So if the South Island is all alpine views, blue glacier lakes and rugged coastlines, then the North is all about volcanoes, lava flows, geothermal activity and golden beaches. In the UK, the common claim is that 'it's grim up North'. Well, in NZ, the North is a bubbling, steaming mix of scenery and geology that is anything but grim. In fact, it's brilliant up North in NZ'!
We spent 2 days in Wellington. The weather wasn’t great but I was lucky
enough to spend the afternoon with Angus, my old Uni friend from Glasgow who I
hadn’t seen for over 20 years. It was great to see him although slightly
worrying that it is almost 29 years since we sat together in 1st
Year of University. Perhaps it was a sign of onset early stage dementia, but we both forgot to take a photo, denying any photographic proof of how well Angus has aged.
After Wellington, he headed up to the Tongariro National Park to trek the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, often listed in the list of the world's greatest day walks.
It didn't disappoint. Volcanoes, lava flows, blue lakes, snow capped peaks, steaming sulphur, all wrapped up in a 25km hike. It took us 8 hours, the kids did it without blinking, it deserves its reputation as a world-beater.
This brought us to Rotorua, the centre of NZ geothermal activity - geysers, steam pools, dormant volcanoes - it has the lot. We spent 3 days in a brilliant US-style motorhome on the shores of Lake Tarawera, real luxury 'glamping', we absolutely loved it and took the chance to explore the area, some hiking, Redwood Forest, some geyser watching and generally just enjoying.
From here, we decided to head up to the Coromandel Peninsula for 4 days and it proved to be a great decision. We stayed in the beautiful coastal town of Tairua, loved this place. This area has some glorious coastlines and beaches and some top natural attractions. We hiked to Cathedral Cove and had a brilliant afternoon at Hot Water Beach, where we dug under the sand for boiling spring water along with another 1000 or so people!
We spent the day in Coromandel Town, exploring the beaches and coves and learning about the endangered, native Kauri Tree, which can live up to 2000 years old!
We climbed Mt Paku, a dormant volcano which gave breathtaking views of the coastline and Tairua. Mt Paku itself if only around 350m high but it dominates the area and was one of the most picturesque views we saw on the North Island.
On our final day in the area, we trekked the Collins Road, an old goldmine from the 1800s. This was a brilliant hike, combining great views with a 500m walk through a 150 year old mining tunnel. The kids frantically searched for any remaining gold but had to make do with the Glowworms inside the tunnel.
We left Tairua on the 28th April and had just 3 days left in NZ. We couldn't believe it was coming to an end, our 7+ weeks had gone in a flash.
But we were in for one final treat, ending with a real big finish. We headed an hour north of Auckland to stay with an old friend of mine, Scott, we worked together in Glasgow around 20 years ago. We met him at his art gallery, The Vivian, where he gave us a tour of the paintings and sculptures, then we headed back to his expansive clifftop 'Grand Designs' home in the tiny village of Pakiri. Words can't describe how beautiful his home is, ocean views, architecturally stunning, we had it all to ourselves as he headed off to Auckland for an art fair, Scott, we can't thank you enough!
We spent a couple of days exploring Northland - the Waipu Caves, Mt Manaia with its Scottish history and our last day was spent on the Mangawhai Coastline, one of the most beautiful places we have been on the North Island.
And that was that! It was a quite amazing end to a quite brilliant 53 days.
On the 1st May, we headed to Auckland to catch our flight to Nepal, via a stopover in Bangkok.
The mountains are about to get a whole lot higher, while the toilets will get a whole lot dirtier. It's going to be interesting...