The North Island of New Zealand is the one most often thought of as second best to the South Island. While the South has the Southern Alps and Fiordland, I have come across just as an amazing scope of scenery in the north, incorporating most of what the south has, and more! Granted, we cannot compete against Fiordland, but the north also has snow capped mountains, (even if they are erupting most of the time) along with great farming country, giant Kauri trees, sand dunes, geysers and hot pools, skiing fields and water skiing, bush walking and tramping, forests and tussock country, yachting and sailing, beaches and the sun! We also have the Bay of Islands, which the Marlboro Sounds in the South Island can be compared to at a push but only just! So, the north seems to have most of what the south has, and then more, and with better weather! The main city is Auckland – the City of Sails – and the home to the America’s Cup for two challenges! Auckland is New Zealand’s biggest city and its main commercial hub and it even used to be the capital, until it was moved to Wellington in 1863. Built around 14 odd volcanoes, none of which are active today, Auckland is also the fifth largest city in the world for land usage space, – the premium places being along the miles of coastline, – with the east and west coasts, in some places, being only a few short miles apart! From Auckland there is the Hauraki Gulf for sailing, down to the Bay of Plenty for recreation, into Rotorua, across to Coromandel or up to the Bay of Islands, all within a short boat ride or a few hours drive away! Could be why the city is fairly empty on weekends, as most people are either boating or will head away for their well-earned weekend break! Wellington is the capital, the city of wind – both in the political sense and the fact that with Cook Strait on the doorstep, Wellington is a very windy city. It is the stepping off point for the ferries to the South Island and for bush tramping and rugged mountain ranges north of it. Hamilton is in the Waikato south of Auckland, while Tauranga, Gisbourne and Napier are all on the east coast. Gisborne is now the center of a thriving wine growing area that has helped made New Zealand wines very sought after the world over, while Tauranga is the center of the kiwifruit industry, along with other citrus and berry fruits that love its micro climate. Taranaki on the west coast is the center for the Maui gas and oil fields that were developed off the coast. In the center of the islands with the volcanoes mentioned below, is Waiouru, the large Army camp along with a Navy radio station camp and I spent time here watching the volcanoes and feeling the earthquakes! We have now extensively traveled around the North Island, loving Northland and the giant kauri trees, the Bay of Islands with its blue waters and sand fringed islands, Waitomo caves and the eerie glowworms, Rotorua with its steaming geysers and bubbling mud pools and into all the other small corners that the average traveler does not get to see. Wonderful people, full of hospitality and I always remember hitch hiking around the East Cape and being picked up late one evening by a Maori family and being given a bed for the night in an old whaling station. The meal was lamb and damper on the open fire and conversation around the flames and then the next day, being driven back to my army barracks in South Auckland. I hope that this open friendliness is still around today!

The North Island is mainly made up of coastal plains and small mountain ranges with a group of volcanoes right in the center, although there are a few others as well! The main volcanic mountains in the North Island are Mount Tongariro, Mount Ngauruhoe, Mount Ruapehu, the largest at 2,797 meters and Mount Egmont, which is the second most perfect cone shaped mountain after Mount Fuji in Japan. Plus there is Whitre Island, always smoking off the coast of Whakatane, where my sister lives, and took a terrible toll on some tourists a few years ago with an eruption. The largest lake is Lake Taupo, which leads into Huka Falls and then the Waikato River, which passes through Hamilton. The North Island has the more temperate climate, while winter conditions in certain areas of the South Island may drop to near arctic conditions. New Zealand’s weather is inclined to be very changeable. A brisk rain shower will give way just as suddenly to sunny skies, or a bracing wind. Windy Wellington is four seasons a day and is aptly named for it’s chilly winds coming through. New Zealand is a very mountainous country and is the larger part of the new continenet if Kiwiana that has recently been discovered. The rest of the continent is under water! About a quarter of the land is lower than 200 meters above sea level and all the rest are hills or mountains, including the Southern Alps. It lies on a fault line which forms part of the Pacific “Rim of Fire”, although there have been only two major volcanic eruptions in the relatively recent past. One was the huge eruption that resulted in the creation of Rangitoto Island at Auckland about 600 years ago, and the second was the 10th June 1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera that wiped out the famed Pink and White terraces. Mount Ruapehu and Mount Ngauruhoe are nearly always smoking and sometimes erupting and White Island is a continuing cauldron where the volcanic fumes make the island uninhabitable. Small earthquakes are relatively common. Lake Taupo, situated in the Volcanic Plateau area of the North Island, fills a crater that had been formed by the world’s largest known eruption. This happened in two sections, around 1,800 and 26,000 years ago. The volcanic dust which arose from the eruption, bringing with it changes in the skies, could be seen as far away as Rome and China apparently! So, the north island has a lot to offer and well worth checking out!