Some Friendly Hostel Reviews (North Island)

As we traveled through NZ this year, we wrote down some thoughts on each backpackers we stayed at so that we could rate them later as part of the BBH (Better Budget Hostels) rating system, partly because we are such civically-minded travelers but mostly because we had copious free time. With our SiteMeter hit counter, we’ve seen that the majority of visitors to our site are searching for specific hostels, particularly Shambhala in Golden Bay and Waikawa Holiday Lodge in the Catlins. Hopefully they’ve found our blog illuminating. Thus, in the spirit of driving more traffic to our site (since we had so few comments, the ever-rising hit counter has served as an affirmation of our hilarious reportage) and to help fellow travelers, we present our thoughts on many a budget NZ accommodation. Bear in mind that these are just the thoughts of one incredibly insightful person, so your mileage may vary. On the bright side these reviews are fully refundable. If you happen to own or love a hostel we didn’t like, apologies, but since our blog is dedicated to the Truth, what can we do?

It’s pretty impressive to look back at all the many backpackers we have stayed at in New Zealand. We’ve been really grateful for the BBH guide, which has been a pretty accurate measure for the different accommodations throughout the country. For anyone spending more than a few weeks in New Zealand, it is certainly worth the $40NZ fee to become a member (plus, you get a great phone card, too). The rating system seems to pretty right on, although we have stayed some places that seemed overrated and a few that seem underrated. But, by and large, they get it right.

Although we’ve visited most of the hostels on the West Coast, Golden Bay, and Banks Peninsula, we typically don’t have much experience with the backpackers in the big cities, as these are the places we were most likely to find Couch Surfing hosts. General tips would be to avoid the backpackers that cater to the large tour groups (Kiwi Experience! We’re looking at you…). Also, if you have your own transportation, the backpackers that are out of the city centers (or indeed far from everything) tend to be the nicest with the most charm and character.

The following reviews are grouped in geographic order, sort of, and are ranked on a scale of 1 (awful!) to 10 (amazing!). These were our general impressions:

NORTHLAND, AUCKLAND, & COROMANDEL

Endless Summer Lodge, Ahipara, Northland

Endless Summer Lodge is in a great location right on the beach. The hostel was spotless and even had a dishwasher (certainly a luxury for many a backpacker)! The building was beautiful with great views from the porch and also a really nice outside dining/deck area with an herb garden. High recommendation. 9.5

Mousetrap Backpackers, Paihia

Moderately sized backpackers, lives up to its name with its winding halls and tucked-away dorms. Clean and not for partiers, but is directly across the street from bars that are quite popular with backpackers, so you may hear (loud) music from there at night. If you don’t want to hear the music, try Captain Bob’s probably. Good recommendation. 7

Verandahs Backpackers Lodge, Auckland

Overall, we really liked this place. Campbell, the host, is a gregarious and friendly guy, with good recommendations and generally helpful suggestions. He put us in contact with Ken, an auto inspections guy who sold us our car, which got us safely around the country for the last 11 months. The backpackers is a 15-minute walk to downtown sights, clean and relatively small so that it’s pretty quiet at night, good for avoiding the party scene. High recommendation for an in-city Auckland hostel, especially if you’re on the look-out for a car. 9

Lantana Lodge, Auckland

Lantana is tucked away off the main thoroughfare in the Parnell neighborhood. Clean and orderly, run by an Indian fellow, Raj, who runs a tight ship there. Free internet, with wireless, which is fantastic and quite unusual at an NZ hostel! Not much happening in Parnell, and the vibe is a bit library-like here, but good for a quiet stay and if you want to make copious use of the free internet. Good recommendation. 7

Gateway Backpackers, Thames, Coromandel

A really nice two-house backpackers on the outskirts of the town of Thames. Run by a relatively young couple, very clean and bright, free laundry (!), didn’t have internet when we visited, but right through the backyard was an internet café. Very nice stay, high recommendation if you happen to be in Thames. 8

EAST CAPE

Maraehako Bay Retreat, Whangarua Bay

We were led to believe this would be a great place to stay by a friend, and by a BBH rating. Sorry, but our experience wasn’t of an 87% place. Location is absolutely great on an isolated bay on the eastern Bay of Plenty, and the building is a great rustic treehouse-looking structure. On the parts alone it would be about a 9. Unfortunately we picked a bad room, a double on the ground floor with a deck above it. Peaceful it was not, with people running back and forth, lots of people coming and going, and just not what we were hoping for from a backpackers for $60/night. Facilities were average, not impressive by any means, location great, but our experience wasn’t the best. Definitely get the top room by the kitchen. 6

TAURANGA, ROTORUA, & TAUPO

Just the Ducks Nuts, Tauranga

Located just across the bridge from Tauranga and Mt. Maunganui, good location for trips to either, but outside the cities. Best for people wanting to be outside ‘the scene’, seemed to be filled largely with long-term stayers working in the area, so has a vibe from that. Generally pretty nice, the upstairs was nicer than the basement lower level, which is more like a cave. 7

