On a dark night we pulled Kenji into a beach car park, nervous at getting him stuck in the deep sand. We didn’t know whether we were really allowed to camp here, but after over 2 months of van life, we were becoming comfortable with an approach of respect over rules, ensuring that we respected the local community as a priority rather than searching through local byelaws on camping. We fell asleep to the roar of a violent sea only 20 metres away from us… The sounds of nature have become a comfort that soothes us to sleep.

We awoke to a busy beach (though nobody seemed to object to our presence). Peering out of the window we saw lots of dog walkers and a few brave surfers out in the wind and rain. We weren’t to hang around on Bream Bay, it was just an overnight stop; but when we walked outside we were awed by the scale of the landscape, an enormous bay sweeping away from us on both sides, and a peninsula of rugged hills jutting out from our left. The weather didn’t encourage lingering, so we jumped into Kenji and continued North.

We stopped in the quiet city of Whangarei to stock up and have some lunch before carrying on. We spent the night in a layby on a dirt road, overlooking a rugged bay. We’d spotted this on Google Maps, hoping for a beautiful evening on the beach, but the weather didn’t agree. We locked ourselves in, gazing out if the windows as the waves battered the sharp rocks.

The next morning, as the weather cleared, we visited a big ticket attraction…..the longest footbridge in the Southern Hemisphere!!!

It was a rickety old bridge that I would not like to cross in rough water, and simply highlighted that there aren’t any long footbridges in the Southern Hemisphere.

The next day was our last Northwards drive, heading to the Bay of Islands. This area seems to carry an almost mythical aura with Kiwis, fulfilling the role of beach paradise, wealthy playground, and home of the nation.

For our first couple of days, we couldn’t fully appreciate that beauty. Having suffered a severe drought, we arrived amidst the first rain in months. While we moped, locals were joyous that finally their life might normalise. We hid from the rain in Kenji and in the laundrette, but most of all in the wonderful Third Wheel Coffee!

As the weather improved we were able to start enjoying the beauty. Looking out from the mainland, the sea was dotted with countless islands, big and small, all with glistening beaches.

Staying in Paihia we were right next to the Waitangi treaty grounds, where a controversial treaty was first signed by Maori and the crown to declare British rule over New Zealand, though differing wording in the two languages has left a lasting scar on the nation. When we crossed the bay to Russell, we went to the site of the first capital of New Zealand. It only served as the capital for one year before the city of Auckland was founded to be the new capital, and then only 25 years later Wellington was created to be a capital in a more central location, remaining New Zealand’s capital today.

Russel was a gorgeous little town set on a peninsula with beautiful bays either side and a hill in the middle giving a spectacular panorama. We’d befriended a British ex-pat called Angel who lived here, and enjoyed chilling with him in this beautiful place. I’d underestimated the strength of the early autumn sun and managed to get fried spending the morning in the beach with a book. I was feeling pleased that despite all of our time travelling in the tropics, and being so fair skinned, I had barely gotten burned, but it always happens when you don’t expect it!

The time was soon approaching when we’d have to sell our beloved van Kenji. We had planned to give ourselves a week in Auckland to sell him, knowing that this wasn’t really enough time but not wanting to sacrifice travelling time. I put adverts up online ahead of time to get that done and get a headstart, but wasn’t expecting to get requests for viewing straight away. We put the viewings off by a couple of days to not cut our travels too short, but felt we shouldn’t do something with gift horses (I’ve never quite understood).

After a wonderful last day on the beach, we set off after sunset, heading South. We parked at Ruakaka Beach for the night, back in Bream Bay where we had spent our first night in Northland. After living in a van for a few months, our body clocks are pretty aligned to the sun, and as the sky began to lighten I walked onto the beach to watch the sun rise. It was as beautiful as ever, and a fitting end to our last night of travelling in the New Zealand countryside.

We arrived in Auckland and had an instantly cold reaction to the place, which felt harsh, characterless and anonymous…like many other cities around the world, but not what we were used to in New Zealand. We decided to stay outside the city and only come in for viewings and shopping.

We have been fortunate to have a lot of advice from friends on good places to go, and Ness’ oldest friend spent a lot of time in a beach town to the west of Auckland called Piha. We went out there to check it out, hoping for a retreat from the city feel.

Piha was simply a lovely place. The beauty of this village, set in a bay and surrounded by steep hills, is best left to pictures rather than my words.

We spent the night sleeping on a hill above the village. Perched on cliffs which were home to a WWII radar station, high above the surrounding bays, we had magnificent views around.

