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: Raglan

Before setting off on this trip, we agreed that it wasn’t a surf trip but more of an adventure trip with some surfing along the way. However, we did bring our boards around the world, so we were hoping for some surf. After we made our way around Northland (the northern region of New Zealand’s north island), we headed down to Raglan on the coast.

There weren’t many (or any?) free camping areas in Raglan, so we paid to stay in this big field with bathrooms and showers. It was windy, cold, and rainy the night we arrived, but the next day turned out nice.

The drive out and down a winding hill to the ocean was beautiful. And there were certainly waves that day.

I didn’t take any photos of the actual surf spot, but it was a point break with a long paddle that tested the limits of my comfort zone. I decided to paddle out to see if I felt like being brave enough to go for any waves.

It turns out, I was not brave enough since with point breaks you usually have to start at the most powerful peak of the wave, which is usually also crowded with the best surfers. I lingered on the side hoping for the leftovers if someone fell off early or missed a wave. But, I was a little too timid, so I watched from the sidelines. Then the waves started getting bigger, so it was time to head back in. Bryan and I tried to paddle in, but we were fighting hard against the channel. The only way to get in was to catch a wave, so I caught a huge one and rode it on my belly all the way in.

Whew! I’ll need to work on my point break courage, but there was a debatably well-earned van shower and brunch at Orca Eatery. I also tried NZ’s delicious Hokey Pokey ice cream for the first time. That’s a new favorite.

**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: 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!