Funky Green Voyager, Rotorua

Located just south of the main shopping district in Rotorua, FGV is a nice, well-kept property with a huge kitchen, clean rooms, plenty of room to read, eat, and hang out. The owners and staff are really friendly, eager to recommend things to do or to just say hi. This contributes to a good, chill vibe in FGV. Apparently Rotorua has some crime issues but nothing was apparent while we visited. 8.5

Extreme Backpackers, Turangi

In the Turangi town center, which makes up nearly all of Turangi as far as we can tell, Extreme also has a climbing wall as part of the operation. Friendly and helpful staff, especially for doing the Tongariro Crossing. Rooms were clean and well-appointed, nice large kitchen, TV room, dining room, and courtyard. 8.5

TARANAKI

Seaspray House, New Plymouth

Owing to the energy industry NP seems to be doing alright for itself as the only town worth seeing in Taranaki. Seaspray’s located a few blocks from the city centre and its free museums and galleries, just a couple blocks from the beach. Nice, character house on a quiet street, the parking lot leaves something to be desired in the back but is better than nothing. House is a bit of a warren with various halls and closed doors, but is spacious enough, especially in the living room/dining room area. Kitchen is pretty good, big enough and has what you need. Bathrooms were new and modern, and our room was nice, only three beds in an oddly shaped room, not a bunch just jammed in. Comfortable for a night or two in sleepy NP. 8

Tamara Backpackers, Wanganui

Located in a charming older two-story building just a bit out of the city centre on the muddy Wanganui river, Tamara’s certainly an adequate hostel. Very quiet when we visited in the off-season, doesn’t seem like Wanganui probably ever gets too busy, though. Our double was a really pretty nice little room, clean, decent bed, quiet as we were the only ones on the second floor. Kitchen was also adequate and well-apportioned for a hostel its size, there was a TV room, and a nice lounge/dining room area. Not brilliant but worked, and a decent price. 7

HAWKE’S BAY, WAIRARAPA

Aqua Lodge, Napier

Located in a working-class (read, somewhat gritty) neighborhood about 10 minutes from downtown Napier, Aqua Lodge is possibly named for the swimming pool in its backyard? Sprawling across 3 buildings, Aqua Lodge has a bit of old-person feel combined with being a bit run-down. As it’s in Napier, it’s favored by fruit-picking backpackers in summer, with its 3 houses largely full and its backyard full of campers. Beds were fine, but much of the place showed signs of wear and tear, with infrequent maintenance. Other lodgings in Napier looked similarly worn, so that might just be the case everywhere, but Aqua certainly isn’t a great hostel. 5

Lochlea Lodge, Waipukurau

Terrific backpackers accommodation on a farm near Waipukurau, which is a bit off the beaten track in the Wairarapa region, but if you’re near there, it’s well-worth staying. The Lee family is warm and accommodating, the rooms were spotless, and there was a large kitchen/eating/TV area, especially for the size of the backpackers, which was pretty small and cozy. Great location on their farm, with plenty of area to roam and tramp around. Also has swimming pool, nice place to stay. 9.5

Leeway Motel, Featherston (Non-BBH)

Pretty standard budget motel on the main drag in Featherston with separate backpackers building. No real atmosphere to speak of, a few twin rooms, TV room, kitchen, and bathroom in a trailer-type building. Relatively cheap and clean accommodations, nothing special, but really nothing similar in Featherston. 4.5

You Stay Classy as, Ron Burgundy! (Nov. 25 – Dec. 1)

We spent our last week in New Zealand wrapping up all our bits and pieces before having to leave for Tahiti on 2 December. These “bits and pieces” largely consisted of throwing away heaps of clothing that was no longer fit to travel half-way around the world (again), picking up the Newmans from the airport after their South African holiday, and selling Ron Burgundy. Ron has seen us through almost 30,000 trouble-free kms around the North and South Islands (if you excuse him for the flat tires and dead battery, and we do), so we’re certainly sad to be parting ways with our trusty steed.

To sell Ron, we used our normal tactic of posting ads on all the free classified websites. This technique had served us well when we were selling our cars back home, but New Zealand proved to be a bit different. We got some initial interest, particularly from a finicky South African, but nothing concrete came of it. We did get one really creative would-be buyer who offered us a patio heater in exchange for the car. Hmm….yeah, no thanks.

Eventually, we decided to suck it up and take the typical backpacker advertising route – posting “for sale” signs in the hostels downtown. It proved to be an extremely disheartening afternoon, walking up and down Queen Street posting ads for Ron on bulletin boards already overflowing with other car ads. It did make us appreciate the nicer hostels we had stayed at in Auckland (Verandahs, Lantana Lodge) that were not nearly as depressing as those located downtown. We got a few bites this way as well, but even as we were posting the ads we realized that it would in no way be worth the effort. Moral: stay somewhere away from the city centre and try not to have to sell your car through fliers.

Us, the Newmans, and Auckland in the background

We eventually did manage to find a buyer from an online bulletin board. Our buyer, Bev, got in touch with us and we arranged to meet at her office on the North Shore (anything to save us a drive into Auckland at rush hour!). Not used to driving an automatic, she took us for an unexpectedly amusing test drive around Takapuna. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who was so flummoxed by an automatic transmission, and definitely hadn’t met someone who applied the hand brake every time they approached a stop sign. Anyway, Bev got back to us the next day to let us know she would like to buy Ron. With our departure just about imminent, we took about half of what we paid for the car, $950, which was an OK offer, but I guess understandable given that our WOF was up in a couple months.

