Hey, everyone! Well, Fiji feels like a distant dream already. I have been back in Aotearoa New Zealand for a week now and have three weeks left. Since I’ve been back, I’ve completed my road trip journey which consisted of traveling up to the northern tip of the north island. I am now back down in Auckland. The last time I was properly here (not just in airport or nearby) was just over one year ago. Read on!

Waitangi Treaty Grounds

When I arrived back to Auckland Airport, I ran some errands and then returned to Ambury Campground. I figured I would take it easy my first day back instead of trying to push too hard. I had to wake up pretty early and didn’t want to do much driving. Despite going to a mechanic prior to leaving for Fiji, I was still a little worried about Goldie. She was making some occasional grinding noises that… did not sound good.

After a restful night at Ambury, I ventured north. I stayed at Uretiti Campground. As I parked my car, I was surprised to find… a spider! On my side mirror. Ever since I’ve owned Goldie, she occasionally would have spiderwebs on the side mirrors. I would wipe them away every now and again but eventually I just decided to keep them there. It never really occurred to me that there was a spider living BEHIND the mirror. I’ve had a travel companion all along! Haha.

The campground had some lovely views of Whangarei Heads in the distance. The beach was long and white, with lots of sand dunes. It reminded me of Michigan at certain points. The universe is calling me home.

I ended up staying at the campground for two nights. I can’t say I did too much. It was a little rainy and quite windy, so there was no tanning at the beach. The waves were ferocious, so there was no swimming. Instead, I read a book and worked on a drawing which I’ll share later on in this post. While I was working on the drawing, some of the kids staying at the campground were riding around in their bikes and came to the little hut where I was working on the drawing. “Whoa, that’s so cool! How’d you learn to draw like that?” etc., etc. It was cute. They kept coming by to check on the progress.

At other points throughout the days I was there, I wandered along the beach, the small trail through the dunes, etc. Many birds flew overhead, trying to catch tasty fish from the sea.

I saw a huhu beetle flipped over onto its back. It was struggling to get back up. I ended up flipping it around but it seemed like it kept having trouble. Something was wrong with its leg. I wonder if someone accidentally (purposely?) stepped on it, thinking it was a cockroach. I took some toilet paper from the bathroom and carried it into the bush, thinking that would be a better place for it to be than on the concrete outside the bathroom. I later saw a few other beetles who had died in a similar fashion on their back. Apparently those beetles have pretty short lives. Anyway.

Eventually, it was time to leave the campground! Next up: Waitangi Treaty Grounds.

Waitangi wasn’t originally on my travel itinerary, but one of the employees at Kiwi Park had recommended I check it out and so I did. I’m glad I did, too. I am not necessarily a huge history buff but it was quite fascinating. Waitangi is the place where the colonizers had Māori sign a treaty, allowing those from England to reside there. With it came certain problems.

With the price of admission, I was allowed entry into the museum but also I got a guided tour that ended with a cultural performance.

The museum was interesting. It shared a lot of information about what it looked like when English colonizers first came over, what the interactions were like, the initial conflict of the treaty as well as the aftermath. I’d recommend reading up on it if you’re interested!

There were some really cool tidbits in the museum, like a pounamu, the original New Zealand flag, etc.

After wandering through the museum, it was time for the guided tour. Our guide walked us through the grounds and led us to a waka – the world’s largest waka. It was made from three different kauri trees. I’ll talk more on kauri trees later. The details of the waka were gorgeous!

Later, we were taken to a spot where the treaty was signed and then to our cultural performance.

I haven’t been to any cultural performances since I’ve been in Aotearoa but I’m glad I was able to witness this one. We were taught how a chief might respond to a foreign group/tribe/etc. coming in to their town. There were five Māori who reenacted this. One of the people in our tour group volunteered to be our “chief.”

The Māori “chief” placed some leaves on the ground. Our chief accepted with thanks and we were then led into the meeting place (marae). Once inside, we were treated to a wonderful performance. The Māori folk were singing and dancing. Sometimes they would dance with just their bodies, other times with poi, other times with Māori weapons, sometimes with sticks. It was an awesome experience. During their final performance, where they also did some parts of the famous haka, I actually teared up a little bit.

After leaving the performance, I related the culture of the Māori to the culture of those in America. And the thing is, we don’t really HAVE anything like that in America (of course, Native Americans do. I suppose I’m speaking for everyone who came over from overseas). Maybe we have certain foods from Poland, certain customs and traditions from Ireland, etc. – but it isn’t really anything like what the Māori have. Food for thought, I suppose.

