Seriously! I was driving south aimlessly along the west coast of the North Island and saw that there was small town tucked away in a harbor that might make for a good place to have my lunch. I entered this town (of which I wont repeat its name to retain its anonymity) to find that it was dead. The one café in town was closed on this Monday afternoon and there was not a soul to be seen. There was a precarious sign pointed out of town in the opposite direction marked ‘Ocean Beach’. I love beaches named Ocean Beach because you nearly always know exactly what to expect, except in this case. I drove a good 5km out of town towards Ocean Beach until I arrived in a gravel lot with a trash can. The hike to the beach led over a huge dune and proved to be a bit cumbersome. The beach was gorgeous, not a soul in sight, but as suspected it was just a beach, by the ocean. I spent a few minutes reflecting and headed back to prepare my lunch and decide where to go next. Whilst in the middle of preparation a campervan pulled into the lot driven by an older couple. The man driving popped out and asked me if I had found the hot water. Confused, I said I’d hadn’t and then realized what he was talking about. Apparently some Maori bloke had told him that when the tide was low enough, at this specific beach, a beach surface hot spring was revealed. And the tide was low that day, my friends, let me tell you.

This is a shot of the pool I went back over the dune to dig right before sunset. It was impossible to photograph the temperature of the water but I assure you, it was hot. Like, HOT hot. I sat there, all by myself (the old couple merely put their feet in and left) and watched the sunset. In my own secret beach-side jacuzzi. Unbelievable.

A nice photo pf the dunes before the beach.

Mt. Taranaki from Ruapuke Beach south of Raglan.

This photo of Mt. Ngauruhoe (Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings) was actually taken a few months ago on a bus trip up to Auckland right before I bough Gerty… thought I’d share.

Just for the uber-curious, I’ve made a google map of my travels thus far. It’s a roughing out of the road traveled with little markers along the way of some of my stops. The map needs some refinement but you’ll get the basic idea.

View NZ in a larger map

Needless to say my sprits have picked up almost immediately following the smash-smash incident; one can’t dwell on these things for too long.
My last few days in Rotorua were excellent. I met some nice Kiwis that took me to some secret local hot springs about 20 km outside of town. The spring was piping hot and flowing perpendicular into an icy cold river creating a warmth gradient in between. You could move in close to the spring and get really hot and then just slide down closer to the river to cool off. It was perfect, especially at night with the stars smashing down.

On my way out of Rotorua I stopped at Agroventures, a big extreme sports company that owns a huge piece of farm land where people go zorbing and jet boating and bungee jumping and all sorts of shit. This emu was hanging out.. Magnificent animal. Although Agroventures was tempting, I couldn’t bring myself to throw down heaps of cash to roll down a hill in a ball. This also meant skipping the Shweeb (bike-powered monorail race track).. SORRY WILL. maybe another day.

The following morning I woke up in a farmer’s front yard and made my way into Waitomo to do a bit of glowworm caving. I signed up with a badass company that took it’s patrons on a 5 hour tour of the legendary caves which included abseiling down into a huge dark crevice, spelunking through tiny lava tubes, blackwater rafting on underground rivers and gazing upon magical glowworm displays of epic status. It was incredible. The glowworms appear like tiny blue stars on the cave ceiling; a milky way of bioluminescence, and they only enumerate as your eyes adjust. Making loud noises ups the quantity quite a bit as well. Apparently they respond to the vibrations in the still air and think there is a moth flying by. Coolest ever. The above shot is from inside the cave looking out at the entrance and below it is an open exposure of yours truly taking a gander at the spectacle.

That evening I drove out to a towards the coast and stumbled upon a small town called Raglan. It’s a quiet surf town with a focus on sustainability and organics and crap like that. The above shots are of sunset at Manu Bay, a world renowned surf spot. I like the one shot through my shades.

I managed to mind a dream-like hostel called Solscape that lets me park Gerty for a reasonable price. They also have a million dollar view of the sea and rent surf boards and bikes for day use. There are tons of hip kids here and good vibes all around. The other day some WWOOFers build a clayfire pizza oven. It had to have a fire burning in it for 36 hours to dry properly. I’ve been here for 3 days now and will probably be here for a few more. I really like it here AND I went surfing yesterday AND I got UP!. I’m going out again today for like 12 hours. yesss.

Sufjan Stevens – Introductory Fanfare For The Hooper Heroes

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The Polyphonic Spree – It’s The Sun

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I’ve only had a chance to click into this album a few times but each visit has been a pinch more rewarding than the last. Mr. Stevens never ceases to amaze me. His compositions are insanely original and engaging. I think he’s incapable of putting out a half-ass album. The BQE, an homage to the New York City subway line, is no exception. Carefully arranged into movements, the BQE takes listeners to all corners of the musical spectrum. At some points you feel like you’re listening to one of Sousa’s marches and then before you’ve got the count down you’re listening to electro-glitchcore in a basement. It’s for this reason particularly that I can see why many may be turned off by Sufjan Stevens’ most recent work, but it is also for this reason that I am attracted to it. I like music that is unpredictable, spastic; it jars you, throws you off, makes you THINK. Who wants to know when the chorus is gonna drop anyhow?

