North Island Adventuring

Between WWOOFing gigs, we tried to hitch hike and take in as much as we could of the North Island. After we bought a car, our options opened up considerably and we could go see a lot more! Even though the “nature” of NZ wasn’t quite what we expected, it still had incredible moments and we tried to experience as many of both the unknown and hidden treasures of the North Island.

The Coromandel & Raglan

Prior to having Mushu, we mostly hitched around to go do cool things. This is a gallery of our first month or so, showing some of the cool stuff we did on the Coromandel Peninsula and going surfing in Raglan.

Clay relaxing on our first day in New Zealand – at one of the peirs in Auckland Harbor

Auckland Harbor with a Chinese Navy ship

This is the quintessential picture of the Coromandel Peninsula.

Lindsay embarking on the first river crossing of the Pinnacles Hike

From whence we came – 680+ man made stairs in the last 1/2 mile of the hike.

The top of our hike up to “The Pinnacles”

The beach from Cathedral Cove

My attempt at being artistic – Lindsay walking into the Cathedral Tunnel

Lindsay reluctantly stops for a picture in the cold tunnel that leads to Cathedral Cove

The craziness of the Hot Water Beach at low tide

Lindsay and I after a day of “surfing”… or trying

Lindsay and the three others from the hostel that went surfing with us in Raglan

Whanganui River Canoe Trip

What do you get when you put an American, a Canadian and a Frenchman in a canoe (Besides the start of a really bad joke)? An incredible five day trip floating down a beautiful river with memories that will last a lifetime, and a green submarine.

We met some cops at the put-in point. I promise they were cool with the whole thing and we weren’t getting arrested.

The cops probably didn’t know about how much beer we brought with us though…

It is such an awesome picture I had to put both of them…

Mushu, all loaded up for her big adventure!

The infamous Green Submarine on the Whanganui River

Welcome to our Gypsy Camp!

Now we’re about five minutes from disaster.

Clay getting ready to put the canoe in… literally 2 minutes from being the Green Submarine

Emilie getting ready to submarine!

Lindsay and Emilie, all dried out from the submarining

I (Clay) look so dirty… sorry mom

The beautiful scenery of the Wanganui River begins

The steep cliffs seem to take you back in time before people.

Emilie and Clay getting ready to launch the canoe on Day 4

The famous “Bridge to Nowhere”

Lindsay taking a minute to be one with nature… or just not paddle.

One last shot of the Jurassic-like scenery from the river.

The start of the incredible scenery on the river.

Emilie and Clay staying warm and dry during the monsoon.

We had torrential, cyclone type rain one night so we all hunkered up in the little cooking shelter at the campground.

The three of us pose for a picture on the “bridge to nowhere”.

An intricately carved totem at the Mauri (native) village along the river.

The Mauri Flag flying above the Whanganui River.

The three of us on our final day on the river!

Mushu is loaded up and ready to keep chugging along after the trip!

The North Island Finale

We had a week to see everything on the North Island that we hadn’t seen yet and a rental car to do it. Sleep is for the weak, there was plenty of time to do that on the flight back to Canada. You only go to NZ once and it was time to try to take it all in!