Lately, I've been travelling. No, I'm not talking about the shuttling between work and home, but REAL travelling. If you even know me remotely, you'd know how much of a travel bug I am, but this time I think I've outdone myself. I've first roamed around half of the country I reside in and with my thirst for travel unquenched, I took up the task of roaming about a quarter way across the globe. Yeah, exciting times! In this post, I'll scoop my brain to pour out any remnants of the previous North Island Trip and then maybe I'll get to the more exciting India-Malaysia trip.
The North-Island trip started as a last-ditch-option trip with only one person, me and then evolved into camping trip with friends. There was one idea that survived hours of discussions on Google Hangout, phone calls and long messages on Whatsapp groups - drive around the North Island and see places which we would normally not see. The idea survived all the way but a road-trip always goes impromptu the moment you end up spending more than your estimated time on the road or something unexpected/unplanned happens, forcing you to replan every fucking thing. If there's one thing I've learnt from my first road-trip, it'd be don't plan! Have a rough direction to go and rough idea of places to visit; leave ample time for improvisation; never rush, it kills the joy of travel and you lose balance between effort and reward; one good place is always better than ten average places. Let's get to it then !
It was Christmas Day 2014. People were busy in their homes cooking Christmas lunches, watching TV and celebrating the essence of family in some way or the other. I knew this as it reflected on the streets of Wellington, where our journey started. I went and picked up my friends from the Airport. I started at home after their plane landed and still managed to reach them within a reasonable, non-cussing time. I've briefly lived with these guys in Auckland and I knew the comfort level would be great. We were supposed to shoot off directly to Lake Tutira, our first stop, but we headed off to my home and I ended up cooking a non-christmasy Christmas lunch for the guys. We got delayed and this was only the first day. It was a really calm day, considering Wellington's mad winds. The Sun was mellow and the cloud cover was just enough, preventing it from edging into a gloomy day. As we drove past the Hutt cities and Masterton and it felt like just another drive to me. But only until we reached Lake Tutira. It was a beautiful setting. The camp grounds were just on the banks of the lake and it was some view. We took the longest time to set up our tent that day. We were fumbling around for directions, not knowing what goes where. After a gruelling half hour, we set it up (with still some missing pieces) and sat down for some quick dinner.
Now the best thing about eating at a campsite is that you are bound to be hungry being all day on the road and even basic food tastes good when you are hungry. We ate some egss and some cup noodles. We sat and chatted for a while and watched the Sun set. That was the first time I slept in the great outdoors and believe me, it felt like any other night. Thanks to my Katmandu sleeping bag, it was one of the most comfortable sleeps I had (maybe me being tired helped). Unfortunately, I can't speak for my mate who had to share the tent with me as apparently, I snore. I do not believe this claim. I'm happier with a version where a wild animal came sniffing around and growled about the tent and this poor guy confused that with my snore. Speaking of animals, how can I not mention those creepy sheep that kept staring at us and bleating all night !
The following morning, we woke up and went for an early walk along the bank of the lake. It was extremely foggy and the scene was surreal. That narrow unformed path, with think green foliage arching over it, creating a bright white foggy tunnel can never be forgotten. We waited till the the fog lifted and started off to Taupo via Urewera National Park ! The next 8 hours were the most gruelling time I spent on road in NZ. More about that in the next post.
The North-Island trip started as a last-ditch-option trip with only one person, me and then evolved into camping trip with friends. There was one idea that survived hours of discussions on Google Hangout, phone calls and long messages on Whatsapp groups - drive around the North Island and see places which we would normally not see. The idea survived all the way but a road-trip always goes impromptu the moment you end up spending more than your estimated time on the road or something unexpected/unplanned happens, forcing you to replan every fucking thing. If there's one thing I've learnt from my first road-trip, it'd be don't plan! Have a rough direction to go and rough idea of places to visit; leave ample time for improvisation; never rush, it kills the joy of travel and you lose balance between effort and reward; one good place is always better than ten average places. Let's get to it then !
It was Christmas Day 2014. People were busy in their homes cooking Christmas lunches, watching TV and celebrating the essence of family in some way or the other. I knew this as it reflected on the streets of Wellington, where our journey started. I went and picked up my friends from the Airport. I started at home after their plane landed and still managed to reach them within a reasonable, non-cussing time. I've briefly lived with these guys in Auckland and I knew the comfort level would be great. We were supposed to shoot off directly to Lake Tutira, our first stop, but we headed off to my home and I ended up cooking a non-christmasy Christmas lunch for the guys. We got delayed and this was only the first day. It was a really calm day, considering Wellington's mad winds. The Sun was mellow and the cloud cover was just enough, preventing it from edging into a gloomy day. As we drove past the Hutt cities and Masterton and it felt like just another drive to me. But only until we reached Lake Tutira. It was a beautiful setting. The camp grounds were just on the banks of the lake and it was some view. We took the longest time to set up our tent that day. We were fumbling around for directions, not knowing what goes where. After a gruelling half hour, we set it up (with still some missing pieces) and sat down for some quick dinner.
Now the best thing about eating at a campsite is that you are bound to be hungry being all day on the road and even basic food tastes good when you are hungry. We ate some egss and some cup noodles. We sat and chatted for a while and watched the Sun set. That was the first time I slept in the great outdoors and believe me, it felt like any other night. Thanks to my Katmandu sleeping bag, it was one of the most comfortable sleeps I had (maybe me being tired helped). Unfortunately, I can't speak for my mate who had to share the tent with me as apparently, I snore. I do not believe this claim. I'm happier with a version where a wild animal came sniffing around and growled about the tent and this poor guy confused that with my snore. Speaking of animals, how can I not mention those creepy sheep that kept staring at us and bleating all night !
The following morning, we woke up and went for an early walk along the bank of the lake. It was extremely foggy and the scene was surreal. That narrow unformed path, with think green foliage arching over it, creating a bright white foggy tunnel can never be forgotten. We waited till the the fog lifted and started off to Taupo via Urewera National Park ! The next 8 hours were the most gruelling time I spent on road in NZ. More about that in the next post.
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