The first morning we were introduced to the routine of milking and feeding. We’d arise at 7am and check the weather. If it was frosty then we were to go back to sleep for another hour, otherwise it was time to get up. We’d have a tasty brekkie of cereal mixed with yogurt, nuts and berries along with some wicked strong coffee from freshly ground beans. Sorcha would head outside, say hello to the dogs and spread some feed on the grass for the chickens. Then myself, Sorcha and John would bring in the 5 cows that were still being milked (we’d arrived just after milking season, thankfully!). We’d get them onto the rotary milking machine (a round platform that would turn as the cows were being milked, eventually letting them out once it had turned a full rotation), milk them for a few minutes, fill up some bottles and cartons for the locals who buy the milk and take the rest to the calves and pigs. Once the 5 were back in their paddock and the machinery was cleaned we’d head out on the tractor to feed the other 245. These were in 2 separate fields where John would spool out a large bail of hay while myself and Sorcha would tend to the electric fence, reeling in one section after we set up a new one. Unlike the farm in Rangiora, John never turned off the fence and I managed to shock myself almost on a daily basis! The worst was when I bent over to pick up a post and accidentally brushed against the main fence, getting a good shock to the arse. Not pleasant at all!

In the afternoons the work was more varied. Some days we painted the doors of the house (John and Liz had just redone the place), others were more busy as we drove to other plots of their land to move and separate some cattle to be sold and to pick up a cow that was out grazing while recovering from foot-rot. In general the work was good but it was far more busy and less organised then the other places where we WWOOFed. This turned out to be a bit annoying as we had hoped to have afternoons free to learn some Spanish and get some organising done for South America. The food was good, and it was really fantastic when we cooked steaks from cows that were reared right on the farm. Delicious! On the Saturday night John and Liz invited over a good few of their friends for a bonfire of trees that had to cut down in one of the paddocks.

On the Monday John dropped us back to Tirau to get the bus back to Auckland. We reckoned that we managed to get a good deal done while we were at the farm and that they appriciated the work we did. Back in Auckland we celebrated Sorcha’s birthday by, naturally, going to the cinema and having more delicious burgers from Burger Fuel. We repacked our bags and got ourselves organised as we were flying out to Fiji the following day.

Once we were all sorted at Asus we got back onto the road and headed for the surfing town of Raglin. Despite a really nice waterfall the town seemed a bit dead, so the next morning we decided to head for the Coromaldal Penninsula, just outside of Auckland. We took a detour back through the Waitomo region to check on some tours, but they ended up being a bit too pricey so we continued on. The weather was once again horrible. We managed to get to one of the bigger towns on the penninsula to pick up some meat for dinner and by then the rain was pelting down. We picked out a campsite beside Hot Water Beach and the journey there was done at half speed as the heavy rain made visibility poor.

The next morning we made some time to visit Hot Water Beach. This is the place where you can dig yourself a hole in the sand and it fills with hot water from the springs below (like your own outdoor bath!), but unfortunately we arrived at the wrong time and the tide was in which meant no hot water for either of us. Instead we took some photos and I made a pathetic attempt at digging a small hole to see what would happen (nothing happened!). We left and headed back towards Auckland, stopping at a petrol station to re-fill the LPG tank and the campervan. Kenrick, the campervan owner, met us at his house in the suburbs and after a cup of coffee he gave us a lift back to the YHA hostel in central Auckland. That night we got ourselves organised for the next week of WWOOFing and had ourselves a fantastic dinner of tasty burgers.

The campervan was a really good way of seeing the North Island and it turned out to be a good way to not over-spend. THere were a few hiccups (the toaster didn’t work and we repeatidly hit our heads on the cupbords overhead) but they were minor gripes. We really enjoyed Tongariro and Waitomo, both are fantastic places, but we both said that we thought that the South Island was better for scenery and activities. Hopping onto the bus the next day to get ourselves to Tirau I was glad not to be driving!

The next morning (Thursday) we went for a really nice drive through the rest of the National Park, stopping off at various lookout points and taking far too many photos. The Waitomo Caves region wasn’t too far away and we had prebooked ourselves into an underground trip on an inflated tube for the afternoon. After another good lunch of cheese and tomato sandwiches we got to the tour base where we were kitted out in wet suits and helmets. Our group of 12 were then taken to the caves themselves where we got our rubber tube and jumped into a nearby river to get used to the cold water.

