It’s true - we are now in the second country of our travels! Our last few days in Australia were spent at the Wedge in Sydney. But the weekend before, we headed down to Canberra for an ultimate tournament that we decided to play in at the last minute. (Read about it in the Ultimate section). We made a “very American” (read: Mexican) meal of nachos for our hosts on our last night, complete with margaritas, and on Tuesday morning we woke up early to catch a cab to the airport. Our flight to Auckland was short and painless, and despite the torrential downpour that happened right after we arrived, getting to the hotel was easy too.

Before we go into our New Zealand experiences so far, Whit and I have put together a little tribute to Australia, all in the form of a “Best Of” list:

Best Fish & Chips: Scarborough Beach, Perth WA
Runner-up: Manly Beach, Sydney NSW

Best Beer: The Cidery’s Blackwood Lager, Bridgetown WA
Runner-up: James Squire Golden Ale

Best Homemade Dinner: Souffle with egg, goat cheese, and herbs by Emma Gurnsey, Mia Mia Farms, Bairnsdale VIC
Runner-up: Meals by Lisa Ride, Perth WA

Best Rental Car: Toyota Yaris

Best Camp Dinner: Cara’s Christmas Dinner (instant potatoes, instant stuffing, cranberry sauce, and veggie sausages, with Tim-Tam’s and Bailey’s Hot Chocolate for dessert)

Best National Park: Wollemi National Park, NSW
Runner-up: Cape Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park, WA

Best Beach: Byron Bay, NSW
Runner-up: Conto Spring, Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park, WA

Best Campsite: Yuraygir National Park at Minnie Water, NSW
Runner-up: Nightcap National Park at Terania Creek, NSW

Best Restaurant: Soulmama, Melbourne VIC
Runner-up: Green Palace Thai Vegetarian, Sydney NSW

Best Tourist Attraction: Snorkelling in Ningaloo Reef, Coral Bay WA
Runner-up: Wine tasting, Margaret River WA

This list could go on and on - we had an amazing time in Australia and were truly sad to go. We wouldn’t change anything about our time there, except wishing there was more of it!

Our first night in New Zealand was spent at a hotel both near the airport and the place where we had to pick-up our campervan the next morning. We had booked a relocation deal on a campervan from Auckland to Wellington. For $5 NZ a day, we had two days to drive 750 kilometers and drop off the van. We didn’t really know what to expect for the van itself  - all we knew was that it slept four people. So, when we finally saw it, we laughed at how big it was. Complete with a shower, toilet, stove, refrigerator, microwave, sink, table, and two beds - we were set for a comfy ride down to Wellington.

Before we hit the road we stopped and bought food for the trip. The drive was good - long, but good. The scenery along the way switched between small towns, sheep pastures, cow pastures, farms, and lush green hills and mountains.

The main roads in New Zealand are comparable to state highways in the US. Two lane, narrow shoulder - not great for driving a large vehicle. Our average speed was about 55 mph, so even after six hours of driving on the first day we were just over half-way.

The half-way point for us was Tongariro National Park, right in the middle of the North Island. It is home to three of the largest mountains in New Zealand, and is a popular ski area in the winter. Low clouds and rain in the area kept us from seeing them, but the area was beautiful nonetheless. Parts of Lord of the Rings were supposedly filmed here, and the scenery was strongly reminiscent of the movies. When we drove into the campground at Mangahuia, it was raining pretty hard - so we opted out of going on a hike. Instead, we figured out the rules for cribbage and played for a while. When the rain stopped we walked down to the creek in the campground, and then came back and made dinner.

Part of the campervan deal was that it had to be returned by 3pm. Since we hadn’t been able to do a hike yet, we decided to get up early and go before we started driving. We were on the trail to Taranaki Falls at 7am. It was listed as a two-hour hike roundtrip, but we did it in 1.5 hours. Leading up to the falls we crossed a few streams, and were either walking through open areas with low bush, or dense patches of rainforests. We knew we were close to the falls by the sound. The stream that it came from was not that big, but all the water was bottlenecked right before falling, which seemed to build up the pressure. At about 20 meters high, it made for an impressive waterfall, and we sat and admired while eating breakfast. We made it back to the trailhead pretty quickly, and got on the road right away.

The first part of driving that day was really windy and mountainous. We managed to see one of the mountains in the park through a cloud break - it was really tall and snow-capped. We took a coffee-break in Wanganui, at a cute place called Vincent’s Yellow House Cafe & Bar. An hour or so later we were only 80kms from Wellington, but we still had over two hours until the van was due back. At this point we were driving along the SW coast of the North Island, so we pulled off the main road and went for a quick swim at Te Horo Beach with a view of Kapiti Island.

After getting lost and stopping for directions twice, we were 15 minutes late getting the van back, which proved to be a non-issue. We cleaned out our stuff, called a shuttle, and got dropped-off in the area of Kelburn in Wellington, where we would be staying with Ray, a teammate of ours from World’s, and his girlfriend Kate. We went with them to Kate’s league game, and then went out to dinner at a Nepalese restaurant - the Jewel of Nepal.

We’re finalizing our plans for tramping in the South Island, and will then take ferry over and spend the next few weeks down there.

-Claire