We’ve traded our sun cream and t-shirts for scarves and winter woolies.
It’s a wild, wintery and windy August in NZ.
We picked up our campervan three days ago and this evening arrived at Cape Reinga, the northernmost point in New Zealand where the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean collide.
Thus far it’s been a completely surreal, idyllic start to the trip. Driving through rolling hills and glorious fields filled with sheep and cows, farmers and their herding dogs, and the occasional butchery or dairy farm. Cooking meals in the back of our camper, pulling into campsites around 5p, spending the evening meandering about before settling in for a simple stovetop supper and an early night.
We’ve stopped at a couple wonderful little wineries, including Greve in Matakana, where we enjoyed a delicious red at the kitchen table of Peter and his wife, who had just returned from a trip to Napa Valley. They produce one wine a year (a very delicious one!) and sell mainly to friends, family and local wine shops.
The feeling of empty countryside here in just astounding, especially after the phrenic energy of India. Virtually empty roads, whitewashed ocean side towns and wind swept sandy beaches. Traveling in a camper may be my new favorite thing ever – it’s hard to beat pulling over for lunch whenever we feel like, whipping out a fresh soup to heat up, a sausage roll picked up from a local grocery shop, and making a cup of tea to enjoy in the back and take in another gorgeously green view.
It’s been a truly lovely few days, but not without adventure. Our first night we quickly discovered that nearly all campsites close at 7p, and after searching around until after 9p were very lucky to stumble on a campground run by a sweet couple who braved the cold in their nightgowns to let us in. Our second night we were a little too tempted to park our van right out near the beach and managed to get stuck in a muddy ditch. Very luckily again, there happened to be some roadwork going on nearby and a passing truck stopped to pull us out.
We’re keeping it exciting. 3 days in, we’ve made it to the top of New Zealand after leaving from Auckland, and will now be working our way back down south. This country looks rather small on the map, yet we feel like we’ve actually got quite a good amount of ground to cover. 44 days to go!
