Recap: New Zealand North Island Surf & Road Trip

Thanks to those of you who followed along our New Zealand north island road trip! If you’ve read all the other posts, feel free to skip this one, but I wanted to do a full recap of the trip in case it helps anyone else with their planning. We found October to be a pretty windy month for surfing in New Zealand, but we got lucky with waves some days and we got to see and do a ton of other amazing things along the way.

This trip took two weeks overall. I flew in and out of Auckland on Air New Zealand, which I really liked. We rented a camper van from Wendekreisen (the Koru 4 Freedom van), which was on the higher end of the options available. You could definitely do it for cheaper, but we wanted extra space because we expected the weather to be pretty cold and rainy, and we thought we might end up spending a decent amount of time in the van, which we did.

The weather ended up being better and less rainy than expected, and I would do the whole trip over again in a heartbeat!

Here’s a list of the places we stopped (with links to each post to read more):

• Whangarei Falls

• Spirits Bay

• Waipu Caves

• Raglan

• Mt. Taranaki viewpoint & Hawera

• Wellington

• Tongariro, Taupo Bay, & Rotorua

• Mount Maunganui

• Hobbiton in Matamata

• Coromandel Peninsula

• Auckland

And a map of the whole route:

Thank you for reading! Onto the next adventure…

Namaste,

Cori

**It’s always a privilege getting to surf in other countries. I make sure I’m covered with affordable and reliable travel medical insurance in case anything goes wrong. I choose SafetyWing because their Nomad Insurance policy covers activities, including surfing, in 185+ countries. To sign up, visit this link.

New Zealand Road Trip: Coromandel & Raglan Return

At this point in the trip, after Hobbiton, we were winding down and didn’t have much of agenda for the last couple of days. We decided to voyage up to the Coromandel Peninsula to check out the hot water beach.

It was about a two hour drive from Matamata, and unfortunately we ended up being a little disappointed. You’re supposed to be able to dig into the beach and reveal little hot water pools, but at least at the time we went, the one small spot of beach with hot water underneath was quite crowded. There were a few groups enjoying their hot tubs—and you could see steam coming over—but there were many other groups digging to no avail. We tried our best at digging, digging, and digging, but ultimately there was no hot tub for us!

We didn’t have a set agenda for where to go next, so we decided to head back toward Raglan and try again for surfing Manu Bay. But first, we stopped overnight at a pretty epic camp spot and our best sunset of the trip:

We fared a little better at Ranglan for attempt number two. Bryan got some waves. I tried the point break and kind of caught a wave, but quickly fell off. Oh well, at least I tried, I guess. Then it was sadly already time to pack up the boards in preparation for the flight.

We had our last dinner and breakfast in the van to clear the fridge, then headed north to Auckland—the last stop for me.

**It’s always a privilege getting to surf in other countries. I make sure I’m always covered with affordable and reliable travel medical insurance in case anything goes wrong. I choose SafetyWing because their Nomad Insurance policy covers activities, including surfing, in 185+ countries. To sign up, visit this link.

New Zealand Road Trip: Tongariro, Bungy, & Rotorua

It was time for our biggest New Zealand day yet! We fueled up on ramen in the van on our last night in Wellington, then we really wanted to squeeze in as much as possible, so we decided to try to fit Tongariro National Park, bungy jumping (for me), and a Rotorua Maori cultural experience in one day. It was packed in, but the schedule was definitely doable with some time to spare.

We woke up super early from our parking lot in Wellington and drove about 3.5 hours north to Tongariro National Park. We started with a short walk to Tawhai Falls (also known as Gollum’s Pool) since we were on a Lord of the Rings streak.

Next, we parked the van in town (not an easy feat, but we were able to street park) and did a longer hike of the Taranaki Falls Loop, which was a little under 4 hours. It was an easy hike with gorgeous views from below and above the falls.

We could’ve enjoyed much more time in the park, but we were on a time crunch to get to my bungy jumping appointment. We grabbed some lunch in the van and drove a little over an hour to Taupo (AJ Hackett Bungy). To be honest, I was feeling pretty nervous at that point and wouldn’t have minded if we missed the appointment! But we made it with time to spare, and they let me walk right up and jump early (lucky me!) I was actually a little relieved to see that it wasn’t as high as the really, really high other bungy jumping locations in New Zealand. I felt less anxious and more excited as I got my harness fitted and walked out to the platform. The staff members were really friendly and reassuring, so I felt better. But when I made the jump, I uncontrollably screamed “OH MY GOD!” I don’t think anything can prepare you for that feeling.

