{"id":3599,"date":"2026-04-29T13:14:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T05:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/?p=3599"},"modified":"2026-04-29T13:14:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T05:14:40","slug":"nz-auckland-and-the-northlands-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/nz-auckland-and-the-northlands-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"NZ – Auckland and the Northlands 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

20 April<\/strong> \u2013 Our flight to New Zealand was a good one. We hadn\u2019t actually realised when we booked through Virgin that we were on an Air New Zealand flight. We were also surprised when we were allocated exit row seats with lots of leg room and even more surprised when we had full service meals and wine, thinking that we had to purchase meals. It was good that the 3:30 hour flight was comfortable because the arrival was not good.<\/p>\n

We had completed the electronic entry (which many others hadn\u2019t) and so were allocated to the \u201cExpress Lane\u201d. \u00a0That didn\u2019t work, because so was everyone else allocated the same lane and we stood in a line with others who filled out their entry cards. When we finally got to the front of the line, the man glanced at our \u201cexpress line\u201d sticker and waved us through. A good start to New Zealand bureaucracy.<\/p>\n

Next we had to find how to get to the train to Auckland. Christine\u2019s AI search had yielded the information that we needed to walk to the domestic terminal, a 900m walk with our 13kg backpacks on. We did that and looked for the station. \u201cNo train here,\u201d a worker said. \u201cCatch the Link Bus to train station.\u201d We found the link bus and battled with the machine to buy the AT Hop card before giving up. It is possible to use credit card but we only had 1 Wise card between us. The bus arrived and the driver just said, \u201cThat\u2019s OK. Just get on anyway.\u201d We were horrified when the link bus made its first stop back at the International Airport. 950m wasted.<\/p>\n

The Link Bus dropped us at the Puhinui Station. By this time, we remembered that I had an electronic Wise card on my phone so we both tagged on to the train and settled in for the trip into Auckland. Happily, it was only a 350m walk to the apartment, after a stop off at a nearby convenience store to collect the key. The apartment proved excellent and the location was perfect, just an easy walk from the CBD, waterfront area and train station.<\/p>\n

21 April<\/strong> \u2013 We started the day with a slow wander through the main shopping area of Auckland, basically a stroll up Queen St. Best find was a cheap clothing shop that had sell-out remnants of good quality brands and we bought some NZ T Shirts 3 for $39 and a light hoody for $25. This filled in a few holes in our travel wardrobe. During the walk it was obvious that Auckland has a big population of rough sleepers. Almost every bench and alcove to an unopened shop was occupied. Another thing was the fad of having an e-scooter or e-bike equipped with a boom box speaker capable of being heard across an entire city block and riding it along the footpath.<\/p>\n

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We found a supermarket and stocked up on a few basics then headed home for lunch. The afternoon was spent on a tour of Auckland Harbour with a very informative commentary. Showers were visible around us but we managed to avoid them and stay dry. The tour was a terrific way of getting an overview of the city and a bit of history along the way. Auckland Harbour is a very beautiful stretch of water and offers a lot of protection for even small craft, as evidenced by the large number of marinas and mooring areas filled with power boats and yachts. The kiwis love their sailing.<\/p>\n

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Once off the boat we enjoyed a beer at a popular wharf side hotel and took note of a couple of eateries for our return visit in a week. The cruise commentary also talked about the fish markets a bit further on that sounded worth a visit.<\/p>\n

22 April<\/strong> \u2013 Today was Jucy Van pickup day, which meant packing up and getting out to an address near the airport. After the previous experience from the airport, we opted for a DiDi car and the $43 seemed like a bargain.<\/p>\n

Once at the Jucy centre, we were booked in, given a briefing and shown where there was a \u201cswap\u201d larder where those coming in could leave left over stuff and those going out could stock up. The larder proved rather bare but just as we were ready to leave, a couple of vans came in and both hirers were heading straight to the airport so we scored bigtime, even some beer.<\/p>\n

Our first sortie didn\u2019t go well. After only less than a kilometre, Christine announced that the passenger seat was beyond bad. It had sort of collapsed on one side. We turned around and reported the issue. No problem, they swapped our van. All the vans look superb, gleaming paint, freshly painted tyres and black bar work. Neat and tidy inside. I was amazed to see ours had clocked up 440,000km. It drove well, was easy to handle and had plenty of zip in suburban streets. However, once out on the highway and faced with the huge hill climbs that New Zealand offers, we were always the slow one. Fortunately, NZ drivers seem to have more patience than those in Australia and overtaking lanes were frequent, so we coped.<\/p>\n