The opening to the cave was tiny and we all had to squeeze in one by one. Inside we were given a safety briefing before we all took a small jump backwards over a waterfall onto the freezing cold water below. Floating on our tubes and using our headlamps to light the way we paddled down through the cave, at some points having to stand up and guide ourselves over more waterfalls. At one section we were instructed to stop and to turn off all our lights. On the cave roof overhead were hundreds of glow-worms. With our lights still turned off we were guided down a large cavern with the glow-worms above us looking like stars. It was a fantastic place, made even better by the fact that it was dark by the time we had to get out of the cave. Our guide shone his torch down a passage and said that we should leave our lights off and to find our own way out! It was in parts both hilarious and terrifying! Sorcha was out in front, leading the group, with me following close behind. Numerous times I heard her say the words: “Eh, I’ve hit a wall, I don’t know where to go!”. Eventually, after much splashing about and feeling along cave walls, we all managed to get out of the cave.

Back at our campsite we awarded ourselves with a really good dinner and some mulled wine we bought at New World. The next day was Friday and we were heading back to Auckland.

Following that we went to Te Papa (or Our Place in Maori) which is the National Meuseum of NZ. Their exhibitions covered everything from natural science to the history of New Zealand and all had some sort of interactivity along with them. For example, beside a display of one of the biggest squids ever caught in New Zealand there was a touch screen where you could make your own squid and e-mail it to yourself (for anyone visiting Te Papa soon have a look for Squidgy the Irish squid!). There was also a small house where you could experience one of the biggest earthquakes in New Zealand in recent times. It was also good to get out of all the rain and wind outside for the 2 hours we were there.

Once we’d seen enough we ventured out to find a book store. It took a while, but we eventually found one that had both the Lonely Planet Guidebooks to Fiji and South America, something we desperately needed to plan the rest of our trip. To get back to our campervan we took a very cramped and congested bus back to the campsite, a reminder of rush hour Dublin back home. Dinner was followed by a quick stint on the internet researching places to stay in Fiji and then a by a movie on the laptop.

The next morning we took the campervan to the suburb of Miramar where Peter Jackson has his Weta studio. Unfortunately this was cut short when I opened up one of the cupboards in the campervan and my laptop fell to the floor, breaking the screen. Given that it has become an indispensable tool to us on the trip (for this blog, photos, internet access, entertainment) we decided to try to get it fixed immediately. I found a guy near the city centre who fixes laptops for a living and he had the horrible task of informing me that it was beyond fixing and needed to be replaced. Undaunted, I went back online at the campsite and found out that the manufacturer, Asus, has a repair outlet in Auckland. I gave them a call and they said they could replace the screen once I dropped into them, no problems. Given that we were on the opposite side of the North Island we had to make do with a broken laptop (with only a quarter of the screen working) for next few days.

Finally, on our last day in Wellington, we made it out once again to Miramar and to the Weta Cave. This section of the film studio was recently opened as they were getting sick of people trying to get a sneaky peek of productions over the security gate. Instead they setup an area with film props, a documentary on the studio and some collectable items for sale so that people could come and have a look. It was great to see some of the swords and costumes from Lord Of The Rings and some of the anamatronics and production material from other films like Black Sheep, King Kong, The Frighteners and Braindead. The 20 minute documentary on the studio was excellent as it detailed how a small team of filmmakers began work from their own rented apartment to now being one of the top production studios in the world. It was amazing to think that only a few meters away were hard drives and systems that were rendering scenes for James Cameron’s Avatar and Steven Spielberg’s take on Tintin. It was a fantastic place and should be seen by everyone who goes to Wellington.

By the time we left Wellington the weather had finally taken a turn for the better. I think we would have enjoyed the city better if we weren’t based so far outside and if the weather had not been so horrible.

Tongariro National Park is now probably best known as the location of Mordor in the Lord Of The Rings films. Much of the scenery around the Desert Road was quite desolate, helped by the dingy weather, and we couldn’t get any views of Mount Doom (real name: Mt Tongariro). We’d be passing through the area on the way back from Wellington so hopefully the weather would be kinder to us by then.

