The North Island

---

Travel is not reward for working, it's education for living-Anthony Bourdain

Back to the Pacific Ocean and following in the footsteps of Captain Cook. In the past year I have been tempted by some incredible airfare flash sales to the South Pacific, and here we are again, this time headed to New Zealand after a deal too good to pass up with some Delta miles I earned on a credit card. We, like so many others, have been enchanted with going to New Zealand ever since seeing the Lord of the Rings movies. This incredible country largely stayed off travelers radars before Peter Jackson showed the world the gorgeous expanses offered here. He recognized its the only place that could double as a fantasy world with little needed cgi.

Our flight was a 13 hour non-stop red eye out of Los Angeles that wasn't terrible, but far from the best we've ever had with the cramped seating and almost constant turbulence. It seems as though the long flights here put off most travelers and I cant say they are wrong. Dennis and I are rare though and actually rather enjoy flying, often the longer the better really as far as we are concerned.

We arrived In the capital city of Auckland feeling pretty well rested, only having a four hour time difference here than home in AZ so no jet lag to speak of. What does make it confusing though is the 20 hour time difference in total, so you gain an entire day flying here, but you lose it back on the return trip. Our first day consisted of upon arrival being treated like an international smuggler and detained at the airport for a bit. I dared to bring my leftover breakfast from the plane into the airport. After I narrowly escaped a hefty fine from a moronic customs agent who thought cooked egg white couldve disrupted the ecosystem here, we navigated buses and trains to the north of Auckland where we picked up our privately owned campervan I booked on camplify.com. We enjoy trying out the public transport wherever we go, saving a ton of money over taking taxis and getting a feel for the land and its people. We briefly walked around the spotlessly clean and beautiful harbor area of downtown Auckland. We started our four day journey in the north island, only to see some of the highlights. Unfortunately for sake of time having only two weeks, we couldn't drive to the south which requires taking a long ferry. Our first day proved to be much longer and stressful driving than I had anticipated. We took a desolate winding gravel road along the coast between the towns of Raglan and Kawhia, an area inhabited only by sheep (98% of NZ). We stopped at Raglan, a famous surf town renowned for having the longest left hand break in the world made famous by being featured in the classic movie The Endless Summer. Unfortunately this is a phenomenon seen only seasonly, so there was no surf when we were there. Our destination for the night was a campground in the tiny sleepy fishing village of Kawhia, to experience the hot water beach. This is a beach where at low tide you can dig in the sand for hot springs and make your own hot tub. Upon arrival we learned that low tide was between 0100-0500 in the morning so it would be an early start.



Our second day started at 0300, or "o'dark thirty" to drive outside of town and hike over the highest sand dune we've ever seen. We had the entire black beach to ourselves, digging around in the inky darkness desperate to warm up in a hot tub, but to no avail. But the Milky Way stretching horizon to horizon on this desolate beach made the effort worthwhile. We headed out of town through incredible winding scenery onward to the famous glow worm caves of Waitomo. This region is home to over 300 caves, beckoning Dennis to come back to explore on ropes next time. The worms didn't disappoint, hanging from the ceiling by the thousands, giving the appearance of twinkling stars in the night sky as you are paddled through the darkness on a subterranean river. The worms are bioluminescent to attract insects to their long sticky threads which they reel in once they catch their prey.



We camped outside of Matamata at the Moana Roa reserve along the Waitomo river, just 15 minutes from Hobbiton. We took advantage of the countless "freedom camping" sites around NZ, areas designated to camp for free provided you have a certified self-sufficient sticker on your camper, meaning you have an interior toilet.



We started our 2 hour tour of the Hobbiton movie set in a drizzly overcast morning. We learned there was to be the halfling marathon later that day which winds through the set and surrounding area, something we never knew existed but now inftuated with coming back to do. Words cannot describe how absolutely magical this place was, getting both Dennis and a wee bit emotional. The last time I saw Dennis like this was seeing the Milenium Falcon at Galaxys edge at Disney World. It's no wonder when Director Peter Jackson was flying over the countryside scouting filming locations he spotted this farm and knew it was perfect. This whole countryside looks like the shire so even when the tour is over you still feel like you are transported to this magical place. Hobbiton consisted of 44 hobbit holes, 2 allowing you to go inside the completely furnished and incredibly detailed homes. The tour ended at the Green Dragon tavern where you can imbibe on included beers and ciders at the bar or nibble on some scones and meat pies. Apparently they don't limit you to just one drink, so the beer kept flowing and Dennis can now brag about getting a good buzz on at the Green Dragon in Hobbiton. Needless to say we didn't want to leave but sadly had to move on to our next and final stop, Rotorua.



Rotorua is renowned for the geothermal activity and Maori culture here, and the birthplace of Zorb! Zorb is an inflatable plastic orb you roll downhill in, yep too old for that nonsense anymore. Rotorua is becoming the adventure capital of the North Island and there was no shortage of fun activities to drain your wallet doing for a few days. We quickly toured the hot springs and mud baths in the center of town and visited the redwood forest where you can walk on suspension bridges through the canopy. By this time it was downpouring so we opted to start our drive back to Auckland for our early flight out the next morning to the South Island.

---