Episode 071

Travelling New Zealand in a Van and LOTR Filming Locations with Charlotte and James

18 January 2024 37 min

Episode 071

0:00 / 37:01

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I'll be upfront: I'm the worst Lord of the Rings fan. The worst New Zealander, even. So I was really excited to chat to two people who watch all three Hobbit films and all three Lord of the Rings films almost every year before Christmas, and who named their van Gandalf the White.

Charlotte and James are a couple from the UK who came over on working holiday visas. They spent a year working in Auckland and filling every weekend with adventures. When we recorded, they'd just moved into the van and were a few weeks into a big road trip from the north to the south.

So we get into their favourite weekend getaways from Auckland, buying a van (and killing its battery on the very first trip), the filming locations they've tracked down, and what's next. Plus their best tips if you're planning a working holiday here.

In this episode

From London to a working holiday in Auckland
Weekend getaways from Auckland
Buying a campervan in New Zealand
Lord of the Rings filming locations
Their South Island road trip
Tips for a working holiday in New Zealand

From London to a working holiday in Auckland

Charlotte and James had wanted to come to New Zealand for a while. When a friend's wedding came up in Malaysia, they turned it into a round-the-world trip, via Vietnam, Bali and a two-week road trip down the east coast of Australia.

Charlotte is a physio. During COVID in London, it was grey and cold, and she'd only just graduated but already had itchy feet. So she picked up the phone and told James she was moving to New Zealand. Getting registered here was easier than in Canada, though it took more time and money than James needed, and with COVID still big everywhere, they took their time.

Her employer kindly gave her every Friday afternoon off. James could work from home, which meant from the van, so they could beat the Auckland traffic and have the whole weekend. Coming from London, where getting out of the city takes over an hour, that made a huge difference.

Weekend getaways from Auckland

They were out adventuring from literally the first weekend, with a big calendar and a spreadsheet (a theme throughout): a different place nearby almost every weekend, a booked campsite, and the local area or one of the bigger walks.

Their favourites from Auckland:

Waitākere Ranges. Their very first weekend away.
Rangitoto Island. A great quick trip, with a whole other island at the back, Motutapu.
Wairere Falls, Matamata and Waihī. An awesome, easy weekend away. The walk was a nice, leisurely one for them, and from there you've got Matamata and Hobbiton close by, then on to Waihī.
Raglan. They took surf lessons, and you could tell the instructors loved working there. The town is very chill, with loads of tie-dye and cafes, and they love a good cafe after a long walk.
Waiheke Island. Not a cheap getaway: the van ferry cost them $300, and with hardly any campsites they booked accommodation. But it was one of their favourites, more bougie than their usual weekends, with quite a lot of wine, a beautiful climate and a fun drive around the island.

I love Rangitoto for all the different tracks on the island, and there's a DOC campsite on Motutapu, so you can stay overnight. And it's crazy how close Waiheke is to the central city, and how different it feels.

Getting around Auckland

One surprise was Auckland's public transport. Coming from London, where a tube more than three minutes late is outrageous, they found it pretty shocking. While James was out viewing vans, he got stuck quite a few times, with trains cancelled and no room on the buses.

A bicycle helped, with green cycleways everywhere (and a few hairy moments with drivers who didn't respect them). They also loved Auckland's huge parks, where you can spend a whole day out, and a ton of beaches they weren't expecting in a big city.

Buying a campervan in New Zealand

The van hunt started as a Facebook Marketplace trawl. James viewed van after van around Auckland, meeting people in train station car parks, and found it really hard: he's not a mechanic, and you end up weighing up the kilometres against the price.

Then they found a few people on Marketplace running a bit of a business converting vans. One, a French guy close to where they lived, had loads of done-up vans outside his warehouse in pretty good condition, and a contract covering repairs if anything broke early on, which was a lot more reassuring.

The van was mostly done, with all the woodwork and bases in. They named him Gandalf the White, and in a year he's had one real problem: a bad alternator that gave them a flat battery on one trip.

