April 11th 2025 – Hanmer Springs, New Zealand

4 days on the beach was just what the doctor ordered. It allowed Katrine to spend some time trying to hunt down a job for when we get home and for me to watch all of MotoGP from COTA.

However, the stay wasn’t pure relaxation for me either. One morning Rex picked me up at 5.30 as he could use my ability to move heavy things around. He was in the process of building a new shop at his house when a friend working at the local hospital presented him with a good offer. The ICU was being refurbished and if he picked it up he could get all the “old” cabinets, drawers and countertops free of charge. It was high quality stuff worth a fortune so that was a no-brainer. It was nice to be able to pay back a little after all the hospitality and generosity Rex has shown us. We were very grateful for this opportunity to have “our own” house for a few days.

From Pukehina Beach we followed the coastal road around the East Cape. The roads and scenery were beautiful all day. Late in the afternoon we stopped and went for a walk at Cook’s Cove and the impressive but crumbling Tolaga Bay Wharf. I imagine that the ocean will have reclaimed it in a not too distant future.

We arrived in Gisborne just before sunset. We had booked a room in a charming and newly renovated 100 year old house by the river. It was a very nice street with impressive houses and an air of money about it.
Our host’s grown son was home for a few days before leaving for Colombia for 2 months. He was a journalist and had gotten a scholarship to learn Spanish abroad. He was curious to hear about our time in Latin America.

It had gotten dark before we got around to go looking for a place to get dinner. When we crossed the river to downtown the atmosphere changed dramatically. The streets were eerily deserted except for people having a hard time dealing with life – homeless, addicts and mentally ill.
It was yet another example of how a high percentage of Maori residents often seems to correlate with more people living a life of misery and neglect. The observation is backed by the fact that the Maori, while only accounting for 15% of the population, commit around 50% of the crime in the country.
We understand from several conversations with Kiwis, that it’s a well known but also very delicate subject.

We stayed in Gisborne for 2 nights. It allowed us to visit Eastwoodhill National Arboretum – 135-hectares of rolling hills covered with trees and crisscrossed with a network of walking trails. It is fall now here in NZ and the leaves have started to turn. It added to the experience. This is at least the third fall we experience on this journey and like the previous ones it will not be followed by winter because we keep moving. When we arrive in Denmark later this month we’ll be greeted by early spring.

From Gisborne we followed Hwy 2 south to the beachside town Napier. It’s a popular tourist city, with a unique concentration of 1930s Art Deco, built after much of the city was razed in the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake. Napier and South Beach, Miami are considered to be the two best-preserved Art Deco towns in the world. We arrived around noon and spent the afternoon exploring the town center before driving to one of the suburbs where we had booked an Airbnb.

When we stay at hotels, hostels or campgrounds we are mostly surrounded by other travelers. Sometimes that’s fine but usually we prefer spending time with locals instead and that is one of the main reasons we often look for homestays through Airbnb or Booking.com. The hosts we find that way are often very nice and interesting people that are not only into it because of the money. They really like to host travelers. Several times here in NZ it has almost felt like we were visiting friends. The significantly reduced price we often end up paying indicates that some of our hosts feel the same way.
In Napier we were hosted by a younger couple who had just bought their first house. They rented out 2 rooms to be able to pay out the mortgage faster. I had a long conversation with the guy. His life had taken an unexpected turn in 2017 when the family farm through generations had burned down and subsequently been sold. What had looked like a tragedy turned out to be an opportunity for him to use his farming skills in new ways that gave him more freedom than he had ever dreamed of. Many people have interesting stories to tell if you give them the opportunity.

Napier was a good experience but after 1 night in town we got back on Hwy 2 and continued south.
We decided it was time for lunch when we reached Norsewood – an idyllic small town with a Nordic/Viking touch. Soon after we passed through the town of Dannevirke founded by Danish, Norwegian and Swedish settlers 150 years ago.
The town was named after an extensive Viking Age fortification line in Denmark which had a strong emotive symbolic role for 19th-century Danes, especially after the site had fallen into German hands in the German-Danish War of 1864 – a recent and very painful event for these settlers.

We experienced changeable weather all day as we made our way towards Wellington. 50 kilometers from the Capital we stopped to have a look around the filming location for Rivendell. It was raining when we got there. Maybe that was the reason we had the place all to ourselves? It was a beautiful place. The absence of other people and the weather added to the experience.

It was getting late in the day when we arrived in Wellington. We had booked 4 nights at Amin’s place, where we had stayed when we first came to the North Island 5 weeks earlier. Last time we had mostly spent our time preparing for the journey further north. Now we wanted to properly explore the Capital and the surrounding countryside.
The first day we did a trip to Cape Palliser Lighthouse, located at the southernmost point of the North Island. Enroute we stopped at Putangirua Pinnacles Scenic Reserve. We walked for the better part of an hour along a ridge to reach the pinnacles. We met a local guy with 5 dogs and 2 German girls in tow. He suggested that we ignore the “Trail Closed” sign and did a loop to the foot of the pinnacles and returned to the car along the river. We followed his advice. The trail was being reclaimed by nature but still negotiable for the agile. It was a good hike.

A food truck in the small fishing village of Ngawi provided us with lunch. It was the only place selling food this time of year in what felt like a remote part of the island. Eventually we reached the end of the road and the lighthouse. We had to conquer a long steep stair to reach the lighthouse. It was a good workout.

