Who knows? Have patience. Go where you must go, and hope!
North Island, Vol 2.
The final instalment is here- hooray! As sad as it was that our re-entry into the North Island was to be brief, it means that this chapter of the blog will be too (and after writing what feels like a moderate length dissertation, that’s good news!).
While it would have been very easy to have unloaded from the ferry in Wellington and driven straight to a camp spot the evening we arrived back, we did not do this. We aren’t about the easy life. We had been tracking the forecasts for a few days and it looked like we might have a very small window of opportunity to set our sights on Mount Taranaki. It was still a 4 hour drive away but with only having 3 or so days left before we needed to return the van and fly out, we had to get as much of a head start as possible to make the most of the time left.
We weren’t going to get very far without refuelling. We managed to get a little out of the city before pulling in to fill up. I sat in the van while Kjel went in to pre-pay but it was taking ages. I knew he was trying to get the discount from an app we’d used throughout our stay, which actually saved us a heap, and wondered if he had been having issues. After 20 or so minutes, I went in to see what the problem was. It transpired that alongside trying to get maximum discountage, the chap behind the counter explained that their computer system had flagged up a pre-existing unpaid fuel charge from this very fuel station, presumably by the last people who had rented the van. It meant that the guy wasn’t even sure if we would be allowed to fill up at all- thankfully he found a way to let us fill up, and away we went. After a couple of hours, we camped up in Whanganui, in the same camp spot as we’d visited before (at least we knew where it was, and knew the toilets would be okay!). It was still a couple of hours way from where we wanted to be so even though we rocked up late (again haha), we left as early as we could and made some hay.
The forecast was still looking promising, but when we returned to Kent Road, the view just wasn’t ready. We made the call to move on, make more of the day than sit on the side of the road and return later. We decided to visit Pukekura Park in New Plymouth. We wandered along the trails as the park was being set up for a lights festival. Neon tubing was being hung through the trees, we spied flamingo figures on a palmy island and an array of sculptures by different artists that, once the festival started, were sure to come alive. As we followed the paths, we made an ascent towards Brooklands Zoo, which somehow is free to visit - most welcome for financially conscious travellers such as ourselves.
By the time we’d seen every inch of the zoo, the weather was perking up so we crossed our fingers, wandered back to the van and returned to our view spot.
The sun was out, the sky was blue but still we had until the last patches of cloud looked like they may have disappeared (at least from our location anyway!). Kjel switched on ‘Mountain Cam’. The visuals showed very little clouds around the area of Mount Taranaki- our golden ticket moment had arrived. We sped off back to Kent road. However, the mountain was STILL shrouded by what I can only describe as a never-ending train of cloud. There were literally no other clouds around, just this one line, moving straight towards the mountain. So we waited. We watched another couple turn up in their van, whip out their drone, and attempt to get their perfect shots. The cloud was still there though. So we made Mac and Cheese for dinner, with all the cheeses we had purchased from Barry’s Bay cheese factory, which was so so delicious. We ate dinner, we washed up and watched the other couple leave. Kjel had another look at the forecast- it declared that at 8pm, the cloud would mysteriously vanish. We looked outside, the train was less train like, more patchy. And like some sort of witch craft, as our watches changed from 7:59 to 8:00pm, the cloud train was no more.
Out of the ashes of condensation and precipitation frustration, a glorious gift emerged. We were finally rewarded for our ferry rescheduling, late nights and perseverance with a magical, uninterrupted view of Taranaki in all its glory. We saw it with it’s blue backdrop; being showered in golden-hour glow; and even stayed long enough to watch the sky turn from blue to a magnificent purple as the day transitioned to night. It was all very, very good.
Weka Workshop
On the back of our wonderful evening, we returned to Wellington as we had booked a slot at Weka Workshop. The earliest time we could get tickets for was about 11ish (I can’t quite remember) but it meant that we had a bit of free time before we needed to arrive. We used this time to drive to Mount Victoria for panoramic views across Wellington and the bays below. Thankfully, with the weather being so good that day, the bend-laden drive was not wasted. It was only a brief visit and before long, we arrived at the doors of the workshop.
Greeted by trolls, the entrance already bestowed us with the chance to see an array of awesome props- hobbit feet, helmets and many of the swords and weapons used in the LOTR films. While our photo opportunities were limited for copyright reasons, we got the chance to wear different versions of Gimli’s helmet, feel the weight of the many variations of chainmail used on set, play around with bows and maces and explore other productions that the workshop has been involved with- of which there are many! While tickets were a little pricey, the talent demonstrated in all of their work is definitely worth the visit.
