Van troubles on the way south

Things sometimes go wrong. I’m stating the obvious here, everyone knows that just because the sun is shining it doesn’t mean that everything will go to plan... it would be nice if it did but life hardly ever works that way. For us it was the van, stunning cliff top views over the oceans in one direction, Taranaki peaking over the farmland in the other and oil pooling on the concrete under where we parked. In all honesty we’d been leaking for a while, not a terrible amount, just a thimble sized amount left behind every time we drove away for the last few days but this was more. Christmas was no longer an excuse, it was time to do something about it, so we left the scenic campsite behind to make our way to Hawera and a garage that could hopefully help.

It's sometimes awkward living in a van, because when we dropped it off to get fixed we lost not only our transport but also our home, we got it back for the night but we still felt adrift without it there to hang out in. We found things to do, we walked around the park, trailed up and down the high street and we climbed the famous Hawera water tower, to gaze across the town and fields far beyond. It wasn’t the most exciting two days but it was fine. We were lucky to get seen so quickly, that a mechanics would even be open during this time after Christmas and before New Years, perhaps we should have been more suspicious of this.

Van fixed and our pockets $400 poorer we headed off down the coast, making our way down to Wellington where we had a ferry crossing booked that would take us to the south island. Our first stop was Mana Bay, an unfathomably windy spot along the coast, with sparking black sand and a half buried shipwreck of an old steel steamship. It was a test more than anything, to see how the van would run and we were impressed. It ran smoother, didn’t it? Was it faster? It was certainly more fuel efficient… right? At this point we were convinced our mechanic was magic.

Confident that everything was okay we ranged a bit further for our next stop, this time heading to the city of Whanganui. Beautifully managed historic buildings coexist alongside numerous street art murals giving the city a quirky vibe, most of the shops were closed as it was new years eve but luckily for us their famous hill top elevator was open. Built in the 1920’s to link the Durie Hill Garden Suburb that over looks the city to the city itself. After we got our van settled in a prime spot overlooking the city, we decided to save our elevator experience for the ascent rather than the descent so down the hill we trudged. The approach from the bottom of the hill took us through a long - not at all creepy - tunnel that culminated in a single door and a call button; we pressed the button, the elevator doors promptly opened and we were greeted by the elevator operator who, after we paid our way via card machine, gave us a brief history of the elevator as we were slowly transported up the sixty six meters to the top of the hill. At $2 each it was a complete bargain. To make things clear, we didn’t just walk down the hill to get a ride back up… we did explore the town for several hours in-between.

So how did we spend our New Years Eve? Cuddled up in the van watching a movie and waiting for the clock to strike 12:00. As the time approached many locals gathered together in our carpark home, we watched the city below, and finally, one person who took it upon themselves to be the official announcer yelled the expected “3…2…1…Happy New Year”. Congratulations on a new year starting over and done with for another twelve months, we collectively turned back to the city vista, huddling together for warmth as we watched a rather underwhelming fireworks display. Feeling like we’d accomplished all we needed to for a New Years ritual we tucked ourselves back up in bed to watch the last bit of the film and got to sleep.

A new year, a new day and a new location. With our ferry crossing looming ever closer we couldn’t linger in Whanganui and had to leave after only a night. For once, we weren’t ready to leave, feeling like there was more to explore in this interesting town, the best we could do was make a note to head back when we returned to North Island in the autumn. Waikanae Estuary, where we headed to next was only a stop to break up the journey, that being said it was a particularly beautiful beach and the sunset we were treated to was phenomenal.

When we arrived In Wellington we needed to figure out where we wanted to stay, obviously in the center of town the freedom camping spaces were pretty much non-existent, but we managed to snag a spot in the ever popular Marina Freepark which was on a 15 minute drive from town center and 30 minutes at most from the ferry the next day. It was a carpark next to a busy road and there was two toilets to share between about forty vans, it wasn’t glamorous but where else can you camp for free in a capital city.

We walked to the Te Papa Tongarewa Museum via the viewpoint on Mount Victoria, despite the name, we didn’t really take into consideration that we would be walking up a mountain as part of our stroll. It was certainly challenging and we were more than ready for a break by the time we reached the top. The views were worth it, Wellington city and the harbour on one side of the viewpoint and Cook strait on the other. From the lookout, we made our way into town along a walkway in the woods on Mount Victoria's western side soon finding ourselves in a city that was still pretty much shut down for the holidays. After some fruitless searching for an open cafe for a spot of lunch we headed to the museum where we were able to grab some food before looking round the exhibits. It was a good museum, well laid out and with a particularly impressive natural history section, I enjoyed learning about the Moa a now extinct giant bird that could grow to up to three meters in height and lived on NZ quite happily until humans arrived. Considered a prime food source for both humans and the equally extinct Haast Eagle the Moa were quickly hunted to extinction which is truly a shame as they seemed like amazingly unique birds!

The next morning we made our way to the ferry where we lined up ready to cross the Cook Strait and the stunning Queen Charlotte Sound before alighting at Picton. The journey went smoothly but as we arrived back at the van, ready to drive off the ferry, we happened to find a small dark spot of oil, right there on the metal floor beneath our van. Well, shit.

Trip date : December 2022