"Mushrooms" on top of Mt. Victoria in Devenport

As is always the case, as soon as we agreed to sell the car, we received much more interest than we had the previous days. You have to wonder if we could have gotten a better price (as Ron is certainly a bargain at less than a grand) but with the New Zealand dollar currently so strong against the American dollar, we’re making out okay in the end. As long as the funds get us through Tahiti…

Anyway, this marks our final day in New Zealand. I’m not sure it’s really set in yet. We enjoyed a great barbecue last night with the Newmans, and they’ve been nice enough to offer to drive us to the airport as well. We’ve been really lucky to be able to spend this time here on the North Shore, getting ourselves sorted before we leave the country. It was also great to get to know Rachel and Shanon better, as we had only spent two nights with them on our first visit. At this point, we almost feel like flatmates. We really do appreciate another couple of terrific people that CouchSurfing has brought into our lives.

One last shot of Ron Burgundy...

This might be the last you hear from us until we’re back stateside in San Francisco. Our plans for Tahiti are a little uncertain, although we have managed to line up several CouchSurfing hosts for our stay, so all we can say for sure is that it should be interesting. Beyond that, we’re planning to soak up the sun and go for some hikes. We’re not sure of how much internet will be available, so there probably won’t be any new posts until we’re in San Francisco. And by that time, we’ll practically be home.

We’ll have lots more to say about New Zealand in future posts, so stay tuned!

Hoppy Birthday and Up To Whangarei (Nov. 17 – 24)

My birthday arrived amidst a stretch of nice weather last week, here on the North Shore, where we’ve been housesitting over the past few weeks. In NZ one hears a lot of gripes about the weather in Auckland, but it would be hard for anyone to find fault with the streak of warm, sunny days we’ve had here. Warm enough to hit the beach in late November works for me.

Red sunset in the North Shore means more beautiful weather tomorrow

My birthday, much like Becky’s, was a low-key affair for us, though it was without a signature moment (for example, on Becky's birthday we enjoyed a great bottle of Belinda’s wine while eating a bad steak accidentally seasoned with Christmas-cookie spices, because I don’t know how to cook, all the while it was raining like crazy outside the little hostel/shack that we were wwoofing at in the Catlins).

According to an anonymous brown-haired twenty-seven year old American woman currently in New Zealand: “The past few birthdays for Andrew have invariably revolved around beer somehow, and surprise!, this one was no exception.” We did indeed head out to the Hallertau Brewbar way out in the sticks in Riverhead (perhaps Auckland’s best beer place, certainly in the top 3), and tried their products. On the bad side, it was so full it took over 20 minutes to get our beer sampler. On the good side, they eventually made it free, but not before they accidentally added four extra things to our bill, oops. They did make some pretty good beers, but I won’t forget their imperial IPA, a ridiculously hoppy beer that was huge at 10% alcohol. They call it the Stuntman, but even though it is tasty, Masochist might be more accurate. In any event, best to have just one.

Andrew mans the barbecue on his birthday

It’s strange to celebrate my normally late-fall birthday here in the Southern Hemisphere, as Auckland’s unusually warm late-spring has been akin to mid-summer weather in the last place we lived, Vermont. For my whole life my birthday has occurred somewhere at least pretty cold, so it feels odd to be walking around in shorts around on my birthday, but I’ll certainly take it.

Later in the week, we took in a cricket game at Eden Park in Auckland, played between what I think were at least semi-professional sides. Cricket, of course, is the British Commonwealth’s answer to baseball, where it reigns as a hugely popular sport in countries India, Pakistan, and Australia. It’s somewhat like baseball in that a bowler is trying to get a batter out by throwing it past him or making him make an out some other way (e.g. a caught pop-up), but otherwise is way dissimilar. We thought we might as well check a game of cricket out, since it’s probably NZ’s 2^nd favorite sport, though by a such big margin behind rugby that it’s not even funny.

Andrew enjoying the cricket on a sunny afternoon

So we spent most of a sunny afternoon in the company of a few dozen cricket-mad students, pensioners, and people enjoying some time on the dole. It was the third day of a four-day test in which Auckland was destroying Central Districts, taking wickets at what apparently is a tremendous pace. We’d be lying if we said we understood everything going on out there, but it was pretty enjoyable, though it moved slower than even a really slow baseball game. If you don’t have the patience for baseball, you won’t make it through even an abbreviated cricket game. Pitchers take even longer between pitches, they have to run like 50 yards before each pitch, and individual batters can stay at-bat for hours at a time, scoring hundreds of runs. There are often substantial breaks for things like tea. And that’s before you consider that some games are of the 5-day variety, and that many of them end in a tie! That’s right, after 5 days of scintillating cricket action, they can’t even bother to have a winner! Instead, the rules of cricket allow one team to go in a giant stall, for the game to end without a decision, good god. In the end we enjoyed finally getting to see two teams of sweater vest-wearing gladiators go at it on the pitch, battling the proverbial ‘sticky wickets.’

