The natural beauty of South had already put us in an awe state. Several local folks had mentioned that south is more beautiful than north. I was prepared for it. But little did I know that north would be so inspiring. In the ferry, I had questioned that how will north be able to compete with the natural beauty of south, from where it could match the beauty of Glenorchy, the drive of Mt. Cook and Milford. But sooner I realized that north had few things on its sleeve which were so different that it need not worry.
North also had multiple LOTR checklist destinations - The Hobbiton, The road to Mordor and also Weka tours. In north, we stay was also at several AirBnbs. In South, we had stayed in lodges and hostels. But in north, being more populous, it was easier to find good Airbnbs and except for couple of nights at Tongariro, we had booked all Airbnbs - each one different. So without further delay, here is our itinerary -
Day 1
We arrived via ferry at about 2 pm. Our rental car was standing at the terminal with keys hidden behind the front number plate. I had doubts whether the car would be there or not. But it was there. We wasted no time and headed to Weka museum for a tour. Weka is the workshop and animation studio that provided animations for all LOTR movies and many more post that. They provide a tour of their backstage sharing some details on the process of how they create such wonderful costumes, swords, cars and other funky gadgets. Being an LOTR fan, I instantly loved the whole tour.
The swords are made out of the same material as the rubber used in the conveyor belt. All finishing is done via painting and it looks very authentic. And very light too. The behind the scenes tour was full of many insights and the creative process and very inspiring.
Post the tour, we decided to checkout our first airbnb. It was difficult to find and had a narrow lane for parking. It was on a hill top and we had to climb several stairs to reach it. But the view was good. We quickly went out to explore the town and took a walk on Cuba street. We has dinner first a small Pasta and then at a Malaysian restaurant which took forever. Our airbnb hosts were really friendly.
Day 2
By the end of day 1, my trekking shoes's soles were coming off. With the next day scheduled for Tongariro alpine crossing, I had no option but to buy another pair of trekking shoes. We spent the next day morning on shopping. We also had to cancel our two day reservation of airbnb as both Kanishka and I decided to go to Tongariro. I would do the alpine crossing and Kanishka would explore other treks there.
After shopping, we went to the Te Papa museum where we learnt about the history of Maori people, how Britishers took their lands by fraud and lies. We also learnt how the forests were destroyed to get these green carpet look for farming and sheep rearing. It was a good visit but we had to cut short as we were short on time. We had to drive 4 hrs + to reach Tongariro.
Our drive was ok and we reached Tongariro just before sunset.
Day 3
Day 3 began early morning as I had to catch a bus that will take me to the starting point of Tongariro Alpine crossing. Kanishka prepared a nice breakfast for me. Kanishka had made a deal with the owner of Adventure lodge to drop her at the Information centre from where she could small hikes.
My trek to Tongariro Alpine crossing was very good. The climb was uphill but the weather was nice. The mordor mountain - Mount Doom was played by this active volcano - Mount Ngauruhoe . We were hiking just near this. The hike views were terrific. Where we started, there was no snow but at the top, snow was along the same earth as us and later below us. The climb at the very end was steep and little dangerous. From the top, we could see two beautiful lakes. Reminded me of Chandrataal.
The downhill part of Tongariro goes via this beautiful alpine track. They have deliberately made it zig zag and it was awesome walking through it. Alpine is native vegetation and it is also conserved . The alpine track led way to a walk through forest. I had maintained good speed and I thought that I would finish before time. But the forest walk seemed never ending. By the time, I reached at the end, I had walked 19.6 km in 6 hrs 30 mins. The recommended time.
Once back at the lodge, I went to pick Kanishka up. We came back and relaxed at a hot pool at the inn and later went for a good dinner nearby. Kanishka also had a wonderful hikes to a waterfall and was checking out Maori art being made when I picked her up.
Day 4
Our next stop for two days was Rotorua - famous for its geothermal activity. Near Rotorua, there is a Lady Knox geyser that erupts every morning at 10:30 am. (Later an office colleague remarked - like a cron, eh?). So we a deadline to meet. The drive was beautiful but we could not stop. We reached there just in time and saw this. Geysers are a natural phenomenon and such geo-thermal parks are found in very few places. One is Yellowstone in US and this is the 2nd one. I had been to Yellowstone, so really grateful to have seen both in my lifetime.
Post Lady knox, we checked out the Waiotapu thermal park, went to a nearby mud pool and saw muds coming out of ground because of steam eruption. Later, we went to the Waimangu thermal park . Waimangu was way more spectacular than Waiotapu. We first did a boat ride on a lake that was formed when the volcano erupted in 1860s. Later, we did a short hike and had some amazing views to geothermal springs and lakes.
