We felt a little sad saying goodbye to the Wairarapa, it is our favourite piece of New Zealand and we knew it would be a while before we’d be back. While living in Wellington it was our weekend getaway. The small towns, wineries, good weather and the Tararua mountains have always had a large appeal to us. If only the commute to Wellington was a bit easier… So on the road we were and the plan was to make a bit of distance, heading east towards Gisborne. We had no intention to stay in Napier, it is a nice enough city, but once you have done the touristy stuff, it is a bit boring. We ended up driving to a DOC campsite at Lake Tutira. It’s a beautiful lake but due to pollution (effluent run off mostly) it is not recommended you swim here, although the water quality is getting better. It is a common issue in New Zealand, where many water ways are polluted, because cows have direct access to them. The nutrients from the cow shit causes an excessive growth of weeds, slime and algae, so you get green water. It is really disappointing to still see farms where the cows are wading through the rivers. Either way, it wasn’t that warm, so we set up camp at yet another nice DOC (Department of Conservation) campsite. DOC campsites are very minimal in facilities (just a toilet and a tap with water you can’t drink), but they suit us best as they always have the nicest spots. We cooked ourselves a meal under a shelter with table at the lake’s edge while it rained gently. After dinner we walked up the hill to see the Pa ruins. A Pa is a Maori fortification. As they didn’t really build with lasting materials there is often not much left of them and you have to use your imagination. This one was on a little peninsula in the lake, very strategic with water on three sides.

Waking up to a little bit more sun we packed up and drove to Hackfalls Arboretum. We had read an interesting article about this place and its owners. Bob Berry was born in 1916 and inherited the farm in 1950, he had an interest in trees and started collecting and planting them on the farm. In 1990 he met an English Lady, who also happened to be a horticulturist and brought a tour group to look at the trees. Later that year they married and although they didn’t take care of the farming part anymore, they looked after the tree part and have now around 3500 different trees and shrubs. They are both still alive, but have moved to Gisborne, but still visit Hackfalls. We had some lunch and then went for a walk around the beautiful grounds.

Next stop was Gisborne as we needed a place with an internet connection, so a motel it was. Not a bad choice as the weather really packed in, camping would have been a damp affair. I was having a job interview the next morning via Skype, for a contract in Auckland. The next morning I talked to three people from a large energy retailer for an hour. Half an hour after that I was offered the contract and we knew we had some income secured for when we got to Auckland in January, which was a great feeling! Even though we were confident we would find jobs, there is always that little bit of doubt until you actually have done so for real.

We celebrated with a coffee and some cake in a café in Gisborne, where Julia had a very chance encounter with her godmother. They are not in touch so it was a bit of a surprise for them to run into each other in Gisborne of all places, so some time was spent catching up. But the sun was out and the beaches beckoned and we hit the road after stocking up on supplies. All we had to do now was find the right bay to camp at. We settled on Anaura Bay, what a beautiful spot! We were not allowed to camp at the DOC campsite this time as there are no facilities at all and you must carry your own toilet, which we obviously don’t do. So we went to the ‘commercial’ campsite which was very quiet. We picked a spot right by the beach, but no shade. The few spots with shade were long claimed, so sunscreen had to be applied in large quantities. We had a few swims and around sunset walked to the end of the beach where we were met by some friendly Jack Russells (but not as nice as Jip of course).

The next day we had an early swim and then went on a bit of exploration around the East Cape. I had been here previously on a motorbike trip, but for Julia this was unchartered territory. She does have family ties to this area though, her grandfather was from Ruatoria and her family still has some land. So we had a look at Tokomaru Bay, Ruatoria and Te Araroa, where we took the right turn to drive to the end of the gravel road and the most eastern point of New Zealand where we climbed the hill to the lighthouse. Back in Te Araroa we looked at Te Waha-o-Rerekohu, the oldest and largest Pohutukawa tree in New Zealand, which happens to be my favourite NZ native tree. It has beautiful red flowers and often grows in coastal areas. This one is absolutely massive and is estimated to be 600 years old. We didn’t really like the area much for camping and the high winds kept us going towards Hicks Bay and eventually we ended up staying at a campsite on a bay, lined with… Pohutukawa trees! We were having dinner when an old fella came over for a chat, we offered him a drink and then we got invited to his campervan which he had driven over from Rotorua. We shared our wine and we went over all motor vehicles he had owned in his life. The campervan he had built from scratch, remarkable job. Then we were surprised to notice a very stealthy cat that was allowed to go in and out at will. We asked if she’d never run off, but she didn’t and they had had several cats they would take on camping trips, ‘they always come home to where the food is served’.

