New Plymouth, NZ
January 30, 2023 - February 3, 2023
Our original plans, assuming we arrived on time and the city we landed in was not in a state of emergency, was to stay in Auckland for a few days and then head to the Northland (the area just North of Auckland) for a week. Because we arrived late and the roads were closed to the Northland, we unfortunately had to change our plans. There was one part of the North Island that we didn’t originally plan to go to - Egmont National Park with the closest city being New Plymouth. We booked a last-minute Airbnb on what appeared to be the water and started heading that way Monday morning.
A little side story on the rental car. Since we landed late on Friday the 27th, we couldn’t pick up our rental car on time. We decided to wake up and walk to the rental car company for its 8am opening praying that our reservation and car was still there. Also hoping that if we did have a car, it was an automatic, not a manual. We were the first people let in and they had ONE CAR LEFT! This downtown location got their cars from the Auckland airport, which was closed due to all the flooding. The people that came in behind us, didn’t have our luck and had to wait who knows how long for a car. We couldn’t believe luck was on our side that morning! Once we got to the car, we noticed that it was not a manual transmission (score!) BUT the steering wheel was on the opposite side of what we’re used to. The shifter was on my left and the turn signals are opposite of normal – i.e., when I tried to signal the windshield wipers would go off and when I tried to put the wipers on, the signals would go off. Bridget still laughs when I screw this up! I took a deep breath, told Bridget to be patient and not to yell at me, and started driving in downtown Auckland!
We start to head to New Plymouth while listening to the 49ers versus Eagles Conference Championship game. I’m not sure we’ve mentioned it, but we are BIG Brock Purdy fans. Unfortunately, that was short-lived as he was injured in the first 20 minutes of the game, so we listened to local radio. The local radio here is quite interesting as one ad came on advertising a “Trip of a lifetime” to Memphis, TN where the lucky winner would see Graceland, Sun Studio records, and all things Memphis has to offer!! Living in Nashville, and having been to Memphis multiple times, it was just all ironic and very funny that the “trip of a lifetime” was to Memphis – LOL!
Anyway, it’s a 4-hour drive, so Bridget and I stop for food at a place called the Fat Kiwi for a quick lunch and keep moving along. While driving, we see a sign for The Three Sisters and an Elephant, which I had read about while looking into Egmont National Park but didn’t do much more research on it. We couldn’t just pass this up, so we decide to do this hike. While we were walking out to these rock formations on the beach, it dawned on me that it said something about confirming the times for high and low tides. Confirming this thought I had, a random guy said something about you’re not going to be able to get back – you better hurry! Turns out the path is starting to get overcome by water. We hurry our butts up and make our way to the very end while getting our boots soaked. We snap a few pictures, Bridget does a few flips, and then we start to head back. Now we are the only ones out here and the water does seem to keep coming in. As we make our way back, we are getting more and more drenched in water and sand. After wading through the high tide, or something close to it, we make it back to our car with wet and muddy hiking shoes. Fantastic start to our hiking adventure in New Zealand especially when we have an 8-mile hike coming up the next day!
We arrive at our Airbnb and this place is fucking sweet. We walk in to a two-bedroom, full kitchen, full living room, and massive patio which doesn’t quite overlook the water, but you can get to the water relatively easily. The one thing that it doesn’t have is air-conditioning, which we have found to be somewhat of a luxurious amenity here in New Zealand. After the first night, it wasn’t that bad. It just took some getting used to and, luckily, the Airbnb had a fan for us.
The Airbnb was located right on this award-winning Coastal Walkway which followed the coastline for 13.2km. Bridget and I decided to go for a walk along it while looking at a bunch of the different pieces of art. One of the cool pieces was this massive red rod with what looked like a bobber on top called The Wind Wand.
The next morning, we plan an 8-mile hike with 2,500 feet of climb that has a beautiful view of the volcano from a reflection of a lake. Mount Egmont is close to 8,000 feet above sea level, so it’s a pretty dramatic increase in elevation from where we were staying. If you look at Mount Egmont from an aerial view on Google Earth, you’ll see it’s hilariously symmetrical almost like from the Road Runner and Coyote cartoon. We get to the site early, start our hike, and noticed the never-ending amount of stairs. We come to find out that it is literally 4 miles of stairs straight up. It was a pretty beautiful, non-rainy walk up even though our legs were burning! Once we got to about 2.5 to 3 miles, the landscape started to open up and we arrived at our first New Zealand hut. The New Zealand hut system is very interesting because it is part of these Great Walks of New Zealand. Essentially, when you do these great walks, they’re meant to be 3 to 5 day hikes where you stay in the huts that you reserve online. Seeing one of these huts in real life as opposed to reading about it online was pretty cool! It’s probably 100% what you think it is - a building with some bathrooms, a kitchen with no running water, and bunkbeds. It was perfect for Bridget and I during this day hike because we sat and had lunch up there while we watched the clouds roll in and start pouring rain outside.
