Any Kiwi's Hiring at the Moment? - New Zealand North Island Part 1

Let me start by saying New Zealand is amazing and I want to live here.  But before I get into that... After a brief stint back in the US for more wedding celebrations – congrats to Mike and Kara Prince! - we made close to a 40 hour travel day(s?) over to Auckland, New Zealand.

Illini soccer at the Prince's wedding!

New Zealand is comprised of the North Island and the South Island - Auckland is the biggest city in the country and located on the north end of the North Island.  Most of the population lives on the North Island.  That’s not saying much though as the country’s total population is about 4.4 million people with a land area equivalent to the U.K.  Some more fun facts about New Zealand… They live in the future.  The country’s time zone is 19 hours ahead of the central time zone in the US, so although we have been awake at comparable times during the day, we are already on to the next day of the week - which can make things like wishing someone a happy birthday somewhat confusing.  They drive on the wrong side of the road here again and, unlike in Ireland, the blinker and windshield wipers are also swapped on the car so there has been a lot of missed signaling while windshield wiping without precipitation.  I think this is the first place we’ve been that soccer isn’t the number one sport.  They are all about rugby here, then cricket and basketball.  The customs process for entry into the country is quite intense.  Any camping or hiking gear gets inspected and washed.  Fruit, nuts, honey, or basically any non-packaged food will get confiscated and disposed of.  New Zealanders are called kiwis, and it’s based off of the national bird not the fruit.

Although a major city, Auckland is pretty small.  We stayed in a hostel on the outskirts of the city.  There was a nice park within 5 minutes of us called Mt. Eden that gives a good view overlooking the city at the summit.  The city has a tower similar to Seattle’s Space Needle building which you can pay to walk around the edge at the top and jump off (all while attached to a safety cable).  The vibe of the city, and whole country for that matter, is super chill and friendly.  No one seems to be in a rush, everyone greets you with a big smile.  It’s green everywhere.  Most of the time you feel like you’re either in a forest in northwest US or a rainforest in Hawaii or some combination of the two.  Down by the wharf in Auckland there are a ton of outdoor bars and social things to do.  Even within the city, there’s tons of parks with hill tops to climb.  We were in Auckland for 2 full days.  One of the days I took a 30 minute ferry to Rangitoto Island.  It is uninhabited and the site of a previously erupted volcano.  There are beaches and a bunch of trails to run on.  One trail takes you up to the summit of the dormant volcano and provides a great view of Auckland.  

The Sky Tower from Albert Park

Views of downtown from the top of Mt. Eden

On our third day we picked up our rental car and headed east to Coromandel Peninsula to drive along their Pacific Coast Highway.  The cheap way around the country is by camper van or car and tent.  We utilized the latter.  We hit New Chum’s Beach and Cathedral Cove that first day.  The second day we stopped through Whangamata Beach, Waihi Beach, Karangahake Gorge walk, Mount Maunganui, McLaren Falls, and took a picture with a massive kiwi.  Karangahake Gorge is an old gold mining area so we did a short hike through old mining tunnels which was pretty cool.  Mount Maunganui was really awesome.  A quick 45-minute hike takes you to the summit and you get an awesome view of the surrounding beaches and mountains in the distance.  The next day our original goal was to scuba dive by White Island in the Bay of Plenty but upon arriving in Whakatane, the departure city, we found that it was too early in the season for scuba diving.  That was a big bummer since White Island is supposed have some of the world’s best diving and we hadn’t been diving since June.  Plan B was rerouting off of the coast and heading into Rotorua, also known as Rotovegas, to experience some Maori culture.  

New Chum's Beach

Cathedral Cove

Mt. Maunganui

Karangahake Gorge

McLaren Falls

Maori are the natives of New Zealand.  Europeans arrived after them in the early to mid-1800s.  We visited Whakarewarewa village, an active Maori village, and got to see a song and dance performance, a walking tour of the village, and a typical lunch.  For anyone who hasn’t witnessed a Haka dance, they are terrifying at first.  The guys are huge and they slap themselves and make grunting noises and violently stick out their tongues while making crazy eyes at you.  This was a ritual they would perform in front of their enemy before a battle in an effort to intimidate them.  The village is located in the middle of a bunch of hot springs and the villagers use them for bathing and cooking.  We had a traditional lunch there as well which included corn, salad with vegetables, mashed potatoes with beef and other vegetables in a breaded pocket (kind of like a large pizza pocket), and then cinnamon bread with pudding and fruit for dessert.  It was quite good!  After that we did a small walk along the lake in Rotorua.  You can do hot spring pools there but we had just done that in Iceland so we opted not to.  There’s also a ton of outdoors sports to do in that area but we were saving that for other locations.

Maori Cultural Performance

We made our way down to Taupo to get set up for the Tongariro Crossing hike the next day.  This is a 20 km one-way hike up over a volcano and down the other side.  For Lord of the Rings fans, you pass Mount Doom (and we saw a couple people going up it) on this hike.  We paid for a shuttle to pick us up in the morning at the parking lot we would end the hike at and take us to the starting point.  There are hot springs and lakes at the top of the hike where we enjoyed our lunch.  It ended up taking about 4.5 hours but we were moving pretty quick.  It takes most people 6-8 hours.  The hike didn’t have the typical green surroundings like the rest of the country, but the lakes and crater at the top makes it a very cool hike.  After the hike we headed over to Napier, the east coast’s wine country.  

Views from Tongariro Crossing Hike

In the morning we drove up to Te Mata peak which gives some great panoramic views of the surrounding area.  On our way back from that we drove by a few of the fancier wineries and through the town center.  Even if you don’t like wine, I suggest going here.  It was awesome.  We paid a grand total of $5 each to have far too many tastings of wine at three wineries – Church Road, Mission Estate, and Crab Farm.  The main wines of the region are Chardonnay and Pinot Gris but the wineries had everything and they just kept pouring and pouring it into our glasses.  It also happened to be Thanksgiving that day - which kiwis don't celebrate, but most know about - so we had a turkey sandwich that evening with a bottle of wine we purchased from Crab Farm because we felt like we had somehow cheated the system the whole day.  

Church Road Winery

Thanksgiving Meal

View of Napier and the Coastline from Te Mata Peak

The next day we took our time leaving our campsite and then drove through the rest of wine country and made our way over towards Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, which is at the very southern tip of the country.  This is where you can catch the ferry to get over to the South Island.  Before hopping on the ferry we visited a couple of beaches and parks on the coast - nothing super exciting.  We also sat and watched a cricket game in a park for about 30 minutes.  We had almost zero knowledge on the sport prior to sitting down, and I can’t say with left the park with any additional knowledge!  We needed some commentators to explain the rules clearly.  The North Island has been gorgeous but we've been told the South Island is supposedly where all the real beauty and outdoors action is!

Doug with his wind turbines in the distance

Cricket match in a random park in Wellington