At Find A Camper we are passionate about exploring New Zealand by campervan or motorhome. Towards the end of January 2009, my partner, Helen and I went on our first North Island campervan adventure. Now we have been on several campervan trips before of course, but this was the first time we ventured into the North Island with a home away from home.
For those of you who don’t know, New Zealand is located across a number of islands in the South Pacific. The North and South Islands are where most visitors travel. This is because they are the largest two islands and have the main towns and cities located on them. Find A Camper is based in Christchurch, the largest city in the South Island.
You can travel by campervan in both the North Island and South Island, and can catch a ferry that takes you across Cook Strait between each Island. We only had limited time for our trip so we decided to fly from Christchurch to Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand located in the North Island. There we picked up our campervan and then headed north of Auckland to Northland. We chose to take a 2 Berth with shower and toilet. As there was only two of us this van was ideal. If we were going for a longer period of time, we may have considered taking a slightly larger van like a 4 Berth with shower and toilet just so we had the extra space.
Our first stop was the historic township of Russell. This is one of New Zealand’s oldest European settlements dating back to the early nineteenth century. Once described as the “hell hole of the Pacific", due to the drunken behavior of the early whalers. Today’s Russell is anything but. Now it is a small seaside town in the Bay of Islands. There are two beaches, a number of great cafes, and of course many historic buildings. We spent our first night staying at Russell’s beautiful Top 10 Holiday Park.
The next day we took the vehicle ferry back from Russell to Paihia. The ferry is a great way to get to and from Russell saving a lot of driving time. From Paihia we traveled to Waitangi. Waitangi is extremely significant to New Zealand as it was the place where The Treaty of Waitangi was signed by local Maori and the British Crown in 1840. This document is often considered the foundation document for New Zealand.
We then took a Bay of Islands cruise with Fullers. This was a great way to get out in the Bay and experience all the history and beauty of the region first hand.
Our final leg of our journey took us down the west coast of the North Island back towards Auckland. The west coast is quite a contrast to the east coast. Instead of beautiful golden beaches there is dense bush full of majestic Kauri trees, native to New Zealand. During our drive we stumbled on “Tane Mahuta”, New Zealand’s oldest known tree. It is believed to be around 2000 years old.
It was a great trip, however it was too short. Campervans are a great way to explore New Zealand. We loved the versatility and freedom it gave us. When we found somewhere nice we would simply pull over, open up the doors and windows and have a bite to eat while enjoying the scenery.