I walked around the area some more and then continued on with my day. I decided to add a few more hours of driving to my trip and get to Cape Reinga before nightfall. As I mentioned before, I was pretty worried about Goldie and so I just wanted to get to the tip of the country as fast as possible, so I then could get back down and be closer to selling her.

Cape Reinga

I had about three hours from Waitangi to Cape Reinga. The drive had lots of twists and turns along the way, especially the closer I got to my campground. And yet I made it safely. “Just eight hours of driving left, Goldie. One more work shift.”

The campground was probably one of the most gorgeous campgrounds I’ve stayed at. Forested hills surrounded me, and I didn’t have to walk far before I was looking at the waves crashing onto the beach. These waves looked treacherous – I could see the riptides coming in. And yet some people were out in the water! Crazy.

I enjoyed the scenery, walked along the beach, and read some of my book. After having dinner, I had a look at the setting sun and then retired for the night.

In the morning, I drove ten minutes out of the campground to get to Cape Reinga, the northernmost point of the North Island. I have never really seen pictures of the area so I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into. Boy, was it BEAUTIFUL.

The area off to the west had me really stunned. I love observing how land makes way to the sea. It seems different everywhere. The southern part of the South Island looked different from the northern part of the North Island which looked different to the southern part of the North Island, and on and on. There is something ominous about it. I said before when seeing the southern tip of the South Island – it’s like we’re at the end of the world. And funnily, after typing this out just now, I think back to my first visit to Seattle, when my friend Karen said the same thing to me along the Washington Coast. Hm.

I walked along the short trail to get to the Cape Reinga lighthouse.

The surrounding area was magnificent. On either side of me, the land jutted down into the sea, where ferocious waves crashed into land. Rain began to sprinkle down as it often has on this road trip of mine.

I was eager to get a move on. I had another long drive heading further south and had a few more places I wanted to check out – the Giant Sand Dunes and 90 Mile Beach.

The Giant Sand Dunes were less than half an hour from Cape Reinga. And once again, I was reminded of Michigan. Yet – this was different. These sand dunes were larger than those I was used to.

Some people hire boards and go “sandboarding” down the dunes. I did not but instead opted to hike up some of the dunes. The area was gorgeous! And it was such an unexpected area. Much of Northland is green, green green. Lots of forests, rolling hills, etc. And then suddenly these massive sand dunes? New Zealand continues to surprise me.

From the dunes, I drove further south. I filled up on gas, caught up with my family, and then drove over to 90 Mile Beach. I originally was going to skip it but then I thought, ‘just go check it out. It’s not a far detour.’ So, 90 Mile Beach is actually… a HIGHWAY. Cars drive down it haha. Of course, you really need a 4×4. My poor Goldie was not up for the challenge so all I did was have a quick glimpse and then carry on.

I drove down to Kerikeri, got some groceries and then stopped off at Rainbow Falls. I almost decided against it. I’ve seen so many waterfalls lately. But I’m glad I went to this one. It was really a perfect waterfall in a beautiful setting.

The waterfall cascaded down into a pool of water but one of the things that’s unusual about it is there’s a small cave behind the waterfall. People were actually climbing up behind the waterfall! It reminded me of one of the waterfalls in Iceland where you’re able to do just this. In hindsight, I maybe should have put on my bathing suit and climbed up as well. Alas.

I wasn’t quite sure where I was going to stay that evening. All I knew was I wanted to drive south and get a little closer to Auckland and a little closer to selling my car. I told myself I could drive as far as the Kauri Coast holiday park but that would make for another very long day. Instead, I stayed at a remote campsite half an hour from Kerikeri.

I am so glad I did. After some yoga, reading, and dinner, I was walking back to my car when I saw another car pulling up with its owner’s head popped out of the window. JEROME! I know Jerome from the hostel in Queenstown. We both could not believe it. He parked his car and we ended up catching each other up on our travels. Funnily enough, Jerome wasn’t originally sure where he was going to be staying that night, either. The universe both brought us to that campground for sure. So crazy!

We had a laugh about the perils of solo traveling. We commiserated over the last time we had a proper shower, how it seems like EVERYONE else traveling around in New Zealand is coupled up or with their families. We talked until the sun went down and then retreated to our cars. I think we both were really happy we were able to bump into each other like that. So unexpected.