We negotiated the freeway through Auckland and across the big harbour bridge before pushing north. We had initially planned to stop early at somewhere like Orewa Beach just to get our bearings. In the end, we lunched at Orewa Beach, found a Woolworths to buy the few things we still needed.<\/p>\n

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Poor Christine scored the worst of the driving as we headed north to Paihia in The Bay of Islands, the last 85k or so through very mountainous country, much of it done at less than 70km\/hr. We chose a place called Seaview Campervan Camp, which had rave Google reviews. It said something about $25 a night but that proved to be per head. By that time it was getting late so we put up with the price, which seemed steep for what looked like a campervan wrecker\u2019s yard and settled in to our new home for the next week.<\/p>\n

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Christine performed her usual brilliance with a tiny basic kitchen and we set the bed up. We were a bit head down, so I slept the other way round. Other than that, it was really comfortable and warm. Getting up for a toilet call in the middle of the night is interesting; it is possible to get jammed if you don\u2019t do things just right, but it is all a learning curve.<\/p>\n

The next morning we set out to the wharf area of the tiny town to purchase a ticket on a boat tour of the Bay of Islands. We wanted one with lunch provided but were told that was cancelled due to one of the boats being out of action. We suspected that the real reason was the presence of a huge cruise ship and the abundance of passengers ready to buy tickets for afternoon cruises. Whatever, the afternoon cruise looked good and it meant we had some time to kill.<\/p>\n

We drove across a bridge over the estuary to the Treaty Grounds of Waitangi. This is where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840, ending the M\u0101ori Wars. We could have taken a three hour cultural tour (as were a few hundred cruise ship passengers) but we lacked the time and had already booked a cultural experience in Rotorua for later, so we saved ourselves the $150 and had a coffee and date scone instead. It was excellent.<\/p>\n

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After a simple lunch in the van, we boarded the big catamaran for the tour. First stop was the town of Russell, a short hop across the bay, to pick up more people. Russell was the first capital of New Zealand, a whalers town that had a reputation as the sin capital of the South Pacific. Nowadays it is more of a retirement and holiday town.<\/p>\n

Then it was off on a cruise that highlighted the amazing piece of water called Bay of Islands. Named by Cook for the abundance of islets, it has more idyllic anchorages and smooth cruising waters than I\u2019ve seen anywhere else. The main destination was \u201cThe Hole in the Rock\u201d a large natural bridge formation of the northern tip. In good weather, the cruise boats will navigate through the hole, but today, the swell was just a bit much. Even so, the skipper laid the boat right into the gap, within mere metres of the rock face. It was very clever work.<\/p>\n

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Unfortunately, there was a lack of marine life on our trip, no dolphins or whales. This didn\u2019t worry us, but I did feel a bit sorry for some of the cruise ship people who missed out. All in all, it was a highlight. I have always wanted to sail cruise the Bay of Islands, that probably won\u2019t happen now, but I can see why I wanted to. A very beautiful place.<\/p>\n

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Back on land, we found the Waitangi Holiday Park and booked into a normal, regular caravan park at $42, better than the other strange experience.<\/p>\n

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24 April<\/strong> \u2013 We had expected rain over night but none eventuated. It was lying in wait for us further south. The further south we got, the heavier the rain and we started to worry about flash flooding. The north had received extreme rain just before we arrived and all the streams were flowing fast so more rain was a possible problem.<\/p>\n

We stopped for morning tea at Whangarei Falls, a spectacular single drop fall on the Hatea River. Luckily for us, there were two excellent viewing platforms at the top of the falls so we didn\u2019t have to take the long downhill walk track to the bottom to get a good look.<\/p>\n

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By the time we were within 50km of Auckland, the sky suddenly cleared and things brightened up. The traffic got heavy however, and progress across the harbour bridge and through Auckland to the south was mostly slow. Maybe it was the start of the Anzac Day long weekend or maybe it was just Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n

We had booked in to a Showgrounds campground at a location called Pukekohe. We spent a bit of time trying to guess how to say it and settled on \u201cPokemon\u201d. We are struggle quite a bit with the names of places. Just as in Australia, showground camps are good. They are cheap when compared to caravan parks, have all the basic needs and often have an interesting set of people to talk to.<\/p>\n

By the time we set up and settled in, we were bushed. We had driven 276km, almost nothing back in Australia, but here the terrain is so hilly and winding that 100% concentration is needed and a day\u2019s drive, even with good breaks, proves energy sapping. The scenery makes up for it. Rolling green pasture lands with fat cattle and full sheep or sub-tropical forest with amazing pines and tree ferns. We are loving it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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