On the way back along the coast we saw a seal pup crossing the road. When we stopped to have a closer look, we noticed that the whole area was packed with seals and several of them were very young pups. We managed to watch them close up for a while without disturbing them.

The next day we played tourists in downtown Wellington. A cable car took us to the Botanic Garden and the Cable Car Museum in the hills above the city. We meandered our way back down to the city center. There was much to look at – not least the people. Just like in Auckland.
In the afternoon we returned to Amin’s house and went for a run in the very hilly neighbourhood. It built a healthy appetite for an evening visit to the “Everybody Eats” restaurant in Wellington.

We had saved the best to last. A visit to the Wētā Cave. Wētā Workshop is a creative company famous for its work on LoTR, The Hobbit, King Kong, Avatar, District 9 and countless other productions. We had booked a tour to get a glimpse into the world of modern special effects. It turned out that we were the only ones on the tour so we had everything to ourselves and a private guide. As a result we were allowed to touch and handle many of the props and costumes on display which was usually a no-no. It was a big experience. Sadly it wasn’t allowed to take any pictures during the tour.

After the tour we drove to Mount Victoria. From the lookout we had a great view of the city. The forest covering the steep hillside contains several movie locations from LoTR and The Hobbit. We found Frodo’s reading tree and the spot where the Hobbits hid from a Nazgul. The forest was a maze of trails for both walking a bicycling. Some of the downhill mtb tracks were next level insane.

Wellington was a wonderful city and a fitting end to our time on the North Island. Most people we have met proclaimed that the South Island was the most interesting part of NZ. After having spent 5 weeks on each island I have to disagree. The scenery is a bit more majestic on the South Island but I find that there is more diversity and things to see and do on the North Island. Both are amazing travel destinations!

The wind really picked up during our stay in Wellington. It culminated the day we wanted to cross the Cook Strait. With winds up to 20 m/s and horror stories about how rough the crossing could be, we were a bit concerned if Interislander would cancel our ferry. While waiting at the port I talked with 3 older guys on motorcycles returning to Christchurch after a 2 weeks trip on the North Island. They did not enjoy life and complained about the weather, the roads, their bikes and how other people were driving. It sounded like they were just about ready to hang up their leathers.
Luckily the ferry left according to plan and despite the wind we had a pleasant crossing.

From Piston we had a short drive to Flemming and Barbara’s place near Rarangi on the east coast. They are friends of Rex and immigrated to NZ from Denmark in the 90s. Rex thought we should meet and had put us in contact. They had 2 other guys, Henrik and Christian, from Denmark staying when we arrived. They were old friends who regularly dropped by to go hunting and fishing with Flemming.

Dinner that night was a tsunami of fresh fish and a variety of meat from animals that had been gunned down recently.
It was the first time in almost 2 years that Katrine and I sat at a dinner table where everyone spoke Danish. We enjoyed it! It was an easy decision to extend our stay when we got invited to stay an extra night.
It allowed us to get to know them better and learn more about their house. It was only a couple of years old and completely off the grid. They had chosen several interesting solutions in order to be 100% self-sufficient.

The extra day also gave us an opportunity to take 2 of Flemming’s nice E-bikes for a spin. It was the first time we had the chance to take a proper ride on E-bikes together. A ride along the coast, up into the mountains and back indicated that this was something we might pick up in the future.
It was a pleasure to spend a couple of days with Fleming, Barbara and their friends. I hope we meet again.

Earlier on this trip I had heard of the Acheron road running through the Molesworth Recreation Reserve. Fleming mentioned it again during our visit, saying that it was a must-do for every adventurous soul visiting the area in the summer. With beautiful weather and the road open for only another week this season Katrine and I took it as a sign that we had to give it a go.

Google Maps insisted that it would take us around 10 hours to cover the 207 km from Blenheim to Hanmer Springs so we took our leave and made an early start. Acheron road is mostly unsealed and traverses a remote area with no services or mobile coverage. We stocked up with fuel, food and water in Blenheim.
The road was mostly in good condition and we made good time, even with several stops to take in the alpine scenery – which in some places reminded us of Colorado. Only towards the end did the road have a couple of rougher sections with water, soft gravel and rocks that put our rental to the test – but nothing the Korean Bumblebee couldn’t handle with a bit of finesse.
It ended up taking us around 6 hours to cover the distance without breaking a sweat.
The same could not be said about the bicyclist we encountered just before reaching Hanmer Springs. He was standing at the side of the road looking rather deflated. His plan was to do the same route as we had just done, but in reverse. 5 kilometers steep ascent from town had made him second guess his decision. We gave him a coke and a pep talk and sent him on his way. It will probably take him a couple of days to reach Blenheim.

Hanmer Spring turned out to be a charming little town known for its hot pools.
We are staying 2 nights to get a feel for the place. In the morning we went for a walk around town and up into the hills where the really expensive houses have been built. After second-breakfast it was time to visit the hot pools – a combination between a spa and a water park with 22 different thermal pools and 4 big water slides. After having tested most of the pools and taken multiple rides on the slides, we needed a nap partly submerged in a thermal river to recharge the batteries. Eventually we had enough and called it a day. I’m typing this update with the softest fingers I’ve had in years.