The land of the Kiwi

While completing our city errands, we spent a night at Shakespear Regional Park just north of Auckland.

Our trip to New Zealand could not have been more fulfilling. It was everything we were hoping for and so much more. The girls were amazing troopers, especially given what we put them through (more on that later), and most importantly, it gave us the utmost confidence that we are ready to live aboard a small boat as a family. Momo will feel extravagant compared to the Green Machine, our Toyota Previa rental van.

The Green Machine at one of our free "campsites" on the Surfer's Highway.

We arrived in Auckland in the mid-afternoon on Sunday the 16^th of December. After picking up the Green Machine, we headed straight for The Warehouse, which is New Zealand’s version of a get-anything box store. We had a very specific list and needed a one-stop-shop. The Warehouse did not disappoint. Furthermore, they were having a sale on camping gear. We bought a one-burner stove, a cooler, a 20-liter water jug, a pot and pan, knife and a few other things. The grocery store was next, where we stocked up on food, diapers and a couple other items.

We brought with us quite a bit of gear as well, including a tent, sleeping bags and sleeping pads. Jet Airways and Quantas loaned us cups and cutlery (using the term “loaned” loosely, though accurately, as we returned EVERYTHING on the return flights).

The last remaining item to purchase was a surfboard, and despite knowing exactly which board we needed and giving a certain surf shop plenty of notice, we had some issues here, but true to our mantra “things happen for a reason”, we happened upon a much more helpful shop that not only had it in stock, but it was used, and therefore cheaper.  They also gave us a great deal on a heavy-duty travel bag.

24 hours of Auckland (as great a city as it is) was plenty for us.  We were hungry for wide-open spaces, beaches and waves. Having completed all of our city errands, on Monday we loaded everything into the Green Machine and headed for Raglan.

A view just outside of Raglan.

Just above Raglan Beach.

Raglan is a few hours south of Auckland, located on the west coast. Made famous by the classic surf movie “Endless Summer”, Raglan is known for its low-key vibe and extremely good point breaks. Separated from the nearest town by 40 kilometers, Raglan has maintained its small-town feel. And although we were pulling up in the midst of the “busy” time of year, we could not believe 1: how amazing the waves, scenery, and beaches were, and 2: how relatively empty it was. It didn’t take us long to fall in love with this place and the icing on the cake was an awesome $5 campground right between the beach and town.

Raglan point breaks

$5 campground.

Raglan Beach.

Raglan Beach with our makeshift shade tent.

After 4 days great surfing, wonderful beach time, beautiful sunrises, sunsets, and stars and meeting lots of very nice people, the waves died down a bit and we decided to head south.  

West Coast waves from the Tasman Sea

On our way south towards Taranaki

We found our way down the west coast, where views of lush green mountains and endless fields of sheep were intersperced with glimpses of empty black sand beaches. Our destination was “Surfers Highway” which wraps itself around the Taranki region, named after the towering volcano at its center. We managed to finagle a few free nights of camping by finding empty carparks around dusk. This meant sleeping IN the Green Machine, which, although not as comfortable, was manageable. We found pretty good surf on “Surfers Highway” despite locals calling the conditions poor. I guess they are not used to the waves we have in Delhi.

Mt. Taranaki

Surfer's Highway Sunset

After a few days, Raglan was calling our name again, so we headed north. This time, however, we took smaller unsealed roads closer to the coast, and although it was slower going, it provided us with some excellent beach time on enormous beaches that we had all to ourselves. A highlight from the part of the trip was Kawhia beach, where, at low tide, you can march around until you feel heat under your feet, where, if you dig down, you can make your own hot tub from the thermal waters underground.  

Our hot tub /drip castle

The beaches on the West Coast are HUGE

Another beach all to ourselves.

West Coast black sand.

Back in Raglan we found more great surf, and we decided to stay there for Christmas.

We realized on the 24^th that not only did Lucy have no idea Christmas was the next day, but also, we had not done anything to prepare for it. As Lucy and Scout took their naps that afternoon in the Green Machine, parked in front the Raglan public library and free hotspot, Amie got a couple of things for Lucy to open the next morning.

That evening, Lucy wrote a little note to Santa and left a lollipop for his snack (we didn’t have much to offer and it was a great way to avoid this piece of candy that Lucy was given in the grocery store). When she awoke the next morning from the tent, she was elated to see that not only did he leave her a little something on the windshield, but that Santa’s sleigh had actually left some tracks in the field next to the tent!

Rudolph enjoyed the Lollipop, according to Santa's note.

The Christmas Morning Loot.

Making Christmas Morning Pancakes.

Lucy couldn’t have been more excited about her new bag for her art supplies, a pencil and small pad of paper, and a bag of prunes. She was equally excited for her sister’s haul: a banana!  

