This is part one of how we planned our travel route through New Zealand, starting with the North Island driving route; details of our South Island driving route will follow in part two!
We started planning our North Island driving route a few months ago by picking out all of the main places we wanted to go and marking them on a GIANT map that our good friends Andy & Jenna got us as a leaving present!
We’ve recently picked this up again and started planning in much greater detail as the date we start our epic adventure gets ever closer (19th of December we will be leaving Auckland). Exciting stuff!
Why Planning is Important
Many say that the best way to travel is to do so without a plan, completely care free. It sounds great in an ideal world where time is endless and pockets are bottomless, but in reality, you will usually need some kind of plan to make sure you make the most of your experience.
We have two months in a campervan to see the entire country in the peak summer months, so a plan is pretty much essential for us. It ensures that we will see and do everything that we want without running out of time or money. Another big thing to consider when travelling in the summer is accommodation, as availability is a lot more scarce during these peak times.
There’s a slight sense of injustice when you have to plan, book and pay for accommodation when you’re travelling the country in a campervan, but laws are a lot tighter on ‘freedom camping’ in New Zealand these days. You will likely get away with it if you want to, but at the end of the day, you won’t have showers, toilets, laundry or any other facilities that will allow you to keep on top of your personal care!
We are generally pretty clean people, so we’re more than happy to take the holiday parks route, even if it does mean paying $30-$40 per night to sleep in our own vehicle!
This is also why planning is important, as these holiday parks soon fill up in the summer months, so it’s advisable to book ahead as far as you’re able to. We’ve had our Christmas and New Year accommodation (in Rotorua and Gisborne respectively) booked since July! Eager beavers.
Anyway, the route…
Our North Island Driving Route!
Where and Why?
We picked most of the places we want to go based on photos we’ve seen, things we want to see and do there, recommendations, articles online – etc.! A couple other destinations like Wanganui were worked in mainly to break the driving up a bit more – but I’m sure it will be well worth a visit.
Oh by the way, we already did Northland back in March and April before we got jobs down in Auckland!
Anyway, where are we going and why…
- The Coromandel 2 nights, 19/20 Dec
The first stop is The Coromandel, a very scenic corner of New Zealand with great looking coastlines. The main attraction for us is the Hot Water Beach where you can dig your own little spa pool in the sand as a hot water river flows underneath the beach!
Photo: Dooooogie / Creative Commons- Raglan 2 nights, 21/22 Dec
From The Coromandel, we’ll have a short stop in Paeroa where you will find the famous giant L&P bottle! From there, it’s onto the next stop in Raglan. I don’t know a great deal about Raglan apart from it’s great for surfing, but it’s been highly recommended and it shares its name with a tiny village in South Wales near where I used to live. So it’s on the list! We are also planning to head to the Waitomo Glowworm Caves during our stay in Raglan which is about 90 minutes south of the town.
Photo: Kathrin & Stefan Marks / Creative Commons- Rotorua 5 nights, 23/24/25/26/27 Dec
We wanted to have a longer stay somewhere over Christmas and Rotorua seems like a good pick! It’s one of the North Island’s main tourist centres, famous for its many lakes, hot pools and adventure offerings (it’s the home of ‘Zorbing’). We’ll also be visiting Tauranga during our stay which looks really nice from what we’ve seen – it’s about an hour north of Rotorua.
Photo: Robin Ducker / Creative Commons- Gisborne 5 nights, 28/29/30/31/1 Dec/Jan
Again, we wanted to sort out our accommodation over the festive period early, so we went for another longer stay over New Year in Gisborne, which is famous for being the first city in the world to see the new year! It also holds the big new year music festival Rhythm & Vines, but that’s not in our plans (it ain’t cheap!).
Photo: herself_nz / Creative Commons- Napier 1 night, 2 Jan
Napier was originally on the ‘maybe’ list but luckily, it seems like the perfect place to stop between Gisborne and Taupo so I’m glad to say it’s been promoted to the main route! Looks like another very nice coastal town.
Photo: Tony Lin / Creative Commons- Taupo 3 nights, 3/4/5 Jan
The next stop on our North Island driving route is Lake Taupo, another very scenic spot in the centre of the North Island. As well as the ginormous lake, Taupo is massive for skydiving and is where we both plan to tick this particular activity off our bucket lists!
Photo: Adam Foster / Creative Commons- Tongariro 3 nights, 6/7/8 Jan
Our stay in Tongariro was originally going to be 1 or 2 nights, but I’ve recently realised I can’t leave New Zealand without doing the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. It’s regarded as the best one day trek in the country and one of the best in the world, taking a steady 7-9 hours to complete! I’ll need to up my fitness levels beforehand but I know it will be worth it as I’ll get to walk across the impressive volcanic landscape, famously used as the setting for the evil realm of Mordor in Lord of the Rings! Can’t wait for this one. (Hannah informs me I’ll be tackling the trek on my own though!)
Photo: Jeff Pang / Creative Commons- Wanganui 1 night, 9 Jan
The main purpose of Wanganui is to break up the otherwise mammoth journey between Tongariro and Wellington. It looks like a nice spot on the coast though and the Wanganui River looks very impressive!
Photo: James Chou / Creative Commons- Wellington 2 nights, 10/11 Jan
Bringing our North Island driving route to a close is Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city which sits right on the south coast. It’s a great looking city with plenty of things to see and do, including the Beehive government building, the museum, the cable cars and views of the city and harbour from Mount Victoria.
Photo: Small / Creative Commons
One of the best things about travelling by your own means is the freedom you have to get off the beaten track and discover the hidden gems New Zealand has to offer. Some of the best places are found by accident.
Stay tuned for part two – the South Island driving route!