The amazing stop at Te Paerahi Beach was the last one for a while. From here, our next destination was Carterton where a former collegue of Flo is now living. She’d let us stay in her flat in Kuala Lumpur in 2015 on our way back to Germany and we had also met her in our flat in Frankfurt when she was visiting Europe in April 2018.
Now it was our turn again to visit, this time with two kids. Over lunch, we stopped at Pukaha national wildlife centre. Flo and I have never been there but we are familiar with Zealandia, a Wellington institution.
We managed to see a lot of wildlife with a talk about eels as the last highlight. Time to head towards Carterton and see Sonja. It was lovely to catch up. The kids enjoyed the amenities of having a bath tub, a sand pit, a community pool around the corner and of course, lego and children’s books. Not to speak of Sonja’s company.
The next day, we explored a bit of Carterton together, then headed out after lunch. The final stretch towards Wellington, our second home. Before we got there, we picked sunflowers though and stopped for schoc chocolates in Greytown.
Finally, finally, we got to Wellington. And kinda just past it, as we planned to live with Mat and Liz in Plimmerton. It was so good to catch up. These are very good friends I met in my first two weeks in NZ about 19 years ago. The kids are all grown up now. And they have three dogs now. So happy to be here!
Our view from Timmy’s rear window
Walking towards the beach in the morning
but the kids still loved the beach at Te Paerahi
listening to an audiobook during a car ride
Looks like Tane Mahuta to me
Just hanging out
In the nocturnal house in Pukaha
It was a NZ project which then travelled to Burning Man and back to NZ
despite being nocturnal creatures, they knew they would be fed at 1.30pm
The Maori word for eel is tuna
…it’s a work in progress though
They were also communicating with other kakas outside the cage
They were talking to each other until we disturbed them
Lego! Lego!
One of Sonja’s books
Lovely place
Carterton playground was such a success
Trying to catch them all
One of the ladies at the travelling fair made smokey bubbles in her hands and when it burst, there was a marble inside.
There was a small marble in the bubble!
on top of the closed sand pit
About to go into the field. Barfoot as always
Up to no good
busy sunflower
“This one’s mine”
“We got one!”
…of sunflowers
Our run for schoc chocolates
schoc chocolates in Greytown
The barrier between the Wairarapa and greater Wellington
“Over the hill and far away”
Getting closer now
We’ve arrived at Mat & Liz’s place, the closest we’ve been to Wellington in over a decade
Waking up in the middle of the Kaweka forest park was pretty nice but we were looking forward to some good coffee again. Thus, we headed the rest of the way to Napier. Napier is the art deco capital of NZ as the photos will also tell you. More by accident than planning, we fell into the museum next to the waterfront. (No.3 saw the museum and wanted to go in. Really. I promise.) It was great with a treasure hunt “find these items in our museum” and an absolutely stunning exhibition of Sandy Adsett’s works.
Afterwards we just enjoyed the city. Pizza for lunch was another recommendation by the Lonely Planet, we all enjoyed it thoroughly. I home schooled a little in a park. It works out okay so far, No. 3 does do a lot of work and I am quite proud, actually.
Due to lovely advice by the staff of the museum, we decided to stay overnight in the city so that we could spend Waitangi Day, a national holiday in NZ, in Napier. So in the afternoon, the kids got a lot of beach time.
Thursday February 6th was Waitangi Day. At 9am we attended the official part of the celebrations with a hikoi and a haka powhiri. To be mindful of the setting, we didn’t take any pictures. It was my third haka powhiri and the first for Flo and the kids…very impressive every time. I also teared up a little.
The local iwi Ngati Kahungunu did its own thing though…politics in New Zealand are about as turbulent as they are in the rest of the world (on a smaller scale but very emotional). So we joined them for a great celebration of the day at the sports field: There was music, food, lots of food and free rides for the kids.
When we left, the kids complained as they were having so much fun! However, we had planned a great stop at Te Paerahi beach. Beach is a win, no matter what came before. Due to the great success, we had another BBQ in the evening.
Great spot for a breakfast
No. 3 is creating his “NZ bush” art work
Out of the woods and back on the high way
Waipunga Falls alongside the road
Waipunga Falls close up
Snap shot while driving
but it was pretty anyway
and all of the sudden, we were in the clouds!
Napier beach shenanigans
A great place to stand atop!
The museum No. 3 really wanted to see
Museum item hunt
…so we played dress-up!
Absolutely stunning works by Sandy Adsett
It’s the Art Deco capital of NZ
Iconic building
…but that was good for the kids!
or maybe angry bird?
