In Wellington we stayed in student digs and headed out on the town with a friend of a friend. As soon as we met up with Tye we asked him “So what’s Wellington like?”. His reply was something along the lines of “I’m going stir-crazy here. I need to get out.” We went out for cocktails and met some more of Tye’s friends, all of whom seemed to have their hearts set on leaving New Zealand! Most of them wanted to go to Australia and some to Europe, they told us that it is common to get your university degree and then leave the country, or to get a couple of years work experience before leaving. No wonder Christian and I hadn’t seen any young people for the last few weeks, they were all in Australia or London!
After a fun night out, we hopped into the Azda Familiar and drove North to Central Hawkes Bay, where my cousin Ian lives with his wife Judy, and kids Molly and Jed. It was so great to see them all, and to have some home comforts for a change. That night we had a barbeque on the terrace overlooking Ian and Judy’s land – it was terrific. Then Christian and I relaxed in the hot tub. Did I mention how difficult this travelling lark is?
Cousin Ian with one of his hens that gave us eggs for breakfast. Thanks Hen.
On our first day in Hawkes Bay, Christian and I went to sample more wine (we were getting good at it!). We went to the Mission, The Church and then to Clearview for lunch. At Clearview we sampled 18 wines! And they tasted better and better the more we tried. Is it any wonder we bought a bottle of the 18th wine we tried?
Glass number 20… 23? Who knows.
After the wine tasting we took a walk around Art Deco Napier. By this point it was fast approaching Christmas and it felt very strange to be somewhere so warm, but surrounded by Christmas decorations and trees. That evening we had a lovely dinner and played stupid games. Ian impressed us (I’m being polite) with his rendition on the native kiwi drums and Jed impressed us (I’m being honest) with his performance of his school haka. The next day we awoke to the exciting news that one of Ian and Judy’s cows had had it’s calf during the night. We took a walk to inspect the new addition to the family, and it was so sweet, and dazzlingly clean.
Then it was time to leave the Shepherd’s home (their surname is Shepherd – despite all the animals they are not actually Shepherds!). It had been lovely to see them and leaving a comfortable, modern, large home behind was difficult, but it was time to get back on the road and lower our standards again.
Crossing a volcanoe and the last leg
Lake Taupo is a huge lake in the middle of the North Island. The town of Taupo was a bit more lively than the lake towns of the South Island and boasted both a Pizza hut and a McDonalds. We however spotted a sushi restaurant and got very excited about our dining experience that night, sadly we were turned away because they were closing at 8pm (no, we hadn’t learnt our lesson!). We ate kebabs and had a view of the gorgeous setting sun. Early the next morning we departed for the Tongariro crossing.
Sunset at Taupo
The Tongariro crossing is a 19km day’s walk that crosses the active Tongariro volcano. It is a fantastically diverse walk in which you feel, smell and see signs of the active volcano all the way (it was sulphur Christian I promise! Not me!). It is also more challenging than the Kepler trek as there are steeper climbs, streams to cross, and unmarked paths. Saying that, you can’t really get lost since there are hundreds of other tourists walking the route. That was the downside of this trek, there were people everywhere and it felt a little like a factory line, in comparison the Kepler trek was empty.
After we had climbed, slipped and plodded our way across 19km, an overly talkative lady picked us up in her bus to take us back to the Azda Familiar (She was very nice but in our exhausted state I would have preferred the quiet moody type). Back in the car and refuelled with some coca cola we set off for the last leg of our drive North – to Auckland.
Final Thoughts
After a good nights sleep and a cold and wet look around Auckland (sorry, can’t make a fair assessment of the city, it was too cold and wet), it was time to drop off our faithful companion, the Azda Familiar. By the time we dropped her off, she was more the colour of dead flies than she was white, and she also had a second hub cap missing, but the folks at Quality Cars didn’t seem to mind or even notice. It is probably a good thing for the next people who hire her since now they will be able to spot her from either side (hub cap missing front left and front right) and also from the back (Missing “M”). We then headed to the airport where we were able to reflect on our three weeks in New Zealand.
It really is a beautiful country, with more natural wonders than you could shake a walking pole at. On the South Island especially you couldn’t drive for more than an hour without seeing something “wow”. The only thing we found lacking was a slight lack of identity and personality in the towns themselves. Maybe we were there at the wrong time of year, or maybe it is because we are used to living in a more populated country, but New Zealand felt empty to us! As Christian once said (or was it Plato?) ‘New Zealand is a bit like a great party that no-one’s turned up to'.’
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