Cricket fever... catch it!

Since we were in Auckland we thought we should go the Museum at some point, so we went one cloudy afternoon. Most of it was just OK, standard museum-type exhibits, but it really shined in its Volcanoes exhibit. Since Auckland is built on heaps of dormant and extinct volcanoes, there is special interest in it here. The museum’s best feature placed you in the scenario of being in an Auckland home as a new volcano explosively formed out your window in the harbor. The show had a convincing TV news program and disturbingly life-like blackout and shaking effects of the volcanic destruction of New Zealand’s major city. All in all, totally worthwhile going there.

Later in the week, we drove up to visit our CSing buddies Matt and Stu in Whangarei. We first Couchsurfed with Matt in January, as we toured the Northland in our first week in the country, and had a great time hanging out with him, his flatmate Stu, and their buddies Kel and John-Boy. Stu, who actually owns the house, has really gotten into CSing as well this year, hosting a bunch of CSers himself while Matt was out of the country. Matt has just recently returned from a six-month stint in Europe, working at a farm in the foothills of the Alps in Germany before CSing his way through northern and western Europe for a few months. We were glad to get to see these guys again after nearly a year, and we got to meet some other interesting travelers there, since their place is basically CSing headquarters.

Back to nature in the Northland

Seriously, these guys are CSing MVPs. On our first visit in January, we were just two of four CSers at their house at that time, and this time they were also hosting a girl from Hong Kong and a young couple from Sweden. The Swedes were very young and as a result were good for a lot of entertainment, though I don’t think they intended it. First, they were positively rapt about Canberra, Australia’s capital, which you don’t hear anything good about anywhere else. Seriously, we’ve met heaps of people who’ve traveled through Australia, and had never heard a good word about the place. We also learned from them that Danes are incorrigible drinkers and smokers, and that we should avoid Stockholm as it was quote unquote “gay.” “I’m from Stockholm and I think I’m so much better than everybody else”, they said in accents that we can only guess hilariously mimic those of the typical Stockholmian. But perhaps best of all, we really enjoyed that they actually pronounced the word jogging with the soft J, just like our car’s namesake, Ron Burgundy.

Amazingly, Matt and Stu had had 8 people staying at one time earlier this week. Most people would mind stepping over 8 people sleeping in all the available spaces in their house, but Matt and Stu can’t get enough, and are almost unable to turn anyone away. They also often go out of their way to show people a good time: Matt took us to his parents’ farm on our first visit, and Stu had just taken some CSers waterskiing earlier this week. On this trip, we caught up Matt, Stu, and Kel, and had a nice time hanging out in Whangarei for a few days. It really is a beautiful area, and after being in Auckland for awhile, it was nice to be in the more-rural NZ we’re used to. All in all, we just can’t say enough about their hospitality, friendliness, and generosity: cheers, guys!

Matt, Andrew, Becky, and Stu enjoying some quality "couch" time

Ambling Aimlessly To Auckland (Nov. 4 – 7)

We were sad to say goodbye to the East Cape, but our days were running short before we were due back in Auckland to house-sit for Rachel and Shanon, our first CS hosts in New Zealand. We had made plans with them months before to watch their cat Jessie and their house for them while they went on a safari holiday to Botswana and South Africa. With less than a week until their trip, we had to decide to how to spend our last few days before returning to the Land of Jafas (Just Another…Friendly Aucklander). Originally we had planned to visit White Island, an active volcano in the Bay of Plenty, but those plans fell through. Strike one. Then we thought we’d hike the Pinnacles in the Coromandel, which we had tried to do at the beginning of the year but were dissuaded by a DoC ranger who insisted we wouldn’t have enough time to finish the hike (she was clearly unaware of our amazing fitness). But with a long rainy front hovering over the island, that quickly became strike two.

Last view of the East Cape before we turned inland

However all was not lost. We had the good fortune of finding a very nice CS host in Whakatane in the Bay of Plenty, not too far from the East Cape. We only spent a night with Ayesha, but she was very friendly and welcoming as all our CS hosts have been. Ayesha is a hardcore surfer but had been disheartened by the lack of waves in the area for the last few weeks. Since she was stuck in the house with us chickens, we spent the evening chatting and trying to commiserate with her and her surfing pal, Luke.

The next morning we still had yet to decide what we’d do over the next few days. With the weather still crap, we thought we’d head towards the last sort of “tourist” area that we had yet to visit – Raglan. Raglan’s a world-renowned surfing destination on the North Island’s west coast, about two hours south of Auckland. Though neither of us surf, we thought we should see its famous right-hand break (Though we don’t really know what that means, either). Heading to Raglan meant heading back west across the island, making our path north through the island even more unorthodox, as we’d first gone west, then east, and now had our sights set for west again. Maybe doing this broke all the rules, but then maybe rules ain’t our thing.

En route to Raglan, we crashed with a few CSers in Hamilton, basically the only city in NZ that’s not on a coast. Sam and Hazel are a chemist and student aide with the university, respectively, and above all, are huge gamers. They certainly enjoyed their World of Warcraft, which wasn’t necessarily our scene, but we had a nice visit with them, as I can’t remember the last time we had anything in fondue. In re: Hamilton: it’s a pretty nondescript town, and we found not much to do there but visit the city’s impressive gardens. However, we can’t recommend the American Modernist garden – surely we can do better than a kidney-shaped pool, faux-Frank Lloyd Wright cantilevered patio, and a fading Marilyn Monroe pop art mural?

