After finally getting off the ferry we headed into Welly which had to be a flying visit as we really undercut our time in the North Island. First thing we noticed was just how much bigger and busier this city was compared to everywhere else we had been on the south island. With our short time, I found my perfect shop, we did the lonely planets scenic walk, and had an excellent lunch time offer curry! On route we tried to replace the camera but all the shops only had old models. We got the necessary letter for the insurance though so that was good! Satisfied we had seen some good sights around town we got back on the road, and drove as close to Hawkes Bay as possible!
James had got us within an hour of Hawkes Bay before pulling over for the night, so first thing in the morning we drove to a campsite and put up our tent! When we arrived our pitch was filled with one of those massive tents that are more like a house than a tent, and by the time I’d come back from the shower, we’d been invited by the really nice couple that owned the tent to come join them on the grass for a bottle of wine! They were so friendly, and really apologetic for being in our spot, and laughed lots about that huge tent just being for them! An hour or so later, and we’d drunk one of their really nice bottles of wine that they’d picked up the previous day (apparently wine is to be drunk with family and friends and they wouldn’t have it any other way!) they headed off to meet family and we’d had a great start to the day! A great example of just how unbelievably nice New Zealanders can be!! We did some wine tasting after, found a great little one called Moana where James had to drag himself away not to buy a crate! They were all a lot more spread out than what we’d seen in Marlborough. Sat on a windy beach before going back to the campsite to plan out fiji, where we had a couple of albatrosses sitting by us!
A large breakfast of dippy eggs and soldiers, toast, and cereal later (our norm!) we headed to Taupo, on the way to Rotura. Taupo had a great like, but that was about it and we happily headed to Rotura, where we pitched up next to a beautiful lake.
Everything in rotor required entry fees! We weren’t impressed, so we picked one, Te Puia, based on seeing hot springs and big geysers! The geysers were really impressive, we sat and watched one blowing for aaages with ice creams, saw lots of bubbling mud pools, hot springs etc! Then we drove to Waihi beach, which was supposed to be amazing..… was alright! And we got the last tent spot…. Wasn’t really a tent spot, more of a small bit of land next to the worm feeding place as you drove in haha!
Wellington pictures can be found here
Hawks Bay and Taupo pictures can be found here
Rotoura pictures can be found here
