The travel itch usually comes when the trees lose their leaves, and the days get shorter. It comes unpredictably, you wake up one morning and it’s there on the breakfast table, next to your coffee. You may think that travelling will satisfy it, but like a mosquito bite, the more you scratch it, the itchier it becomes.
We spent a few months at home, and I enjoyed working with my Cat Rescue, but the last few weeks, I became restless and was already looking for our next adventure.
We’ve been trying to arrange shipping for our RV (La Casita) to Down Under for almost 2 years now. At some point, Ivan said that it might be easier to send this RV to the moon than to Australia. Finally, we were able to organize it, and the big day came. It takes almost two months for the RORO ship to travel from Belgium to Australia, which is too long to be in Canada in December. That’s why we decided to spend this time in New Zealand together with our son and our good friends living there – Ilian, Nora, and their daughter Iva.
Back in 2003, they visited us in Canada, and we promised to return the visit. Over the last 20 years, they kept asking when we were going to come. And we always replied, “Well, maybe next year”. Over the years, it became something like a joke. So, when we called them, they usually asked when we were coming, and we dropped the bomb—“Next month.”
A long time ago, Nora shared one of their private family jokes with us. In Bulgarian, “at the butt of geography” is an idiom meaning something far, far away. Something like “in the middle of nowhere”, but a bit more colorful.
When Iva was 4-5 years old, she returned from a summer camp very tanned. She was scared that her skin got dark and would stay like that for life. Nora pulled her bathing suit and told her:
“Don’t worry, it’s only tan; see, your butt is white.”
“Is this my butt?” – Iva replied. “I thought ‘the butt’ is some place because you always tell Dad: ‘Why did we come here to the butt of the geography? ‘”
We now understand it, this place is really far, far away. We left Toronto on December 9th. This is the picture I took of our backyard on the day we left home and got on a plane to the other side of the Earth.
After 35 hours and skipping somewhere the entire day of December 10th, we arrived in Auckland on December 11th. And we came to this. Slight change of scenery, isn’t it?
Tired or not, the adrenaline was running high, and so we decided to walk with Nora and Ilian to their local beach. And what a beach. Kilometres of black sand, with no people. You can walk to the horizon and back.
New Zealand is amazingly green, with many sheep (no surprise – even in Toronto, we eat lamb from here), rolling hills, and many flowers.
I love walking on the beach. I am not too much into swimming (what a surprise, I cannot swim, and I am afraid of deep water), but just looking at the ocean calms me and clears my mind. When we arrived at Coromandel Forest Park, it was a paradise for me. We are northerners, and not many things can cheer our hearts in the middle of December. A white sand beach and a blue ocean are some of them.
Unfortunately, the ocean water was slightly too cold for my liking, so Ilian promised us a hot water beach. He brought us to a beach where hot spring water was supposed to come to the sand, but… no luck. The boys dug into the sand, and dug, and dug—but no hot water. Until we were told that it must be done at low tide, and there is no chance to dig that deep during a high tide. No luck…
Ilian noticed my disappointment about the lack of hot springs and promised to show us drone fishing in Pumpkin Hill. Drone fishing? It looks like technology has improved a lot since I last went fishing with a friend back in the 1990s. Can you imagine my surprise when the drone only went and dropped the hooks somewhere in the ocean and returned without any fish? And I imagined that the drone would dive, grab the fish from the water, and bring it to us like a trained hunting hawk.
Like the entire country, Auckland is very, very green and beautiful. It is a very scenic city with different faces – the city skyline, many parks, and the marina. We strolled at Cornwall Park between the sheep (what a surprise) and walked around the marina.
After a lovely dinner in a trendy restaurant, we visited Franklin Road to enjoy the Christmas lights. It is considered one of the best Christmas light displays in New Zealand. According to Nora, if you buy a house on this street (the prices are pretty high), you sign a contract to decorate your home for Christmas. It is nice to walk in the dark and enjoy the lights. I always like this time of the year and the festive spirit of the lights. But it is very strange if you do so in a T-shirt.
One of the hikes I wanted to do in New Zealand was the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. This is the most famous hike on the North Island. We have a saying in Bulgaria: Man supposes, but God disposes. The plan was good, but the weather was not cooperating. The wind at the Red Crater was 80 km per hour, and the temperature was only 3 degrees Celsius. Even so, we tried, but after 15 minutes, the smarter one (Ivan Sr) gave an order to turn back. We did a short hike to Taranaki Falls and Tokaanu Thermal Pools as compensation.