Sufjan Stevens – Introductory Fanfare For The Hooper Heroes

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Sufjan Stevens – Movement III: Linear Tableau With Intersecting Surprise

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The following pictures are the photos I took for the police report. Gahh. That’s right, Ol’ Gerty got her face smashed in. Some asshole took it upon his or herself to treat my van like a free bin outside of a second-hand store after smashing my passenger window and breaking in. To answer the obvious immediate questions you might have before getting too far into the story: I’m perfectly fine, unharmed, and all they stole was my passport and my external hard drive I was traveling with. Bummer.

I arrived in Rotorua 3 days ago. It’s a respectable town with not too much going for it outside of the incredibly high concentration of geo-thermal activity in and around the city. The town smells of rotting eggs and everywhere you go someone is trying to sell you some mineral-rich facial mud or a questionably yellow cure-all sulfer pill.

My first night here I managed to make friends with some Kiwi locals and a few kids from the hostel I had checked into, Cactus Jacks. They were making moves out to the bar but I was exhausted from a day of travel and decided to call it a night a bit early. At 3am I was awoken from a blissful slumber by an Israeli named Ayal. He told me my van window had been smashed in and all my shit was out in the street. I had no idea what was going on. I pulled myself out of bed to figure out if what he had told me was true or if it wasn’t exactly what he was saying or if I was still dreaming. Unfortunately for me and my belongings, it was raining. Also, Ayal wasn’t lying. He had noticed my broken window on his way home from the pub and rushed in to tell me.

They had kicked in the door handle, jamming the door shut. They broke the window and unlocked the other doors. I had brought most of my stuff into the hostel with me earlier that day based on a hunch that leaving my van on the street might not be a great idea, but there were no other places for Gerty to sleep. In the van still was heaps of clothing, all my cooking gear, some electronics, my big backpack, and my passport. They had pulled all of the latter out into the street and made a big muddy, glassy, terrible mess. Bummer.

From there it was just a matter of seeing what was missing and cleaning up the mess. After all my items were re-cataloged it turned out that they only got my passport and my terabyte external hard drive. I still have my computer, camera, money, credit cards and all that crap. The door they bashed in was done for so I had to find a scrap yard with a full-on new door. No one had a grey door that matched so I had to settle for a gold one. Gertrude now sports a gold tooth.

It was a really crappy experience with tons of bullshit to sort through, hours of phone calls to police officers and insurance assholes (no they didn’t cover it), and not much sleep. It’s all over now and I’ll be back on the road in a few hours. The incident has left a bad taste in my mouth with regards to Rotorua that goes beyond the taste of rotten eggs. The one redeeming quality the town has to offer is that there are hotsprings everywhere. I spent the last day or so soaking all my concerns away and smearing mineral mud on my face to improve my complexion. I’m sweet as now and ready to move on.

Much love,
Andrew

Here’s something beautiful to leave you with. It’s a panorama I made from Hahei Beach up Coromandel way.

And here’s what I’ve been listening to:

Discovery – I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend (ft. Angel Deradoorian from Dirty Projectors)

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Micachu – Calculator

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It’s hard to imagine topping the events of the last post but sure enough, New Zealand delivered. Here’s what’s been going on.

Video! The shots of me on the small boat are from a crayfish venture in the east Bay, the shots from the big boat are from my SCUBA trip out to The Poor Knights islands. The beach shots are all from Cathedral Cove. The drivng footage was taken on the Coromandel Peninsula driving northward. The song is “Knotty Pine” by The Dirty Projectors.

So the rumors were true. Hot Water Beach is exactly as it sounds and twice as amazing. You get there and there is just steam rising from the sand. You just fucking dig and behold; a fucking natural hot tub on the beach. Unreal. Unfortunately the lowest tide was at 3am so it was dark and I was all sandy so I didn’t bring my camera out there. But the above shot was taken through my shades to give you all the most extreme point of view show ever. That’s what I saw the next morning while I had my eggs and toast out the back of Gerty… It’s a different beach close by, not the magic one… well it was still magical… umm but, you know what I mean.