Raglan’s just a short hop from Hamilton, so the next afternoon we left to meet Leon, our CS host there. Leon’s a video store manager and is a few years younger than us, and is really into working with local teens in his church’s youth group. Much of his house was a testament to this, which he described as a “bombzone.” We were his first CSers, so he was quite keen to make a good impression and show off his home time. We’ve met a lot of great people through CSing this year, and Leon might’ve been the genuinely nicest guy we’ve met, which is saying a lot. We ended up having a really good time in Raglan despite iffy weather, and have Leon to thank for much of that.

For starters, he shouted for our dinner our first night there, chicken rotis, a local specialty. They’re basically chicken, crispy potatoes, a creamy sauce, and tomato sauce, all in a tortilla wrap. We ate them at the beach while watching the surfers tackle the point break, and found them messy but fantastic. He also insisted on making breakfast both days we were there, whipping up a huge Kiwi breakfast our last day there. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten 3 large sausages at breakfast before, but you do what you have to do.

Becky works her way through the big kiwi breakfast: eggs, sausage, toast, and baked beans

One of the best perks of staying with Leon was that he got free DVD rentals from work, and with good DVD weather, we took the opportunity to catch up with some of the pop culture that we’ve missed out on this year. Verdict: Pan’s Labyrinth was excellent, Blades of Glory was surprisingly funny, Children of Men was alright, and we never need to see Transformers again. Ah, to be watching new movies again…

Leon and Andrew in downtown Raglan

Our last night with Leon was quite memorable, as we went out to the local hot springs with him and a couple kids from his youth group. Moral of the story: Leon has done his research and read a bit of our blog. The hot pools were nice, but the best part was the possum-hunting expedition the ride home became. Let’s just say that they did their patriotic duty in ridding the country of a few destructive possums, though the road may be a bit worse for the wear after some of the boys’ misfires. Now all that’s left is to actually go back to Auckland, hopefully we can handle the big city after nearly a year out in the back blocks.

Around The Horn, Er Cape (Oct. 31 – Nov. 3)

When we decided to leave Taranaki, we got in touch with Belinda’s sister Julia, who lives on the East Cape with her partner Gordon. Like Kieran and Belinda, she and Gordon had recently signed up to be Wwoof hosts as well. Unfortunately and somewhat amazingly, they happened to be hosting their first two Wwoofers (a pair of Californian college buddies) during the same period that we were in the area. However, they graciously offered to put us up for a night or two in their home in Tokamaru Bay on our way through the East Cape.

We left Gisborne on Wednesday morning and set out to complete the first leg of an allegedly tres windy drive through the East Cape. The weather was once again stunning with clear sunny skies highlighting lush green hills and a dazzlingly blue ocean. This part of New Zealand is Whale Rider country, as the movie was filmed on location at a marae north of Gisborne. Though we wholeheartedly recommend the movie (an eloquent parable about the Maori in modern times), we didn’t actually stop at the filming sites, mostly because they had removed the road sign causing us to miss the turn, but also because we’ve heard that tourist visits have annoyed the locals in the small town. And so we skipped that stop and continued north to Tolaga Bay, which holds the distinction of having the longest wharf in New Zealand (660m), a structure that’s at once scenic and depressing. The decay of the wharf echoes the Cape’s fall as a center of economic activity, and even though it’s seen better days, it’s a nice place to stroll and fish.

The Tolaga Bay wharf takes a pretty picture, but we probably shouldn't have stood this close to the railing

Next stop was Tokomaru Bay, described by the guides as a ‘picturesque and crumbling’ town. True to the description, Tokomaru Bay used to be home to a large freezing works but has fallen on tough times since it closed. Now the area is home to the retired, the unemployed, and the holiday homeowner. The beaches here are lovely and more than make up for the paucity of most other amenities.

We arrived at Julia and Gordon’s in time for an evening fishing trip. We all hopped on board the boat and, per the traditional Kiwi method, were towed down to the water using a large tractor. It was a bumpy ride over the large rocks, but eventually we got ourselves in the ocean. It was great to see the coastline from the water, and we really enjoyed our time cruising around the bay. The actual fishing trip was less successful, but still good fun. Gordon had forgotten to bring along the anchor, so we ended up using some crayfish pots to anchor ourselves. Julia had managed to catch a fish within seconds of throwing in the first line, and so we thought this was going to be a breeze, but the rest of us were less successful. All told, we caught one snapper, one kahawai, and two sharks. The sharks weren’t very happy about it and did a good job of thrashing around on the deck. Perhaps they were attracted by my contribution to the fishing mission, as I managed to lose my lunch on a second consecutive day (the acrobatic flight causing the first loss).