Christmas was very near now and we were invited to Julia’s grandmothers house in Hamilton for a family gathering. We camped one more night by a beach on an unremarkable campsite before moving to Tauranga/Mount Manganui area where we stayed before we headed off early in the morning to make it in time to Hamilton. We were the first to arrive by quite a large margin so settled in with a cup of tea. When the whole family was there, we had our potluck Christmas lunch. A very nice meal with good conversation followed by the unpacking of gifts and some outdoor games. The next day we went back to Julia’s parents in Rotorua and went to the horse races, very first time for me, but I did alright with the betting on the horses. Julia’s mother had the best eye for a fast horse though. We took it easy leading up to New Year’s, but did visit our friends Roel and Nadja from Wellington on the campsite in Opotiki for a BBQ, driving back from that we were just in time for the Rotorua fireworks, but otherwise our New Years was a rather tame happening.

Our last outing before having to go back to working life was that we wanted to walk the brand new Tarawera trail. This trail is 15 km’s long and ends up at Hot Water Beach on Lake Tarawera. We think we may have been the first to walk it and actually stay at the campsite before walking back (gathering from the looks of the people when we walked into the campsite with large backpacks, all other people came by boat). Tarawera has a lot of history to it, it is the home of the Tuhourangi and Ngati Rangitihi people and the Pink and White Terraces in the area were once considered the eight wonder of the world, until a violent eruption of Mount Tarawere in 1886 destroyed the terraces. Under threatening skies we walked the trail and arrived at the campsite late afternoon and we instantly got talking to someone who later got his son to bring us a ‘Welcome to New Zealand’ hamburger! He probably thought we were German tourists, we get that sometimes! It was the best burger ever, or maybe I was just really  hungry from walking! Our designated and booked campsite was up a slope so steep that I thought I needed a Sherpa to help me set up the tent. It was also downwind from an overflowing long drop toilet, which wasn’t that pleasant at all. Some other campers saw our predicament and offered part of their site, which we gratefully accepted. Then we found out that it wasn’t only the toilets which were not maintained, the water supply was infected with bugs, probably because the roof that catches the rainwater, wasn’t kept clean. Bit of a problem as we had counted on filling up on water for the walk back… But again, the very friendly boaties on this campsite came to our rescue and gave us a 20 litre water bag to use. Three random acts of kindness came our way in a matter of hours, which gave our faith in humanity a massive boost! We had a soak in the warm geothermal heated lake water (boiling hot at places so had to be careful where to do that) and then the skies opened. Some poor people who camped in gullies had water streaming through their tents. We kept it dry on the inside and used the information shelter to cook in. The next day it was sunny again and we walked back. By chance we found another natural hot spring, but for some reasons the locals don’t want tourists to know about it and it is not sign posted. We met some locals in there and they weren’t that thrilled to see us, weird people with too large of a sense of entitlement which was in large contrast with the boaties we met the previous day. In the end it was a great walk, but we were sad to see that after DOC had handed over the campsite to a local trust it wasn’t maintained properly anymore. Julia wrote a long email to DOC, the trust and I-Site about our experience on the campsite, the trail eroding already in places and the lack of signage to the beautiful hot springs. It was taken very serious and she got appreciative responses from most.

Our days of freedom were now quickly coming to an end so we had to pack up the car once more, said goodbye to Julia’s parents and headed for Auckland!