We continued beyond the National Park and trusted the SatNav to bring us to the town of Wanganui where we’d camp for the night. For some unknown reason the SatNav decided not to take the main route and instead sent us down a very narrow and hilly road called the Fields Track. This was a mixture of good and bad. The good: the hills were really nice and we were seeing a part of New Zealand off the beaten track. The bad: we had no idea where the hell we were!! At one point I had to brake suddenly as we turned a corner to see a small landslide and a tree covering most of the road. It was easy enough to get by but it did worry us that there’d be more like that ahead. Eventually we got back onto the main road and continued towards Wanganui.

When we arrived the town seemed like something out of a horror film. Half of it looked run-down, the rest was more like Ballymun (before it was redeveloped) and the locals stopped and stared at us while be drove by. Feeling a bit uneasy we decided to keep going and head to Palmerstown North. It was dark by the time we arrived and after a quick trip to New World (our favourite supermarket chain, they have a fantastic veg section) we cooked dinner and watched a movie on the laptop.

We got ourselves setup in a nice camping area and made a tasty dinner. The drive had me absolutely exhausted so I went to bed early and fell asleep almost immediately. The next morning we got a call from Laura and Kev to say that they were in Rotorua and leaving on a bus to Auckland around noon, so we drove in and met them for breakfast (the only time we ate out in the 2 weeks in the campervan, something which we were very proud of!). In the afternoon we took a walk through the town park and got to see some bubbling mud and steaming lakes. The area around Rotorua is known as The Volcanic Valley as it’s a highly active area for volcanic activity such as earthquakes, hot springs, geysers, sulphur pools and volcanic rock formations. We went to this one area where a volcano erupted only a few decades ago and formed a huge valley, apparently the only one in the world where we know exactly when and how it happened. We took a really good walk past massive steaming lakes and streams, cliff faces that had plumes of hot vapour pouring out through tiny holes, and a lake of intense blue water caused by a large chemical reaction from the thermal heat and chemicals below.

On our last day in the area we spent a night at Lake Taupo (once again, a town that seemed like it would be livelier during the summer) and in the morning we drove to the Lady Knox Geyser, located on a thermal park. By the time we arrived the rain was pelting down and, for the first time in ages, we had to resort to our rain jackets. We stood by the viewing area at 10.15am, the time we were expecting the geyser to erupt. Instead, a park attendant came over, gave a quick spiel about how the geyser was discovered (gold miners’ soap caused the first erruption when they washed their clothes) and then poured some powder down the spout. So it wasn’t a natural geyser as we expected and had to be ignited by the powder. It didn’t matter in the end as the geyser was fairly spectacular. Afterwards we went to another volcanic area beside the geyser. This one was known for its sulphur pools and caves and, despite the torrential rain, was really enjoyable. They gave most of the features funny demonic names like The Devil’s Home (a smelly cave) and The Devil’s Ink Pots (mud pools). The Devil’s Pool was the most impressive as it was a pool of luminescent green water, caused by a chemical the name I’ve already forgotten. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a colour appear from a natural source before.

On Tuesday morning we got our home for the next 2 weeks delivered to us by the owner, a jolly fellow called Kenrick. He went through the usual safety demonstration and how to work everything in the van before he asked us to drop him off at a train station on our way out! We headed north to the Bay of Isles through some fairly uninspiring countryside and had some lunch by the sea. At this stage both of us were developing a cold and began to feel drained and stuffed up. We stayed at a campsite near the town of Paihia and the next morning went straight to the Pharmacy to pick up some Lemsip, decongestant and tissues. We spent  those days in the Northlands looking for and checking out waterfalls, forest walks and caves. Most were fine, but they paled in comparison to the sights in the South Island so we were left uninspired by most places. The best place we went to was 90 Mile Beach, a long stretch of sand that goes to the very tip of NZ. We saw huge waves and the fierce wind cleared up our heads immediately. That night we both decided that we had enough of the Northlands and that we should head towards Rotorua the next morning and see how far we’d get.

It was the first time in NZ where we both felt unimpressed and underwhelmed. It’s not that the Northlands were an ugly sight, it all just was far too plain when you’ve got such other amazing places in NZ right beside it. Also, most of the towns seemed like they would really come to life in the Summer which was now long past. Maybe in warmer weather we would have enjoyed it better. Plus, having a cold probably put a dampener on the situation and we made an effort to take things easy and recuperate.

