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So New Zealand, again a destination that wasn't very high on my list, but after hearing multiple testimonials from fellow travelers, family and friends on how awesome it was we had a serious look and decided, why not? Also discovered this country is absolutely set up for motor-home discovery, and having fallen in love with that concept in Iceland it pretty much sealed the deal...as it is pretty far to get to, we decided to add both a week to our usual three weeks and the country of Fiji as well, always like to end on a beach!
So the plan was a week on the North Island, two in the South and the final week in Fiji...and with that we arrived in Auckland to see the sun rise, then promptly to the hotel for a nap to shake off some of the jet lag...we were to be here a couple of days before collecting the van to head off and explore, which was plenty of time...
Auckland is nice, we had decent weather and spent the first day roaming the downtown core and waterfront to get our bearings, nothing too crazy...following day we took the ferry across to
Devonport, a quaint little town with a couple of interesting WWII fortifications and great views back of Auckland's skyline...some neat shops as well, and after a bite to eat we ferried back and jumped on the Hop On/Hop Off bus to see some more of the city which was cool...the War Memorial Museum came highly recommended, and it was excellent...really more than just a war memorial, it also includes a fantastic section on the history of the Maori, as well as another on the flora and fauna of New Zealand...
The time had now come to collect our home-on-wheels for the next two weeks, I could not wait to get out on the road...we got a bigger van than the one we had in Iceland; you could stand up in this one, it had propane burners for cooking, a small refrigerator, sink with running water and the bed converted to benches and table, luxury! And more importantly it had electrical hook-up and a space heater; we were traveling in their autumn and nightly temperatures were in the single digits Celsius, so no wearing toques to bed like Iceland...sweet!
Got the van with not much ado, picked up some
groceries and then off to our first stop, Hobbiton! Self-confessed Lord of the Rings nerd, this was absolutely a must-see for me, and as luck would have it it was only about two hours south of Auckland...we had pre-booked a tour, but luckily were able to switch the time as we arrived earlier than expected...worked out great, the light was much better mid-afternoon than it would have been at our original 4pm time as the site is on an eastern slope and the sun tucked away behind it just as we were finishing...
Hobbiton is really cool, even the Lovely K (who is no LotR fan) thought it was great, go there if you have any interest whatsoever in the books/films...they tore down this set after the Lord of the Rings trilogy, built it back up exactly for the Hobbit films and the farmer who owns the land came to some agreement with the film production to leave it this time and conduct tours...license to print money, gah...
Wandered through the set and you truly felt like you were in the Shire...the details are spectacular; Hobbit holes that seemed like Frodo, Samwise or Bilbo could pop out of
at any moment, real vegetable gardens tended to by the staff to really give it that authentic look...all finishing up at the Green Dragon Inn with a pint, specially brewed for Hobbiton by a local brewery, yummy...
Late afternoon now but decided to hump it to Rotorua, only an hour away and where we wanted to end up the following day anyway...Rotorua is renowned for its Maori Culture and geothermal activity, both of which we would explore the following day...
First stop would be geysers, a few options but we settled on Te Puia, a site with multiple geysers, mud pools and bubbling hot water pools apparently still used for cooking...neat site, well-marked trails to wander at your leisure, made for a great stop...first thing we came across however was a Kiwi sanctuary, cool! They are a nocturnal bird so rare to see in the wild (and borderline endangered as well I believe), so a great opportunity to see them...in we went to a very dark room, only a bit of red light to mimic night conditions, and there one was! Rummaging around the forest-like enclosure, they are about the size of a chicken I would say (bigger
than I had imagined) and certainly foreign looking to anything we have in North America...
We then made our way around the site, stopping and hanging out at Pohutu Geyser which is the largest active geyser in the Southern Hemisphere apparently and supposed to erupt a couple of times an hour but unfortunately we didn't see it blow...
Spent some of the afternoon on a short hike through Whakarewarewa Forest to see giant Redwoods, really pretty...then back into town and off to Mitai Maori Village for dinner and a cultural show...
Not to be missed in this area, the village is cool and a great introduction to the Maori culture...and popular too, lots of folks, we were split up into two groups and with a guide each we were given a bit of history of the Maori and then shown the Hangi Pit where our food was being prepared in the traditional way, oh man it looked/smelled great...then on through a path in the forest to a stream where Maori in traditional garb came paddling up in a canoe, really cool...this was followed by a cultural show full of singing, dancing and more history with a big
Pohutu Geyser
...at Te Puia, RotoruaHaka finale, very powerful and something I absolutely wanted to see...
We were then shuffled inside a large hall where big buffets of the traditional hangi awaited, and man was it good...lamb, chicken, sweet potatoes, vegetables, soups and desserts, what a feast! The emcee of the evening was a character and provided an insightful and humorous running commentary during the evening, and finished it up by taking us on a night walk to see glow worms...all in all an amazing experience and again highly recommended...
We woke to the last day of our North Island adventure; not nearly enough time to explore but with timelines the way they were concessions had to be made...the ferry to the South Island was booked for the following morning so we needed to push it all the way to Wellington, a good six hours on the road which wasn't ideal but we had prepared for it...K had some friends in Wellington that we were meeting for dinner, and after some discussion we decided to get a hotel room for the evening so we could be right downtown...
Bit of a shame we didn't have more time here, Wellington seemed like a
Hangi
...traditional feast at Mitai Maori Village pretty cool town what little we saw of it...really pretty driving in along the coast and then passing the harbour on the way downtown...parked Budgy (the name of our camper), checked in, showered and then off to meet K's friends...super nice folks, had a great hang in some local brew pubs and for dinner, the craft beer scene here is thriving as well so had the chance to sample some of the local offerings...all in all a great night!
First five days in New Zealand a success I would say, now off to explore the South Island...
(Some photos copyright of Karen C., denoted by (KC)...used with kind permission)
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Chasing those Hobbits
Very nice