The view from Gordon and Julia's porch - obviously they have it rough on the cape

The next morning, with such nice weather around and no place to be any time soon, Andrew and I took Julia and Gordon up on their offer for us to spend another night with them. As such, we felt we should do a bit of wwoofing work to cover our room and board (and to not inspire mutiny among the other Americans). Andrew got to work helping Gordon with some chainsawing, and I dug in to my specialty, weeding. The weather turned pretty scorching by the afternoon, so Andrew and I eagerly knocked off and headed to the beach. Hey, it’s not going to be nice when we get home, better soak it up while we can.

Hey, we remembered to get a group shot this time

By the following morning, the weather had taken a turn for the worse. However, it was time for us to get back on the road and continue our trip around the East Cape. We arrived at the lighthouse after a few hours of driving along a typically windy road. The climb to the top of the lighthouse was steep but worth the trip to the top.

You think we'd talk about seeing a lighthouse and not have a picture? For shame.

Back on the road shortly after, we finished the last half of the East Cape drive fairly quickly. We really enjoyed this last bit of the trip, from meeting Tanya and Cozzie in Gisborne, Kelly and her high flying family, Julia and Gordon in Tokomaru Bay, and then the lighthouse… it was a bit of a let down once we were done, because now we’d essentially visited all the places we were compelled to see in New Zealand. The gray weather seemed to suit our mood as we holed up for the night at a backpackers in Whanarua Bay. Now all of our attention was focused on the few days remaining before we had to be back in Auckland for our stint of house-sitting for Couchsurfers Rachel and Shanon. How to kill a few more days, that’s a good question.

Pondering the big questions from Whanarua Bay

Gisborne Golds And The Wild Blue Yonder (Oct. 29 - 31)

After our premature departure from Taranaki, I managed to convince Andrew that we should take in the final bit of the country we had yet to visit – the East Cape. Jutting out into the Pacific Ocean and isolated from much of the rest of the country, the East Cape is definitely not on the major tourist routes, which, to be honest, is almost always a plus for us. However, it had been described to us by some as “hillbilly country,” which put us off during our first pass through the North Island. Other more reliable sources later told us that the East Cape was not to be missed due to its sunny weather, stunning coastlines, and relative isolation. It’s also home to a large Maori population, providing more of an authentic cultural experience than, say, a touristy hangi in Rotorua. Plus, there is a lighthouse to visit, so say no more… East Cape, here we come!

Earlier in the week we’d arranged to stay with a young couple in Gisborne, a pair of Wellington refugees who’d fled its windy weather for the sunny climate of the east coast. They’re there for Tanya’s early childhood education university program, while Andrew (her partner, also known as Cozzie) works variously as an artist, house painter, and tennis coach. In Gisborne, they’re able to rent a house a block from the beach with a guest bedroom, sleep out, garage, and large yard. We arrived early on a Sunday afternoon and quickly settled in to get to know one another over an adult beverage or three.

Basking in the sunshine in Gisborne - we're not totally looking forward to the upcoming N. hemisphere winter

The next day we made our requisite pilgrimage to the local brewery, Sunshine Brewing, who make a range of quite reasonably priced and well-made brews. A rigger and a pint glass later and Andrew was one happy beer geek. We also ventured up to the lookout spot over Poverty Bay at Kaiti Hill, featuring one of the heaps of Captain Cook statues (though it apparently isn’t actually him) commemorating his first landing in the area. We were loving the blue skies and beautiful weather and returned back to Tanya and Cozzie’s to enjoy some time in the sun in their backyard and to partake in our recently procured Gisborne Gold. Unfortunately, Andrew, Tanya, and I finished off the beer before Cozzie got home from his afternoon tennis lesson. He was a good sport, though, and went to the grocery store (three times) to restock and get supplies for that evening’s barbecue.

Tanya, Marley, and Cozzie - no points for guessing that they're reggae fans

That evening we were treated to a proper kiwi barbecue with several of Tanya and Cozzie’s friends from the area. The evening featured a jam session with a guitar and drum circle. There was also some fire dancing, as Tanya and Cozzie showed off their skills on the poi and staff, respectively. Once again, we felt really lucky for meeting such incredible people through CouchSurfing. Cheers, guys!

The next day our outrageous good fortune with CouchSurfing continued when we met up with Kelly Thompson. Kelly had shifted (moved) to Gisborne years before and had recently signed up with CouchSurfing to spread the good word about her adopted home. Although she does not have a couch for people to surf, she is quite happy to show them around the area. As such, we met up for an afternoon with Kelly as our tour guide.

She first took us on the (naturally) very windy road to the Morere Hot Springs where we spent several hours lounging in the natural hot pools. Even though it was a Tuesday afternoon, the pools were filled with a veritable united nations of people, with representatives from New Zealand, the U.S., Holland, Scotland, and England. I always enjoy the natural thermal areas, and they’ll definitely be missed when we return to the States.

Next, Kelly took us to the Gisborne airfield for the highlight of the afternoon (and one of the highlights of our entire trip). Her husband Glen is an aircraft engineer who also builds and flies his own acrobatic airplanes. He had offered Andrew and me the chance to go for a scenic ride in the open cockpit bi-wing airplane complete with acrobatic tricks. Andrew and I could hardly say no to such an opportunity, although I was a bit hesitant about the acrobatic tricks portion of the flight. My Dramamine supply ran out weeks ago, and I had forgotten to pick up the ginger tablets recommended by Clare, our CouchSurfing host in Taupo. Anyway, I agreed to go first, and Glen and I discussed hand signals to be used during the flight (two thumbs up = great time! Give me more!, two thumbs down = land this plane immediately!). He also gave me a plastic bag, in case I decided to be “unsociable.”

