New Zealand I - North Island

Day 1 - Auckland

With 1 hour for us to disembark our flight from Singapore, clear Australian immigration, collect bags, check in, bag drop, go through security and finally board it was pretty touch and go making our connection to Auckland. Thankfully, Sydney airport is nothing like Delhi and while our cortisol levels took an unexpected holiday spike, we came through making our flight with time to spare. This is mind I don't think we'll be getting different airlines for an international transit again. 

We were getting the campervan the next day so we checked into an airport hotel and took a cab into Auckland for the night. After reviews such as 'missable' and 'not worth it' we had zero expectations. However, we found a lovely wine bar and a food court for the evening and the review has been upgraded to ‘potentially missable’ and ‘worth it if you have excess time you absolutely could not spend elsewhere in New Zealand’.

Day 2 - Auckland / Raglan

The campervan pickup was extremely busy and it seems to be a huge industry here. Still with a loose agenda in mind and no real plan for the day, a guy in the queue suggested Raglan. It was close by and had a surf beach, we were sold. After getting half a day off for getting the vehicle late we were excited to get the keys to our amazing converted Mercedes Sprinter!

Getting used to the dimensions and the slow acceleration/breaking was pretty quick and we were so happy with the state of the art amenities including:

• Shower + Toilet

• Gas cooker including extractor fan

• Fridge freezer

• Sink

• Microwave

• TV + surround sound

• King sized bed + Clothes drawers

• 2 x tables

We got to Raglan, checked into our first holiday park connecting up to the power and made a staple of ours, pasta with spicy tomato sauce, while watching the TV adaptation of Shantaram, acclimatising to van life.

Day 3 - Raglan / Rotorua

Attempts to shed the Bombay belly began as I went for a run and Emma did some Yoga, both served as a warm up to surfing. One of those fitness freaks bursts, which of course will be short lived. Surfing was tough. We had one of those 'why the f**k are we doing this' moments as the 60mph winds kept sweeping up our boards from out of our hands and the torrential rainfall felt like hail stones on our face. We persevered until the skies opened and finally, with the sun shining, we both managed to both catch some waves before having a cold outdoor shower. Doesn't sound that pleasant but catching a wave is extremely addictive which makes you put up with a lot. I think we've both earned the title of being called surfers, albeit fairly shit ones early in our surf journey.

We then had our first proper scenic drive as we headed to Rotorua. Emma and I have some weird form of local event luck when we travel (like Republic day in Mumbai or a saints day in Napoli). This time it was the annual Rotorua Lakeside Festival which had Mauri and Kiwi local artists performing popular songs, culminating in a huge fireworks display. It was a family event with the entire town there and great people watching experience as we learnt more about youth fashion culture (a lot of 'Leisure Club' and 'You Know' hoodies) as well as how islander teenage boys do a lot of sprinting, as they move from group to groups of teenage girls. I can only imagine this is either to cover more ground in an attempt to increase their chances or to outpace how fast news travels running from one rejection to the inevitable next one. Either way, genius idea, whilst also improving cardio vascular endurance. The temp at the festival was freezing, so Emma and I joined the long queue for hot drinks. Having almost stopped all caffeine intake I panicked at the front of the queue and ended up ordering an “oat latte, without the coffee”. A few smirks all around but at least it was something my nephew Eliyas would respect.

Day 4 - Rotorua

We hiked through the redwoods in Whakarewarewa Forest, opting for the budget friendly yellow trail instead of the extortionate canopy walk (we think this is gonna be a pricey month so will make savings where possible). It definitely paid off as we saw amazing views of Rotorua and appreciated the sheer size of some of the massive trees. The hike was 25km so with tired legs it was a nice evening spent in the Polynesian spa, where the geothermal, mineral rich springs helped relax and restore our muscles. Once inside, we were happy to join the communal pools given the private pool we’d paid the exclusive right for seemed akin to those motel rooms where one might pay an hourly rate. The view from the communal pools included the lake as well as a decent view of all of the stars and was a wonderful evening.

Day 5 - Taupo

We decided not to use the toilet in our campervan at all. Beyond the obvious reasons, the public toilets in New Zealand are great. There are no smells, no 'accidents', fully stocked toilet paper and a proper lock on the door. They do not deteriorate quicker on busy days. Quite a lot of these are entirely computer operated including automatic cleaning in between uses and frequently checked. It is envy inducing and I know the next time I'm at Glastonbury the NZ toilet nostalgia will take effect. So, it was when we were emptying our sink water, conducting routine campervan maintenance, when our decision to not use our toilet was totally confirmed. Fellow impatient campervanners, who should have been waiting, emptied their toilet waste and sink water right in front of us. The sight and smell was disgusting and thankfully it was only the sink waste that over spilled and landed on Emma's foot. It's the first time I've heard her use the F word at someone else and while super high pitched and difficult to make out I'm sure they got the message.