Another iconic fascade
In the best setting! (Please note: The AoE chooses all her own clothing for the day)
in a pond
There is another sculpture on the other side of the road of his mother waving back
They work really well with the Art Deco going on
Still a great place to be
with Timmy in the background
Nice views are pretty awesome
The celebrations of Ngati Kahungunu, the local iwi
Both kids weren’t tall enough to ride on their own
This is a lot of people already (in NZ) and it’s still before lunch!
A free ride in a pirate boat swing
AoE got scared and couldn’t be seen for much of the ride
The same group was also part of the haka powhiri this morning
Performance on stage Part II
A cooldown for the masses at the Sports Field
The beach at the east coast of the North Island where we freedom camped (below Napier, down towards the Wairarapa)
…is the best time
Jumping for joy
These ponchos are very handy. We decided to buy some here instead of flying ours halfway across the globe
It’s been a while since the last post – hasn’t it? It is a sign of how this trip is different in a few ways from our usual. Not at this point yet, but later. There is a lot of work, and at the times where we are not working, we are trying to absorb as much of the moment as we can. And so, photos and blogging falls to the wayside a little bit.
This is still the time to absorb. We have switch to travel mode – planning ahead a day or two and trying to enjoy ourselves as much as possible.
The Waitomo Caves were really high up on the list of things that I wanted to show the kids. Since they are too small for Black Water Rafting, we booked a tour through Aranui cave which is a walking tour with a boat ride at the end. Glow worms really like wet environments.
Thus, the tour was the first thing we did today. It was a big hit with the kids, gliding through the dark in a boat with a starry sky above us. It was just one cave though and the boat ride was over quickly.
We left Waitomo and drove towards Taupo and Wai-o-tapu, the next big item on our “what to show the kids” list. Looking for a lunch stop and something to do over midday, we came across Te Waihou Blue Springs in Waikato in the lonely planet. A spring, a nice walkway…we crosschecked it with a NZ website which told us that the walk is closed but you can still get to the river at one side of it. We decided to try it anyway. It turned out to be the side of the river, where all the locals go swimming on hot days. Today was such a day and it was well frequented. The locals also jumped in from a fallen tree trunk. The water was freezing cold, not even the kids wanted to go swimming. Cooling down our feet was also lovely though. We stayed for much longer than we had anticipated and took the arrival of a whole class of teenagers on an excursion organised by their marae as our clue to bow out. It probably would have gotten energy-ladden as the young, mostly men, started doing push-ups before jumping into the water. It was super cool to see them and to hear them all speak te reo with each other. Our kids helped with the counting as far as they knew the numbers.
We stayed at another freedom camp that night and finally had the BBQ that the AoE was so looking forward to. Lake Okaro was right next to us.
The next day, we started with the Lady Knox geyser eruption at 10am. It is made to erupt every day at the same time. Wai-o-tapu was great (again) and both kids did an exceptionally good job with walking. We went all the way to the green lake.
In the afternoon, we stopped at Lake Taupo for a nap (Flo) and some playtime at the waterfront before heading east. Our original plan of taking the desert road and stopping at the volcanoes was thwarted by a two-month closure of state highway 1 for maintenance. So we had to go around and decided to head towards Napier. Somewhere along the road to Napier, there was the Kaweka Forest Park with a doc campsite within.
It was a campsite right in the forest, even without reception. Unfortunately, it was raining slightly but Number 3 used the time to draw a fantastic picture of our view of NZ bush.
Having gotten through all my requested watercolours in the Auckland Art Gallery and with many more hints what else might be useful, I tried to switch to the other mode of our NZ time: Holidays. Checking the spots on the North Island, that we wanted to show the kids, I realized that it is summer and we should have booked those way earlier. No Matamata for us now, Flo and I keep that in mind for our way back up to Auckland shortly before we leave. Also, the Waitomo Caves had a three day waiting period in which they were fully booked, whereas Wai-o-tapu has no restriction on visitor numbers per day. Anyhow, the kids needed to see glowworms. So we had a weekend to fill before having a cave tour booked for Monday now.
Here, Flo’s completionistic streak kicked in and he went “let’s show the kids Coromandel!”. Which turned out to be lovely but a heck of a drive along those windy roads. We left Woodturners Cafe towards Coromandel town for some smoked mussels (Flo!) and a surprise pick-up of sausages (Agent of Entropy!). Thus, we now had to have a BBQ sooner rather than later. We kept going but it was late afternoon before we made it to Hahei. Hahei is still my favourite beach spot despite having a miserable Christmas here in the remnants of a cyclone and a completely rainy experience when we stopped here in winter. The kids immediately loved it. There was no freedom camping however and I got slightly worried where we would stay tonight.
