WELLINGTON
…is great! I was so surprised. After seeing a bunch of small towns halfway up the south island I didn’t expect much, but it has an awesome vibe to it. There’s street art all over the buildings, people are laid back and friendly. We had a nice brunch and then decided to part ways - Lucie wanted to check out the botanical gardens, I wanted to geek out again and see the Te Papa Tongarewa Museum. The bars were high from the Pounamu Museum in Greymouth, and unfortunatley this place didn’t come close. I still learned a lot, but it was a bit chaotic. Lucie said the botanical gardens were lovely, so if you only have time for one, maybe this is the better option.
TONGARIRO NATIONAL PARK
Driving through the north island was like being culture shocked. There were small towns all over, a lot more cars, a lot more roads, and a lot less greenery. Still beautiful, though. The north island is a lot different from the south island, we instantly noticed that. Different just meaning different, not worse, for the record.
I will not go into any details about the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, as there is a whole post all about this one, so I will just gently nudge you there da now.
TAUPO
Is another lovely town. Thinking you are going to die is apparently very exhausting, and it makes you crave a beer. So we set off, stumbling slowly down to the lake, in search of a bar, right when the sun was setting and lighting the sky in the most beautiful colors.
The next day, we set off to Craters of the Moon and came up close and personal to the geothermal activities once again. We then stopped at Huka Falls and were able to watch some adventurers (or psychopaths, I’m still unsure) ride kayaks down the most powerful waterfall of the country.
Have you ever played golf? I sure haven’t, and I thought it can’t be so hard. There’s this place at the lake in Taupo where you can buy some golf balls and try and hit a platform out in the water to win prices. Obviously, we were in. I asked the lady what happened if I hit the diver picking up the balls, and she told me that „usually you swap positions“. It took me a second to realize she was joking.
Anyhow, hitting the diver wasn’t a danger, as I couldn’t even hit the ball. The dude helping us out was trying to stay professional and kindly offered us advice, but we were both lost causes. There was a crowd of at least 30 people, some laughing loudly with us, others trying to keep it together. It was the most random thing to do but I loved it. I was horrible, but it was such great fun. I don’t mind looking stupid, and neither should you - especially when you could have such a great time! :)
ROTORUA
The smell of sulphur makes me sick and gives me a headache. It didn’t take me long to realize that, but in Rotorua and the surrounding area, there is no way around that. The first major stop was Wai-O-Tapu, a very active geothermal region with pathways that make you walk around and over different colored pools and creeks and bubbling mud. I hope you know, but if you ever come across neon yellow water, please don’t jump in.
As we neared Rotorua, it started raining. We were still pretty drained, so we decided to treat ourselves and alternatingly soak in some hot acidic and alkaline pools. The city is really nice, just be prepared that a wiff of sulphur might come your way and straight into your lungs any second. There’s a place called Redwoods Treewalk close by, that makes you walk high up over swing bridges and platforms in between trees. Apparently, when the European settlers came to New Zealand, they cut down most of the trees, so many that it was impossible to know which species were native to this area. So they experimented and planted different kinds of trees, in this specific case, it was redwood. If you go for a walk in the forest after, you might come across the smell of essential oils - eucalyptus. I love this smell, and I took in as much as I could, knowing that we would soon go back to stinky Rotorua.
Hamurana Springs Nature Park is also a place worth visiting. It’s really not popular, we were the only visitors at the time. You get to walk in between redwood trees of varying diameters, along a river and right to the spring. This was hands down the clearest water I have seen in my life. I took a picture of a fern hanging half way into the water, and I kid you not, if you don’t know that half of it is in the water, you wouldn’t be able to see it.
HAMILTON
The city we chose randomly just as a base to visit Hobbiton and the Waitomo Caves turned out to be my favorite city on the north island. I expected nothing from it, but it still delivered. We drove and walked all over the city, checked out the botanical gardens - which usually isn’t really my thing, but it was huge and laid out in such a cool order, dedicating little sections to different countries from all over the world.