We visited a few waterfalls in the surrounding area, and spent a lot of time catching up on life admin in a lovely cafe.

Piha is famous in New Zealand for the surf, so famous that our stay coincided with the beginning of a week long leg of the world surfing league. We enjoyed chilling on the beach, admiring people with blonde hair and heavily tanned skin, many of them still just teenagers, doing some crazy things on towering waves. It was early March and a spectre was looming, something which had barely touched New Zealand but which caused the last minute cancellation of the surfing competition.

After sitting on the beach for an afternoon, we took turns to grab a shower. I had arrived back at Kenji while Ness was showing, and I was getting myself sorted. I looked out of the side door and saw a silhouette I recognised. It was one of those awkard moments when you don’t want to look weird, but can help yourself. I leaned further and further out of the door, and the huge muscular figure became more and more recognisable. I caught his attention, saying ‘hi?’. He looked at me for a moment and said ‘Nepal?’. This was Christian, the German man mountain we had spent a couple of evenings with while trekking in the Himalaya. It was a true testament to the idea that the world really isn’t that big, that having met someone in such an unrelated location, that we would park next to each other in a car park in New Zealand.

The viewings of Kenji had been steady but without result. One chap had been messaging me for a few days asking for very specific details, someone who clearly shared my belief in doing your research. They landed at 5am on Thursday and wanted to see Kenji that morning. Quentin and Marine had a very thorough look around, asked a lot of questions (much like me) and we agreed a sale! We had been fortunate to have been sold the van for a bit less than it was really worth, by a couple who were keen that Kenji went to a good home rather than a motor trader – we were keen to do the same and were very happy to accept a lower price so that we could see Kenji go to a couple we liked.

Even better, they were happy to stay in their hostel for a few more nights as they were booked in there, meaning we could have 2 more nights in Kenji!

Happy that the burden of selling the van was lifted, we disappeared back to the coast to relax for a couple of days. We enjoyed our time around Piha, and went to explore the neighbouring village of Karekare.

Karekare isn’t so much a village, but a road with a handful of houses. What made it special was the landscape …. Set in a huge natural bowl with striking cliffs either side, an expansive and empty beach stretched into the distance.

We first went to the beach in the afternoon, but decided to hang around until after dinner to spend sunset there.

Watching sunset in such a beautiful place is always such a magical experience. We enjoyed it so much that we spent two successive evenings there, before returning to our camping spot high on the hill (with phone signal so we could still do some planning).

Saturday came, and we spent the morning frantically doing the last of the cleaning, to leave Kenji immaculate for Quentin and Marine. After a frightening moment when we thought things might not be working out, we met at midday and officially sold Kenji. We spent a couple of hours with Quentin and Marine talking through every intricasy of Kenji, van life and travelling around NZ. We were thrilled to be handing Kenji over to such lovely people who shared an excitement for exploration, their smiles and enthusiasm reminded us of ourselves when we’d received the keys.

The time came to say goodbye to Kenji, which was really sad, but done under the best of circumstances. Not only were we thrilled that he was going to such a good home, but we had spent a total of only £712 on a van for 11 weeks, when hiring a van for only 1 week can cost twice that.

We checked ourselves into a hostel and began exploring Auckland. The Lonely Planet observes that few cities in the world are as geographically blessed as Auckland, on a natural harbour, surrounded by picturesque dead volcanoes and with pristine beaches only 45 minutes away… All very deliberate for a city which was built for purpose only 180 years ago. In some respects it is beautiful, yet in others it lacks character, a homogenous urban sprawl around a CBD with towering glass buildings and a harbour with expensive bars. Eminently practical yet lacking soul. We certainly warmed to it and found it easy and pleasant, but it wasn’t our favourite spot.

We explored the city, and made use of the ubiquitous electric rental scooters to take us the short distance up Mount Eden for a very grey and forgettable sunrise. As always, we did a thorough exploration of the city’s coffee shops. As anticlimactic as this seems, it was all very much to plan. We’d travelled all of the magnificent North and South islands of New Zealand, sold the van at a good price, and left ourselves a little bit of space at the end to see Auckland and start thinking about the future. We were excited to travel to Canada and the US where we’d be spending a month with our closest friend exploring the iconic climbing venues of their national parks. The last 11 weeks had been a good plan perfectly executed with a healthy dose of luck.

Or not…. As we settled into Auckland, a dark shadow was casting itself over the world, and the edge of that was about to engulf us, shredding our plans.

You can read more about our wonderful time in New Zealand here.