April 20, 2019 / Auckland → Wellington
I checked out of The Attic Backpackers bright and early before its denizens were up. All in all, a good first backpacker hostel experience; took me back to my college hostel days with shared bathrooms, shared dining/mess hall, common recreational rooms and such. When I enquired if I was the oldest guest who’d stayed with them, Johnathan mentioned to me that while the average age of people who stay with them is 22, I was not the oldest, even though I was way up there!
New Zealand calls its freeways as motorways or expressways. Starting as Southern motorway at Auckland, Hwy 1 takes on the name Waikato expressway when it runs along the Waikato river to Hamilton and further south. At 425 kms, Waikato river is the longest in NZ.
From Hamilton, I had a traveling companion, Ellen, a 70+ year old New Zealander originally from Fiji. Our conversations allowed me to get a first hand glimpse of life in New Zealand even as she tried to learn more about current state of affairs in America from me. Racism featured in our talk and I learned sadly about how it is increasing in New Zealand today with more South African immigrants who are carrying with them apartheid like views into NZ. How with a Fijian ancestry, her daughter had to wait longer than appropriate for hysterectomy surgery.
We passed through Cambridge, Tirau, Putaruru and stopped for hot lunch at Tokoroa. Continuing by Hwy 1, the lakeside town of Taupo was the next stop. Taupo was alive this Saturday with a market, Easter festivities by the picturesque coast and water sport like parasailing and kayaking in the lake. The stretch by lake Taupo was particularly captivating with the waters of the lake on the right and mountains on the left.
Turangi, a popular spot for tourists as a base camp for nearby mountain climbing and river rafting adventures was next. The scenery was absolutely enjoyable all the way, making this decision to travel by the road rather than flight to Wellington worth the while.
From here, Hwy 1 goes by a region that is very dry and arid. This stretch is called the Desert road. Mt. Ruapehu, the largest active volcano in NZ was on the right with some snow from the last winter still on its top. This arid area is also where NZ army does its practice exercises.
We came out of the “desert” in Waiouru, where the scenery changes to the familiar greenery as suddenly as it had changed earlier to the desert like vegetation. Taihape, the gumboot town was next with some fantastic fall colors along the road.
Our second rest stop was at Flat Hills cafe where I had my fix of a single scoop of hokey pokey for the third day in succession around the 3 pm hour! The scenic rest stop was right next to a pasture and a sheep walked up close to me to make my acquaintance.
We pulled into Palmerston North with two more hours of journey still left to Wellington. The sunset was an impressive sight for the next 30+ minutes as we made our way south before reaching Wellington slightly behind schedule just after 7 pm.
With sufficient time, renting a car may be an excellent choice to explore NZ. If you don’t have the time to explore the north island by road at your leisure, this day time bus journey from Auckland to Wellington can give you a birds eyes view of what it has to offer: picturesque rolling hills, Waikato river, lake Taupo, Desert Road, and the various small towns I’ve mentioned along the way.
Wellington is called “windy Wellington “ with a reason. My cap flew out with a strong gust of wind as I walked out of the platform. I hailed an Uber to take me to my B&B guest house. Uber app installed in the USA worked seamlessly in NZ and I was charged in NZ$ for the 3 km trip.