The fridge that flattened the battery

Having a fridge was quite important for their weekends away, so they had a bigger battery put in. But on their very first trip, to Rotorua, they went wandering round a thermal park and came back to a van that wouldn't start. Without a regulator, the fridge had killed both batteries.

It was an expensive call-out. Now they have a regulator, so the back battery can go flat and the front one still starts the car, and a jump pack starter they've used quite a few times, because someone keeps leaving the lights on.

The alternator went on the Wairere Falls trip. The next morning at Waihī Beach, the battery fully died at the campsite barrier at ten o'clock, just as everyone was leaving for the day. Out came the jump starter, with apologies all round. Whenever something goes wrong, they laugh and deal with it.

They've done some pretty off-roady drives in a two-wheel drive, too, like the long gravel road to the Bell Rock walk, with no signal.

Lord of the Rings filming locations

You can buy a Lord of the Rings filming locations handbook in bookshops, and flicking through it, Charlotte and James realised the locations aren't in one place. They're scattered all the way down the country, across the three Hobbit films and the three main films. They track them down from the handbook, blogs and screenshots, then into the spreadsheet they go.

Hobbiton. It doesn't need any more hype, but it's really close to Auckland and they've done the set so well. After going back for the breakfast, they watched all the films again within a weekend.
Port Waikato. A big rock from the first film is out there, and you can see it from a distance. It's a really unique spot, but it's on private land, and the farmers have closed access because too many people wandered through without asking. They spent a while trying to find a farmer, with no luck.
Mount Doom. They've been to Ruapehu and Ngāuruhoe, the mountain that plays Mount Doom, a few times, doing different walks. They love the Tongariro Crossing, and the Tama Lakes walk is a favourite.
The Dimholt Road. They'd recently been to the Putangirua Pinnacles, near Cape Palliser.
Mount Victoria. In Wellington, on a couple of tracks, there's a filming location sign where the hobbits huddle under a big tree root. You can sit in the roots, take your photo and find the clip in the movie, and they recreated it.

I love Tama Lakes too. I haven't been to Cape Palliser yet, and I was hoping to get there this summer.

Driving random gravel roads, I've come across a few little Lord of the Rings filming location signs.

Their South Island road trip

When we recorded, they'd ticked off most of the North Island, stopping in Taranaki to redo a walk (this time they saw the mountain). They'd spent four days in Kaikōura, doing a dolphin tour and climbing Mount Fyffe, and were resting in Christchurch.

Next up:

Christchurch and Akaroa. The Antarctic Centre, then Akaroa.
Arthur's Pass, Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukaki.
Dunedin. House-sitting over Christmas and New Year, with a dog to explore with.
Stewart Island. A couple of tracks and a kiwi spotting and stargazing tour, a big highlight.
The West Coast. Working back up through January and February.
Abel Tasman. A multi-day kayak trip.

Kayaking the Abel Tasman is one of my hands-down favourite experiences in New Zealand. It was on our bucket list for years before we did it one summer.

Tips for a working holiday in New Zealand

Their best advice if you're coming over:

Get a car or a van. A friend who moved over at the same time didn't have a car, and for quite a while couldn't do a lot. In the UK you can get pretty much anywhere by train, plane or coach. Here, getting around without your own wheels is a lot harder.
Embrace camping. They weren't really into camping life before, and they've loved it. The campsites are way better than you'd think, with big shower blocks and kitchens that usually have whatever you forgot.
Plan ahead in summer. In New Zealand, the Great Walks and some campsites book out early in summer.
Pack for both extremes. The sun is way harsher here than in Europe, so they're on SPF 50, covering up and finding shade, and sun hoodies have been a lifesaver. They've had a lot of rain too, so bring a really good rain jacket.

During COVID, when I did most of my travelling around New Zealand, you could rock up and wing it. Peak season runs from Labour Weekend, in late October, through to Easter, and it's the best time to be here, so things book out quickly. Make that massive spreadsheet, if that's your thing.