New Zealand // North Island

New Zealand has been on my travel list since before I had really traveled anywhere… something about it always grabbed me and to finally set foot there was the best feeling ever. I could not get over the insane beauty of this country! Every direction I looked I fell more in love with how pure and untouched this place is.

We traveled for 3 weeks in a camper van – both north and south islands. We had a tentative route we wanted to take, but nothing set in stone. The freedom of cruising whichever direction the road took us was the best. We posted up in a different spot almost every night, driving an average of 3-6 hours each day and put about 4,200 km on our ride (all driving on the opposite side of the road).

Here are some of my photos from the north island with a few iphone & holga shots thrown in too! We had so many mini adventures within this first part of our trip… from exploring Auckland, wine tasting on Waiheke Island, hiking to Cathedral Cove, finding jaw-dropping gorgeous waterfalls & gorges outside Raglan, remembering how to use real maps instead of google maps, my endless attempts at trying to pet sheep (they all just run away from me), the geothermal wonders in Rotorua, being in awe of the friendliness of all the locals, camping in a redwood forest, watching Eric bungy jump in Lake Taupo (I opted out of that one!), seeing the icy blue Huka Falls, the empty black sand beaches in Awakino, exploring the sea caves at Tongaporutu, learning about the Maori culture, cruising the surf highway with Mt. Taranaki in the distance, jumping off the sand dunes in Foxton Beach, and eating our hearts out in Wellington. I could keep going… but I’ll just let you see the photos! ;) enjoy!