Upper Hutt
Our day continued with the LOTR theme. We headed out of the city towards Rivendell. Filming took place in Kaitoke National Park near Upper Hutt and as we arrived, we were greeted to info boards explaining the locations used to create the Elven refuge. It transpired that it wasn’t reeeeally a great deal, much of the scenes were a range of NZ locations and CGI merged together, and as the area had regrown back to its true wild self, it was tricky to visualise how it was used. We did spot a couple of famous trees. But that was about it.
Putangirua Pinnacles
From there we drove towards our evening destination of Cape Palliser, on the south coast of the North Island. The day was stunning, so warm and sunny, and yet somehow, out of nowhere, we drove through the only isolated shower around. It was almost torrential at times! Eventually we made it through and returned to the sunshine as we parked up at probably my No.3 of places I most wanted to visit in NZ. Putangirua Pinnacles. The backdrop to the “Paths of the Dead” in the Return of the King, the gnarly formations are just awesome to walk through. There is nothing CGI about this location, it’s like we rocked up on set the day they filmed. The jagged spires of gravel and pebbles loom overhead and definitely leave you feeling like you’ve entered a place you shouldn’t have!
Cape Palliser
Thank heavens for the long evenings. We had arrived fairly late and the round trip took us about an hour and a half, and I really didn’t want to have to navigate the area in the dark, especially as the ground was mostly loose gravel and we had to cross the stream on a number of occasions. We still had a good hour before sunset. We found ourselves a quiet little spot next to the black sand beach and watched the setting sun, in the company of a wandering, stray Labrador. To mark the day, we finished watching the Return of the King (we had paused it just before the pinnacles scene which was amusing to us) and as we were doing our final van checks before we turned in for the night, noticed the clear skies and spent probably an hour star gazing as it was the clearest night we’d had all trip.
In the morning, we edged nearer to kicking the bucket as we climbed the hellish 250 steps at what felt like 89 degrees gradient to Cape Palliser lighthouse. With my heart beating out of my neck, I enjoyed the coastal views as best I could. We had plenty of time for our heartbeats to return to a normal living person rate, as we courteously waited for others to scale the steps. The trip down was equally as fun as the way up, holding the rail nice and tightly because the thought of slipping was inducing mild anxiety haha. As we pottered along the coastal road, we spotted many fur seals basking in the sun. It was easily the most seals I’ve seen in one location.
Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu
The place where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, who slid, climbed and swallowed mountains, known as 'landeater’, played his flute to his loved one.
Van drop-off day was looming closer and we needed to start making our way back north. We could have made life easy for ourselves and drive straight to Napier along the nice main road. Instead, we took the most disgusting route to visit the longest place name in the world. The name was indeed long, and no, we couldn’t completely decipher or read the name correctly. The sign was, however, long enough to enact a creative vision for a fun photo. My hope was to use the panorama function on my phone to take a picture with us in the photo multiple times to show just how long the sign was. This was definitely easier said than done. Firstly, it had rained and was still drizzling, so within minutes our shoes were saturated. Secondly, swapping between being in the photo and taking the photo without jogging the image was much more difficult than expected and on top, trying to get my phone to capture all of our position changes seemed impossible, sometimes not capturing anything at all and sometimes capturing extra hands, resembling our own take on “The Thing” . It proved futile. That was until another travelling couple parked up. What was once an impossible task was completed within minutes. We made acquaintances: somehow, in the middle of nowhere, we had met an awesome couple that lived no more than 30 minutes away from our home in Cornwall. We chatted for what ended up as hours, in the midst of drizzle showers, in a lay-by. It was nice to share stories with others who knew completely what we meant or knew where we were talking about. As time was ticking on though, we had to depart ways and we made a soggy drive towards Napier. We slept in the car park of a skate park that night and it rained so heavily all night.
Although our trip hadn’t come to an end right then, our road trip adventures had. The next day, we drove on to Taupō to re-establish some backpack and camper van order before our drive back to the van depot to return our four-wheeled home. We’d purchased the speedy drop-off pack at the start so didn’t need to refuel before we got to Auckland. I was intent on the van being empty when we got there. By empty, I mean, empty-empty, driving on fumes empty. We’d calculated an approximate amount of fuel to kms that we would need on our last top up and the race was on. A detour due to the main highway being closed not only added extra kms but it stretched our estimated arrival time. We needed to get to the depot by 4. Google was saying we’d get there by 4:05. Yikes. We pushed hard and clawed back a little time but as every airport always is, the roads clogged up. The fuel light had blinked on and we were racing the clock. We weaved through miles of traffic and as we pulled up, the clock read a few minutes before 4pm.
We’d done it. A month in New Zealand. Over 9000kms, crossing two islands, scaling 1/3 of a volcano, spotting rare animals, midnight drives and sleeping in carparks. We’d waited 3 years for this trip to happen, and although it wasn’t all plain sailing, we’d had one hell of a trip.
So if you’re thinking about visiting, do it. It will 100% be worth it.
Comments