road tripping new zealand’s north island

Back in late December, I was chatting with my friend Paul – of the Taupo/Tongariro expedition – and I mentioned that I was thinking about road tripping up the North Island, from Wellington to Auckland. He said he’d be down for it as well, so we started to make plans and actually try to make it work.

Well, work it we did, and we had an absolutely amazing trip. Huge thanks to Ace Rental Cars, Wellington branch, for hooking us up with a sweet deal on a little Mazda hatchback. It was the perfect car for two people and all our crap (of which we had …. a lot. I thought.) The little beauty drove well on the twisty roads too – I loved every second of driving it!

We started out in Wellington on a Monday morning. Sense dictated that we pick up the car at Wellington Airport and then pick up our stuff from our respective lodgings. Wellington only has one road in and out, and the airport is on the far end of that – where was the sense in dragging our gear out to the airport when we had to literally pass by both hostels on the way out of town?

It was so easy to get the paperwork and car sorted, and Wellington is an easy city to drive in – we were on the motorway within 45 minutes of leaving Ace Rentals. Paul turned up the music. Previously, we compared styles and discovered we could both listen to easy classic rock – and we made for Martinborough, via the Rimutaka mountain range.

I know – you’re thinking, but Sarah, you were just there! And yes, it’s true, we had just been to Martinborough the weekend before for a day of wine tasting… but we thought it was a good spot to stop for lunch, especially since it was now past one pm and we knew there were some good cafes. We also thought we might pick up some good wine from the local merchants.

After Martinborough, we took the back roads back to state highway 2 – our destination was Napier. In February 1931, Napier and much of Hawke’s Bay was destroyed – leveled – by an earthquake. Napier rebounded wonderfully and is home to some of the best Art Deco architecture. We didn’t stop too much on the way from Martinborough, except to search out a new cable for the music. We made a pit stop at the Countdown grocery store on our way into Napier and then checked into our hostel. Our first night was very low key… in fact, we didn’t explore the nightlife in any city we visited (except one but that is a blog post in itself.)

The next day, we started out by taking a self-guided walking tour of Napier. There are some incredible buildings in town, and much of the city centre is Art Deco: I sort of felt like I was in Miami Vice at times, what with the pink buildings and the palm trees! We also took the opportunity to drive up to the Bluff Hill lookout, which is sadly not as impressive as they make it sound. Sure, you have a great view of Hawke’s Bay, but you stare right down at the logging port and the cruise ships. There are definitely better lookout points than Bluff Hill. The estuary and the town of Ahuriri are below to the left and that was our next stop. The National Tobacco Building is in Ahuriri and it’s one of the best preserved Art Deco examples. You can go inside the lobby, which looks like the bank building from It’s A Wonderful Life.

 

Later that afternoon, we drove out to Te Mata, just past Hastings and Havelock North, and went for a short two hour hike. We followed the “red” trail – the longest one at 5 km – and wound our way through stunning redwood forests and up along the south side of the bluffs. The views are incredible: vast rolling green-brown hills, lumps of boulders, and tantalising glimpses of the bay.

 

We had really wanted to do Cape Kidnappers – named so because of an incident involving Captain Cook (who else? Most of New Zealand was named by him or for him) and the Maori. The story goes, the Maori kidnapped the cabin boy, thinking he was being held against his will. Cook fired at the Maori and the boy escaped back to the ship. Unfortunately, it’s a tide-based hike and as low tide was at 5am, we had to be out there by 7 – it’s a five hour return hike and sadly it just did not fit into our plans, as much as we wanted it to.

So, instead, we took off for Gisborne. We had arranged a surfing lesson with Frank, an American who splits his time between New Zealand and Mexico, and whom I heard about through a Wellington friend. That trip is about three and a half hours… true to our form, we made it last all day: relaxing morning in Napier, stops along the beach, and more.

That night, after getting checked into our hostel, we met Caragh. She’s an Irish girl living in Auckland, and we proceeded to get happily drunk on red wine with her, all whilst chatting about travel. We also learned how to poach eggs – something that now I cannot tell you the first thing about, but certainly knew the other week. It was late when we finally crashed – a potential sunrise adventure before surfing in the morning lay in front of us…

I was awoken the following dawn with a text from Caragh saying “sunrise?” I replied, “meh” and I never heard anything more. I drifted back to sleep only to be roused by my alarm at 7:30, much too late for sunrise. As Paul and I made our way out to the car with our towels and packs – surf lesson ready! – Caragh approached. She had definitely not made it up either, and she was on her way back to Auckland so we said our goodbyes and headed out to meet Frank.