Past the hut, we had another mile or so to get to the “photo spot”. Because it was raining so hard and it seemed like we were in the middle of a cloud, we had no idea which direction this cartoon like Volcano was. The lake that the volcano was supposed to be reflecting on was the size of a very small farmer’s pond. Bridget and I walk around it, take pictures of each other, and finally come to conclusion that the volcano is that way as oppose to the original way we thought! Are you excited to see what our Instagram worthy picture looks like versus what it looks like on a beautiful sunny New Zealand day? DRUM ROLL PLEASE….
Ben in front of what we think is Mt Taranaki!
What it looks like on a clear New Zealand day!
We were a bit disappointed that we didn’t get to see the volcano and it’s reflection, but were so excited that we finished our very first hike in New Zealand! After our hike, we went into town to celebrate at the local brewery – Three Sisters Brewery.
The next day we decided to book a 3 hour “spa” day at the Floating Sanctuary. This 3-hour package included 30 minutes of a compression system for our legs and hips (helps with blood circulation and recovery) and a constant stream of oxygen, which was much needed after our hike the day before. After the compression system and oxygen, we headed to the infrared sauna which was amazing! After we sweated out all our toxins for 30 minutes, we were taken to our separate meditation pods. I took a shower as the meditation pod started to fill up with water and salt solution. I laid down (completely naked mind you) in the egg shaped tank and immediately started floating. The water to salt ratio makes your body super bouyant, so your body doesn’t have to do anything to keep yourself afloat. It’s like you are laying in a bed. The lights in the egg pod and the music go off after 5 minutes and it’s just you and your thoughts in pitch darkness. You are in this state for 50 minutes! I think I fell asleep or close to it for some of the float. It was truly a different experience and much needed after that up-hill hike!
Day three in New Plymouth we booked a morning boat charter with Chaddy’s Charter. The place happened to be next door to the restaurant we had drinks at the night prior. When we arrived, we found out that Captain Carl and us would be the only people going out on the 30 person boat ride. This was no ordinary boat - this baby was built in the 1950s as a rescue boat in England. Chaddy’s Charter and Captain Carl had worked on restoring it for these charters. Captain Carl was a very nice man who was very passionate about the history in the area around New Plymouth. He told us stories about battles that had happened in New Plymouth, what all the cargo boats were carrying in and out, the local commercial fisherman and everything you would need to know about seals. The West Coast of New Zealand is notoriously a little bit rougher waters than the East Coast, so once we got out of the breakwater, it was a real up-and-down battle with the water. Since it was really a wildlife sighting charter, Captain Carl pulled us up right to the islands that the seals and seal pups were at. We then circled around and saw a bunch of birds on top of the water. The captain said it would be a great time to throw in a fishing line, so we started trolling for fish off the coast of NEW PLYMOUTH!!! It was probably a little bit comical to watch Bridget and I try fishing off this unstable boat and also trying to reel in a fish when we got it - boy did we get some! You could see fish swimming on top of the water like nothing I’ve ever seen - literally hundreds. The captain called them Quinnot. Bridget and I ended up with four hefty Quinnot and probably lost five or six more due to not keeping tension on the line. Every fish Captain Carl grabbed up and took off the line - it was really the best experience ever. After about an hour, we start to head back to base. Captain Carl offers to clean and smoke up the fish. We go to the same place we went for drinks the night before and have an aperol spritz, which the owner and bartender was very excited to make for us! After our drinks, we head back to Chaddy’s Charter and our fish is sitting there waiting for us on the table.
As we start to talk more and more with the owners, they ask if we know who Captain Carl is? We have no idea - he's a very large and muscular guy who I assume played sports (probably Rugby). His coworker points to a picture on the wall and it’s the jersey of an All Blacks player, which turns out to be Carl Hayman aka Captain Carl. I was SPEECHLESS! Bridget said she’s never seen me speechless. This guy, who Bridget and I just spent the last hour and a half with, who seems to be the nicest guy in the world and most humble, was also one of the best rugby players in his position in the world - WORLD! We have been on the island for one week and this is probably one of the most memorable experiences for me personally.
Overall, Bridget and I really loved New Plymouth and are really glad that we had the opportunity to go to this town. I would highly recommend it to anyone who has extra time on the North Island!!
