North Island

- Wairarapa, second edition

The ferry arrives at Wellington harbour at 5.20 pm. The harbour itself is in the centre of the town and its layout is a nightmare; the quay is far too small and has no dedicated ramp onto the busy city centre highway leading out of town. Everyone has to wait before a silly traffic light which shows red for 3 minutes and then gives a 20 second green phase for us disembarking from the ferry. As a result the stream of cars jams back all the way onto the ferry itself, because the small quay has no space to accommodate more than just a few vehicles. That the Wellington rush hour is in full swing does not help either.
It takes a full half hour to cover those 100 yards from the ship to the main street. That is enough "Big City" for me for a day - especially as I know that beautiful Martinborough and the Wairarapa region are just 90 minutes drive away from here.
So I drive eastwards on highway 2 and climb once more the perilous pass over the Rimutaka Range. Luckily the weather is fine - I wouldn't like to cross that pass in heavy rain or fog. At Featherston I turn south-east on highway 53, and by 7.30 pm I am at the Martinborough village campsite. Even after all these weeks Frank and Lisa, the site owners, recognize me immediately.
This small town with its unique micro-climate is one of the prime areas for fine New Zealand wines. Have a look at this picture:

The valley of Martinborough always reminds me of the town of Beaune in the French Burgundy region (Bourgogne). The only difference is that the Beaune valley is entirely covered by vineyards, while here the currently 64 different winemakers just cover a small section of the valley - yet. But climate and the layout of both valleys are strikingly similar. This may be one reason why the local wine competes so favourably with burgundy wines.
On my second day here I hire one of the campsites bicycles and do a tour of the vineyards. The countryside is so flat that even I can handle a pushbike, though I sure could do with some of Kitty's 110 horses.
The vineyards are mostly fairly small, the biggest one being the Palliser estate right behind the campsite, pressing about 1600 tons of grapes every season (a ton of grapes should yield about 700 regular bottles of wine).
I decide to visit the much smaller Schubert winery at the far side of the village. They press around 80 tons each season. Other than in the strictly regulated wineries in France there are absolutely no rules or regulations in place here in NZ (which is another way of saying that the French winemakers are stuck in a tangled web of French bureaucracy and red tape). I know French winemakers who would give an arm and a leg for such lenient laws.
So Kiwi wineries can happily grow, ferment, sulphurize, oak-chip or blend to their hearts content. As a result their wines often are exceptionally good and win many prizes, though the entire industry started off as recently as the early 1980's.
There is no rush at the winery, so I take my time sampling the various types on offer and thoroughly enjoy it. Partly due to the high quality and partly due to the heavy alcohol tax in NZ the prices per bottle range from 40 to 60 dollars. That sounds a lot, but if you consider that the Pinot Noir I am sampling has been rated at a blind sampling event in Germany last year as equal to a certain European brand retailing at 450 Euros per bottle, then the price is more than acceptable. The stuff is a real feast for the senses.
They have distributors in Europe, so I will certainly check them out once I am back there. NZ wine is certainly something to keep an eye out for in future.

The next day I take a leisurely drive out to Riversdale Beach on the coast east of Martinborough. Have a look at the beach itself:

Like so many beaches I have seen there is not much hassle here. But if you ever find yourself at a Kiwi beach I suggest you wear a hat and put on some strong suntan lotion; the sunshine here is about 40% stronger than in Europe and the usual cool sea breeze will deceive you into not noticing how fast your skin is burnt. Luckily I have the skin of a Zulu warrior and rarely ever get burnt.
In the afternoon I often drive into Martinborough village for a pipe and a coffee. The peaceful town centre was laid out by the town father, John Martin, in the 19th century. The streets around the town square are shaped in the form of the Union Jack.
Life moves in the slow lane here, so after several days of postponing it I will today visit the biggest town in Wairarapa, Masterton. There are three roads connecting Martinborough with Masterton. I take the longest one, Longbush Road, because it is the most scenic one.
Masterton itself features a great selection of Art Deco buildings, but other than Napier or Hastings the people here do not market it as loudly as those two towns on the east coast. But many of Masterton's buildings can match the best Napier has to offer. Look at this picture of the home of the local newspaper, the Wairarapa Times Age:

