Today we bring you our summary from New Zealand (North Island), to help you plan your visit to this beautiful land as well as possible.
The first part of the trip through New Zealand led us to explore the north island on a tour that took us out the most cosmopolitan city in the country, Auckland, to the northernmost point of the country and ending up riding a ferry from Wellington with which we would disembark on the south island ... 5 months and 5,000 km later.
We arrived in New Zealand without much idea of what the following months would hold for us and wow they surprised us! The first contact with the country of the long white cloud was Auckland on the north island (you knew there were two islands, right?) and here we stayed 3 weeks to do an English course where we met many boys and we had a great time!
After this "academic" period came winter and we went to tour New Zealand in our van. We discovered a lot of super cool places, we got closer to the Maori culture and we learned to live on the route, literally! We go through the tutukaka coastwe met Whangarei and the area of Bay of island, we reached the tip to the north of New Zealand, the Cape reinga, to return to the most populous city in this country. We did everything in about three weeks, always sleeping in our van.
Then we had several days to enjoy another way of "traveling", this time from home! But not ours, but those of some Kiwis who need to leave their homes and pets in good hands (WTF) through housesitting in Waihi, Coromandel and Waiuku. In this way we met Pedro and Mosca, Rossie and Gogo and a handful of crazy sheep ... in addition to approaching the spa-lifestyle, believing some maharajas in a dream house and living in the countryside with nothing to bother us.
We continue our route through the central and southern zone of the North Island of New Zealand, to end in Wellington. We pass through some of the most beautiful sites in New Zealand as one of the most active geothermal parks in the world: Wai-O-Tapu in Rotorua, the largest lake in the country: Taupo Lake, the geekiest village in the world: Hobbiton, we did housesitting in Waihi, Waiuku and in Coromandel, we climb Mordor in the trekking of Tongariro and many more things (special mention for Lorraine and John, who hosted us in their Rotorua house).
In total it has been 6 months very quiet but full of experiences, in which we have taken the opportunity to write 3 books and, of course, to travel about 5,000 km and see impressive sites in New Zealand.
Next we leave the map of our route, In it you will find links that redirect you to the articles of each place, for more information. Later we include the list with the articles we have written and two links to know the “Campsites” where to spend the night with a van.
Finally we put some reference prices so you can calculate more or less the expenses on a trip to this country and we ended up telling it was for us The best and the worst of this trip through the north island of New Zealand.
OUR ROUTE
This was our route during the 5 month stay on the north island.
ARTICLES ON THE ROUTE
These are the posts we write:
- Our first steps in New Zealand
- Hobbits for a day, Hobbiton
- Sleeping for ... Auckland
- "Back to school"
- We're leaving wines
- Exploring Waitomo Caves
- 10 places to eat in Auckland for $ 5
- How to buy a car in New Zealand
- Study English in New Zealand
- The 6 tests (3 weeks in Northland)
- How to open a bank account in New Zealand
- Housesitting: a new way of traveling
- Cape Reinga, the door to the other world
- 5 reasons to do housesitting
- 2 months living in the antipodes
- Story costs living in New Zealand: the purchase
- Driving on Ninety Miles Beach
- Tutukaka Coast is not poop, cool!
- What SIM to buy in New Zealand
- Things to see and do in Auckland
- How to get the IRD Number in New Zealand
- Chronicles of a bad day
- Housesitting-time: Waihi
- Gold tunnels and mines in Karangahake
- On the road again: Mount Maunganui
- Rotorua, the egg city (and not kindergarten)
- Wai-o-Tapu, the best geothermal park in New Zealand
- Turning around Lake Taupo
- Cathedral Cove, the jewel of Coromandel
- Rosie & Gogo
- Housesitting-time: Coromandel
- Mt Eden, walking through a volcano
- New Zealand by van, our tips
- A day of “Mordor” (trekking in the Tongariro Alpine Crossing)
- Raglan, the shadows of the sea
- Housesitting-time: Waiuku
- Backpacking by “Windy Welly”
- Sailing south (ferry between the islands)
- 10 reasons to go to New Zealand
SITES WHERE TO OVERNIGHT WITH FURGONETA (FREE AND LEGAL)
- PART I
- PART II
REFERENCE PRICES
If you want to take a look at the reference prices in supermarkets check this post
THE BEST
- Travel invan: what to liveon the road, although it has its bad side (punctual showers and freezing cold, mattress not properly luxury, menu that does not leave the rice and pasta ...) is a pass! The freedom he gives you and the feeling of being able to go wherever you want is unique.
- Cape reinga: the most sacred place for the maories left us stone (as well as the nearby Tapotupotu bay).
- Back to school in Auckland: not so much for the classes but rather for the many people from all over the world that we met (and Wednesdays with student discounts!).
- The ease to achieve $ 5 meal. Ok, they won't be Michelin star sites but hey, it saved us on more than one occasion.
- The Waihi Beach, half unknown to tourists and very wild.
- The housesitting, of the best experiences we had in a lifetime (and the animals we care for, all very nice and achuchables).
- The geothermal park of Wai-O-Tapu, near Rotorua, full of colorful lakes and fumaroles (not even the smell of rotten egg will make your day bitter).
- Survive the Tongariro trekking (Although it took us 2 days to take off the laces!). Impressive the Red Crater and the lake area ... without doubt the best of all New Zealand.
- Mont Maunganui, a small coastal town the beautiful sea.
- Wellington and its neighborhoods full of wooden houses, slopes and lots of green (and of course the Te-Papa museum, the most important and largest in New Zealand ... free).
- Sounds topical but it's true: the landscapes... and you are driving and you run into hills full of sheep, suddenly you cross a river, you cross a town that seems taken from the old west and you reach the wildest beach you ever saw: New Zealand is an amazing country.
- Feel two little hobbit in Hobbiton (and the ginger beer!).
- Visit the Waitomo caves with its blue luminous dots (the fact that it is a disgusting mosquito does not take away its charm).
-The fish and chips: We were not very fans before arriving but we have adapted (very) well.
WORST
- The price of vegetables and fruit: prohibitive especially if they are out of season.- The gasoline price (2-2.25 $ a liter) which is still cheaper than in Spain ... but when you do 5,000 km the portfolio suffers! - The area of Bay of island, which supposedly is the best in the north, we were not amazed and it is that between the cold, the rain and that there was not even the tato we did not enjoy it at all.
- To have only 2 days To get to know the Wellington area, we would have liked to stay longer and explore it better.
- The penalty fee that we took as a souvenir from Tauranga (luckily it was only about € 20 to park where it was forbidden).
Hopefully our “summary of New Zealand (north island) ” you liked it 🙂