After dark, I went for a walk in search of kiwi. I heard some (and morepork owls, too), but didn’t see any. I also spooked what I think was a group of bats into flight, who in turn, spooked the hell out of me.

Kauri Coast

The next morning before I woke up, Jerome had already continued on his journey. He was an early riser and had some hiking plans for the day. I had a relaxed morning. I went for a stroll through the forest, had some tea, did yoga, etc. And then it started drizzling. It was time to get a move on.

I had two hours of driving to get to my campsite. However, halfway through the drive, I stopped at the Kouto boulders. I didn’t know what they looked like, but I heard they were similar to the Moeraki boulders on the east coast of the South Island. I decided to check them out. They supposedly were best to view at low tide. Low tide wasn’t for another few hours but I decided to take my chances. GoogleMaps wrongly led me into someone’s backyard. Two guys were hanging out on the porch with their dogs. I apologized profusely and asked if they happened to know where the boulders were. They said it was no trouble at all and told me where to park.

The boulders were really cool. Yes, similar to Moeraki in that some of them were perfectly spherical. Others looked like they were once spherical but then were dropped from the sky and shattered to pieces.

I had a few other detours along the drive to my holiday park. There were some spots with lookouts so I went for a quick walk. I then drove through the Waipoua Forest, which twisted and turned and twisted and turned. Every time my car made that grinding noise, I prayed to my HP to keep me safe lol.

And then I made it. Kauri Coast Top 10 Holiday Park. My last holiday park was the one in Hot Water Beach, with all the kids… Remember? That was during school holidays. Luckily, school holidays have since finished and this park was virtually empty. One of the reasons I wanted to stay was that they had self guided kiwi tours. I could hire a very strong red torch for $25 (which Tracy let me hire for $20 actually) and only had to drive a few minutes to get to the spot.

In the evening, I drove to the Trounson Kauri Park. Once it was dark, I took my time along the trail. I can be very stealthy when wildlife spotting haha. What should have been a 30min trail took me two hours to do. Unfortunately, it was raining pretty heavily, masking any sounds of something rustling in the bushes. I heard the occasional kiwi calling from afar.

Despite the lack of kiwi sightings, I DID see a weta for the first time! I saw a few of them actually. All sorts of sizes. Some were pretty tiny but others were truly massive. I was surprised by the size of some of them. And their antennae must have been three times the size of their body. Eek!! There were some patches of glow worms along the trail as well.

It was midnight now. And it was time for bed. I went back to the holiday park and went to sleep.
I decided to stay for another night. During the day… I didn’t do much. I watched some shows, read a book, etc. I visited the eels in the river quite a lot.

When I had checked into the holiday park, one of the employees told me that the river had heaps of eels. It’s funny to think that once upon a time, I tried and tried and tried to see an eel in Lake Whakatipu and maybe only saw one five times. Here, there were at least ten! I couldn’t believe it. They are really cool demons from hell.

One of the other employees, Kim, asked me how the kiwi sightings went the night before. I told her how it was pretty difficult to hear anything with the rain – that I heard some calls, etc. I told her I would be trying again in the evening. She gave me the tip to check out the grassy area before the trail starts – that there is a female who has a borough near there and people tend to see that kiwi a lot. Good to know! Tracy had mentioned that grassy area during the briefing the day before but when I looked, I hadn’t seen anything.

I drove back to the spot and decided to do the walk while there was still daylight. The trail is pretty wonderful because it is home to quite a large number of kauri trees. Kauri trees are MASSIVE. Almost on par with sequoia trees. They really are massive, too. I had seen them near the campground where I saw Jerome but the ones at Trounson Kauri Park were VERY big and also very old. One of them was I think 1200 years old?

I returned to my car and watched a few shows until it was properly dark. Once it was, I got out of the car and began my kiwi spotting adventure. I first hung out in the grassy area for maybe ten minutes but didn’t see any kiwi, so continued on. I told myself I’d stop back before leaving.

The trail was more of the same, except this time there was no rain. Yahoo! I heard kiwi calling to each other many times. Far more than the night before, which was also a very windy night. (Kiwi don’t like wind apparently.)

Once I reached the end of the trail, I walked back to the start. Once I was almost back to the finish, I heard a kiwi calling closer than I’d yet heard. I tried to stay still, hoping it would reveal itself but it never did. Sigh. It was getting late. Almost midnight. I’d been at this pretty much three hours. But time flies when you’re walking alone in the dark looking for wildlife!

