After catching the ferry across the windy Cook Strait from Picton on the South Island, we docked at Wellington in the North Island. Wellington is the capital of New Zealand and is smaller than the main city in the north, Auckland. We pottered around for a few hours along the sea front and caught the shiny red cable car up to the top of the city that has great views across the bay. This is also where the Botanical Gardens are. The city itself has a mixture of old and new buildings, lots of boutique shops, pop up stores and is easy to walk around. There was also this bizarre craze of jumping in to the dock from a fair height which we watched for several minutes as the crowds gathered around! We finished the day with a look around the National Museum of New Zealand which has a large Maori Exhibition where most of it is free.
From Wellington, we drove north about 4 hours to Taupo which sits on the side of a large lake of the same name, Lake Taupo. The journey here is pretty spectacular with winding roads and volcanic views around Tongariro National Park. You can actually climb this volcano but it’s a steep 19km trek! It’s also known as the Alpine Pass. The main reason for going to the town on Taupo was for a skydive, eek! I had always wanted to do one and thought there is no better place than in New Zealand. I went with Skydive Taupo who had a pretty good reputaion in their pink plane. I’m not sure I slept the night before! Off we went to the local airport for our safely briefing and got kitted up. As we approached the plane it got more and more real. there were about 10 of us in this little plane and I was by the roller door, which meant i was the first one out! The worst part for me was the journey up to 12,000ft which felt like forever! Once we reached the altitude, my tandem master opened the door and got me to shuffle to the edge with my feet dangling, then we flew out the door! I can’t describe the amazing feeling of free falling even for those 40 seconds. It was probably the closest I will come to actually flying! Once the parachute opened it was a leisurely glide down back to earth with views all around.
After the jump and being on a high, it was time to stop off in a local cafe before doing the short walk to the Haka Falls. We found out after that you can park closely but we ended up doing the 90 minute long round trip. These falls are not really like a big waterfall, more a gush of strong flowing water that gives off incredible colours of blue and white as if it’s foaming. There are also a few hot thermal springs here where people were sat in but we chose not to.
The next day we headed further north to Rotorua which is about an hour away and home to the geo-thermal springs, hot pools and is a cultural centre of Maori Heritage. the downside is that a lot of the town smells of sulphur due to the springs so not the nicest smell! There are a few parks that have free geo-thermal springs to see, hot pools of bubbling water and a few places where you can just dip your feet in like we did such as in Kuirau Park. There are other attractions locally where you can pay to see these which are more impressive and different in colour including the geysers that erupt a couple of times an hour which we saw. There are also several Moari Villages and evening cultural performances but these are all quite expensive to get into so some of the free stuff is also worthwhile. It was a shame as I really wanted to see a Haka dance!
You can also visit Hobbiton near Matamata which is where the famous Lord of the Rings film was filmed but this is $79 for entry. I had felt we had seen a lot of the other locations in the south island so we gave this a miss and decided to head west to Waitomo instead to do the famous black water rafting. On route we stopped to have a picnic at the Blue Springs which is a natural river that is so pure, crystal blue and green colours that bottled water comes from here and you’re not allowed to swim.
In the Waitomo area of the North Island they have the famous caves where you can go Caving, black water rafting (rafting in a cave), see the glow worms, abseiling and swimming all underground. We opted to go with Waitomo Adventures and the Tumu Tumu cave. It was amazing!! Can’t recommend it enough although maybe not for those who are scared of the dark or slightly claustrophobic. The farmers that own land in this area where they have caves must be minted! Firstly, after a safety briefing and all geared up in wetsuits and hard hats, we were driven to the entrance of the cave sight. It’s literally in the middle of the forest and a hole with a ladder going down in to the ground about 20-30 metres deep. When you get to the bottom you follow a black rope, clamber over some rocks and wade through the gushing water. Pretty cool but pitch black without the headlamps on! The whole trip was about 2.5 hours underground, climbing over rocks, swimming through caves, squeezing through gaps, tubing down the underground river and seeing all the thousands of glow worms when the lights were off. I can’t recommend this enough and something different to do.
Next it was further north to the Coromandel Peninsula which is about 2 hours away from Auckland to the east. this place is really beautiful, very hilly and lots of scenic routes and waterfalls. The coastal road towards Coromandel Town is stunning, clear blue seas and great views. We stayed here and visited the opposite coast to see the famous Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach. The latter is literally a normal beach where you take your bucked and spade, except when you dig in the sand, out comes hot water, and I mean it’s hot! It must be thermal waters underground and there were loads of people digging big holes to sit it and bathe. Random but we did it too! A few miles further north there is Cathedral Cove which is about a 45 min walk down to the beach where the rocks have carved a huge cave that you can walk through with some other random rock stacks sticking out the water. The most random thing of the day was driving down a country road to see in the distance a load of pigs across the road and a big sign saying ‘pat the pigs’. So bizarre! It looked like something out of a horror film!
So that completes my New Zealand adventure. Both islands are so different and unique in their own way. I would recommend them to anyone!
Next stop, Thailand!
