Category Archives: North Island

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New Zealand – Wellington – 27th/28th November

As we had previously booked our north island to south ferry online we were getting short on time and wanted to explore Wellington before leaving. This therefore required a 160km drive to arrive in Wellington at lunch time and find somewhere to park the van … Read More

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New Zealand – Napier / Tongariro Alpine Crossing – 26th/27th November

After a spot of skyping home from Hastings and a drive out to some of the beaches south of Napier at midday we got in touch with Roam located in Tongariro to see if the park shuttle service was operating for the next day. They … Read More

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New Zealand – Napier – 25th November

For the first time in New Zealand we decided to spend two nights in the same location/campsite. Not far from Napier is Eskdale Park a forest with lots of mountain biking paths to explore, all we needed was some bikes and we were ready to … Read More

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New Zealand – Napier – 24th November

After our usual breakfast, with the addition of some toast, we headed from rainy Taupo to Napier on the east coast to try and get some dryer weather. The sun was shining in Napier when we arrived but the odd shower did blow through whilst … Read More

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New Zealand – Wai-O-Tapu / Taupo – 23rd November

To date in NZ this was turning out to be the most activity fuelled week we were experiencing. Paid for activities that is! We got up early so we wouldn’t be in with the tourist crowds too soon in the day. The Wai-O-Tapu park is … Read More

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New Zealand – Rotorua – 22nd November

Our chariot of fire / hotel on wheels was due her 10,000km service (that’s 10,000km of 280,000km!) so we decided to get her checked into the car doctors for a thorough examination. Advantage Autos in Hamilton provided the service and at $135 wasn’t all that … Read More

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New Zealand – Raglan – 21st November

Helen has surfed once before but Dave never has, so today was the day to find out if we would be able to actually stand up whilst surfing a wave. The weather looked half decent with no rain so we booked ourselves onto the morning … Read More

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New Zealand – Hamilton – 20th November

Our next destination was Hamilton which is only 50km or so from Te Aroha so no big drive today! We wanted to get to the Farmer’s market held every Sunday on River Road. We got there just after 10am and found a nice little bustling … Read More

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New Zealand – Te Aroha – 19th November

Another early start and with laundry on the agenda we used the gym to fill some waiting time. Once we were ready to go we set off back towards Hot Water Beach and went further to Hahei Bay. We parked “Po” in the bay car-park … Read More

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New Zealand – Opito Bay and Hot Water Beach – 18th November

Up early once again we packed, ate breakfast and beeped our horn goodbye to the other happy campers and set off for the east-side of the peninsula. We had to back track on the route and went through picturesque Coromandel Town once again with another … Read More

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New Zealand – Coromandel Peninsula – 16th/17th November

We drove from west to east but the distances are never too far in this country. Although when you’re driving Po it does take a little longer! We were heading for the Coromandel Peninsula and it took around 3 hours via Auckland which was a … Read More

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New Zealand – Waipoai forest & Muriwai Beach – 14th/15th November

Leaving our simple DOC campsite we drove towards the Kauri Coast our destination for our four wheeled home was to be Trounson forest DOC which according to the info has hot showers. Whilst on our road-trip for the day we stopped off via Opononi and … Read More