And though Masterton is the biggest town around, everything moves at a much slower pace around here then at Napier.
The weather has been excellent for the last couple of days. You can always check the weather here in New Zealand by logging on to the NZ Met Service - though those guys are no better than the average European forecast.
Having travelled to Masterton via Longbush Road yesterday I noticed the turnoff to Flat Point, another extremely remote coastal hamlet on the east coast. So today I take my van up the gravel road to that place.
Have you ever been on the lookout for some venison at your local deli and wondered why so much of it comes from New Zealand? Have a look at this picture; some Kiwis farm deer down here like others do beef:

The scenery here around Flat Point is great. However, living here means that going into Masterton for some groceries takes four hours, and in bad conditions you'd need a 4 x 4. Most inhabitants are retired people who enjoy the loneliness of the place as much as the scenery. Here is a view from 3 miles inland, looking out towards the sea:

The picture may lead you to believe that it is really hot here. In reality it is maybe 23° C. today - like most of the other nicer days. During all my time in NZ so far I have had only two days where the afternoon maximum temperature exceeded 30° Celsius.
After one week here in Wairarapa it is finally time for me to continue my journey up the west coast of North Island.

- Taranaki off the beaten track

This morning I leave Martinborough and take highway 53 to Featherston and then for the third time highway 2 over the Rimutaka Range to Birchville near Upper Hutt. From there I turn north via a byway road directly to Waikanae. This means that I do not need to go into busy Wellington again. That stretch of road is only twenty miles long, but it takes over one hour to drive. It is narrow and in parts outright treacherous, but the countryside is great.

Just after noon I arrive at the far side. Normally one would turn directly north here on highway 1 towards Levin. But if you are like myself an aficionado of motor vehicles and their history, then I strongly recommend that you do as I do: take a left at the intersection and drive two miles south on highway 1 until you see the signs directing you towards the Southward Motor Museum near Otaihanga.
This is one of the best collections of motor vehicles in the country. The museum itself is fairly disorganized, with many exhibits lacking any description and some vehicles looking more like they have been abandoned here instead of exhibited, but the place is nevertheless worth a visit. The number of exhibits from New Zealand's colourful motoring history is staggering. As NZ did and does import vehicles from all over the planet one can find prime examples from virtually any car maker ever in existence - from an original 1895 Benz motorcar (even the Mercedes-Benz museum I visited in Stuttgart in Germany last year only had a replica) to modern supercars and some interesting Kiwi-build prototypes, there is something for everyone, including a large selection of vintage motorcycles.

After nearly four hours exploring the museum (the minimum time required in my opinion) I continue my drive north on highway 1 in the direction of Palmerston North.
The highway actually bypasses that city and continues along the coast towards Wanganui and the Taranaki district. I drive on, always about three miles away from the sea, until I reach the village of Patea and its quiet motor camp. The place is ideal as a base for exploring Taranaki.
Next morning I decide to have an early start and do a long, circular route through the heart of the district.
I first follow the main highway to Stratford, where then the fantastic highway 43 takes me 100 miles east towards Taumarunui. Though this state highway is even worse than usual and parts of it are gravel, the scenery here is worth the effort.

Spectacular hills, untouched lush forests and green valleys make this a very memorable part of the journey. What is especially impressive is the rapid change of the scenery; one moment up on a hillside with a spectacular view of the surrounding countryside (see picture above), and the next moment I find myself in a valley with subtropical forest and ferns.

