Chapter 179: The Adventures of “Hefty Hazel” – Part One

Our campervan adventures began on Saturday, 12/2.  We took the bus from downtown Whangarei to Auckland city center.  The bus was great- comfortable, convenient, on time, and with the added bonus of being entertained by a very inebriated gentleman behind us who kept asking his seatmate the same questions over and over again. Quite entertaining.  We arrived at the designated pick up spot for the van in the afternoon and wow, I have never seen so many campervans before! I knew it was huge in New Zealand but had no idea how popular it was! It was like a United Nations in the waiting area – so many different languages being spoken! Bob took an online driving test, we got our orientation to the van, and off we went!

We had decided to stay in Auckland for the first night so we could provision and have time to get used to the van. First stop was the grocery store, where we quickly realized just how big the van was and how parking it was going to be a bit tricky! We named her “Hefty Hazel” as she was 7.5 meters long, 2.25 meters long, and 3.35 meters tall which meant regular sized parking spots were a bit challenging! Bob did great finding us a spot and we got our groceries and headed for the first campground. 

It was a bit anxiety provoking with driving on the left and needing to watch the height of bridges that we could fit under all while navigating the busy Auckland roads.  We turned into the campground and of course it had to be an uphill driveway lined with rocks. Yep, you can guess what happened next – a little sideswipe of the rock wall and a bit of swearing.  We thought we had escaped the swearing and repair work when we left Meraviglia but maybe not….

After a good night’s sleep and a reset after our close encounter with a rock, we set off for the Coromandel Peninsula. We were very happy to get out of Auckland traffic and onto less busy roads.  The scenery was stunning right out of the gate.  Imagine beautiful green rolling hills everywhere you look with sheep and cows grazing. Now also imagine navigating “hefty hazel” down all those same curvy switchbacks as you go up and over the hills! Bob did great however despite my constant litany of “helpful” advice 😂 We arrived at our first Freedom Camping parking spot in Tairua without incident! Freedom camping in New Zealand is great.  There are designated camping spots all over the country that are free as long as you have a self contained vehicle and often they are in very scenic locations.  This one was right on the beach and had free bathroom facilities and access to some great hiking. After being on Meraviglia, we were excited to do some hiking or “tramping” as they call it in New Zealand.  We got up early the next morning and hiked up to the Mount Paku summit to enjoy views of the coastline before setting off for our next stop, the famous Cathedral Cove. This famous beach is known for its large, natural rock archway and stunning scenery which was actually used as a filming location for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. The archways are spectacular! We finished our hike just as the rains came down so we ducked into a place for lunch before heading to Mount Maunganui where we would be spending the night. The drive to Mount Manganui was pretty short so we were settled into our campsite just as the rains stopped with plenty of time for another hike before sunset.  The final hike of the day was the Mount Maunganui summit and loop track.  3.9 miles later and LOTS of stairs, we were tired but loving the incredible views.  Was it a good idea to do multiple hikes with a lot of elevation after our activity level on Meraviglia??? Hmm..

Our next stop was Rotorua with a stop for a short waterfall hike on the way.  We did the hike but I quickly realized that my hip was not feeling great after our previous day’s adventures.  We continued onto our campground and after getting settled took a walk to explore a bit.  That was when I realized I might have been a bit ambitious on the first few hikes.  I could barely walk on the way back to the van.  It was not good and honestly very disappointing. So we had to revamp the plans a bit to shorter hikes and visiting some attractions that we didn’t originally have on the list. Plus ibuprofen, lots of ibuprofen. 

Next up was Taupo.  We visited Huka Falls, the Craters of the Moon geothermal walk, the world’s coolest Mc Donald’s, and the Waipahihi Botanical Reserve! While they were not originally on our list, they were super cool – especially the geothermal walk.  To see the steam rising and the bubbling pools of water was super cool and definitely felt otherworldly! We stayed at a paying campground in Taupo – we needed to alternate between powered sites and free sites to keep the batteries charged and have access to the dump stations, definitely a learning curve on traveling in a campervan.  

We ended the first week at an awesome Freedom camping site in downtown Napier.  Napier was one of our favorite stops! The town is known for its art deco architecture and the buildings were very cool.  It also had lots of nice restaurants and shops, all within walking distance of our camping site right on the water at the National Aquarium of New Zealand.  We were finally able to see a kiwi and some penguins at the aquarium! We also got to visit the Anglican Cathedral in Napier for a service – a pretty good ending to week one of our adventures with “Hefty Hazel”! Next up: Wine country, Wellington and Mount Taranaki!