Arrival in New Zealand: Auckland, Waihi Beach, Rotorua and barefoot kids

Posted by: Emilie | March 4, 2011

Arrival in New Zealand: Auckland, Waihi Beach, Rotorua and barefoot kids

Day 207 – Thursday 21^st October. – Day 209 Saturday 23^rd October

Our departure time from Los Angeles was on Oct 19, 23:40 and we arrived on 21 October at 08:30. So we had now lost a day thanks to the dateline even though the flight was just over 13hours. Arriving in Auckland we got picked up by the car rental agency in order to get our car that we had pre-booked on the web at http://www.yourwaycarrentals.co.nz. We still thought that there had to be a hook, as we should pay for the car around 10 € a day and there should be a fairly new small car in good condition. Also, we would take the car in Auckland and give it back in Christchurch, for which you would pay at most car rentals a transfer fee. However everything was great, we got a little sky-blue Hyundai Getz, who was in good condition, paid our 680NZD for 36 days and finally drove off to Auckland to find a hotel.

In Auckland we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant that did not even have a menu in English and explored the city. But the cold windy weather was not very inviting, and besides, there was reminiscence of England as many locals could stroll through the city with T-shirt and shorts at windy 12 ° C. We went to a hostel, but the price was for us a very simple double room with shared bath was unbelievable. Including parking fees and Internet the friendly man asked for 60 €… That was way too much for us and in our New Zealand guide, which we got at the car rental agency, there was no accommodation at prices for ordinary people. Even sleeping in a dorm room cost almost 20 € per night per person without parking. …

We drove over the bridge to the other side of Auckland to see the skyline and we made a plan. We were annoyed by the traffic and weather. Finally, we had spent a night of 13h in a plane and Lorenz needed to once again get used to driving on the left and the traffic of a metropolitan city. When it finally started raining, we took it as a sign and turned our backs on Auckland. Anyway, we were not in New Zealand to take a look at over-priced cities.

We had a Holiday Park in Athenree at Waihi Beach as a destination. It was located about 200km away from Auckland. So we drove off in the hope of better weather, beautiful nature and a better accommodation. Driving in New Zealand was very different than in the U.S. The road was narrow and winding and they went left. In addition, all the cars were smaller and much older. Most were from the 90s or were even older and had no comparison to what we have seen in the previous four weeks. We made a stop in a Countdown supermarket and were first confronted with unvarnished child poverty. Many of the poor children in or outside the supermarket ran around barefoot. But no, wait, they are not at all poor, but we are just in New Zealand. The people in the supermarket made all the impression that they wouldn’t give a damn how they would look like. We drove toward the beach. The landscape around us was very nice and reminded us of southern England.

Once in the Holiday Park we moved into our cabin and that is the cheapest option for a roof in New Zealand and was still over 30 €. Cabins are usually only a double bed and sometimes a small table and a chair, etc. But the toilet is outside and there is not plenty of room. The good thing about that Holiday Park was that there was a small spa and we were able to relax there after all the stress. We cooked dinner in the kitchen of the park and talked with the friendly Holiday Park tenant, who was around in Europe a lot. We got a first taste of New Zealand friendliness. We were also surprised by the high Internet prices. But we were accustomed to have free Wi-Fi in the accommodations, there it cost $ 5 (2,70 €) per hour. We felt it was an expensive exception and should soon find out that we were wrong.

The next morning we once again enjoyed a hot bath and wanted to make two small hikes before eventually going towards Rotorua. First we went to an old copper mine, then we took a walk along a river and then we went to Mount Maunganui, directly on the water and rises over the town. The hike was great and the weather too. With the finest sunshine we walked up the good 300m high mountain, and enjoyed a fantastic view.

Big Fat turkey on the way to Rotorua

Then we drove to Rotorua which we reached in the early evening. The city stank and that of sulfur. It is famous for its volcanic activity and so there are hot springs everywhere. We did not intend to spend again 30, – and wanted to go camping. But now we had to learn quickly it should also not be so cheap. In a Holiday Park, we paid 19, – € for our tent. But our tent was heated and that because of the thermal activity beneath the earth! The groundskeeper had showed us on a map where the heat is just right and where it was too hot or too cold. The tent of a young mountain bikers couple from Colorado was situated exactly on the hottest area. He told us that a World Cup for mountain biking was in the city now. The whole thing was not so serious for most participants and it would be more about celebrating, funny costumes and beer. We did not want to miss it! While we were preparing sandwiches in the kitchen for our upcoming day trip we met a German couple named Janina and Daniel, also travelling around New-Zealand with a small rented van.

Camping in Rotorua

The night was warm, better than in some beds. The mountain biker who had set up his tent on the hottest area on the other hand spent the night in the open air because it was hot as an oven in there…

The next morning we went to a redwood forest that was planted at the end of the 19^th (directly coming from California). There we walked around and marveled again at the huge trees that we had only seen two weeks earlier in California. Then we went to the mountain bike world championship. That was quite a long way but it was worth it. People were just funny. They had bought all sorts of costumes and the race was just more or less finished and so half of the people drank strong beer already. Who should host next year’s race was between South Africa and Ireland, decided by a game where the goal was to place properly a beer can as far as possible…That gives the tone of the event!!

Mountain Biking

After the race we went to a small park where the geysers just bubbled. The whole thing stank and was a small fenced-in version of the geysers, which we had seen in Bolivia. Therefore, not least because of the unbearable stench of sulfur, we left the park and also Rotorua.

Geysers in Rotorua

But first we wanted to go shopping. The night before we had discovered Pak’n Save. Probably the cheapest supermarket chain in New Zealand, by German standards, however, was still very expensive. We bought a lot of stuff, because we already planned to walk two days later walk a 3 -day Tongariro Northern Circuit and for that needed quite an amount of food for the both of us. Lorenz also bought a new 64L trekking backpack that was more suitable for hiking, travel more difficult than my 70L backpack that also had rolls of it. Our little Hyundai Getz, who now get the simple name of Götz (a name in German), was now completely packed.

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By late afternoon, we finally drove to Tongariro National Park. The weather was perfect since we left Auckland and there was not a cloud in the sky. The trip was great, because we were on the edge of the huge Lake Taupo and to the mountains and volcanoes of the National Park and New Zealand was showing its best side.