Highway 4 takes me south again to Wanganui, but it is much less impressive than the previous 100 miles.
By 7.30 pm I am back at the campsite. The total distance covered today was just over 400 km, but it took over nine hours to cover it. It is difficult to believe that I am just a few hours drive away from Wairarapa - the scenery here in Taranaki is so entirely different.
In the evening I have a chat with an Englishman who came to NZ 28 years ago - his story is quite fascinating, while we sit outside on this mild evening and watch the splendour of the Southern sky with the Southern Cross directly above us. The near total absence of light pollution makes the night sky down here a spectacle rarely experienced anywhere in Europe. The Milky Way is clearly visible. Some star constellation towards the north can be seen from Europe, too (like e.g. Orion), but the entire central and southern sky is filled with constellations unknown to me. Except, of course, the Southern Cross, which I can find these days quicker than the polar star in a European sky.

- Eastland and the Bay of Plenty

The central point of Taranaki is Mount Egmont, about 8000 feet high. Having seen the eastern slopes and its hinterland yesterday, I drive along the coastal highway 45 on its western side towards New Plymouth. From there it is around 90 miles to Te Kuiti, which is already in the Waitomo district of the King Country province.
I could continue north on HW 3 towards Hamilton, but instead of going there I decide on the spot to carry on east on HW 30 towards Mangakino and lake Taupo. I stay overnight at the same campsite outside Turangi which I used last November. My plan is simple; I want to go again to the Eastern Bay of Plenty and hang out for some time in this least populated area of the island.
So next morning I set out via Taupo to Murupara. That place marks the end of the "sealed" highway to Wairoa. But there exists a narrow byroad north towards Whakatane. The usual chaotic Kiwi signposting on minor roads (there are no regulations in place, so every community puts up signs in its own fashion and colour scheme) makes the road difficult to follow. The absence of petrol stations also means that by the time I re-emerge in civilization at Taneatua I have less than three litres of diesel left in my tank. Anybody who ever drove a diesel vehicle dry will probably know what nuisance the (then necessary) bleeding of a diesel system is, so I am happy to have just made it.
From here it is just 40 miles to Opotiki and then another 40 miles to Te Kaha, my destination. The ride along the coastal road is great, and for those 40 miles I need 70 minutes of driving time. Have a look at the scenery, here is Whitianga Bay (this is not the Whitianga on Mercury Bay):

The place is about half way from Opotiki to Te Kaha on state highway 35. I was at the Te Kaha Motor camp last year, but those few days were much too short for this splendid place.
I book myself in and park the van in a spot where it is in the shade all day. Doing nothing here, just strolling along the Pacific Ocean coastline, reading books or talking to the friendly locals is just so relaxing. Opotiki district is one of the few areas, where the Maoris represent the majority of the population (nearly 80 percent), so I even pick up a few words of their strange language. On cigarette packages one usually finds the same warning as in most other countries: "Smoking kills". The text is written in English and Maori - only that these two English words translate in Maori to a stream of seven words. Very funny...
Every other day I do the three hours return drive into Opotiki to stock up on groceries and news. It is a fact rarely known outside NZ that foreign news are widely ignored by the Kiwi media. For all I know there may be a nuclear war breaking out elsewhere on the planet and the only chance one has that the media here would report about it would be if a country was affected by it in which the All Blacks were scheduled to play in. So checking out the Internet news is the only way to keep up with current affairs outside NZ.
The road between Te Kaha and Opotiki is just as bad as the highways anywhere else here, so a lot of prudence and even more time is required to drive here. Lacking any other infrastructure also means that everything has to be transported by road - which means that one has the oddest encounters out here:

But I like it nonetheless - this remoteness is exactly what I need. By now the summer is turning into autumn and with it come the first autumn storms. Watching ten-foot waves crashing against the beach is impressive - well, the last land these waves have seen was probably Hawaii.
During my fourth week out here the rain arrives - long awaited by the local farmers. In just 12 hours the outer areas of a tropical cyclone (which apparently has hit the Solomon Islands pretty badly) dumps over 100 millimetres of rain onto this part of the world. In Europe this would lead to catastrophic consequences like flash floods and large scale flooding. But here the land just soaks up the rain like a sponge.
If you think that 100 millimetres is a lot than think again; further up north at Kerikeri the cyclone dumped 420 millimetres in the same time. That is in one day the equivalent of four month precipitation in England. And even that caused only minor damage, the odd road being washed out etc. and Helena Bay is currently only accessible with a four-by-four vehicle.