At the bottom, a boat lowered me down, and I got to have a nice little ride back to the dock to hike back up to the starting point. It was the perfect experience! I almost considered jumping again, which you can do for about $80 more, but the weather was starting to turn rainy. Onwards we went to our next destination…

We drove another hour and arrived early to our cultural Maori dinner in Rotorua. Just enough time for a van shower and change in the parking lot before the show. In Rotorua, there are a few different Maori villages that offer tourists the opportunity to learn about Maori culture. We weren’t sure if it would be cheesy and extremely touristy, but we decided to go for it, and I’m glad we did.

We went with the Mitai Maori Village. We spent the evening watching demonstrations and performances, hearing a Q&A session about Maori culture, and eating an amazing (and massive!) hangi meal. I felt like we were able to learn a lot about a special aspect of New Zealand, so it felt worthwhile—though it was a very large group and definitely a touristy activity. After dinner, we walked back down to the stream and saw a few glow worms along the trail in the dark.

And that was a wrap on our most jam-packed New Zealandy day!

New Zealand Road Trip: A Weekend in Wellington

After our rainy and windy drive through Taranaki, we spent the night in a field near Waiinu beach and woke up to this:

The wind was on the waves, so we started to make our three hour drive down to Wellington. On the way in, Bryan had to stop and buy a new laptop, and I learned that driving and parking the van in the big city is no fun!

Luckily, we found a big parking lot for freedom camping and there were a few spots still open. We left the van and opted for Ubering (or DiDi-ing) around the city for the weekend.

We hiked up Mt. Victoria and hit some Lord of the Rings filming photo opps along the way.

I learned that Wellington is very windy! The city gets 175 days a year of over 60 knot winds. We could definitely feel it as we walked up to the summit of Mt. Victoria. The views were beautiful, though!

Burger joints are popular in New Zealand. We tried Burger Liquor for dinner and really liked it. Their burgers, curly fries, beer, and milkshakes met our refined American standards.

Our parking lot overnight stay was just fine. And in the morning we headed to a delicious brunch at Neo Cafe & Eatery, then to the National Museum of New Zealand. I originally wanted to go because I thought it was free, but when we got there we found out it’s only free for New Zealand residents. However, the $35 NZD (was about $17 USD at the time) was really worth it. It’s a very well-done museum, and there was so much to see and discover!

Later that day, we visited Weta Workshop, another of the LOTR stops on our trip. This is where they make many of the props and costumes for the LOTR and Hobbit movies, plus so many other movies with magical props and designs! It was really neat to learn how the actors get into character and see (and touch!) some of original movie props.

We probably would’ve stayed another night because the drive to get to Wellington is quite long, but we had big plans for the next day. I’ll tell you about that next time. But for now, I’ll leave you with some late night van ramen:

New Zealand Road Trip: Rainy Day

After our attempt at surfing in Raglan, we camped overnight near the Three Sisters and Elephant Rock. The freedom camping spot was really pretty when we arrived at just about sunset, but it was high tide. We didn’t end up seeing the rock formations because when we woke up at low tide it was rainy and windy.

What a change overnight:

We had gotten pretty lucky with weather up to this point, so we couldn’t complain. We decided to set out on our route to Mt. Taranaki, even though we didn’t have high hopes of seeing anything. And we were right! Here’s where a lovely view might have been:

On our way to the viewpoint, the van company texted us with a warning that we should pull over due to high winds. So we were actually stuck for a couple hours near the viewpoint. We took a short hike around and had some lunch, then we needed to find a rainy day activity.

Enter, the movies! We had a great time visiting Hawera Cinemas. They had comfy seats, table service, and authentic replicas of props from the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter movies. Plus nice people. We went full New Jersey and saw the Bruce Springsteen movie on the day it came out. It was a rainy day win.

New Zealand Road Trip: Waipu Caves

After we left Spirits Bay, we experienced our first dump station visit. This was my first time staying in a van, so it was a new adventure for me. I thought a dump station would be a bigger, bathroom-type room, but it’s basically just a hole with a water spout nearby. Unloading the grey water and refilling the fresh water were fairly easy—it just took some adjusting to park the van in the right spot for the hoses to reach. And I won’t go into details, but after our first cleaning of the van’s cassette toilet, we decided to only use it in case of serious emergencies! Most of the campgrounds had their own bathrooms anyway, so that plan worked out well.

