University of Otago is located in the ever-magical, outdoorsy, grand South Island of New Zealand. Because of the scenery from the southern alps to the beautiful beaches of the northern coast, it makes sense why you would never need to leave the South Island. It is also for these reasons that the North Island gets a lot of flak from kids here, “There’s nothing good to do there,” “It’s boring,” “I’m from there and I hate it,” “Wellington is the only good part.” For our spring break, my friends and I took to the North Island in one of the tackiest camper vans ever created to investigate these claims.
Our camper van. We slept five people in it.
Auckland
(Left to right) Eliza, Caroline, and I posing during sunset at Wynyard Quarter.
Known for: The biggest city in New Zealand, coming in at a total population of 1.66 million people.
Must do: Wynyard Quarter, a part of the Waitematā Harbor with great gelato and beautiful views of Auckland and the ocean.
Must don’t: Mexican food. We went to a chic little Mexican place that was overpriced and bland. Would not recommend. The neighborhood it was in, I would recommend, as well as the Twilight movie marathon and ice cream we had afterward.
The Coromandel
New Chums Beach.
Known for: Its beautiful pristine beaches. A vacation spot for those who live in and around Auckland.
Must do: New Chums beach. I can’t describe the feeling of walking onto a pristine beach in words. As I walked through the ferns and palm trees to the clearing that opened onto the beach I gasped. Almost immediately, I started sprinting. Before coming to New Chums Beach I hadn’t felt the need to run on the beach since I was in elementary school, but there on that pristine beach I had to run. It was an intrinsic, animalistic need. All in all, this is something you have to see if you are in The Coromandel.
Must don’t: Hot water beach. A beach where you can supposedly dig a hole to water that becomes a hot tub since the water underneath the sand is geothermally heated. When we arrived at Hot Water Beach, we found people sitting in mud pools that were filled with maybe two inches of water. A man offered us his shovel, so we dug a bit and reached the water that was boiling hot. Not hot-tub-can-eventually-get-used-to hot, burn-your-skin-off hot. One of my friends decided to follow the other group of people’s instructions: cover yourself in the sand and then try to sit in the small puddle of water. It was like an episode of naked and afraid, but instead call it swim-suited and uncomfortable. Long story short, we stayed for fifteen minutes before deciding it was too cold and that we could have a better time inside of our camper van.
Lake Taupo
The hot pools in Taupo.
Known for: Having the largest lake in New Zealand. Quiet a statement for a country of many unique lakes.
Must do: See Lake Taupo, there are a lot of picnic spots around it where you can get a good view of this massive lake. Go to some of the local hot springs, they’re very nice and honestly seem like a hotel spa even though their outdoors.
Eating breakfast outside of the van in Taupo.
Must don’t: Huka falls. It was a long walk to a tourist destination to watch white water. Plenty of other spots in New Zealand to see white water that feel more rewarding than a walk through a golf-course-esque area.
Waitomo
The Americans hamming it up at the Waitomo Cave tour.
Known for: The caves. There are tons of cave systems and cave tours to do around here.
Must do: Black water rafting through glowworm caves. The tour began with a long hike to the cave in our wetsuits carrying tiny deflated innertubes around our waists. Pretty quickly after the tour began, my friend and I became known as the Americans, which was not necessarily a good thing, but we embraced it. The tour was filled with spelunking, jumping backwards down cave waterfalls, and riding black water rapids under the lights of the glowworms. The glowworms made the cave look like a cathedral with stained glass.
Must don’t: Anything else in Waitomo. The town is a block long and there’s not much to it, so I would not suggest going to Waitomo unless you’re going to partake in cave hikes, cave tours, etc.
Tongariro
Greta and I in front of one of the Tama Lakes.
Known for: Tongariro National Park A.K.A The Land of Mordor.
Must do: ANY HIKE IN THIS NATIONAL PARK. We set out trying to do the most popular hike in the park—the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, but with increased snowfall and our lack of crampons and ice axes we could not do it. Instead the visitor’s center recommended the Tama Lakes track. Oh boy was this track something to see. From the orange tussocks in the red soil to the massive snow-covered peaks surrounding us, the entire hike felt alive. It wasn’t a very difficult walk but definitely took us most of the day because we took a lot of breaks to look around.
Must don’t: Go to any of the pubs in the village at the base of the national park. Everything, even the chips, were expensive and overrated. Go back to your campervan or small hut that friends of friends of friends invited you to stay in to make dinner.
Egmont National Park
The hike to Pouakai Hut.
Known for: Mt. Taranaki, a very iconic New Zealand mountain, as well as the perfect circular shape that the national park is cut into.
Must do: Pouakai hut hike with extra trip to mirror lakes. We read about Pouakai hut online and every review said the hut was gorgeous, barely trafficked, and a local-favorite. Most reviews raved about how there were absolutely no foreigners in the hut. After climbing the misty wooden stairs through a rain forest for about an hour and a half we made it to the hut. There was one other man there, an Australian. Our group was four girls from the United States and one girl from England. So far, only foreigners in the hut but at least it wasn’t crowded. As the night progressed two more groups showed up. The first was a group of two men from the Czech Republic, and the second was a group of three girls from Poland. All foreigners in this locals-only hut.
Must don’t: Forget the bread that your dinner was supposed to be on. Instead of packing up a stove and making our usual couscous and chickpea hut meal, we decided that sandwiches for this one-night hut hike would be easier. Alas, when it came time for dinner the sandwich bread was nowhere to be found. Sandwich salads it was.
Wellington
View of Wellington.
One of the art installations at Te Papa in Wellington.
Known for: Being the capital of New Zealand as well as being a ‘hipster’ city.
Must do: Explore the city! We looked around Cuba Street, the classic wellington tourist stop with vintage shops and interesting eateries. We went to Te Papa, the museum of New Zealand. You can see the world’s only giant squid, as well as learn the history of New Zealand. It has art exhibits as well as interactive aspects which make the museum one for everyone. The various harbors of Wellington as well as the Mount Victoria Lookout Walkway are also must do activities if the day is nice.
Must don’t: Stay in the cheapest hostel possible that
At one of the harbors in Wellington one night.
you found quickly on google’s “Places to Stay.” We found a hostel near the city-center of Wellington that was only 15 NZD a night, and we quickly pressed buy without reading any reviews. A bad idea. This was not some nice hostel for teenage travelers, this was the real deal. People were living out of this hostel, and by people I mean people from every walk of life, like a high school gym class that everyone was required to take. The only way I can think to explain this hostel was that it was a mix of pine-sol, sweat, and fruit flies. Or that it was a personification of the word stain. It was the kind of place where you knew they still had asbestos in the insulation and that you were going to leave with a cold.
All in all, our trip to the North Island was a success. I am so happy that I got to explore the North Island and enjoy what it had to offer but, I will say, my trip showed me I made the right decision to go to school on the South Island. The landscapes and natural wonders are more dramatic and there are so many more to explore on the South Island which is more my style than the interspersed cities and small hikes on the North Island.