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Taupo All Seasons Holiday Park, Taupo, North Island, New Zealand. 2450km

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The weather in the mountain area of Taupo was still bad on Sunday morning, so we decided to hit the east coast area of Napier for a few days. The 140km drive was scenic (as usual) and also supplied us a few tense moments with an almost empty fuel tank once we realized there will be no gas station till we reach the coast. Imagine our joy to find a gas station towards the end of the drive only to realize it is automated and won’t accept any of our credit cards. Argh! (more…)

Taupo All Seasons Holiday Park, Taupo, North Island, New Zealand. 2225km

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Our luck with the weather ended a few days ago and now it seems we are doomed for several more iffy days. We left Whanganui on a sunny morning and headed north on a beautiful drive called the Whanganui River Road. This narrow and winding road tracks the river upstream for over 100km. The second part of the road is gravel, so we took it very slow. The whole area is a Maori stronghold, with no services like gas or groceries. (more…)

Wanganui Top 10 Holiday Park, Wanganui, North Island, New Zealand. 1934km

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Maori word of the day: Pakeha – The Maori word for European New Zealanders. Once derogatory, now standard.

Hag Urim Sameach (Happy Hanukka)

After Waitomo we headed south to Mount Taranaki also known as Mount Egmont, depending if you are a Maori or Pakeha. It is a beautiful conical volcano almost 3000m high, similar to Mt Fuji in Japan. The top is snow covered year round. The last eruption was 250 years ago and another one is due in 100 more. Ron correctly deduced that this must be a dormant volcano, not an extinct one. (more…)

Waitomo Top 10 Holiday Park, Waitomo, North Island, New Zealand. 1532km

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Maori word of the day: Waitomo – Water (wai) Hole (tomo). The Maoris were the first to discover these caves, but it is the white man that turned them into a huge tourist and adrenaline industry.

We had a busy day here in Waitomo. Our day began with a 10am tour of the famous glow worm cave, a short walking distance from our campground. After we parted with a nice sum of money, we were led on tour of a very interesting cave. Sure, it has stalagmites and stalactites, but it also has an underground river running through it, and even cooler than that, thousands of little glow in the dark worms that hang from the cave ceiling. (more…)

Waitomo Top 10 Holiday Park, Waitomo, North Island, New Zealand. 1507km

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We spent several days in North Island’s tourist Mecca. First the tourists came to see geo thermal activity. Then casinos and extreme sports. Now it’s a must on any NZ itinerary. We managed to find fun things to do while attempting to avoid the big tourist traps (we did not always succeed). (more…)

Hahei Holiday Park, Hahei, North Island, New Zealand. 1071km

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Kiwi word of the day: Chook – Chicken. As in – After Ron fed the chooks, he got an egg from the henhouse.

We spent the last three days in Coromandel Pennisula, a beautiful area just a few hours southeast of Auckland. Aside from great ocean views and coast hugging drives, the kids got to experience a real farm!

Our week started with a Monday morning appointment at the RV rental depot. To our pleasant surprise, the RV was fixed very quickly, less than half an hour. My previous experience was a wasted day when we had RV trouble. Since we now had more time on our hand than originally expected, we decided to visit Devonport, Aucklands posh northerly neighborhood built upon two volcanoes. (more…)

Orewa Beach Top 10 Holiday Park, North Island, New Zealand. 671km

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We spent two days in the bay of islands, a beautiful bay with lots of islands dotting the horizon. Our first day was miserable because of the rain. The second was sunny and fun.

We woke up to a drizzly Saturday morning and drove from Hararu Falls to Russell. We took a 10 minute car ferry across from Opua to save us half an hour drive. We drove up to Flagstaff point for an attempt at a view of the bay. Lo and behold the sun came out just as we pulled into the parking lot. Our luck did not last for more than 10 minutes and we had to return to the car after a few short moments at the viewpoint. (more…)

Hararu Falls Resort, Hararu Falls, North Island, New Zealand. 430km

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Maori word of the day: Aortearoa – Land of the Long White Cloud. the Maori name for New Zealand.

Shabat Shalom!

Happy Thanksgiving to our friends in the US!

We have been traveling around for 3 days and slowly discovering New Zealands north.

On Wednesday morning we spent some time in Waiwera Hot Springs, a 19 pool complex heated totally by natural hot springs. The weather was nice and warm, and the water, at 37C was perfect for the kids and Paola. The 200 school kids on a class trip did not provide the quiet relaxed atmosphere we had hoped for. (more…)

Waiwera Holiday Park, Waiwera, North Island, New Zealand. 38km

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Maori word of the day: Kia Ora – Hello / Good Luck. Maori language is still spoken by the Maori minority here in NZ. Many towns and locations have names in Maori too. As a greeting, Kia Ora has become very popular even with non-Maoris.

Today we got our new home and car for the next 2 months. We braced ourselves in advance, because we knew that it was going to be a small motorhome compared to what we had in Australia and the US. We are renting from Kea Campers, a very expensive company, but they were the only ones that could guarantee a seating configuration that would work for our 3 child restraint seats. (more…)