New Zealand

Sunday 31st July 2016 – We drove north and enjoyed a scenic walk on the Mahinepua peninsula before driving on to the Bay of Islands. We found a campsite by a lake where we had hot showers, danced in the kitchen and watched TV late into the night while our electronic devices gradually charged in the corner.

Monday 1st August 2016 – After pinch-punching Alysa we had muslei and tea for breakfast in a pretty seafront lay-by. We made the long drive to the top of the North Island and stayed at Tapotupotu DOC campsite, 3km from Cape Reinga. Hardly anyone lives in the far north of the country and you can drive for miles without seeing anyone. The night sky was beautifully clear and as we gazed up at the Milky Way shooting stars would silently trace their brief paths across the sky. Later that night we were woken by a brief hailstorm. The hailstones made quite a racket as they bounced off our car roof!

Tuesday 2nd August 2016 – Cape Reinga in the far north of NZ is where Maoris believe their spirits depart for the afterlife. We made the short, windy walk to the lighthouse and watched as the waves from the Tasman Sea met the Pacific Ocean in a jumble of spray and foam. A few miles down the coast we stopped at Te Paki dunes. We trudged over the one hundred foot dunes until with the sun blazing from a cloudless blue sky we were surrounded by nothing but sand. For a few glorious minutes we felt like legionnaires battling our way across the Sahara. Our rental agreement didn’t allow us to drive down the car-gobbling ninety mile beach nearby so we took the highway down the west coast to the Trounson Kauri Park DOC campsite for a spot of nighttime kiwi hunting. Shortly after dark we heard the kiwis shrieking from the forest and we went quietly in search of them using the dim red light of Alysa’s headtorch to guide us. We had only been walking a few minutes when we saw a bright light approaching from the direction of camp and soon a couple appeared brandishing some 40 led monstrosity of a torch in search of that most elusive of nocturnal creatures – the Kauri tree! Knowing any further searching was pointless for the time being we went to cook dinner and shower. I returned from my shower to find Alysa quite shaken. While I had been away she had noticed a man at the back window who had run off when she turned to look at him. Whoever it was they were nowhere to be seen although to be safe we pulled the van round to a more populated area of the camp. Much later the kiwis did start calling again but we didn’t feel like looking for them.

Wednesday 3rd August 2016 – We began the day with a walk in the ancient Kauri forest. We visited three huge Kauri trees; Tane Mahuta, Te Matua Ngahere and Yakas. These peculiar old trees, covered with mosses and bromeliads are full of character and it is easy to imagine they were the inspiration for the Ents in the LotR movie. Our next stop was Rainbow Falls – a wide curtain of water with a mossy green cave behind it. Our mission was to reach the cave and stand behind the waterfall. It was cold, it was wet and it was slippery but we made it and with the roar of the waterfall all around us we whooped for joy. As we dried off on the rocks we noticed small flies on our legs but we didn’t know what they were. This was our first encounter with sandflies, the scourge of New Zealand and two days later their bites would begin itching like crazy. A couple of hours down the coast we reached Waipu Cave. Cross the muddy field to the cave, follow the tiny stream left into the darkness, switch off the head torches and voila – a miniature night sky with dozens of glowworms shining their starlight from the cavern roof. Giant trees, waterfall caves and glowworm caves – what a day!