I exited the trail and shined my light along the grassy path. Was that a…? No. Only a bunny.

I shone my light to the left. Another bu—!!! No! That’s a kiwi! It seemed quite small, much smaller than those I had seen in Rakiura/Stewart Island. This was actually a different species, the North Island brown kiwi, like the ones I used to feed at Kiwi Park in Queenstown. But still, this one seemed very small, almost the size of Pako, the growing kiwi chick we’d had.

I had thought that the kiwi couldn’t see the brightness of the red torches but apparently this kiwi did because after I shined on it for maybe ten seconds, it kind of froze and then quickly waddled away. Damn! I turned the light off and tried to slowly walk over to where I thought it had gone. I turned the light back on and – WHOA, she is RIGHT there. And then she waddled away again. I feel bad, because obviously that’s the last thing I want to do is scare these beloved KIWI!!!

I walked over to a picnic table to give the kiwi some space. I turned off my light. I hoped the kiwi would return to the grassy field instead of hiding in the bush. A few minutes later, it did. It was opposite the grassy field, looking for food again. I tried to stealthily approach for a better view but she knew my plan immediately. Eventually, she’d had enough of me fucking around and she disappeared. I decided to let the poor thing be. And yet, I’m SO glad I was able to see her. How funny that after two nights of spending multiple hours walking through the trail looking for kiwi, I was able to see one on the grassy field without even actually walking the trail. (P.S. I don’t have any pictures/videos. It was too far away at first to pick up on my phone and when it was closer, I wasn’t expecting to see it there and it kinda ran off before I could get video. I swear I ain’t lyin’!!!)

It felt like an incredibly fitting ending to my road trip. The following morning I returned to Auckland to sell my car.

(Also – how funny that I have three plush kiwi toys… and have seen three kiwi in real life? On Rakiura, I had three sightings, but I think two of them were of the same kiwi. This would make my third separate kiwi, fourth encounter.)

Goodbye, Goldie

Now… Goldie. Boy, oh, boy, oh, boy.

I have to give you all a breakdown of what exactly has transpired since I’ve owned this beautiful piece of shit.

After buying her, I had a few months before I had to get her inspected for Warrant of Fitness (WoF). All was good for some time until I popped a tire. Damn! First hiccup. Shortly after that, I had to get my WoF. Luckily, I passed, but there was a note about one of the tires being at its limit. It also mentioned something else (which I can’t even remember now). I decided to take care of the tire immediately because I wanted Goldie to be in safe operating condition. I took her for a new tire and to get an overall service – topping up fluids, oil change, etc.

I thought everything would be good, but what the service told me was that in time, I would likely need to eventually pay about $3,500 worth on repairs. No. No way. I had foolishly paid $3,000NZD for her, thinking it was a steal (about $1,800USD). I wasn’t going to put that much money into a car from 1999. So, what I ended up doing was spending $1,400 on a new cambelt. I figured, hey, I’ll pay for the most expensive piece, something that is actually 2 years overdue (I didn’t know this at first). When I sell it, I’ll be transparent about the other issues that may need to eventually be addressed, etc.

It was pretty grim to me because all I really, really wanted was for Goldie to be (again) in safe operating condition ahead of my long road trip. I didn’t want there to be a risk of spontaneous combustion, engine failure, sudden death, etc.

But that didn’t end up being the case. Unless I wanted to spend all that money, I was going to have to risk it. And so risk it, I did, and have done since.

During my road trip, there were three phases of worry.

Number one was a subtle whining/whistling noise while accelerating. Apparently this is common – a mechanic recently told me so. It is very annoying, though.

The second was the ignition switch failing just before I was finishing my South Island journey. That. Was. FRIGHTENING. And I think that was the first time “the fear” really started taking over about this car being on its last legs. Luckily, that was only a $200 fix. I actually felt pretty good about the car after that…

…Until a few days before I was going to Fiji, which was my final phase of worry. While driving through the Coromandel peninsula… I started to hear a grinding noise while driving uphill and turning around winding, gravel roads. Since then, I have pretty much constantly been on edge while driving. I just knew something was wrong but at this point I only had a few more days left of driving, maybe 12hr tops to drive. I didn’t want to spend any more money on it because I knew I was hardly going to be getting any money back.

But the amount I saved was… arguably not worth the stress I’d faced since then. Of course, after Coromandel, I pretty much was heading straight to Fiji. I had a week without the worries of a car. But as soon as I was back, I knew I had a mission to complete. Up to Cape Reinga, and back down to Auckland (with a few attractions along the way). I was scared, though. Honestly. The grinding noise started to seem more persistent. Had it always been there? Was I always just playing music or singing too loudly to hear it?