These three were all taken at the most beautiful beach I have ever been to. Hands down. It’s called Cathedral Cove, just about 5km north of Hot Water Beach. It’s named as such because of an outstanding rock archway that stands on the beach but it has a million other ideal features. It’s very compact, about 1 km in total length and a good 45 minute hike from the parking lot. It has a little waterfall that pours onto the beach and overhanging cabana trees for shade. That crazy rock formation sits dead center begging for photographs to be taken of it. I had originally intended on only staying here for a minute or two but i was so entranced by the beach I stayed all afternoon until it got too cold to enjoy.

That night me and Gerty drove south to Wairere falls where I camped in the parking lot. I’ve been messing around with elongated exposures to try and capture the stars well. This is one that captures the mood nicely.

The epic Wairere falls themselves after a lengthy early early early morning hike. I listened to Do Make Say Think as I walked through the jungle at 7 am. Good shit.

That day I drove about 4 hours east across the Bay of Plenty to a small hostel that came reccomended to me called the Maraehako Bay Retreat. It was a paradise. Nestled in a private bay this little hut os like a tree house with free sea kayak to borrow and a hot tub. The owner, Pihi is a Maori local with a passion for crayfishing. He took me out on his boat to help him haul in some pots and the boiled our catch up for dinner that night. This shot was of a break in the clouds seen whilst riding out to fetch the crays from their cages. HAHAHA!, you suckers have jobs.

Happy me wit dem crays.

Here’s what I’ve been listening to:

Murder By Death – Spring Break 1899

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Bowerbirds – Bur Oak

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I know, pretty tame, introspective stuff. I’ll put up some dancy-er tunes next time for sure.

I’ve been incommunicado for the last 4 days and it’s been great. No phone, no internet, no nothing. This is the life guys, I’m tellin’ ya. It’s wonderful to disconnect for a bit and just listen to the ocean for 3 days straight; it’ll do wonders for your psyche.

Here’s what I’ve been up to:

Gerty and I have been seeing it all. Mostly the sunsets, though. I’d rather miss my first child being born than miss a good sunset. Here’s one from a random campsite by the beach on the east coast of the Northland peninsula.

This is a view from the road as I made my way down to my next campsite at Port Jackson on the tippy top of the Coromandel Peninsula. The campsite is on the beach down there.

Here’s me, just in time for sunset.

This is what I saw. This was one of the most satisfying destinations I’ve ever reached. I drove all day to get here and made it in time to claim my prize. I will definitely return here in the future.

The next day I did an all day hike along the coastal rim of the Coromandel Peninsula. It looked like this the entire way. Around every corner was a view just a little more beautiful than the last. I was hiking with my friend Leonard whom I’d met the night previous at the campsite.

Here is a curious duck with a dangerous addiction to cashews.

From here I’ll begin to head south down Coromandel. There is a beach somewhere along the way with volcanically heated under currents that you can dig to in the sand. You can make your own little private hot tub right on the fucking beach. I will be stopping. What IS this place?

Here’s what I’ve been listening to

Panda Bear – Bros

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As of today I’ve been in New Zealand for one month but only since very recently have I felt the true spirit of travel. Having attained my new van and traveling partner, Gerty, last week in Auckland I am now as free as a bird and able to take every day as it comes. There is something truly liberating about waking up and having no idea where you’re going that day or where you’ll sleep that night. I’ve been moving north from Auckland these last few days. I’ve so far come across the 90 Mile Beach (a huge stretch of beach which travelers are encouraged to drive the length of to get between two towns), Tane Mahuta and the giant Kaori Forest, Cape Reinga (the place where spirits go before they descend into the underworld), and a good amount of wildlife.

Tane Mahuta – The Ruby Suns

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For those of you too lazy to read or scroll down here’s a quickie highlights video I whipped up.

The driving shots are from 90 Mile Beach, the dolphins are from Henderson’s Bay, a huge beach I personally discovered, the eagle rays are from a glass bottom boat tour I took around Goat Island, the shots of me walking were just showing off some weird sand behavior, the waves are the Tasman Sean and Pacific Ocean colliding, and the snail I found in the grass last night near my campsite.

This massive trunk is Te Matua Ngahere or Father of the Forest. It’s fuckin huge. It’s actually not the largest in the world though; it falls second to Tane Mahuta just down the road.

Good ol’ Gert stoppin for a breather in the middle of 90 Mile Beach.

These two shots were taken from Cape Reinga. At nearly the farthest point north one can go, standing atop these hills the convergence of the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean can actually be watched. Gnarly whirlpools and clashing surf is the proof. There is an awesome Maori legend that tells of how this point is the gateway to the underworld. You all should read it.

Pretty view of a stream flowing into the ocean at 2 meters from my campsite at Cape Reinga. Brackish.

An extremely photogenic snail I found while lying in grass at night outside my van at the same campsite.

A dead shark.

I’m trying to keep these posts mostly visual and not so wordy but if anyone has any desire for me to elaborate please don’t hesitate to ask in the comments.

Much Love,

Andrew