NZMCA to the rescue! We managed to talk the kids into abandonning their beach experience which had just started in order to go swimming tomorrow morning and left for a NZMCA POP over the next hill. Which was lovely and also a big hit with the kids who built intricate structures out of pebbles.
I missed out on the swim at Hahei beach due to having to work on my laptop but we left at lunch time and drove to Waitomo. Arriving there, both kids were knackered. Still, the Top 10 Holiday Park came with a pool and it was quite hot so 3/4 jumped back into the water for a second time.
Unfortunately, it started to pour and neither our BBQ nor the night walk to the glowworms seemed to still be viable…
Grumpy kids ensued. Luckily, the weather cleared up right around bed time so we did get to go on the night walk. It was quite the experience for the kids: being in the NZ forest at night (being told to keep the torches turned off) and seeing glowworms.
Very, very tired we returned. Just to have our scheduled cave tour the next morning when we saw more glowworms, this time mostly from a boat in the cave.
Now towards Rotorua and Wai-o-tapu tomorrow.
They were kind enough to let us run our d&d game until 10am, so we returned the favour with an order of second breakfast
Flo has some fond memories of that road – on faster wheels
The one shot of the birds hanging out – they were on every second rock
From Coromandel Town, we would cross the peninsula over this terrain
Last lookout before decending into Coromandel town
The AoE had a spark of brilliance and got us into a hardware store to sort out the last few items (Knife, oil for the locks …)
Looking back over Coromandel Town
My dearests
Number 3 is ensorcelled by New Zealand money, for some reason
10$ for the night, including fresh water – just perfect
Antropolis in the making
First test for our new chairs, the table came with Timmy
Almost would not go to bed due to the hard work on Antropolis
Nina and I got to watch the sunset, blogging a bit
Tag team for the water tank
still a bit cool, but running helps
Good thing the Agent is still so light
metacommentary
stopped just off the road for lunch
A lunch stop with free entertainment
this is really just of the highway, maybe 50 meters – we love New Zealand
Waihou bridge and guardian – the river is massive
A typical view of rural New Zealand
both exceptionally determined to improve their swimming
We learned about a peculiarity of Timmy’s design, the hump dumps the water right where the window opens
Start of the night time bush walk – while there was still light, obviously
can you spot them?
deeper into the bush
Too small for us, just right for the kids
This one was big enough for all ouf us … quite scary on the way back, in the dark
the astute follower of this blog might know: We love limestone landscapes
We may be out of our AirBnB and fully reliant on Timmy now, but still in the grips auf Auckland. Two days and one night more for Nina to finish her research at the Auckland Art Galery.
Thursday was all about getting used to our new lifestyle and putting the final touches on our setup. Buying some camping chairs, a few bits and bobs. Picking up my NZMCA membership card, so that we can take full advantage of that. We did a loop around the eastern outskirts of Auckland and gave the kids a chance to spend some time at the beach. That night, we spent the convenient but louder of Aucklands two freedom camping spots. Right at the motorway, it attracted an odd collection, but we got through the first night just fine.
On Friday, we left Nina in town for her bus to the Auckland Art Gallery. I upgraded to “stay-at-mobilehome-dad” and took the kids west all the way to Whatipu. We did a bush trail to see kauri trees and visited the black sanded Whatipu Beach. The kids had a blast, even with the 2 hours of driving over windy and even gravely roads. At mid-afternoon, we headed back to Auckland to pick up Nina and leave Auckland for good this time. It was a mildy cursed endeavour, first clipping the side mirror on a badly parked contruction truck, then stuck in traffic and finally we got a send off gift from Auckland’s finest: Turns out, the CBD has a general 30 limit, so we got a kind 120$ information at the last turn before the motorway as helpful reminder.
This night, we tried a NZMCA “Park-over-Place” for the first time. What a great thing – safe spaces organised by NZMCA members where one can spend the night for a small fee. So we enjoyed the parking lot of Woodturners Café entirely to ourselves. Much more quiet. Now, the holiday part can start …
Two car seats for the kids *check*
Getting Timmy the Motorhome out of the Mt Eden driveway…fully packed
Getting those NZ driving skills back on the road…driving on the left sure takes some getting used to
Testing our set-up with a drive to Maraetai
Another beach, another happy day for the kids
Our first night in the motorhome: Since I have to work in Auckland tomorrow, we’re “freedom camping” right next to MOTAT
I am at work so the others go exploring
Karamatura: The kids’ first experience of NZ regional parks
It’s almost proper bush
With big trees
Happy!
Look what we found!