We then headed to Lake Taupo via a quick stop off at Huka Falls. Lake Taupo is the largest lake in Australasia as well as the crater of the largest volcanic eruption the world has seen in the last 5000 years. I'd heard about this Lake Taupo Hole In One Challenge where you essentially hit balls into the lake trying to get a hole in one on a floating island, with the chance to win NZ $10,000. Obviously I had to give it a go but after some unsuccessful near misses and a slightly deflated ego, the trip remains funded by office jobs and I faced another reality check on my golf career. We continued our walk around town and had a lovely lakefront dinner and ice cream in the evening.

Day 6 - Taupo / Waitomo

We parked up and spent the day facing the lake, sleeping, eating and reading before heading to Waitomo for the glow worms. Waitomo is not super developed and we were struggling for a campervan park. After checking the app Campermate, and with the help of a random passer by couple, we found this remote place called River Bends which was right next to the cave tour starting point. It was unbelievable. We may have encroached on another couple's secluded area as they were already setting up for the night but they were happy for us to join and it felt like we had our own little Hobbiton. It had our own private small river, a fireplace and hobbit hole. Great evening as we cooked dinner, had some drinks and roasted marshmallows / bananas on the fire before witnessing a ridiculous view of the stars above. With no signal our failed attempt to pay the owner Tim failed but he just send us some details and hoped we'd sort it out the next day on goodwill.

Day 7 - Waitomo / Dessert Road

We arrived at the cave experience and it turned out our guide was the same Tim we'd met the night before. Felt like those American comedy movies where 1 guy is everything. The glow worm cave experience was quite a lot more intense than we had thought and after we'd abseiled down a canyon, waded through water and floated on a dingy down an underground network of rivers, we were rewarded with the amazing sight of glow worms in the caves. It literally seemed indifferent from the view of stars the night before. Incidentally glow worms have actually evolved to have the bioluminescent light occurring near their tails, as a way to fake the UV-A range that stars emit which is perceived as non threatening by flies so they can catch them as prey.

After the amazing experience at Kiwi Cave Rafting tour, we drove down as much of the way to Wellington as we could handle passing through the famous dessert road and a pit stop at Subway, before stopping off at this random campervan friendly ranch to shower up and recharge before heading to Wellington the next day.

Day 8 - Wellington 

I must have picked up a virus at the glow worm caves as I started to get unwell with muscle aches and blocked sinuses. I felt ok to drive down though and we parked in a car park in the CBD to access the city easier. Wellington consisted of:

• The museum of New Zealand, Te Papa, hosting some great exhibitions on nature.

• Retail therapy where Emma picked up a new t-shirt and is getting all the compliments.

• Drinks at an alternative pub whilst playing Monopoly deal, which at the time of I was destroying Emma at.
  

For dinner we stumbled across Mr Go's, a taiwanese restaurant which looked cool from the outside. It obviously was a popular joint and with no private tables available so we were put on a shared one. The dinner choice was given further credibility when Karl Urban aka Billy Butcher from The Boys, was part of the other group that shared the table. Having just listened to a podcast about Paul Mescal wanting some anonymity back we decided against saying hi and eavesdropped instead hearing his presumably new gf showing off to her friends about all the trips they'd been taking in London, New York, Paris and LA. Occasionally she'd ask him for some input where he grunted in agreement, looking like a disinterested boyfriend having to put in a shift.

On the walk back we came across some people jumping into the water from a platform. A little inebriated and my ego still recovering from the golf, I started arrogantly recounting the time "I jumped off something 4 times the size of that". Emma, of course as she should, challenged me claiming it was higher than I thought. Cockily, I replied "I could easily do a flip off that". So I did. A bruise on my chest later and valuable lesson learnt. Women are not as impressed by that sort of thing so better to save the bruises for when the lads are watching.

Day 9 - Ferry 

In full holiday mode we turned up to the ferry terminal to realise our intended Ferry departed 24 hours ago (my fault). I attempted to blame it on some UK / NZ calendar date mix up in the hope of a sympathetic change but needn't have bothered as they changed it for us at no extra cost given there was availability. We made it on the picturesque journey and a lesson learnt. I cannot rely on friendly Kiwis every time.