Waitomo Caves is one of the must-do’s, apparently, and we too felt this way. They lead you into a cave on foot, show you the stalagtites and stalagmites (perhaps I just mentioned that to let you know that I know the names) and sometimes they point out little blue lights in the ceiling. Then they sit you down in a wonky boat and carefully pull you into pure darkness. When you look up, the top of the cave is filled with the same little blue lights, coming from the glowworms that call this place a home, it looks like the night sky with completely different constellations.
Relaxed and in awe, we came past another sign, pointing us to a kiwi sanctuary. With the chances of seeing one in the wild being close or below zero, we had our tickets in our hands before we knew it. Kiwis lay the largest eggs compared to their bodies sizes. They have a room simulating night time during the day, so we got to see 2 of them. Those cute little birds are so fluffy it looks like they have fur instead of feathers. We watched them for a while, then watched eels being fed - who would expect that from a kiwi sanctuary -, were almost attacked by a small bright green bird and bought the cutest post cards.
Hobbiton was another overly touristic activity, but can you say no to that? I certainly couldn’t, so we found ourselves on the bus, with the classic sound track of the Shire playing, excited for what was about to come. You do get kind of rushed through the place, as tour busses leave every 15 minutes or so, but it was still a really cool experience. These days you’re even able to go right into a hobbit house!
COROMANDEL FOREST PARK
First stop: Cathedral Cove. The beach you might now from the Chronicles of Narnia. I wrote about that experience too, so jump right there if you’d like.
By the way: Hot Water Beach, where you can dig a hole and soak in warm water right at the beach, only works at low tide. But it's still beautiful at high tide!
It was only a few days before going home. I missed my dog a lot, but I was loving life here as well. Running around the beach like a kid made me realize how happy and freed of all worries I was (and that actually means a whole lot, I am a certified overthinker). I lay on the table outside the hostel, gazing at the night sky for the last time. I took out my phone, opened the sky tonight-app, and pointed it to a random location right above me. The Canis Major constellation - the big dog - was right above my head. I couldn’t stop a tear from rolling down my face. As I lay in bed later this evening, I couldn’t fall asleep. I was so incredibly happy, and my heart was just so full.
At this point I would also like to mention that within one day, I found myself in a bunch of different countries in the Hamilton Botanical Gardens (like Japan, India and Italy), then in Hobbiton and lastly in Narnia. Can you top that?
The next day was the last day Lucie and I would be together. I would need to go to Auckland, I was flying back from there tomorrow, and Lucie would continue further up north for another week. She’s really into gardens, so she asked me if I wanted to go to another one, and I sure did, I was all the way on that train now, too. I thought the GPS was wrong, as we were led onto just another gravel track - pour Patrick had to go over rocks and potholes for another 20 km. As we finally made it to the gardens, ours was the only car there, and I was relieved to no longer have to be 100% focussed on the dirt road, my eyes were watering. These gardens were wonderful, privately owned, with a lovely café right next to it. I instantly forgot about the grueling drive there.
AUCKLAND
Driving into Auckland, we got stuck in traffic. My heart sank. I spent the last 3 weeks as far away from any big city as possible, and now I had no option but to go straight into the heart of the capital. I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to go into Auckland, and I especially didn’t want this trip to end. I was on the verge of crying.
I walked along the marina, through the busy streets, had the most expensive ice cream ever in a place that’s all over instagram (they give you a beeper, like on of these you get at fast food restaurants to let you know when your order is ready), and was soon done with the city. As I no longer had a car and for some reason just couldn’t get myself to go on public transport, I had a limited amount of options. The one I decided to go with was Maungawhau, or Mount Eden. A dormant volcano, right in the center of the city. I just kept walking up the hill, through all different parts of the city, until I could finally see a green hill ahead of me. The view from up there was really good - the skyscrapers of the city seemed so far away, it was quiet and beautiful up there. I’m really glad I went.
Don’t get me wrong, Auckland isn’t that bad, actually it’s a pretty awesome city. It’s just… me. Sometimes I enjoy the anonymity of a city. Nobody cares about you, you can do and be and wear whatever the *duck you want. But sometimes, that’s exactly what I hate about cities. And after traveling through small towns and nowheres for 3 weeks, it was just quite the culture shock coming back to the concrete jungle.