And that was a nice soak in the hot spring water.
Being in New Zealand cannot be a complete experience without dipping into the hot springs. And to tell you the truth, the weather is a little bit on the cool side, so I welcomed the idea of indulging ourselves again in the hot spring of Kerosine Creek.
It is a well-known hot water stream in the bush south of Rotorua. I wish I had asked Ilian about the name in advance. The smell is quite strong, but the water is nice and hot. After a relaxing soak in the spring, all smelling like a gas station, we visited the Blue Spring (Te Waihou Walkway). It is a crystal-clear creek which supplies around 70 percent of New Zealand’s bottled water. They said this is one of the purest and cleanest bodies of water in the world, with a constant temperature of 11 degrees Celsius. No swimming for me. It’s too cold to enter, but it was so beautiful to walk around. The walkway curves around the lush green pasture and wetlands, and watching the birds, ducklings, and cows is very relaxing.
After a few days, when we walked along Karioitahi Beach with its lovely black sand, no one bothered to take the camera. The day and the scenery were beautiful, and I had only my phone camera to take pictures with. On this beach, you can see why one is not supposed to drive on the Australian beaches. These cars came all the way from Australia, when adventure seekers met the tides 😉 We know Ilian pulled our legs with this explanation, but it sounded so good.
After a week, our friends decided to show us the northern part of the island. After so many years of travel, I still feel slightly confused – we are going north, but the weather, scenery, and water temperature are improving. We made a quick lunch stop in Paihia. Ivan Jr walked through all the stores trying to find the most beautiful pāua shell for his girlfriend. Pāua is a deep blue-greenish shell unique to New Zealand and looks gorgeous. Ivan Sr found some Māori art that resembled his angry face and could not skip the picture with the carving.
No trip to New Zealand is complete without visiting the famous Treaty of Waitangi site. The museum was very informative, with many original documents. The Ngātokimatawhaorua, also known as Ngā Toki, the world’s largest ceremonial waka (war canoe), was spectacular. It can carry 80 paddlers and 55 other passengers. It is the largest canoe in New Zealand, measuring 35.7 meters (123 ft) long and up to 2 meters (6.56 ft) wide.
When we arrived at Karikari Peninsula, Ilian promised us one of the most charming beaches in the area, so we grabbed a beer and went to Maitai Bay. Do I have to tell you how spectacular this place is? I don’t think so; just look at the pictures.
Cape Reinga is the country’s northernmost point. This is where the Indian Ocean (Tasman Sea) meets the Pacific Ocean. It is the most spiritual place for the Maori people, where their spirits enter the underworld after death.
I can understand why. The place is truly magical.
O, see the signs: we are so far away from home.
After a short drive, we stopped at the Giant Sand Dunes.
Sandboarding is fun, although it is a little scary for me when I look from the top of the dune. And it is too much walking up again, and again, and again.
Do you think that we rested in the evening? No, our friend, the fishing drone, promised to behave and bring us some catch. We went with the drone to the beach and were rewarded with three huge snappers. They could have been five, but Ivan Sr intervened, trying to help the expert and lost two of them.
On the way home (Just for a week, Ilian and Nora’s house became a home for us, too; thank you for your hospitality, friends), we stopped at Waipoua Kauri Forest. What a magnificent tree it is! I cannot imagine how beautiful the island looked back in times when it was covered with forests of these gentle giants. And I feel sorry for the overcutting and killing them.
Luckily, the kauri trees are now protected, and the forest is starting to rehabilitate. We stopped at the Kaori Museum of Matakohe. It is not a huge museum, but the exhibition is fantastic, and we spent more time exploring it than expected.
Christmas Eve is a big holiday in Bulgarian culture, so Nora and I were busy in the kitchen most of the day preparing the lucky bread and traditional “sarmi”. The boys and Iva went for a long walk (it is always better when you don’t have bored men around you in the kitchen) and came back with a lot of pictures of cows (surprise, surprise) and some mushrooms.
We have a family joke about mushrooms with Ivan Sr. If you have read our blog, you would know that we tend to find mushrooms in unexpected places, like Patagonia, Klondike, behind the Arctic Circle, and Iceland. I won’t even mention the hours we spent mushroom gathering in the Bulgarian mountains. So, some nice, edible mushroom from New Zealand is a good addition to our collection.
After two weeks with Nora and Ilian, we decided to give them a little rest, rented a car and went on exploring the island by ourselves. We strolled around Hamilton Gardens. They are splendid.
