Home

10%

Strangers in a Van

New Zealand

By Kai Bernstein

April 18^th, 2019

Please enjoy in fullscreen mode for the most impressive experience.

I had the idea of doing a road trip through the north island of New Zealand with people I have never met before. To realize this I partnered with Travellers Autobarn who gave me the perfect vehicle, a Hi5 self-contained campervan, to make my dream come true. The next step was finding my travel mates. I created a post in a Facebook backpackers group where I gave a first rough overview of my plans.

After a lot of back and forth messaging and planning it was serious: I’m going on a 10 day trip with Sarah (AUS), Laura (USA) and Conrad (GER). I organized a meet-up only one day prior to the van pickup at a hostel in the center of Auckland. We cooked a welcome dinner together and quickly dissolved small talk. I think I’m right when I say we all were excited to start and also a bit more relaxed after the first contact wasn’t awkward.

As proper Germans, Conrad and I planned a good route. There were concrete plans where we would spend the days and rough, last minute ideas where we'd spend the nights.

I’d recommend beginning the road trip driving clockwise towards east. This ensured our van was on the coastal lane and gave proper views of cliffs and ocean.

We started in Auckland grocery shopping at Pak’n’Save, New Zealand’s discount supermarket. This was a frequent visit all around NZ. Fortunately, the travel crew had similar tastes in budget and living a vegetarian lifestyle. Finance and food could be important questions when deciding to form your own mixed adventure gang.

My rough idea of the route I posted on Facebook.

It was useful to use an app to split costs from the very beginning. We used „Splid“ - it’s free and you can invite more people to enter expenses and payments with a fair overview for everyone. In the end the app gives you a PDF or Excel file with clear instructions who has to pay how much to whom.

The pickup of our Hi5 Campervan in Auckland at Travellers Autobarn.

COROMANDEL

After a full day of preparation and first day excitement we began our journey driving to Coromandel.

I encouraged everyone to use my equipment whenever they want to live out their creativity. Sarah is already a talented hobby photographer and used this opportunity gladly. Conrad is a newbie and got addicted immediately. We had so many conversations and he could ask me everything about photo techniques - and well, he did.

Another advantage of letting people shoot with your gear is you finally get some pictures of yourself!

Hot Water Beach

A few waterfalls and gravel road drives later we stranded on a beach called „Hot Water Beach“. Many people bring a shovel to dig a hole to experience the 2 feet deep thermal phenomena: Hot water! An underground river of remaining volcanic activity is responsible for this fantastic free spa at the beach. We had a short swim and warmed ourselves afterwards.

The water temperature gets as high as 64°C.

Originally we wanted to visit the Cathedral Cove but had no idea it takes an hour to walk from the parking lot so we ended up at the beach for a while.

After a gorgeous first sunset we wanted to spend the night directly at the beach and so it happened. The fantastic app called „Campermate“ helped incredibly to plan where to stay, to refuel the fresh water and to dump off grey water. Its users are the content creators and tag all the water fountains, free showers and comment useful details and reviews about the campsites.

MounT MAUNGANUI

The mountain faces north and is one of the highest spots in Tauranga making it a famous sunrise and sunset spot. The views onto the untouched beach to the west and the populous city to the right were beautiful. I realized fast that the colors of nature are very intense in New Zealand.

Conrad is willing to pose for an Instagram-like shot.

On the way back we soaked in some last views onto the beautiful bay.

UNEXPECTED PIZZA

Laura's first time driving on the left of the road was more adventurous than she initially wanted. Suddenly the acceleration began to slow and we pulled off 10 minutes before our intended campsite. The van broke down. We opened the hood remembering the engine is actually below the passenger seat. But even then we obviously couldn't do anything and called the doctor. Within minutes the road assistance came for help and guided us to a repair shop nearby.

We didn't have to worry about anything and Travellers Autobarn took care of the calculated expenses. The mechanic assured us the car will be back on the road in less than 2 hours, so we decided to get pizza and hang on a playground, like grown ups do.

New day, new luck

We decided to drive past Hicks Bay and continued all along the coast. We exchanged music suggestions, recipes and had good talks about everything and nothing. All in all a lot of fun!

The group dynamic, luckily was easy going and light. We tried to be as active as possible and fit in workouts and acro yoga.

THE NEXT MORNING

Third day waking up directly at the sea again. This time in the beautiful Tokomaru Bay. Swim, workout, breakfast!

4 more legs wanted to join our circle. 4 little paws wanted to steal our brekkie bowl. This little cow really meant it.

The errands became a ritual of the van life.

get fresh water, dump grey water

shower our bodies

shop for groceries

fuel the tank

clean the van

Ocean Pit Stops

My friends didn't mind waiting while I stopped to take photos.

Again.

Arriving at the Campsite

Our trip was very photo centric and Sarah would often take my camera along her walks on the beach. New Zealand inspired all of us artistically.

Day 4

Further south along the east coast towards Gisborne.

SHINE FALLS

After passing Gisborne, the first bigger city to see every sunrise first, we went towards Shine Falls.

We hiked for approx. 20 minutes through hills of sheep and forest until we saw this:

Conrad was okay with being my human tripod.

We went into the cold pool to have the full experience. After a few minutes it was already too freezing to stay any longer. I would suggest to arrive during lunch time, because the sun will warm you up. Shivering, we decided to go back to the car park and continued our drive to Napier.

The landscape is continuously changing and always stunning.

Thanks again to @travellersautobarn for the opportunity to explore New Zealand in this van.

Sunrise in Napier

Sarah is a child of the sunrise and the ocean.

TAUPO

One of the most beautiful cities on the north island is Taupo. The city surrounds a big lake and is full of possible activities like skydiving, mountain biking, water sports and so on. We decided to stay two nights here and just went out of the campsite for some sundried tomatoes.

I found a surfboard and wanted to paddle out as far as possible to fit in some cardio.

TONGARIRO

The Tongariro National Park was so exciting it deserves its own blog post.

I'll upload more details and photos of this single day hike and the famous movie location from 'Lord of the Rings' later.

Subscribe if you don’t want to miss my impressions of this exhausting but satisfying day.

HUKA FALLS

On the way to Rotorua we came across the Huka Falls. Roughly 250.000 liters of water rushes through this little gap per second!

Waimangu VOLCANIC VALLEY

This spectacular valley was a spontaneous idea and we don’t regret the slightly expensive entrance fee. You can start walking towards the lake and pass beautiful ponds and volcanic activities such as hot springs and rivers.

The 30 meters deep Inferno Crater Lake with a temperature rising as high as 80 °C.

You can experience a boat cruise across Lake Rotomahana.

At the end of the walk there is a shuttle service which will pick you up and bring you back to the car park.

The Last Campsite

Every single night we slept next to some sort of water: The sea, a river or a lake. And almost every time we went for a morning and evening swim.

This day arrived faster than expected. The last night was very calm and the girls went to bed early. Conrad asked if I can show him some astrophotography tips, so we grabbed our camping chairs, my tripod, camera and two beers. We had fun shooting stars.

I spent a few more days with Conrad in Auckland and he decided to buy a camera. Another successful convert!

"We all start as strangers."

After those ten days I have three more friends and countless memories.

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

I love creating these photo stories and I appreciate every single sign that you enjoyed it, too. Please subscribe, like it or comment below. It helps me keep doing what I'm most passionate about.