I looked it up and all signs pointed to bad news. CV joints, axels, transmission, suspension, brake pads. Who knows? It was something.

So, yeah. I was pretty much just freaked out. Had everything felt and seemed safe with Goldie, I likely would have extended my road trip by another week. But because of my constant state of anxiety and fear… it was time.

I am so, so glad I was able to get back to Auckland safely. It was reckless, I know. Not only for myself but for others, too, had my car failed on the road. Every time I would feel fear, I would pray. I was saying the old adage “Jesus (well, Higher Power) take the wheel” hahaha.

Before the grinding noises, I had posted Goldie on Facebook marketplace, stating all the issues that would need taking care of one day. But once those noises started, I felt it would be deceptive to sell her to some poor backpacker. I think the guy who sold it to me probably knew about some of these issues. Maybe not. But anyway, I wanted to break the cycle. I was in talks with some interested buyers but the other day, I mentioned about the grinding noises and how I didn’t feel comfortable selling it to them. I edited my listing to mention the noises and lowered the price to “best offer.” Two of the people I’d already been talking with didn’t seem to mind and were willing to pay around $800 NZD. Not much for a car. Oof. But even still… It just didn’t sit right with me.

When I got in to Auckland, I drove to a used car place who ended up offering me $500 and, when I pushed a little, $600. I called up a parts shop that specialized in Hondas, who offered me $600, who, when I pushed a little, agreed to $650. All this time, I had one girl on Facebook telling me – “it’s okay, I accept the risk, I know there might be issues” etc., etc. But I just felt like… No, girl, you don’t understand. This van is going to burn a hole in your wallet.

(Also, while it sucks that I put so much money into Goldie, I also feel it all comes out in the wash. Because I was able to use the Camp Pass to stay at campgrounds for free much of the time, or even just stay at cheap paid campgrounds, I was able to save a lot of money I otherwise would be spending on accommodation. It would’ve been nice to get $3,000 back, but I think since finding out about the upcoming issues during my service, I knew I wouldn’t get much for it.)

So at the end of the day, I parted ways with Goldie for $650. As I got in an Uber, bound for a hostel in Auckland, I reflected on my time with this van. It has been my home for the past two months. We have driven all over the South Island, all over the North Island. We have seen nearly this entire country together.

I felt ashamed that I hadn’t the money for fixing her up. How I would have liked to sell her to someone else to enjoy her, instead of selling her for parts. And yet, she is an old gal. Her time is up.

What I’m going to say next feels silly to write, but I’m going to write it anyway. (I realize my van is… an inanimate object. But I suppose so much of this New Zealand adventure has been, well, WITH her.)

(Pictured above: my sleeping conditions in my van)

I feel honored to have been her last owner. I’m not sure how many people have driven this car since 1999, but I’m sure she has been on a hell of a lot of adventures. And I feel pretty glad that she was my companion on a massively epic adventure across New Zealand before she retired. How lame would it have been if she just broke down as a daily commuter? No – she went out in a BIG way. Seeing so much of the beauty that this country has to offer. Thanks for that, Goldie. You got me to all the major places I wanted to see – and back to Auckland. And I survived. I’m sorry I didn’t have the money to repair you and, instead, road you into the ground.

My brother Mike said, “I’m sure if the car had a heart, it’s the way it would have wanted to go out.” Well said. Also lol @ us talking about a car like this.

I’ve included a rough GoogleMaps itinerary of the journey we took since leaving Queenstown. Because there’s a limit to how many destinations you can use on GoogleMaps (dumb), there are a few things left out… but the below image should give you a general idea of the distance we traveled together.

Art of the Week

Reflections

What to reflect on? Geez LOUISE! It has been an incredible journey driving around the country. It is kind of surreal to no longer have a vehicle to get around. But… enough Goldie talk. We’ll let sleeping cars lie.

I have less than three weeks left in this country now. I need to plan out what those weeks look like. I’ll be doing that tomorrow. I’m thinking several days in Waiheke Island and then I’d also like to go to Rotoroa Island for a few nights as well. I’ll have to just suss it all out. I’ll do some planning tomorrow. I also have to print and mail my ballot, etc. Today and tomorrow are a mix of errands/relaxation/planning.

Until next time – sending you all my love. x