From King Country to Horizons Region

Waikato, we’ve had our extreme ups, like caving in Waitomo, surfing and canyoning in Raglan, and sipping glorious tea at Zealong, and a few downs, like getting the bad news that we’ve been driving a death trap which we needed to get fixed, to some more awesome ups, like getting a Jucy campervan and going on a magical Hobbit location tour. But now, we must leave you to travel into the Manawatu-Wanganui region: a region surrounding the lost world of the Whanganui National Park, one of our favourite but underrated national parks in New Zealand. We just… can’t… WAIT!

Our first ever stay on a P.O.P

Our day begins in the interesting accommodation which is the Tui St P.O.P (Park Overnight Property) in Piopio. What a P.O.P is is literally explained in the name. It’s more budget than a backpackers, more budget than a holiday park, it’s a property where you can park overnight. The “fee” is a $2 into the honesty box situated in the men’s toilets, behind a padlocked gate, with no explanation on how to get the keys to unlock the gate. When in doubt in New Zealand, just ask a local! Robin walks over to the mechanics/panel beaters (now we are well-accustomed to conversing with panel beaters thanks to our campervan being a rusty pile of cr*p) across the road to ask what is the deal with this P.O.P. One mechanic talks to another mechanic until they realise they have a key to the toilets in the office.

“Just bring them back tomorrow morning. If we aren’t here, just leave them by the door,” one guy says. Wow, we love how trusting and laidback New Zealanders are!

With that in mind, we leave the P.O.P the next morning and head on our next journey: the journey from “King Country” in Waikato to the “Horizons Region” in Manawatu-Wanganui.

A rainy road trip

The landscape is like a huge mirror with the flooded fields created by last night’s rain. Horses are stood on their own little islands, while cows and sheep are sticking to the edges of the fields. It’s not long before the rain beats down on the windscreen again, meaning we are driving extra slow on these slippery and winding roads.

On Google Maps we can see exactly when we cross the regions from Waikato to Manawatu-Wanganui. With that, we are travelling higher and higher up the country in a region partly shaped by the volcanoes of Mt Ngauruhoe (Mt Doom in The Lord of the Rings), Mt Tongariro and Mt Ruapehu. There are ancient volcanic cones in every direction, now covered in lush green grass (and very wet sheep).

Above those higher mountains is a thick fog moving swiftly between peaks adding to the atmosphere. Laura is trying to get photos by hanging out of the campervan window, getting needles of rain in the face the whole time (but that’s part of the challenge, right?)

The great thing about a road trip in New Zealand is that there are many reasons to pull over.

“The next picnic area we see, we have to stop!” Laura exclaims. Sure enough, there’s a sign for a picnic area 400m ahead. There, we stop, take photos of these amazing misty mountains and have a sad (but cheap) lunch of sandwiches.