“When angry, count to four; when very angry, swear.” -Mark Twain

Camper van tally:

         Times Brad and I have hit our heads: 9 10

         Goose eggs attained: 2

         Things found wrong with campervan: approx. 5

         Missing coffee presses: 1 (= 7 caffeine withdrawal headaches)

         Beautiful stuff in NZ: unlimited

         To say things have been going a little rough would be an understatement.  Imagine if you will two T-Rex’s* trying to coexist in a toaster and you have an idea of how the camper van journey has begun.  Our plan to drive to Roturua, the Maori cultural capital of New Zealand, ended with us getting lost several times and grabbing the first “holiday park” (campervan plug in place thingy) outside of Auckland wanting to pull our hair out.  We kept misplacing everything, the fridge wasn’t working, coffee has been splashed everywhere thanks to VW’s shoddy cup holders, and the thing drives like Model T plus the stress of driving on the left side of the road.  However, the guy working at the holiday park was absolutely awesome and gave us a full run down of rugby, the snow in the south island, and a full lesson on how to pronounce the Maori cities (how do you think you say Manganuiateao?) complete with notes for future study, and told us stories about diving for paua (a kind of shellfish) as a kid.  Needless to say, by the time my head hit the pillow I slept like a baby.

*Brad believes that it’s more like a T-Rex and a baby salamander.  Can you guess who’s who?

         The next day we decided to start fresh with an upbeat attitude and happy outlook.  We drove the rest of the way to Roturua where we stumbled across some wild… “PEACOCKS!!!!”  My joyous shrieking terrified not only the peacocks who split, but also my driving companion who may have had an acute heart attack as the van came to a screeching halt.  Bonus: our next stop at a picnic area featured a rooster.  It’s like being at Sherry Mack’s house!

Thanks for the Atlas Jennie!  Note the cup of coffee Brad spilled on it.  Oops!

"PEACOCKS!!!"

Picnic area on the way to Rotorua

Chicken

 

When we finally made it to Rotorua, we took a long walk around Kuirua Park to see the geothermal activity (Rotorua and the surrounding area is also famous for this).

Thermal mud pool

More geothermal activity...

This answers our question about whether or not the springs would boil you alive... this little duckling seems to be just fine!

         Next we drove over to Rotorua Lake to eat lunch in the campervan with a sweet view of the water and black swans. 

         Our last stop was to The Redwoods.  This area, The Whakarewarawara (where are those Maori pronunciation notes...) Forest, was planted in 1899 to see which trees could successfully grow and be chopped down for timber.  One of the species still around today is Californian Redwoods!  They were amazing.

Brad next to the Redwoods

I love you!

Oasis in the partk

Huge fern

         Seeing all of this lovely steam and being so darn cold brought us to our last stop which has been my favorite part of the campervan trip so far: Waikite Valley Thermal Pools.  For $20 per person, you can plug in your campervan (this means you can use the heater, lights, and microwave in the van) and soak the night away in any of their hot spring pools.  There was hardly anybody around so we got to soak away in peace in the beautiful hot springs and finally warm up.  This plus Monkey Bay Sauvignon Blanc = heaven!

Hot spring pool.  Ahhh...

         Day three of the great campervan journey led us to Tongariro National Park, the second oldest NP behind Yellowstone.  We are getting more and more adjusted to campervan life (now we’re more like two seagulls in a toaster) and loving the freedom to stop at anything that looks interesting for a quick hike and pictures.  One such stop was at some bubbling mud pools and then a stop for lunch at Lake Taupo.

         When we got to Tongariro, we were surprised at how icy and crowded it was.  When we finally got parked, the lady at the info desk suggested a hike to the Silica Rapids, which appear yellow because of the mineral deposits on the rocks.   We also saw some beautiful falls and amazing snow-capped mountains, one of which was Mt. Doom in Lord of the Rings, but the craziest part was seeing all of this luscious green flora covered in snow.

Our first kiwi friend

Brrrr

Mt. Doom and a hobbit

         Right now, we’re both chilling in the campervan on our computers.  We didn’t arrive here until after dark, but we’re apparently camping at Raukawa Falls and can hear the rushing water so I’m looking forward to a surprise beautiful view tomorrow morning.