Much of the pleasure of having the campervans in down to Kea. They gave us some great service and the vehicles were top of the range and really comfortable. It is possible to have gone cheaper, but that would have meant sacrificing some basic comforts and not being as relaxed. Each one had gas heating, comfy seats/beds, all the blankets and sheets you needed, TV/DVD combo, gas cooker, toilets, running water both hot and cold, a safe, cutlery, pots, pans, toaster, a microwave and ample storage space. After being in it for 2 weeks I was actually sad to have to stay in a hostel room!

The journey itself was really enjoyable, and probably the best 2 weeks we’ve had on the trip. We got to see some incredible sites and did some amazing things. But most of all it was great to have been able to do all that with Kev, Laura, Brian, Monty and Dan.

Myself and Sorcha are in Auckland now and are planning the next 2 weeks in the North Island. After that we’ve got a weeks WWOOFing on a dairy farm just south of where we are now so we can have time to properly plan Fiji and South America. Also, we need that time to learn as much Spanish as we can! So far I can say “Hello”, “Thank you”, and “Where is the toilet please?”. I’ve a lot of work ahead of me!

Since the lads had a flight to catch on Sunday morning we decided that it would be best to drop the campervans back to Kea on the Saturday afternoon. But before that we were able to get in some shopping (Sorcha picked up 4 months supply of contacts for cheap) and some organising as well for our trip to the North Island. In the evening we went to the cinema to see Angels And Demons (better than The Da Vinci Code, but still as clunky as a 1970s Lada) and ate dinner in a half Mexican/half NZ eatery on Oxford Terrace that had great lamb.

On Saturday we booked ourselves proper rooms for the night and began the task of packing bags and cleaning out the campervans. Thankfully, little damage was done. Ours had a small piece of the side detail scraped off by someone who had parked too close to us, and the lads’ camper had their cooker top smashed when they lit their grill without lifting it up. Both were covered by our insurance anyway and Kea said that those occurrences were very regular for them and not half as bad as other issues they’ve encountered.

As a last group activity we decided to experience a bit of Maori culture and went to a show where we learnt about their traditions and way of life. This included a quick lesson in performing the Haka which I relished in doing. Since it all took place on Maori land the eldest tourist in the group (a bloke from the US) had to act as our chief and be faced with the task of showing to the Maori tribe that we were peaceful and wished to be their guests. Apparently the laying down of greenery and the traditional greeting of touching noses and heads is still to this day the only way Maori’s will allow people on their property.

Later on that night we all had our final dinner of the trip together in a cheap Indian down the road from the holiday park. Kev and Laura were booked on a bus to Picton at 7am on Sunday to get the ferry to Wellington, the lads were on a flight at 10am to Singapore to catch their connecting flight back home and, as for Sorcha and I, we were flying out to Auckland at 8am. We all said our goodbyes and wished everyone a safe journey. It was strange to have been a group for two weeks to all of a sudden being back to just myself and Sorcha. It was a really good two week though, and it was fantastic to have been able to see it with everyone else.

The weather had finally improved as well. For much of Dunedin we were pelted with heavy rain so we were all relieved and delighted to have some clear sky. We decided to park the campervans neat the skating rink to do a walk to the peak of a nearby hill. However, by the time we got there we found that the ice rink had been opened and that they also had some hot springs you could jump into after your skating session. So, we donned our rented skates and, like new calves trying to walk for the first time, we hit the ice. Literally! We managed fine, but Sorcha was the only one to resemble anything that could be described as graceful.

The hot springs afterwards were fantastic. The scenery was better than when we went to Hanmer Springs and the fact the we had the place to ourselves made it even more enjoyable. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we lost track of time and spent longer there then we expected.

The trip to Akaroa was going to be long one so we decided on a mid-way point to swap over drivers. I took the first half and changed over to Kev for the remaining half. The drive was quite bendy once we got to the Banks Peninsula and myself and Sorcha were thrown around a good deal in the back as Kev negotiated the turns. We were all quite hungry when we got to our campervan park, so we went in search of somewhere to eat in the town. I picked out a place from the Lonely Planet and parked the van while the rest of them went ahead to get a table. Unfortunately they went into the wrong restaurant without knowing it and we were subjected to some really bad service. Our waiter, Gorden, was just plain weird (too many failed attempts at jokes) and the food didn’t come out together at all (they even forgot poor Laura’s order). The food itself was fine (Sorcha really liked her chicken dish) but we all agreed afterwards that it was a complete disaster.