Lord of the views: return(ing) of the van
The fellowship of the van has reached Auckland, and that’s a wrap for New Zealand! Jelle and I just treated our campervan, Paula, to a spa day — vacuum, carwash, maintenance check — and said our goodbyes at her depot outside the airport.
This past week has been a wild one. After an exhausting 11-mile day at Mt Cook, we greeted the sunrise from the shores of Lake Pukaiki. It was here that we saw one of the most aggressive campervans of all time:
We still didn’t feel it 100% put back together, so we decided to treat ourselves, old-Jewish-man-style, to a nice steam, shower, and sauna at nearby Tekapo Springs. It was here we learned that the region is part of the Aoraki McKenzie International Dark Sky Reserve*. A DSR is an area that restricts artificial light pollution, enabling incredible views of the night sky. Tekapo is home to the Mount John Observatory, an important array of telescopes operated by the University of Canterbury, which necessitated the light pollution controls. You notice the subtleties everywhere — for example, streetlights are low to the ground and capped.
After our sauna and some ramen, we felt ready for anything, and stayed up late to catch our evening astronomy tour. The company took us out to the middle of a farm and led us through both naked-eye astronomy as well as telescope-assisted viewings. Did you know there’s just like, two clouds permanently hanging out in the night sky? I didn’t, and just assumed when I saw them that my horrible vision was at it again. It turns out, the Magellanic Clouds are galaxies visible only in the Southern Hemisphere. We also learned about several constellations, including how to navigate by using the Southern Cross constellation (no North Star here). We also observed a few galaxies up close, as well as Jupiter + moons and Saturn showing off its fancy rings. We got pretty lucky that day — our tour took place during a meteor shower AND aurora activity.
After a beautiful night under the stars, the following morning we did a brief but steep pilgrimage up Mount John to the observatory itself, where we had a nice coffee at their kitchy but admittedly cool Astro Cafe as a reward. I saw at least one latte with Saturn drawn into it.
That afternoon, we blasted out a big drive from Tekapo over to the east coast, pushing on through Christchurch out to the Banks Peninsula. This is a gorgeous spit of land that bulges out into the sea east of Christchurch. We drank beer and watched the sunset. The following morning, we set out to do a big day hike. After an extraordinarily unhelpful visit to the local information center, we found a hike by ourselves and summited Stony Bay Peak, a nice 800m climb through active farmland, alpine scrub, and a bit of rock scrambling.
That evening, we spent the night at a paid campsite in Christchurch. They had a kitchen, shower, TV room…to us, the works. Amazing how quickly something as simple as a hot water tap starts to feel like a luxury. We spent the following day wandering around Christchurch, including a visit to a local museum. Jelle was thrilled to find Dutch artists prominently on display.
We made our way to Kaikoura, where a whale-watching boat tour promised “see a whale or 80% of your money back.” What was not included in that marketing was, “get turned back by gale-force winds and get 100% of your money back,” but we’re glad that honored that policy too. The rains and winds hit hard, and I hummed the Gilligan’s Island theme song the rest of the drive onward until I eventually had to explain it to Jelle.
We made several pit stops on the ride north, including at a off-road glowworm cave. The more famous of these caves are privately-owned, maintained, and commercialized, but there thousands all over New Zealand that one can find and enter. We did just that — it was a little scary but very rewarding.
Another ferry ride from the South Island to the north brought us back to Wellington. It quickly made its way to the top of my Favorite NZ Cities Power Rankings — beautiful architecture, a turquoise harbor, and an amazing (free!) museum. That night, Jelle and I decided to treat ourselves to real beds and stayed in a backpacker hostel.
We then kicked off the long drive north. We first stopped by our favorite NZ brewery, Tuatara. We made a point of trying different local beers during grocery runs, and Tuatara’s were consistently the best. They had a few awards to prove it…
Next we drove to Tongariro National Park, home of Mt. Doom and the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, one of the most famous day hikes in the world. The route was covered in snow and runs along several known avalanche paths, so we elected to trek with an organized tour group and guides. This ended up being a very smart decision. We were provided with any missing gear needed, crampons, an ice axe, and helmet. The 12.1 mile trail winds up and over the Tongariro saddle and through two craters, offering stunning vistas of Mt Ngauruhoe (Mt Doom), boiling sulfur pools, and the surrounding volcanic landscape. Our LOTR Film Location Senses were tingling off the charts, despite much of the area’s heavy snow cover. Having guides and proper winter trekking equipment was definitely required. We ascended narrow ridges made of ice, and followed a safe route picked out by the guides rather than the marked trail based on the day’s conditions. We also got to try glissading, which is basically sliding down on your butt, to cut some of the descents. Extremely fun.
After an evening of recovery, we pushed on to our final stop: back to Auckland, where it all began. After returning Paula, Jelle and I celebrated a month of travel with a traditional New Zealand feast of sushi followed by churros. Just kidding we had lamb. But we really did have sushi and churros the second night. We also went full tourist mode and ascended Auckland’s Sky Tower, where we watched other tourists bungee jump off the top, take green screen photos, and do other generally touristy things.
But then it was time for Jelle and I to say our goodbyes, after a straight month of hanging out with pretty much only each other. He’s got another month in the north island; I’m heading back to the states temporarily to handle medical stuff.
NZ is the world’s greatest place to do a road trip. In the states, if I have a three hour drive anywhere, I settle in with a grimace and try to just shut my brain off until I arrive, knowing I’m in for straight lines and corn. In New Zealand, you can’t help but say “wow” out loud every time you round a corner. Sometimes it’s rolling green hills, sometimes it’s sheer cliffs tumbling down into stormy seas, sometimes it’s a sheep staring back at you quizzically. I give the country five out of five kiwis.
*For my Michigan readers, we happen to have the first DSR ever incorporated in the states — at the Lake Hudson State Recreation Area. There are 6 other such areas within the state of Michigan alone.
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