from a steam engine whistle. It was great fun to watch.   

We then continued North, and stopped where there was a 2 mile walk to a seal colony. It was very windy, but sunny. Our hats blew off, which meant our faces got burnt again. We were well rewarded for the walk as there were a couple of dozen seals on the rocks, way below the viewing balcony, including several babies. They were very well camouflaged against the  brown rocks, but eventually you could make them out. Using binoculars I could even see a weka down with them.

Back at the carpark we had a picnic lunch and looked  at where to stay for the night. There was a freedom camp on the beach about 15 minutes away that had good reviews. Everyone said it was a large area, for 30 vans and never full. We got a spot at the end with door opening, facing the beach undergrowth, so we had some privacy. I explored the beach a little. It is huge, and completely littered with driftwood,  from huge trees to smaller  branches.

Back at the van we watched the campsite fill up. This one had numbered spots, so it couldn’t get overcrowded, but lots of the vans are huge motorhomes, mostly hire vans, Britz, etc. Vans kept arriving, trying to squeeze into half a site, failing and leaving. There are several wekas wandering about the camp ground, hoping for titbits. They bob around like chickens.