- Auckland, Northland and the Kaipara Coast

After five absolutely relaxing weeks in this quiet part of the country it is now time to move on. So I say good-bye to the friendly locals and for the last time drive around the Bay of Plenty. The air is crystal clear and White Island (an active volcano) out in the bay seems just a stone throw away - in reality the island is 30 miles offshore.
Along state highway 2 I reach Tauranga on the far side of the bay. It is Saturday, but even the moderate weekend traffic in this town of 100000 souls feels like a mad rush to me after all those weeks of tranquility and empty roads in Te Kaha.
My idea is to drive to Pahi Beach, up in Northland on the Kaipara coast. The distance from Te Kaha is about 300 miles. This time of year it gets dark just after 6 pm, so I am looking early for a suitable campsite along the highway. But there are none. Auckland is already too close, and no one does camping that near to that big, bustling city. So I continue the drive through Auckland on highway 1 and onwards north until I reach the turn where highway 12 leads on towards the West Coast. At Paparoa I take the short road to Pahi Beach. I arrive just before 8 pm, and the full moon illuminates the place so brightly that one could easily read the paper.
I have stayed here last November for a few days and have fond memories of the place.

Other than Te Kaha where my van was in the shade all day, this campsite is wide open. This makes it unsuitable in my opinion for the hot summer period, because vans and tents will heat up too much. But this late in the season the place is ideal.
New Zealand's beaches are very famous - especially for their treacherous currents which they call rip currents here. So when you watched my pictures of gloriously empty beaches before, then the reason for that emptiness may well have been those dangerous currents. But Pahi is safe for swimmers - which is another way of saying that the beach guide published by the local council contains only three pages of warnings, do's and don't's.
Pahi is located at the north end of the Kaipara inlet, which forms a great natural harbour. But it is fairly shallow, so it is of no use for commercial shipping. But hobby-boaters love the place. Pahi's boat ramp is accessible at all tides, and the inlet apparently is ideal to teach your kids how to drive a boat. The distance to the open sea is about 25 miles.

At Te Kaha I used to go to Opotiki every other day for groceries. Here I go to Dargaville instead. The Easter holidays are coming and the camp is filling up. The visitors are mainly from Auckland, which is just two hours drive from here.
It is nice to have lots of people to talk to for a change - especially as I know that the whole show will last only for four days.
You have seen the picture above that shows the campsite on Sunday. I have prepared a small movie, which shows the place three days later. You can download it here (caution: 1.82 MB). The campsite is nearly deserted.
The weather is slowly deteriorating. NZ's position far out in the Pacific Ocean plus its proximity to Antarctica shorten the summer season by several weeks compared to Europe. The heater in my van is once again needed every night, while the daytime maximum temperature more and more often fails to make 20 degrees Celsius.
One day I take a ride to Auckland and visit the Kiwi distributor of the software I used to work with. One of their programmers is from the UK. He readily confirms what I know already; here in NZ he earns about half the money he got for the same work in Europe.
I also visit Hammer auctions in Onehunga near the airport.

[Postscript: that company started trading on 28 August 2006 and went into receivership on 13 November 2007 - I was very lucky to get my money back in time, so check very carfully with whom you are trading in Kiwiland].

