A forest

Saturday, 03/08/2012 - 51 A.D.

The rain did stop, then came back again, then stopped, then came back again, etc., etc. Still a lot like England, right? Our night at the Trounson Kauri Park was like luxury compared to the previous evening and we bought a card with 24 hours of wi-fi (or a 500 megabyte download limit) and settled in to send out some updates to the folks around the world. Still not sure when the next update will be, but that’s all part of the fun, isn’t it? As nomads we worship The Road, and if The Road wants to give us internet access, The Road will do so.

By the end of the evening four other vans had turned up at the park to make us feel less like out of season tourists. The on-site TV room remained deserted, however, and I stuck my head in to get my fix of US shows The big bang theory and Two and a half men which became favourites on the previous leg of the journey. Who needs to watch the Olympics anyway??? Pretty much everyone back home, from what I hear!

We swapped sleeping quarters to see how the other half lives – me in the top bunk and Tim down in the “lounge area”. It should be noted that both of these beds have to be constructed prior to sleeping. Someone can sit and amuse themselves down below if the top bunk is occupied, but if the lower level bed has been built then there ain’t a lot more to do in the van! When we picked up Our Chariot we’d been told that it can feel a bit claustrophobic up top, but I had no worries and was gently rocked to sleep by Tim’s movements below as he built his bed. Because there’s a bit of condensation that comes from the roof, I awoke with a slight sniffle, thinking I’d caught a cold in the night (the sensation soon passed). It turned out that we both had a better night’s kip in our new quarters, and so they would be the order of the future, unless one of us needs to slump off to Snoozeland a lot earlier than the other.

Once up, beds packed away and breakfast had, we tried to skype our parents, but got the times and days totally wrong – it’s now you lot over in England who are behind us whereas previously we were always playing catch-up to you! It’s a shame we didn’t get to chat because it was a real good sunny morning. The man at the gas station said it would be just as sunny for the next couple of days...do we believe him? Kiwis are known for being very underestimating, e.g. “It’s not far at all, just over the hill,” where the hill can be a huge mountain that takes three hours to drive around. But so far the natives we’ve met have been extremely friendly.

Before leaving the campsite we gave The Chariot a drink of water and emptied the waste pipe into what is known as the “dump site”. That could be quite confusing if you weren’t clued-up. Then we hit the road, and these are some of the places we drove through - Kaitui, Waipou, Waimamaku, Waiotemarama, Okaihau, Whirinaki, Mangamuka and Maraeroa. Don’t exactly roll off the tongue, do they? Which makes trying to navigate and tell the one who's driving where we’re heading for quite difficult. Northland, which is the region we’re in, was where the Maori peoples originally settled, hence the traditional place names. Still, I’d love something simple like, I dunno, Big Leaf Village or Blue Water Lake. And, as mentioned in a previous blog, they rarely do road signs here, nor do they have anything like, ‘Welcome To Waitilikimarero – Please Drive Carefully’. With the settlements being so small, you can blink and miss them.

The morning continued to be bathed in a golden sunny haze as we drove towards the Hokianga river, grooving along to the sweet, summery sounds of Finley Quaye. There was a scenic viewing point called South Head at the mouth of the river, but we turned off too soon and ended up at a disused garage along a muddy track. Doing a 180 degree turn was difficult, but not impossible, although I had to give The Chariot a push to help her out of the mud...and I really, really hope it’s the last time I have to do that! We found our road for South Head at the next turn and the view was well worth the earlier cock-up. The Tasman Sea, for that’s what it was, looked oh so fine-fine-fine.

My camera probably doesn’t do justice to many of these scenes (which I’ll have to start labelling soon, lest I forget where they were, what with the similar-sounding place names). You’ll have to take it on trust that New Zealand scenery is incredibly spectacular. We stopped a little further down the road from South Head to enjoy a picnic lunch beside the sea, and the photo below probably doesn’t do justice to the incredibly tasty sandwich I’d made.

We continued our trek to the far north through hilly forests up steep, winding roads. I say “forests”, but it looks more like jungle to me. Given that we’re two English lads a long way from home in a vehicle built for exploring, there’s very much an Apocalypse Now feel to it all, and at any moment I’m expecting Martin Sheen or Marlon Brando to burst out from the undergrowth in a hail of bullets and napalm. To complete the theme, I have just started reading the Joseph Conrad story Heart of darkness, upon which Apocalypse Now was based. How dark will my heart be after 28 days in a camper van with my younger brother? Only time will tell...

At some point in the afternoon there is a frustrating / amusing incident in which Tim gets his seatbelt caught for ten minutes, but far from amusing is the crash we see on the highway – paramedics everywhere and police telling us to drive by cautiously. It may be highway #1 in New Zealand, but it’s still pretty isolated by English standards. That said, this country’s roads are all in excellent condition, especially when you consider how little traffic they get on them.

On the very tip of Northland is 90 Mile Beach, its name an immediate giveaway as to its size. We just want to see it (we’re not allowed to drive along it anyway – hire contract say no). Although Tim mutters, “Looks like Crosby,” as we pull up by the dunes, and there is a bit of rubbish here and there, it’s a damn fine expanse of sand and water. Plus there is no breeze whatsoever, making it very pleasant just to stand there and watch the waves. I don’t think I’ve ever stood by the Irish Sea and not had to shiver and scrape my hair out of my face, but here I’m comfortable in just a T-shirt and ill-fitting black jumper. And it’s the equivalent of February!

In the nearby village of Houhora is “New Zealand’s Most Northern Tavern”, and we fancied a pint (for a change!) However, the daylight was against us and we had to drive through the Aupouri Forest to get there. On paper it looked like a quick(ish) trip, but once again the logistics outsmarted us. Turning onto what we thought was the rough gravelly rack that would get us back to the highway, we found ourselves driving for longer than we thought we should. But what was that up ahead and darting into the trees? Horses? Wild horses? How cool is that! Didn’t even know New Zealand had them roaming its forests!

Eventually the track came to an end...at a gate...to a field...where they kept horses! A dead end! Oh well, live and learn. Twilight was closing in and the chance to make it to the tavern had gone, so we drove back down the track and parked up at a suitably secluded (and level) spot. And we’re there now as I write this, out in the middle of nowhere, “freedom camping”, as they call it round here. Night came down very quickly and Tim has made the mistake of lying down on the seat and going to sleep at 7.30. I hope he’s not in a bad mood when he wakes up...