Bumping his head at a big rata
Lookout point
A whole new world
One with palm trees
And streams though the forest
Climbing everything
A good look at everything
Fern tree
Running
A great parking spot
Great sandwiches and a non-alcoholic beer
But: Stay in the shade if possible. NZ sun will burn you.
Reading the signs
Island in the distance
Black sand beach at Whatipu
Needing more leg clearance
Kid’s footprint
Much fun was had
Look at those feet!
More beach kids
Gravel road access to the black sand beach
Having a bit of break
Kids playing
We were allowed to stay overnight at the parking area of the Woodturners cafe. It was very lovely!
There was a playground right next to our next spot for the night: Woodturners cafe
As I am lying here, in the back of Timmy the Motorhome with a view of the beach, there is no other way than feeling our trip has just now entered Chapter 1 proper. The last week could be considered prolog, but in life – everything counts, nothing is extra. So let me tell you a bit about the rest of our first week in New Zealand.
We arrived on Thursday morning, as evidenced in our first post. By Saturday, we had pretty much settled in: All paperwork done, accounts reactivated and a motorhome purchase completed. Shoutout to Hennie, who was very supportive and patient with his personal “scammer” buying a pretty expensive vehicle for the most part remotely from Germany.
Sunday was a slow day for all of us, most of all me with the obligatory plane-pest now all the way at the fever stage. Nina: The kids and I still spent some time in Kelly Tarlton’s Sea Life Center on this Sunday.
So as Monday came round, it was time to direct our focus towards this place. Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland. We decided to use the day to make good on Number 3’s birthday present and took the bus to MOTAT – the Museum of Transport and Technology in Auckland. He absorbed every minute of it, from opening time at 10am till the doors closed. The Agent of Entropy was less impressed but got distracted enough by some craft opportunity as part of the Auckland Anniversary Day weekend program. Her real highlight was the daring deeds to be had on the playground afterwards.
Tuesday was all preparations, getting Timmy ready for the road. It never ceases to amaze us that the unwritten NZ tradition when trading used goods seems to be that the buyer will clean. Nina: I on the other hand used the morning to get acquainted with the laudromat to do some proper washing of everything.
I was a bit high on isopropyl alcohol and glue (from fixing some sag in the headliner in the luton) when we met friends Elle and Nick in the afternoon. As perfect coincidence had it, Elle works at the Auckland Maritime Museum, so Number 3 got to see the Black Magic and America’s Cup replica first hand.
It was brilliant to catch up with old friends after 10 years. Things change, things stay the same, but everyone has a distinct memory of the covid years.
And so Wednesday came around. Nina’s first day at work and the reason (among others) why we are in New Zealand in the first place. So while she got real work done, thanks to amazing support from the Auckland Art Gallery staff, I got to play stay-at-home dad and took the little ones on a day hike up Maungawhau (Mt. Eden). The cafe up there was the perfect lunch spot. In my view, the view from the caldera beat spending over 100$ on the SkyTower any day. The Agent thought less so for all the walking up and down hill it entailed.
And so, we end our settled ways, sleep one more night at our AirB&B with Timmy ready to go tomorrow …
Even after a brief shower, the trampoline remained their favourite “toy”
A modell house as a piece of art in a park
Public transport in Auckland, easy to use with the AT Hop card!
“Get off the road….ahm tram tracks!”
The only car that wasn’t fenced off
There were different stations with things to try for kids during the school holidays. Here quilt writing
Then using letters to stamp words
A piece of slate and chalk to write on it
We love MOTAT!
Surprise ride through the ground in an EV making firefighter sounds
The AoE enjoying the ride
Making your own pattern at the quilt challenge
the most pretty pout
watching the blacksmith hammering out a few nails
cool logo, obsolete teach
Thats half of the planes in MOTATs hangar
ready for take-off
she loved the radio … it had a base station at the other end
#3 made it onto the board … quite happy
The Agent needed some hair taming
The seats flip over, so you can choose which orientation to sit in or where to from groups
the locomotive changed over to the front after every leg
our goodbye after the ride
Two adventures, daring
We took the route through the park instead of the historic tram back to the busstation
Every free second was spent here for the kids
well … needs must
perfect to kill the time
AT Metro bus – kids are a big fan of the doubledeckers
There are 10 year old pictures of us on this blog with the same building in the back
AC replica from new Zealands first victory and the winning boat Black Magic in the back
Number 3 signaling in morse
Artwork on our way to a food court with a great selection
Number 3 checking out the skilled ferry captains docking while we catch up with Nick and Elle
First shot of Timmy – 2 days in. Sign of how dazed we still are
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