That auction house is the place where I bought my van six month ago. They are happy to sell it for me - and I can bring it in next Monday, the day my flight to London leaves from here. That is of course very convenient. Once the car is sold they just wire me the money. The salesman suggests that I can probably get the same money for it which I paid originally - that's even better news.
The weather is pretty poor today, so a day in the big city is no great loss. Here is a picture of one thing that Auckland is famous for:

No, not the Sky Tower. For people living here the fabulous traffic jams on Auckland's notoriously overcrowded motorways is certainly much more memorable.
On the way back to Pahi I just for once overlook a pothole - and my nearside front wheel crashes into it. The hubcap takes off like a rocket and disappears in a nearby ravine. Luckily the front axle survives without any further damage.
In 1917 the NZ government sent a commission up here to investigate the (then) appalling condition of the roads here in Northland. Seems it is time again for such a body to come up here.
It is now my last week in New Zealand, so I invest another 65 dollars in a new set of hubcaps, cockpit spray and some polish to make my van look nice again for selling it on Monday. But the weather is fairly unstable with frequent showers, preventing me from getting the jobs done.

During one of my visits to Kauri Computers to get online the chaps there invite me to help them setting up the Linux network at a local furniture company. The company is owned by a religious group called Brethren. They are about as conservative as the Amish in Lincoln county, Pennsylvania. Their spiritual leaders have just a few month back decided that using a computer is now permitted.
The work however is far more complex than anticipated; they have Windows PC's which are supposed to share data with another PC running Ubuntu Linux and a large saw controlled by a PC running Suse Linux 7.3. Additionally they need to have read-only shares without password prompt, and R/W access with passwords. And the Ubuntu PC needs to have its boot loader modified so that it can boot into another Suse partition on a separate disk, but also mount this partition automatically when booting into Ubuntu.
We resolve all these tasks, but it takes about 9 hours all in all due to the numerous problems we encounter.
For my assistance I they give me two nice presents; a 2GB USB Flash drive and an external 2.5" USB harddisk carrier. Very handy...

My last days in NZ. I clean the van, polish the paintwork and make everything as presentable as possible to ensure it sells well. On Saturday I call Air New Zealand to confirm my flight. It takes them nearly an hour to find me in their computer system - I am glad I used their "0800" phone number. Let's hope their pilots are better than their office staff.
The weather holds together quite well and on Monday April 23rd I say goodbye to the campsite at Pahi. All my extra camping gear and my little heater I hand over to the campsite warden. He can distribute that stuff as he sees fit - I can't drag that stuff with me half around the planet.
I drop in at the same WOF testing station at the Westgate shopping mall that certified my van last November. Again they can not find anything wrong with it and give it a spanking new WOF valid until November. That should further improve my chances to get a good price for the van.
At Hammer auction everything is ready thanks to my preparatory visit last week. Neville, the salesman, suggests 2200 dollars as the reserve price. That sounds reasonable to me. If I get that money, then six month motoring in NZ including servicing and repairs have cost me 1000 dollars. That the speedo shows only 3000 km more than six month ago does not bother either Neville who doesn't care nor the NZ inland revenue whom I have probably cost about 1000 dollars in unpaid diesel revenue, because they don't know. I would give a hundred dollars to see the face of whoever buys my van when he finds my cheeky little switch under the drivers seat which deactivates or reactivates the odometer at the drivers command.
Neville lives near the airport and offers me to drive me out there after his work ends at 6 pm. Great, that saves the cab fare.
By 6.30 I am at the airport. I have fond memories of their complimentary shower facilities, so I have a refreshing shower before the long flight.
But other than that departing from NZ is quite a different experience from arriving: while on arrival a complimentary tea and coffee stall awaits the visitor before having his shower, upon departure there is no free coffee. Instead a fee of 25 dollars called departure tax is levied on each individual cocky enough to wish to depart from here. They do not even offer complimentary free Internet access. Instead you can buy online time for 12 dollars per hour.
Check in is easygoing, and at 11.30 pm I see the lights of Auckland disappear below the wings of the Boeing airplane. Next stop: Hong Kong.

Below is the usual map with my GPS tracklog and some trip markers. I have omitted the last drive from Pahi to Auckland and the airport.

The next page shows a summary map of the entire journey through New Zealand.