Becky doing her best Amelia Earhart impression

As we sat in the plane getting ready to take off, I kept thinking, “I can’t believe I’m doing this.” My previous small plane experience consisted of taking a 40-seat puddle jumper from Harrisburg to New York, nothing like flying in a two seat open aircraft! Glen told me to not be worried as he made his way to the runway, “I have to drive like I’m drunk because I can’t see where I’m going when I sit in the back.” Minutes later we were taxiing down the runway and were in the air.

It looks like a bug, but it's just us, doing stunts at a couple thousand feet

The scenic part of the flight was amazing in itself. Andrew and I have never really had the opportunity to see New Zealand from the air (unlike Mom and Don who took a flight from Auckland to Christchurch). The landscape is amazing from up high, and we had perfect weather to appreciate the view of the land and the sea. I had responsibly decided not to bring the camera with me due to the second part of the flight – the acrobatics. Glen informed me over the radio what was to come next – barrel rolls, spins, and flying upside down. It’s hard to describe the intensity of being in airplane that is seemingly defying the practical rules of aviation. It was incredible, and Glen got lots of “thumbs up” before we returned to the earth. Fortunately, I also managed to remain sociable until we were back on the ground and discreetly sneaked away to leave my lunch behind the building.

Andrew was up next. It was a good thing that I went first, otherwise I would probably have never agreed to get into the plane. It was amazing watching the performance from the ground, and Andrew was definitely given a much more intense performance than I was. With his thumbs permanently stuck in the “give me more” position, Glen was more than happy to oblige. When they finally returned to the earth, Andrew immediately laid on the ground to try and recover from the ride. The adrenalin rush, even more than the continuous loop-the-loops, is enough to twist one’s stomach into one hell of a knot. Even with all that, Andrew managed to keep his lunch down - well done.

This is actually the 'after' picture, after we had some time to compose ourselves

So cheers to Kelly, Glenn and their two girls for showing us a terrific time at the Gisborne Airport. We were seriously lucky to come across them on CouchSurfing, and won’t ever forget them, or the death-defying rides in the family plane. Something tells me this is going to be a tough CouchSurfing experience to top, whew!

Top Of The Mountain In Taupo (Oct. 26 - 28)

Bidding Taranaki farewell, we turned our sights east. Since we weren’t going to spend our remaining pre-Auckland time in Taranaki, Becky reckoned that we should really see the East Cape, a heavily forested, quite rural, and strongly Maori region on the opposite side of the island from Taranaki. Much like New England, there really are no direct east-west roads on the North Island, so it’s quite a haul, making a stop in the center of the island a good idea. We had tried to Couchsurf around there with a couple in February, but they’d been away in the States when we passed through. We had heard nice things about them, so we figured we should try again. When we emailed them they said they could host us over the weekend, so we thought great, and got on our way.

The amazing blue water at Huka Falls outside Taupo

We arrived in Taupo around mid-day, and promptly ran into some Red Sox fans on the street, who informed us that the World Series was on that day. With nothing on the agenda for that afternoon, we thought we should catch the end of the game. Funnily enough, we know where to see American sports in Taupo: the same sports bar where we watched the Super Bowl in February on our last pass through. We got a kick out of the randomness of the whole thing, but I think some times you just have to accept that the universe obviously wants you to watch sports. I certainly wasn’t going to fight the universe on this one.

The mandatory photo of thermal activity at the Rotorua mud pools

After the cosmically predestined game we headed out to Reporoa, where our Couchsurfing hosts Brad and Clare live. As they live on a mountainous section of her family’s property, we saw that they had a nice, long driveway. As Becky says, we’ve found that we always have had nice experiences with people who have long driveways. Brad and Clare’s was certainly no exception, as they came out to give us a ride up the really washed-out top part of their drive in their ute.

Brad and Clare's mountain hut - check out the view!

When we reached their home, a hunting hut perched on top of a small mountain, we were awestruck by the view and tremendous location. It seems that everywhere we go, the places we stay just get more scenic by the day. Once again, Couchsurfing comes through, amazingly. The hut was originally built by Clare’s dad as a hunting retreat, and on the rustic interior it shows, with bunks and hunting trophies the main adornment. But the view is really the thing with their place.

We spent a couple nights with Brad and Clare, and had a great time just chatting and hanging out in the mountain chalet. They’re just really cool and outdoorsy people, so Brad knew everything about hunting in NZ, and on his day off took us touring around the property in his ute, showing us how to track various wildlife. Clare is a former adventure tourism worker who can tell you all about the ups and downs (well, mostly downs) of abseiling. They also had some cool experiences, as they’d lived in Haast, on the west coast above Fiordland, and in Chch.

