Visiting New Zealand: Some hints, tips and general observations

We spent 7 weeks in New Zealand and spent a large proportion of that time living in a tent, which turned out to be a fantastic decision. We spent a good chunk of time in each of the North and South Islands and loved both. It was a brilliant trip with the usual ups and …

James the passion killer and a very Welly New Year

We have not really experienced the downsides of sharing accommodation with lots of other travellers, but James had the misfortune of disturbing a French couple getting frisky in the gent’s showers when we returned to camp after the Tongariro Crossing. He signalled his presence with some awkward coughing and loud gargling whilst cleaning his teeth …

Taranaki, the Forgotten World Highway, Tongariro and the relative merits of long drop toilets

We had come to Turangi with the sole purpose of undertaking the Tongariro Crossing and so, when our crossing was cancelled the night before due to gale force winds, we rearranged our schedule to come back in a couple of days when the weather looked more favourable. Instead we headed south the following morning through …

Soaking up the scenery in Te Urewera and Christmas in Taupo

After leaving Rotorua we had our first, and to this day, only, bad experience whilst camping. We had pitched up at a free campsite at Lake Aniwhenua and, as it was December 23rd, the site was extremely popular with Christmas campers. The spot was beautiful and we had enjoyed a stroll along the lake, and …

Stunning Karangahake Gorge, a family reunion and some truly ridiculous looking birds – The Coromandel to Rotorua

James’s uncle, aunt and cousin happened to be in New Zealand visiting their daughter/sister and her partner and we had instantly, and gratefully, taken them up on their kind offer of going to stay for a few days to catch up. This meant that for two glorious nights we had a bed to sleep in, …

Climbing yet another hill, rocking neoprene with the glowworms and an impromptu swim – Mt Maungatautari to New Chums Beach

Mt Maungatautari is a volcano which has been enclosed by a 47km pest proof fence, creating Maungatautari Ecological Island. The aim is to eradicate invasive predators and promote native species. The tramp to the summit sounded like exactly the type of thing we should do. The peak was covered in cloud as we started our …

Is it still called a domestic if you live in a tent? The Northlands & Bay of Islands

We had two options to continue our journey north, either take a long inland detour or hop on the car ferry. We love an impromptu car ferry so we joined the short queue and watched the world go by in Rawene, a lovely little town with many historic buildings and, as it turned out, very …

Black sand, big trees and setting up camp for the first time

We were keen to get on the road and rose early on our last morning in Auckland to finish our packing and head out. We really do have too much stuff and the prospect of the walk up to the bus was not appealing.We made it and were soon back at Auckland airport where the …

The New Zealand adventure begins in Auckland

One of our first tasks upon arriving in New Zealand was to google how to pronounce Aotearoa, so we’re practically locals now. The journey to New Zealand was a tough one, we won’t bore you with every detail but essentially it was an overnight journey with an unfortunate time difference and we arrived in Auckland …