The gardens are separated into different courts, and going from one enclosed garden to another, we were immersed in various parts of the world: from the tranquillity of China and Japan through the symmetrical lines of Tudor England, through the lushness of the tropical garden and the fantastic world of the surrealistic world, where I felt like Alice in Wonderland. One of my favourite courts was the sustainable backyard garden, where I found many familiar fruits, spices, and veggies. And many unknown.
After the relaxing morning, we were due to visit the famous Waitomo worm glow caves. I was reluctant to go, as I suspected it would be a sort of tourist trap, and the pictures I’d seen were exaggerated. But I was pleasantly surprised by the experience. The cave really glows. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to catch it in pictures.
We continued our tour of the island with a visit to Tongapōrutu and the famous three sisters.
These are the second three sisters we visited this year. The other three sisters are three peaks in Monument Valley, USA, and, unlike the three sisters in New Zealand, they are on the other side of the Earth.
No matter how beautiful it was, I didn’t like this particular place. First, some signs warned us that we could only visit during low tide. After the walk on very slippery stones, I was constantly afraid the tide would come and block my way back. I have read many books and seen many movies in which the rushing tides come and trap people on the beach. And because I was afraid, I was looking at the ocean and not at my feet, and I stepped on a bee. Do you know what a bee does if you step on it? Of course, you know – it stings back.
As you can see in the pictures, I was jumping on one foot, trying to get Ivan’s attention, and he was taking pictures of me.
The bee’s sting didn’t kill me, but I really felt like I deserved a nice lunch and coffee in a more civilized town setting, so we went to New Plymouth, and after a nice lunch, I was able to walk to a promenade and even to pose for some pictures.
The bubble tea my love bought me was so good that he persuaded me to go for a short hike in Egmont National Park’s Goblin Forest. It was an effortless walk even for my injured foot, and the scenery was like something taken from The Lord of the Rings’ story.
The trees, primarily kamahi trees, were covered with liverworts and ferns. Their trunks and branches have grown through and around the existing trees, creating the distinctive gnarled, twisted forest that looked like a fantasy movie.
The next day, we decided to have a nice walk around Egmont Park. Initially, we were aiming for Pouakai Crossing. It is a 19-kilometre walk and, according to the guides, is one of the best hikes in the park. The hike starts at the North Egmont visitor center and finishes at Mangorei Road. Since the start and end points are 30 km apart, we had to arrange a shuttle service. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a suitable shittle, so we decided to just walk a little bit of the hike and go back to the car. After three hours into the hike, when we were supposed to turn around, my love got an idea. He checked Uber on his phone and found a driver to take us to the starting point. So, in the middle of the hike, under the beautiful wall of Mount Egmont, we held a brief family meeting and unanimously decided to continue. We went on the hike unprepared for a 19 km walk, with only two small bottles of water and no food at all. But the look of surprise and admiration in Ivan Jr’s eyes was worth all the tears I shed over the next six hours of walking. And I supposed it was worth all the swears Ivan Sr swore on the way down. But we did it, and our son’s words, “Guys, I have friends my age that will not be able to do it,” were a treasured prize for all our efforts.
Fortunately for us, the weather cooperated, and the beautiful views were enough to cheer us up for the first five hours of the walk. Unfortunately, for the last three hours, I was so tired that I didn’t have the will to take any more pictures. My husband’s face was priceless.
After the exhaustion of the Pouakai Crossing, we felt we deserved a reward and went to Rotorua. There, we spent almost a whole day in the Polynesian Spa. There are 28 mineral, therapeutic pools in the spa, including the famous Priest Spring. The Priest Spring is named after Father Mahoney, a Catholic Priest who was ‘cured’ of his crippling arthritis from bathing in the waters in 1878. The slightly acidic water from the Priest Spring relieves tired muscles, aches and pains. They felt like a balm on our old, exhausted bodies. Even Ivan Jr, who usually doesn’t appreciate hot, smelly water, was content to move from one pool to the next one and alternate hot and cold baths. As I used to say: we were soaked and clean inside out.
A few years back, when Ivan Jr had his university placement in Hawaii, we welcomed 2019 on the Big Island. Back then, I was the last of my friends to meet the New Year, 12 hours after my family in Bulgaria. This year, I was the first one. I met the new 2025, 17 hours ahead of my friends in Toronto.
For the celebration, Nora, Ilian, Ivan, and I went to the hill above Auckland and were rewarded with a beautiful fireworks display over the city. And trust me, the champagne tastes great, sipped in plastic cups and shared with good friends under the warm southern constellations.
hit the road... 