King of the road

We arrived in New Zealand, a whole 23 hours after we left Tahiti, even though it was only a 6 hour flight, so Saturday became Sunday (imagine losing a Saturday night of all things!) and we passed the test despite having been in South America and carrying animal products (shell necklaces). Auckland was lovely and we visited the harbour and the sky tower before heading back to the airport with some trepidation to pick up our camper van.
It’s been many years since I had any experience of camping and neither of us could really be described as intrepid outdoor types so I was certainly nervous about the whole experience and whether it would really work for us. We listened very carefully to the tutorial on toilet emptying, gas bottles and water heating and I watched the informative DVD through twice. So far so good. The van is palatial, beyond anyone’s wildest dreams of camping – we have an onboard toilet and shower (though I’ve been using camp site facilities to minimise on emptying!), cooker, microwave, fridge, DVD player (which picks up TV channels in some places) and when plugged into the campsite, fully functioning plugs so hair dryers and GHDs work perfectly. We had to book a 4 berth as the 2 berths were sold out so we have an upstairs bed as well as the sitting and dining area which turns into another bed. The awning pulls out to create more dry space and a drying line so you really couldn’t ask for more.
As for driving the thing, well it isn’t a BMW cabriolet and trundles along at 50 miles an hour, like giant snails we have our whole house on our backs and if you pull out you have to remember that you have over 21 feet of vehicle behind you! However, you don’t have to pack and unpack everything each time you move off – just make sure that you’ve got things well tied down! It’s great fun though we have to alter our plans a bit as you can’t get as far in a day as you can in the BMW.
So what about New Zealand – early days yet and we’re still in the relative urbanity and low lands of the North Island but it’s so beautiful and reminiscent at times of Devon, Yorkshire and Scotland and the people are just so friendly. We headed for Rotorua at first and spent two nights in the Top Ten camp site which is just a 15 minute walk from town. John guided us on the Lonely Planet walk which took in the croquet lawns, a lake full of birds, a Maori village and the famous hot springs. Bizarre, to be walking around a park which is very similar to Solihull and then suddenly finding a series of steaming hot pools, bubbling mud, sulphurous steam and volcanic movement. We ate a valentine’s dinner outside on ‘Eat Streat’ and I realised I’d never had a valentine’s meal outside, under a clear sky with a bad singer entertaining the diners, it was magical. The next evening it poured with rain and I felt so sorry for the tent dwellers and wondered if I shouldn’t invite them in to share our spare bed – but John said that the rain is part of their fun, one young couple even had a tent attached to the back of their car.
After Rotorua we’ve headed for Taupo and had a great day visiting the wonders on the ‘Thermal Highway’. We loved ‘Orakei Korako’, a beautiful thermal area where you drive 16km along a winding country road (not easy in a 21 ft camper) to the hidden valley and then take a boat across the lake. Here you walk for a few km around silica terraces, watching the pools bubble and steam and viewing the sacred Maori cave with its vibrant green pool. We were really lucky and a new geyser suddenly appeared in the middle of one terrace, firing boiling water into the air for several minutes before stopping again. After that we trundled on to Huka Falls and watched the river hurling itself through a rocky passageway which was very impressive.
Then we arrived at Taupo and a lovely campsite with thermal baths attached. We spent the late afternoon wallowing in the warm thermal water before cooking our own dinner for the first time – John barbecued steak and chicken and we sat outside with salad and a fine NZ Syrah enjoying the view over the lake. All mod cons here – I managed two lots of washing at the on site laundry and we have wifi in the van! This is definitely camping for softies (I may not have mentioned we also have a heater if we need it!)