Trundler, tramping, jandals we must be in New Zealand.

English, ilse, Nieuw Zeeland, Noordelijk eiland, reisverslag

Monday, February 13th, Turangi library New Zealand. It has been raining since yesterday late afternoon and thus time to catch up on news, emails and blog ! I cannot believe we have been almost 3 weeks in New Zealand. The libraries are fantastic here, they are open all days from 9.30 till 17.00 and you can use their internet, room, toilets for free. Needless to say today the computer study room was packed with tourists, backpackers mostly from Germany and France. We have been travelling with our camper for 10 days now and it is really the best option for visiting New Zealand !

We stayed about 10days in Auckland with our NZ cruiser friends from the boat Aislado, Vaughn, Sylvia and their daughter Zara. We are very happy we could stay there and take our time to find a suitable campervan! During our time in Auckland we visited the city, did some shopping for the boat and vistited Waitakere Forest Park on the west side of Auckland. New Zealanders are very friendly and relax people, “no worries” is a standard answer. Also the traffic is less hectic than in Belgium, 100KM/HR is the max. speed anywhere.

Auckland city seen from the sailing boat Aislado when we were sailing in the bay.
Auckland is definitely a “sailing city”, soooo many sailboats were out that day…
Waitakere Ranges Regional park, west of Auckland.
The ferns are just incredible !

We picked up our campervan “Burnie” early thursday morning and friday afternoon February 3rd we took the ferry to Waiheke island for a long WE. It was wonderful. We were lucky the weather was perfect, a little breeze, blue skies. Waiheke is an island just a one hour ferry ride from Auckland. It is full of famous wineries and good restaurants, beautiful walks and scenery. We enjoyed a great lunch at the Mudbrick restaurant with the voucher we had received from the girls for our Christmas !! Memorable for sure !!!

“Burnie” on deck of the Sealink ferry bringing us to Waiheke island.
We must be in wine country. We visited Mudbrick and Man-O-War wineries.
Mudbrick winery and restaurant.
Having a memorable lunch at the Mudbrick restaurant.
…with a great view…
We visited “Headland Sculpture on the gulf”, a 2-yearly event on the coast of Waiheke. We did the exhibition walk of 2km, lots of people but beautiful views and works. This work is from Virginia King and is called Phantom Fleet, a fleet of filigreed and branching vessels that connect nautical, botanical and anatomical worlds.
“White bird and white angel” from Semisi Fetokai Potauainehere.
Stefan’s favorite: Phil Price, Forbidden Tree, is like no tree in the natural world, it moves with the wind, creates shade but drops no leaves. It needs no water but is alive with movement.
Michael Tuffery, Trailing Tangaroa, aluminum frame and rubber jandals.
Views during our walk on Stony Batter Historic Reserve.
Walk in Stony Batter Historic reserve.
Stefan and “Burnie” on one of the many stops.
Stefan the happy tramper 🙂

The Pukeko bird or purple swamphen.
Pukeko bird.
The australian magpie in NZ.
Variable Oystercatcher.

We came back from Waiheke on the 7th of February and drove for about another hour to just before Hamilton. From Hamilton to Rotorua, Lake Taupo, Wai-O-Tapu and now in Turangi. The scenery along the way is just beautiful.

Whakarewarewa State forest park near Rotorua with redwood trees 60m high and planted in 1901.
View in Whakarewarewa forest.
Whirinaki Forest Park was like a fairy tale park… Frodo and Gandalf around the corner.
After our walk in Whakarewarewa forest we soaked in one of the natural hot pools of Rotorua. The water was around 37-40 degrees Celsius.
Lady Knox Geyser in Wai-O-Tapu (Sacred Waters) thermal wonderland.
Champagne Pool.
The artist’s palette, yellow from the sulphur.
..green from arsenic…

Active boiling mud pool.
The Huka Falls or “great body of spray”, here the Waikato river funnels into a narrow chasm before plunging over a 9m shelf.

Koru spiral – “new life” symbol for the Maori

We are currently in Napier library finishing this blog and looking forward to the Art Deco festival in the next days. We will go south and hope to take the ferry to the South Island in Wellington around February 27th.

4 gedachten over “Trundler, tramping, jandals we must be in New Zealand.”

  1. Amai zalig!!!! Ik krijg zoveel heimwee bij het lezen van de blog. En ik wil telkens kleine tips toevoegen als ik weet waar jullie zijn…. ik kan niet alle foto’s zien maar zien er wel zalig uit! Blij dat jullie ook de ervaring hebben die ik heb gehad …. voor mij nog steeds mooiste land!

    btw shopping: kledij en
    Outdoor: kathmandu of iets betere kwaliteit is macpac! , pac n save is goedkoopste supermarkt/ New World is voor verwennerij 🙂
    Wijn: elephant Hill viognier in Napier zeker proberen! Dessert wijn moana park of probeer dat op een zondag mee te pikken: zeer gezellig!
    Geniet van art deco weekend
    Doc website gevonden voor wandelingen? Kleine wandeling te Maya peak is zeer mooi!
    btw 90km/ u is ok voor nieuw zeeland, trouwens veel flitsen en veel blazen dus voorzichtig.
    Ferry best in ochtend want dan minder wind en mooie kleuren bij aankomst in zuideiland. Oversteek kan nogal choppy zijn…..
    nz accent al ontdekt? Yis ipv yes…. eens op letten…. en ‘sweet as’ , ‘bro’ ,….

    Voor zuideiland: farewell spit in golden bay was tip maar te herzien gezien problemen daar he

  3. Memories… wonderful! Ooit was ik daar. Fantastische eilanden en volk! Napier: prachtige stad voor wie van art deco houdt… Geniet nog verder van die uitzonderlijke reis! Most greetings. Anne

  4. Fantastisch om opnieuw jullie avonturen te mogen lezen en mee te genieten vanop afstand!
    Geniet ervan!

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