New Zealand Trip
New Zealand - North Island
3-8 November 2019
For starters, this is by far the most beautiful place I have ever seen! And if that doesn't say enough of how beautiful this country is as a whole... we only saw the North Island, but the South Island is what is acclaimed as being the most scenic part of New Zealand! So basically the entire country is gorgeous... and now i'll let the photos speak for themselves... "Nau mai, Haere mai ki Aotearea"
Day 1
Mikaela and I got into New Zealand pretty late in the evening and then had to go pick up our rental car. Thankfully in the airport, there were phone providers open and we were able to pick up sim cards for the week! This made it possible to go to a farther part of the island since we'd have cell service for google maps. So we slept for a bit of the evening and then got up nice and early to see a beautiful sunrise over the water... what a way to start the week!
Before we left this spot, just down the road were a couple of sheep! I hoped out for maybe 3 minutes and snapped a couple pictures with my camera, only to discover how beautifully they turned out later! The rising sun illuminated the dew drops on the grass and gave the sheep's wool a beautiful glow!
As I was driving to our first stop I was awestruck by how many farm animals there were so close to the road! One group of cows was just too cute and so close to the road I had to stop to say hi! I don't know when my obsession with cows began, but it was amplified when I met these sweethearts! Perhaps it's because of how similar they are to dogs or that they just look like they'd be great for hugs, but I low cows and New Zealand had no shortage of them!! It was truly farm animal heaven here! Sheep, cows, pigs, chickens... you name it, they were there just munching away on the side of the road amongst the vast and lush green fields that covered a majority of the area we saw!
We finally made it to the little town of Coromandel! Had to stock up on food and snacks for the week, so we popped into their grocery store and then just drove around for a little bit looking at their beautiful flowers and mural and just imagining what it would be like to live in this town, that felt so cut off from the rest of the country, but were blessed with stunning views like this!
After lunch, it was off to the next destination... Cathedral Cove! Little did we know upon arrival that we had to park in a lot, wait for and pay for a shuttle trip to a drop off point, walk 20 minutes up and down hills in the sun, and then down a staircase to the beach haha! BUT it was absolutely gorgeous!! I was daring enough to enter into the water only to discover it was absolutely freezing!! Like the coldest water I have ever been in! We didn't get to spend too long here since we had a decent drive to where we were staying, but it was without a doubt worth the trip!
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| My adventure buddy for the week, Mikaela! And also a fellow only child haha! |
Day 2
Up and at it early again for another day of adventures. I was excited for today because we were going to see a geothermally active area, which I have never seen before! It was really interesting walking around the park, Craters of the Moon, and you could feel the heat radiating from the earth through your feet. An added bonus, not really lol, was that the whole area smelled like sulfur. The next stop was Huka Falls, which is the Maori name for "foam" for which large amounts were created by the incredible rushing speed of the waters. These spots were around Lake Taupo, which you can see toward the end with Mt. Taranaki behind it. This community was very centered around activities on this lake, which was the clearest lake I have ever seen. It was fed by the waters of Huka Falls.
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I'm so glad Mikaela looked up a saw this spot, because it was the best place to sit and have lunch for the day! I was so relaxing sitting on this tree branch eating my sandwich as I watched the ducks walk around beneath me, the water in the river flowing by, and a guy jump off of a rope swim into the cold water.
This is a picture of the carts we went luge racing on in Rotorua! So much fun and I would recommend this to anyone who came and visited the area! If you didn't get to see the video of the track we went on, it's on facebook in the photo album I made for this trip!
Day 3
Today was a jam packed day, but one of the best days of the week!! It began by going to visit some bioluminescent glow worms in the Waitomo Caves. I really admired the structure of this tour, because per the request of the owners of the land once we entered the area where the glow worms were and went on our little water boat tour we were not allowed to speak or take photos, which we were also not allowed to do at any other point in the tour. And it made a difference!! You know how your mind gets, so distracted and consumed by taking pictures that you only catch half of what your tour guide says and then sometimes you forget about the people around you. Not on this tour. We were all adults, all very respectful, and we had a wonderful tour guide named Hoey that did a fantastic job! At one point he even sang a beautiful maori song to show how the sound traveled in a certain part of the caves.
After here we went and toured another limestone cave just down the road! Incredible to think just how long it took for these formations to be created, drop by drop of water. The ceiling at some points was probably 30 feet above me!
Next stop... did someone say Hobbits??
I will be upfront... I have not seen this series. I know, such a crime, but they are SUCH long films! However, I am glad we were able to visit here, because...
1. it is as beautiful as you would imagine
2. the photos give a good representation of it
3. apart of our ticket, we got alcoholic beverages at the Green Dragon Inn
4. there is nothing in the hobbit houses and the one we were able to step into is the only one
5. yes it was super touristy, but how many opportunities do you get to tour a movie set like this?
The family still owns and manages the land and the Hobbiton tours. These houses were built permanently after the filming of the Hobbit, because they were only temporary spots and were tore down after the Lord of the Rings films. As you can tell, the property has its own devoted team of gardeners and their work shows! Overall great experience!!! Now I really need to watch the films, haha!
Our last adventure of the day was a dinner show at the Mitai Maori Village! Cost a pretty penny, but we had an incredible hand cooked meal made for our group of probably a hundred people, a show performed by some of the village's residents, and a night walk through their property! I found their culture very interesting and loved learning about all their different weapons, musical instruments, and their history!
Day 4
Today we had a more relaxed day just driving around and hitting random spots around Rotorua. Started the day at another geothermal park, but this one was also a maori village where people had lived in past years, given tours to visitors, and still do all of those! They were very kind and welcoming and we were able to see another cultural show! They showed us how some springs they use to cook food, like the crystal blue one below. They emphasized that if we were to touch this water, it would immediately burn our skin! But some of the other pools feed into bathtubs were they can let water into and then take a bath.
Many native New Zealanders have these beautiful line work tattoos on different parts of their body. But what does matter is which side of their body it is on. The tattoos usually represent their family lineage/history and if it is on the left side of their body, it is dedicated to their mothers side of the family. The left side is because that is the side where your heart is and you always keep your mother close to your heart. The right side is dedicated to the father.
Next we headed to a little nature wildlife park to see some little Kiwis first hand! They are all fluff and legs, but still supper cute! Alas, we were not allowed to take pictures inside their exhibit room because it was also dimmed for them, because they are nocturnal animals!
Next up was to see a waterfall, but little did we now that we were also going to see some people having fun white water rafting down the falls! It made me realize i’ve never gotten to do that before and now i’m really eager to!! Or I could be the kayak guider, haha!
Also went and found this beautiful jetty going out into this lake! Sat here for a bit just taking in the scenery and the sounds of the birds! So peaceful!! Also got some nice pictures of these birds!
Last spot of the day was an amazing first!! Getting to walk on suspended bridges through huge redwoods at sunset with handmade lanterns scattered through them... yes please!! I was having so much fun walking across the bridges as they bounced around... also Mikaela unfortunately was the exact opposite. She did not let go of the hand rails until I asked her to for one bridge... we went on 22 bridges haha. Definitely another spot I would recommend!
Day 5
Last day we got up super early to drive out to see Piha Beach for a couple hours! It was a nice spot, but whoa what a challenge to get to driving through these tight mountain roads. And how people can drive like they would on a highway on these roads, I don’t know! After here we drove into Auckland just briefly to see the city. There was a park with a flower greenhouse that had some absolutely stunning flowers blooming!!
And this shirt was my favorite purchase there!!
Thankful to have been able to visit this beautiful country, even if it was for a short time! When I get to visit the next time i’ll be heading straight to the south island!!
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