I won’t go into a ton of detail about my surfing lesson… it was fun, and I certainly enjoyed it, but it’s not something I’m keen to do again, at least not anytime soon. Also, I look terrible in a wetsuit. I managed to stand up a few times and I rode in a few small waves, but nothing extreme. Sisborne’s family beach is a long strip of golden sand against the clear green blue of Poverty Bay (another Cook name: it didn’t have what he needed. By contrast, the Bay of Plenty did.)

Frank insisted we head to Wainui Beach. He swears up and down that it’s the best beach in the world… and this man knows his beaches: he takes surf tours to Mexico’s Pacific Coast…. so, after chatting with Frank for a little while, we waved goodbye and headed out east. Wainui Beach is the easternmost point in New Zealand and is the first spot to see the new day. It was where Caragh had wanted to go for sunrise. We stopped by the Wainui Beach store for a coffee and an ice cream before heading down to the beach. Earlier that day, one of Frank’s board hires had broken a surfboard here, so we were curious what the waves were doing. They were definitely high. These waves pounded the beach relentlessly, unlike the soft swells we had encountered at Gisborne’s beach. I was ever thankful that I did not surf this beach!

We walked and talked as we ate our ice cream and then sat down to watch the surfers. It was midday, so there weren’t too many out, but those that were certainly took advantage of the waves.

That evening, Paul made stuffed peppers and then we took a sunset walk up Kaiti Hill. There are several Captain Cook memorials here. This was where Cook first made landfall in New Zealand and so in addition to an obelisk commemorating his ship, the Endeavor, there is also a statue of Cook atop the lookout. Unfortunately for the sculptor, the statue and the uniform it bears have no resemblance to either Cook or the British Royal Navy.

(This makes me laugh on two levels: one, that there could be this big a f*** up. but two, I know a Captain Cook. Sadly, this statue looks nothing like him either. There is also a Pohutakawa tree planted by Princess Di. The things you find when you go for a walk!)

When we got back, Paul and I broke out the wine we had bought in Martinborough – a “mystery” red – and slowly drank that while sitting outside with a cheese platter.

What is there to do on the North Island?! Here’s a look at some of the places to stop during a road trip across New Zealand’s North!
 

The following morning, I got up early for sunrise. This is not something I do often. In my three years working on the boat, if I was not actually working during sunrise, I was asleep. I got up for my last one at land’s end, in Cabo San Lucas, in March, so… you know… it’s a once a year thing. A naturalist liked to say, “sunrise happens every day, and I hear they’re really pretty.”

BUT I thought, why not. I dragged my sorry ass out of bed and got dressed in the dark. I chucked on a hoodie and grabbed my camera before heading out the door. The predawn was an empty grey. No one was out: I rolled the windows down, cranked the music, and cruised out of town. As I pulled into Wainui Beach, there were only a few cars. I parked, locked the car, and walked out to the beach. It was a surfer’s paradise. Ten foot waves crashed onto the shore and the guys straddling their boards awaited the next swell. As the sun rose ten minutes later, these guys sat watching, as did those of us on shore. It was magical. The sky was a blaze of colours, all reds at first, slowly diluting to a bright orange and then a soft yellow. The clouds that sat low over the water burned away as the sun crested the horizon.

I set off down the beach, only to be greeted a minute later by an adorable dog. His collar and tags marked him a house dog, not a beach stray, and he was all about me. We walked up and down the beach for an hour. When I stopped, he stopped and sat on my feet. When I tried to take his picture, he came right up to the lens. When I sat down, he sat on my feet and leaned into my knees. People stopped to ask me what kind of dog he was, and I had to tell them I didn’t know, he wasn’t mine. His eyes were two toned – one an ice blue, the other a dark brown. I suspect he was part Blue Heeler. Finally, as he stopped to play with a local dog, someone shouted and he turned, his ears perky and his tail wagging – he took off for his owner without a backward glance at me. (sad face!)