Onward! That night was another one where we arrived in the dark and didn’t see the view until the next morning. I knew from Google Maps that we parked on the side of Coca Cola lake (Rotopokaka) and that there was a beach nearby. This is the beauty we woke up to in the morning:

The beach wasn’t far away, either. I walked up a sandy hill and came upon this view on the other side:

Wow! What a perfect place to camp for the night. I was hoping for some waves, but there weren’t any, so after my walk we continued on our driving journey.

New Zealand is known for having glow worm caves, and a lot of people go to the Waitomo Caves which are bigger and offer black water rafting. We wanted a less crowded and more relaxed glow worm experience, so we decided to check out the smaller Waipu Caves Scenic Reserve. It was only a short walk from the parking lot until we found this entry to the cave:

We were glad to have our headlamps as we waded in the dark through some ankle-deep water.

I didn’t see any glow worms, and I was actually going to keep walking into knee-deep water when Bryan stopped me and told me to turn off my head lamp. There were glow worms everywhere! As soon as I looked up, I could see hundreds of them on the cave walls above us like a starry night sky.

My iPhone 14 didn’t do it justice, but you get the idea:

Overall, I’m glad we stopped at the caves. The whole Waitomo black water rafting is probably more of an experience if you’re looking for a half-day/full-day experience, but Waipu was an impressive little stop on our road trip.

New Zealand Road Trip: Spirits Bay

Our next stop was my favorite camping spot of the trip. We left Whangarei and drove almost all the way to the northern tip of the north island, Spirits Bay.

It was so picturesque, with horses roaming on the hillside and a short walk to the ocean. We parked our camper van in a field and walked to the beach just in time for sunset.

I wish we had unpacked our boards a little sooner, because the waves were perfect that evening. But they were still wrapped in cardboard and plastic wrap to protect them through the flights. We waited to surf the next morning when it was windier and the waves weren’t as good.

But we still paddled out and had some fun. Then we made a nice breakfast with perfect weather and a perfect view, so I really can’t complain.

I would 100% recommend staying longer than just one night in this magical place. But we only had a couple weeks with so much to see and do, so we headed off that afternoon for our next stop.

Spirits Bay, I hope I get to see you again someday!

New Zealand Road Trip: Whangarei Falls

After stopping in Sydney, it was time for the true vacation part of the trip… a campervan adventure in New Zealand!

I woke up early to fly into Auckland and met Bryan in the airport. Our flights conveniently landed at about the same time without any hiccups. We got a ride to pick up our van from Wendekreisen, and we were all set to move in!

We decided to unpack our clothes into the drawers and leave our suitcases at the office. That ended up being a very good decision, because every bit of space counts when you’re living in a van for two weeks, especially with surfboards.

Our next stop was the grocery store (Pak’nSave) to stock up. I love grocery shopping in other countries to see the local delicacies, like these green-lipped mussels and golden kiwi:

Then we headed north into the Northland region. I was nervous about driving the van in the dark on unfamiliar roads (I would later learn that I didn’t need to be), so we planned to drive about two hours to our first stop. Since it was already getting late, we decided to save our groceries and grab takeout from a burger place on the way.

When we arrived in Whangarei, our plan A campsite was full—not surprising, because we knew it only had four parking spots—so we moved on to plan B (Waikaraka Layby). In the dark, it just looked like a parking lot on the side of the road to spend the night. We set up our bed, put out the window shades, and settled in for our first night in the van.

In the morning, we woke up to this view:

Not too bad for our first morning in New Zealand!

Then it was time to start exploring. Our first official stop in Northland was the beautiful Whangarei Falls. Fun fact I learned: “Wh” is pronounced like an “F” sound. I’m glad my friend told me that before I left home!

The falls were lovely, and they led us to an easy trail where we did a short hike past kauri trees.

Some of the trees are thousands of years old! We had to be very careful to clean our shoes at the boot-cleaning stations, because many of the kauri trees are dying due to a disease from foreign soil.

It was a nice, peaceful walk to took us to another waterfall:

We looped back to the van for some lunch sandwiches, on our newly discovered world’s best bread, Vogel’s Bread, and prepared to drive further north.

We stopped to check the surf at Shipwreck Bay, but it was too small, and there wasn’t anywhere to park the van unless we wanted to take the risk of driving onto the sand. We did not! (And I think the van company forbids that anyway.) But it was another beautiful view:

We continued our drive north to one of my favorite spots on the trip, Spirits Bay, just in time for sunset. I’ll tell you more about that next time!