How do you write about a four-week campervan road trip around a country, and do it justice in one single blog post? Well, the answer is you probably don’t, but I’m going to try anyway.
Ever since we decided to move to New Zealand, we knew we really wanted to do a road trip around the whole country once we got there. There were two reasons for this: 1) we wanted to scope out areas that we might like to live, and 2) well, we just really wanted a holiday.
While we were still in England, and again while we were in quarantine after arriving in New Zealand, we meticulously planned our road trip and an itinerary. Planning the holiday was fun while we were just dreaming about it, but when it came time to actually leave, we threw the itinerary out the window and decided to wing it. All we knew was that we wouldn’t have time to see Northland, but we wanted to see as much of everywhere else as we could.
So, on Monday 4th January 2021, we picked up “Jenny” our Jucy Campervan, opened the map that we’d borrowed from Mum and Dad, and hit the open roads of New Zealand.
At this point, I’m just over 200 words into this post, and while trying to do this trip justice I’ve hit a crossroads (pun intended). At this point, I could give you day-by-day rundown of where we went and what we did, but given that it was a 29-day road trip, we could be here for a while. So instead, I’ll just take you through a highlight, a lowlight, and some recommendations.
Highlight
Well I’ve shot myself in the foot here, haven’t I? Picking just one highlight is a challenge! I’d like to say “the whole thing”, but that doesn’t make for very interesting reading. So instead I’ll narrow it down to three.
My first highlight is the campervan itself. You literally have everything you need with you at all times. Getting hungry? Stop and make some food – your kitchen is in the back! Fancy a swim at the beach you’ve just pulled up to? No problem! Your swimwear is in your bag and you can get changed in the back. Shoes are uncomfortable? Just grab your other pair. Feeling a little sleepy? Your bed is just centimetres away!
My second highlight is just how beautiful and diverse New Zealand really is. I know that probably isn’t news to you reading this, but it was incredible to see just how stunning, rugged, changeable, and impressive this country is, and just how many different landscapes you can see if you drive far enough. I also found a new respect for the Department of Conservation, local councils, and anyone else who works so hard to keep the natural beauty of the country protected while providing people with the means and access to appreciate it in person.
My third highlight, and of course my favourite one, was Golden Bay, which will forever hold a special place in my heart. If you’re not familiar with why, I think you’ll have figured it out after reading the last line of this blog…
Lowlight
I’m a “glass half full”, “silver lining” kind of woman, but for the sake of balance I’ve decided to include a lowlight. I’m now convinced that New Zealand wins the award for having the worst drivers in the world. Being on the road every day you really do get to see all sorts, and there were definitely some questionable decisions being made behind the wheel of many cars. I lost count of the number of people we saw overtaking in dangerous places: double yellow lines, blind corners, or just when oncoming traffic was not actually that far away. Typically, foreign tourists get the blame for this, but with borders currently closed that narrative doesn’t entirely ring true…
Recommendations
There are a number of recommendations I’d give to anyone considering their own campervan holiday, but the best one I have is to use the CamperMate app. We used this app to find campgrounds to stay at, petrol stations, supermarkets, ATMs, rubbish bins, things to do, sights to see, public toilets, and more. It’s also free and it even works when you don’t have internet.
Like I said, it’s hard to put such a holiday into just one small piece of writing. From the kind people we met everywhere, the surprising number of one-way bridges, realising that no two supermarkets are laid out the same, and the weather cancelling the sunrise viewings we woke early for, to the common lack of cell phone reception giving us a break from our screens, the many English road names transporting us back to the Motherland, and getting very used to using public toilets. This holiday was so much more than I could have anticipated. I intend to write and share a couple more pieces about this trip, but for now here are some numbers that summarise it:
6778 km driven
98 places visited
28 nights
25 camp sites
23 State Highways
12 gravel roads
4 bottles of sunscreen
2 islands
1 proposal
If and when you have the time and the means to truly see the country you call home, I highly recommend you do it. They say you shouldn’t explore overseas until you’ve seen your own backyard, but I disagree. It doesn’t matter when you do it, it just matters that you do it.
That’s all for now,
Jordyn x
P.S. Did I mention we got engaged during the trip?
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