The view of the valley on our 4x4 tour of Brad and Clare's property

They were also keen about the States, as they’d Couchsurfed in the US and Canada for almost five weeks on a massive snowboarding trip earlier in the year. All in all, experiences and people like this are what make Couchsurfing such a great way to travel. Yeah, being able to stay places for free is a boon to any traveler, but getting to stay somewhere amazing like this, learning about the area from the locals, and just getting to meet really cool people is what makes the whole thing magic. Cheers, guys!

Becky, Piper, and Clare at the mountain hut

You Can’t Handle Tom Cruise’s Tepee! (Oct. 22 – 26)

Leaving George and Wellington behind, we headed north, which is appropriate since there’s nowhere to go but north from windy Welly. In our brief dash through the North Island in the summer we missed the west coast pretty much entirely, so we decided to go that a-way. Fifteen minutes out of Wellington we were instantly taken back to our memories of the N Island; rolling green hills littered with cows, hot and sunny weather, and hazy plains stretching from the sea to the far-off mountains in the center of the island. We drove through the black-sand resort towns of Waikanae and Paraparaumu, where we encountered traffic, of all things, which came as a great shock to us – the South Island doesn’t really do congestion. By the end of the day we were knackered as we reached one of the rural Manawatu region’s big cities, Wanganui. Not much going in Wanganui on the Labor Weekend; it’s not the kind of town that has to be on anyone’s must-see itinerary.

The beautiful "Three Sisters" north of Urenui

The next morning we were off further north to Taranaki, where we had lined up some wwoofing work at an organic brewery, White Cliffs, just outside of New Plymouth, the area’s only major city. As you can probably guess, Taranaki’s another really rural region, basically a remote western peninsula with many, many cows. The region is most notable for the eponymous Mt. Taranaki (or Egmont, depending on who you ask – Taranaki sounds cooler so it’s our preferred nomenclature), a conical snow-capped volcanic mountain which rises out of the center of the Taranaki ring plain to dominate the skyline.

Ron Burgundy is ready for his close-up

We’d been keen to see Mt. Taranaki since we’d been here for nearly a year without spotting it, but we’d heard people say that on remarkably clear days it could be seen as far away as the South Island. We haven’t been that lucky, so we figured we had to go to the source. Even while we cruising along Taranaki’s Surf Highway that runs along the peninsula’s western edge, the mountain was only 10 km away but obscured by a heap of clouds on an otherwise clear day. When Taranaki finally emerged as we drove into NP, it was an amazing sight – if for some reason John Madden was describing the area he might say: you’ve got a lot of flat plains and trees, and then all of a sudden, boom, there’s a mountain right there, amazing.

We began wwoofing at White Cliffs because I’m always into seeing how various breweries do things, get another notch in the belt, etc., so we drove out of New Plymouth, after staying there a night. NP’s a nice little beach city, and judging on the big free museum, art gallery, and big public sculpture on the beach, has a fair bit of money coming from the offshore oil and gas discovered nearby in the Tasman Sea. The brewery is in nearby Urenui, which is a typically rural, bush-covered N Island town: this island was built to grow vegetation.

We weren’t quite sure what to expect from White Cliffs since we’d had only brief contact with the owners beforehand, but they turned out to be two generations of a South African family who’d bought the brewery only 4 months earlier. The husband and wife, Ron and Jill, were the owners, but his parents Mike and Rina, originally from Zimbabwe, did the brewing and much of the day-to-day operations. They were a bit older but had to work, owing to the weakness of the South African rand compared to the kiwi dollar. With the white lab coat, Mike got called ‘The Doctor’ a lot, though we reckon that the short shorts (certainly not uncommon around here) should give him away. The brewery was an interesting little set-up: just a tiny operation where they had a little retail space, tanks, refrigerator, and storage space in the equivalent of a big two-car garage. For our part, Becky and I puttered around for a few days there, helping mostly with the bottling, but not really doing too much else. At this point we’re packaging experts.

The good doctor poses with his tonic to cure all "ales"

Our living space was amusing, as we had a little shack set in the back of the property, in the midst of a wee avocado orchard. It certainly was peaceful and tranquil. The only bummer was that the kitchen and toilet was on the other side of the grove, requiring a 5-minute walk through chilly, wet grass. But our favorite aspect was that in the middle of the orchard, the brewery’s previous owner had bought and placed the tepee used by Tom Cruise in the filming of The Last Samurai, much of which occurred nearby. Even if he’s become a crazy Scientologist, we still had to chuckle when we walked past his tepee every morning. The Taranaki terrain was apparently a good stand-in for rural Japan, especially Mt. Taranaki, which looks like Mt. Fuji from a distance.

Our migrant laborer shack amongst the avocado grove

Overall, it was a reasonable enough place to WWOOF, but it certainly didn’t blow us away, and after a few days we began to get keenly aware that our time in NZ is quickly coming to a close, and there is more we’ve yet to see. It was an unusual WWOOFing situation in that they weren’t feeding us there, but instead were paying us for some of our work. That’s alright, but wasn’t what we anticipated. In addition, I didn’t reckon there would be much that I could learn from them, as they’ve barely had more brewing experience than I’ve had. Thus, we decided to leave after four days. Even though this WWOOFing place was no Arapawa Island, don’t feel bad for us – it’s not every day you get to share a yard with Tom Cruise’s tepee…

I LOVE this tepee!