North Island Part 2

From Cape Reinga to Wellington, the southernmost point

More hobbiton, forests, national parks, Mordor, Mount Doom, sunshine, storms, and earthquakes.

We had quite an eventful journey south.

On the first two days, we were mostly just driving. For a while, we had a Canadian hitchhiker on board who kept us company. Eventually, we asked him where he was actually heading. He said there's a hiking trail in the forest that leads to a huge Kauri tree, and that's where he wanted to get off. We decided to walk a bit with him, and after a short hike, we stood in front of a 2,000-year-old giant tree. It was truly impressive how majestic the tree was. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to get too close to the tree to avoid damaging it, so we couldn't fulfill our new hippie passion of hugging trees here.

On the second day of driving, the landscape became even more gentle and hobbiton-like. We reached Rotorua in the evening and were greeted by a pleasant smell of rotten eggs. Rotorua has geysers and hot springs, hence the smell. We looked into bubbling mud pools and steaming piles of rocks.

In Rotorua, we took a walk through the Redwood Forest and marveled at these giant trees in a truly enchanting fairy tale forest.

Being true Swabians, we wanted to avoid the paid spa facilities in Rotorua and went to a warm river outside the city instead. We drove on a gravel road that almost shredded our tires to a remote spot on earth. In rain and cold, we put on our swimwear and walked along a muddy path to the river. We sat in the middle of the forest in a small warm stream and enjoyed the warmth. Over time, we noticed that not only the air smelled like rotten eggs, but especially the water in which we were sitting. Of course, there were no showers in this outdoor paradise. So we spent the rest of the day driving through the landscape with our new perfume. We should have burned our swimwear, but we didn't want to spend the budget on such an expense. So we accepted that some people might look at us strangely in other bathing areas.

The rest of the day's route took us through adventurous, untarred, and almost unused roads through a beautiful mountain range, through magnificent forests with raging rivers. After this tiring drive, we reached our destination in the Te Urewera National Park in the evening, by the beautiful Lake Waikaremoana. Unfortunately, it rained continuously the next day, and we reluctantly decided to continue our journey as it was too cold and wet for hiking.

In search of sunshine, we left the mountains and, after a few hours, reached a small lake. There was a small free campground next to it, without a shower but with a pit toilet. A perfect spot! Sheep grazed next to our camper, and ducks and swans came by for breakfast to keep us company. We felt very comfortable in this idyllic place with blue sky and sunshine. We spent two days resting and going on a little hike.

After that, we continued to Taupo. Here, we treated ourselves to a 5-star campground with hot showers and a thermal pool (this time without any smell). Taupo has the largest lake in New Zealand and is a beautiful town. We visited the impressive Huka Falls, and as true Swabians, we cooked lentils with homemade spaetzle, accompanied by a bright red Frankfurt sausage. Afterward, we continued our journey to 'Mordor' in the Tongariro National Park. When we arrived, it was pouring rain again, and it was cold. Nevertheless, we booked the shuttle for the next day to the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. The alarm clock rang at seven in the morning (what a terrible sound..), and we started right away. We stood in front of this huge volcano in rain, fog, and cold. Now we had to overcome our laziness and start walking. Steep uphill through pouring rain, wind, fog, and snow through this unreal Mordor landscape. After hours, completely soaked, we reached the summit, and miraculously, the sky cleared up, revealing a gigantic view of turquoise lakes and a landscape that looked like we landed on the moon, absolutely insane! From here, we descended steeply over rocks and paths through barren landscapes and finally through a picturesque forest down to the base of Mount Doom. After 7 hours of hiking without a break, we were exhausted but happy!

In the evening, we went to bed early. Just as we were dozing off, we suddenly woke up. Someone was shaking the camper! After two minutes of increasingly violent shaking, we suddenly realized that it must be an earthquake. Well, we are in an area with three active volcanoes, and earthquakes are not uncommon in New Zealand. So we went back to sleep, still feeling relieved.

The next morning, we went on another little hike through Mordor and continued to Wellington. When we arrived in the capital, it was pouring rain, and the wind was getting stronger. Our lodging for the night was a parking lot right by the sea.

Since it wasn't possible to cook in the camper with this terrible weather, we decided to eat out. Strangely, the city seemed a bit deserted, and many restaurants were closed. We thought it's not surprising given this awful weather. So we ended up in the only open restaurant, a Burger King. It was occupied by the homeless and somewhat bleak, but at least there was free wifi. Once we were back online, our phones started beeping incessantly, with concerned family members and friends wanting to know if we were okay. After a short research, it became clear that no one had shaken our camper last night, and it wasn't a small volcanic earthquake either. It was a severe earthquake that shook the South Island and frightened many people.

There we were, with our camper on a lonely parking lot by the sea in the port of Wellington, with storm, heavy rain, and tsunami warnings. Not a good feeling, but we didn't know where else to go. So we first stocked up on a double six-pack from the supermarket across the street, to not spend this stormy night without anything to drink.

The next morning, we found out that all roads to Wellington were closed due to flooding, so we were lucky to have arrived in time. The ferry service, which had been completely suspended the day before, was now running almost on schedule again, and the storm and rain subsided. So we set off towards the South Island........