North Island Drive

We headed out from Auckland in our old but trusty Toyota Hiace camper van. The van is equipped with a pop top, bench seating that converts into a bed, a fridge, a sink, stove and many cabinets for storage. Once we moved in, it became even more homey on the inside. We began our journey down the West Coast of the North island, where we encountered mountains, rainforest, farms and black sand beaches. These beaches were in a volcanic area, so you can dig into the sand and create hot pools which are warmed by the earth. The next place we headed was Lake Taupo. This was also surrounded by volcanic mounds and you could see several islands from the shore. Unfortunately, we had experienced our first rainy day and were not able to do much at the lake. We continued our drive and ended up at Otaki beach where the water was clear and extra blue. Millions of sheep, more rain forests and some cows later, we arrived in Wellington where we were catching the boat to the South Island.