After welcoming our cool campervan we first had to buy some basics. Coming from South America, even from Chile, the prices seem horrendous. After a week we got slowly used to it and know now the cheap products. As a result, we eat a lot of meat.
We try to stay mostly on DOC (department of conservation) campsites, since most of them are in national parks and they are cheap. As written before, the Kiwis are very conscious about the conservation of their island and so you cannot even throw a carrot in the bushes. People look at you as if you just have kicked a puppy!
In our first week we made a headed north of Auckland to Northland and Coromandel. In between we had to go back to Auckland, as our fridge did not work. We got stylish juicy sunglasses for our inconveniences, therefore are totally ok with the fridge not working a few days.
There are tons of cool things you can do in NZ. First it is quite hard to decide what to skip, but a look at the prices makes the decisions easier. Everything has a hefty price tag, free things, well except hiking, are pretty rare. We decided to do a diving refresher and went on a boat trip for our dives 6&7! The whole trip was very laid back and in no time we were down to 20 meters, kind of deeper than we are certified for.
Further north, at the 90 Miles Beach, we saw people collecting something. Turned out you can dig out mussels. After getting the instructions from the pros (take only the ones you dig out, not the ones lying in the wet sand!), I did it the next day and had a delicious dinner.
Later that night we went for a free activity; nightly Kiwi spotting. Apparently the birds got nearly extinct and there are now special breeding programs and areas. Our campground was right next to one, so we gave it a try. Since it is very hard to spot a Kiwi, people take it very seriously. Do not laugh or sneeze in the dark; half of the forest will be mad at you for scaring off the precious Kiwis. Nevertheless, we saw a few, which seemed not to care about the crowd.
After leaving the Northland we headed to Coromandel and went to the famous hot water beach. Below a small stripe of the beach runs a lava stream. Two hours on either site of low tide you can dig a whole in the sand and create you own little hot pool. Watch out, the warm water area is quite small so it is good to come either early or later, when people are abandoning their pools and you can get one without much digging.
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