After a couple more days in Raglan, we decided to head out again, this time towards the Bay of Plenty and famous Coromandel Peninsula. After a brief stop in Rotorua, where the town’s proximity to hotsprings, geysers and boiling mud pits results in a lovely rotten-egg smell, we headed for Whakatane, New Zealand’s sunniest town. It had a great beach, but the mass of holiday-goers made us miss the more quite stretches of Raglan’s beaches (I should use the term "mass" lightly, as all I really mean is that there were other people there).

We considered this "crowded".

We were able to snag another free night of camping in the Green Machine as we worked our way northwest along the beautiful Bay of Plenty. We stopped in Mount Manganui for some surfing, and Taranga for some people watching, and then headed north onto the Coromandel. Perhaps our most beautiful “campsite” of the trip awaited us at the carpark just north of Hahei. During the day, this parking lot is pretty full of tourists who begin and end the 45 minute hike to the famous Cathedral Cove from here. However, we found the place pretty much to ourselves as evening came, and the views were breathtaking.

The next morning we woke early to a bright sunrise and hit the trail. We were some of the first people to Cathedral Cove, which, as advertised, was awesome.

Cathedral Cove

By 10 am, however, it seemed the rest of New Zealand was showing up, so we hightailed it out of there and once again headed north in the Green Machine. We had read about a beach called Opito, which, although off the beaten track, is well worth the effort of getting there. The Green Machine was up to the challenge of a ridiculously winding and steep dirt road, and when we saw what lay below we were amazed. Opito was absolutely beautiful, and although the waves were not really surfable, everything else about our afternoon there was incredible.

Opito and our traveling shade.  We dug a huge hole in the sand, which Lucy referred to it as a bathtub, so Scout could not escape the shade.  It worked wonders. 

Opito

Next time it might be us out there...

We shared the mile long beach with maybe 10 other people. Unfortunately, there are no camping facilities in Opito (probably a good thing), so we hit the road again and made for the town of Coromandel, which sits on the west coast of the peninsula, on the shores of the Firth of Thames. After another day of exploring, we again made our way back to Raglan, arriving on the 30^th.

It turns out New Years in Raglan (and all of NZ, for that matter) is equivalent to the  4^th of July back home. Everyone is off work (the 1^st and 2^nd are national holidays) and BBQ’s, picnics and parades are the focus. We watched a great hometown parade in Raglan on New Year’s Eve, and then we were treated to a nice fireworks display to ring in the New Year that evening from our campsite. We spent a couple more days hanging in Raglan before heading north again to Auckland for the last day of our trip. On our way out of town, we managed to sell all of our camping gear to other campers and a second-hand store, thus recouping almost all of the money we spent on these things. Only in New Zealand.

In Auckland, we went to a marina where we knew the crew of Wondertime, a boat family we have been following (via their blog) for a while, were now living after their pacific crossing from Mexico over the past year. We figured it was a longshot that we would run into them, but we had some time to kill so we decided to give it a try. The Westhaven marina was huge, and it was fun to walk around looking at boats. I noticed a distinct looking stern poking out of a berth on one of their docks and recognized it immediately as that of their Benford 38, Wondertime. Michael and Sara were very kind to allow us to interrupt their lunch and chat for a while. It was great to meet, in person, this family that has offered us a lot of inspiration. We left the dock feeling pretty excited about our future adventures.

New Zealand is an amazing place. Sure, it is hard to get to, and certainly more expensive than it was ten years ago, but it is SUCH a worthwhile place to visit. I simply couldn’t count the number of times we said “Wow!” as we rounded a new bend in the road or discovered another beach. The people are incredibly friendly and it is so easy to travel there. Amie and I are already scheming about how to get back there in a more permanent fashion, and the Wondertime crew were very adamant that by boat is the way to go. It has certainly made us think!

Lucy and Scout were once again incredible travelers. Between sleeping in the crowded Green Machine, eating meals at public parks and parking lots, napping in their carseats, taking bucket baths, and generally putting up with their parents’ hair-brained schemes to find free camping and as much surfing in as possible, they were amazing. It felt good to reconnect with the dirt-bag type existence that we haven't had the joy of experiencing in a while. In many ways, our adventuring in New Zealand this time around was not all that different than ten years ago. There were a few changes; instead of a 1981 Honda Civic hatchback (the original "Momo") we had the Green Machine. And instead of the excitement that comes with falling in love, we had the joy of experiencing this wonderful place with our daughters.
This was a trip we won't soon forget.
Below are some more pictures. We are putting together an album with hundreds more, which we will post on here soon. 

$5 campground. Think about Subway's $5-footlong ad campaign when you say it in your head.

This is a classic scene on a classic NZ road.

Bucket bath time. We did not have any hot showers during the trip. Most of the better known beaches had freshwater showers but they were cold! We had some warm bucket baths at our campsites.

One of our favorite hills. 

Another meal cooked at a random park.

The tunnel to Tunnel Beach.

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