Post Waimangu, we went to a natural hot spring for a bath and then went to Rotorua for our Airbnb. This was by far the best airbnb as we had our own private space with living room, kitchen, fridge. The Airbnb owner had also given us eggs, bread and milk. We consumed all and had a great two days here.
Day 5
We decided to have a little relaxed day 5. In the morning, we went for a Maori village tour of Whakarewarewa. This is the only village where Maori folks are still living there. It was the least touristy of the rest. Here, we saw few more geysers and ate corn that was cooked in the natural water hot spring. We also watched a show performed by Maori folks.
Post the Maori show, we went for a walk on Redwood forests. Again a US reference. Redwood forests are typically found in northern California but they were imported here and planted as an experiment 100 years ago when NZ thought that it was going to run out of wood. This walk was over a hanging bridge spread across 100s of redwoods covering about a km of loop. It was indeed very pretty and inspiring. The construction of this would not have been simple.
The rest of the day was spent shopping at the Rotorua market. It was also Diwali so Kanishka bought Gulab Jamuns from an Indian store to celebrate it. We also went to an art gallery and bought a lot of designer glass made bowls made by students. There was also Farmers market in Rotorua and we had various local food. Rotorua also has a surprising good number of Indian population and hence Indian restaurants too.
Day 6
Day 6 was Hobbiton and let me tell you Hobbiton was awesome. At first, I had thought of Hobbiton as a checklist activity, a high-touristy thing that had to be done. But once there, I was in awe. It was made with so much attention to detail. It was beautiful, amazing, inspiring - all at the same time. Could not have not imagined it to be like so well done. Yes, ofcourse there were too many tourists and tours departing every 45 mins or so in full buses. But it was definitely worth it. At the end, they also let you taste a local made beer and have a cafe there. It was all very well done. If I go to NZ again, I would totally visit it again.
Post Hobbiton, we drove to Coromandel Cove stopping at Thames for a delicious Thai lunch. Coromadel cove walk was beautiful and pretty. We were also tried with this being a long day. We called it an early evening and went to our airbnb. We had little difficulty trying to find out the key from the lock system but finally managed to get in. This Airbnb had a good view of the beach and ocean from the bedroom itself.
Day 7
We were staying next to this Hot water beach. The idea here is that when the tide is low, because the earth surface here is close to Earth's core, the sand at some places is hot and hence during low tide, if you dig the sand, you can create a natural hot pool. This phenomenon can be experienced +/- two hrs a low tide. Unfortunately, low tide time was at 4 pm (which we had missed the previous day) or at 3 am. We only had this 3 am window, so we decided to get up at 4am and check out the beach and hopefully lie down in the hot pool for atleast 30 mins.
It was pitch dark when we woke up and it was raining very slightly as well. Yet we were brave enough and went to the beach. As we were looking for hot sand, we found a nicely dug out hot pool and we quickly went inside. It was surreal - twilight time, no one around, sound of waves, sitting in a hot pool while the atmosphere outside is cold and little rainy. Any body part outside the hot water was cold. Inside the pool, some portion of sand was so hot that even sitting on it was not possible. At the parts, it was a natural jaccuzi. We were lucky to have gotten this pool ready made for us. We were also prepared with spades from our airbnb to dig in any case.
After Snorkelling, we drove to Coromandel area, had lunch there and then drove to Auckland. At Auckland, we went to the downtown to see some shows but without prior reservation, we were not allowed to enter. Both of us were tired as it had been a long day.
The next day we got up and bought some sweets on our way to the airport. Auckland was anyways meant to be just a fly out destination. We were at the airport early. I had a good serving of bagels and NZ coffee before boarding the plane.
As I said in the beginning, North is very different from South as it has so many quirky things of its own. South is pristine beauty but north is very varied. Each of our stop was unique and we could have easily spent couple of more days exploring each one more.
Ours was a 16 day trip and I drove 2500+ kms during my stay there. We could have covered one less destination and may be taken a flight. Everytime, I try to think which one I could have skipped and the answer is nothing. This was a little hectic but one heck of a trip. It was packed but we did everything that we wanted and way more.
One thing that went in our favour during our entire trip was that we had booked our stay beforehand with good research. All of our stays were good, some better. But at no place we were disappointed. This gave us a lot of comfort as at the end of the day, we had a nice cozy bed and a good place to crash. All of our hosts - be it at lodges or airbnbs were helpful. It also saved us a lot of time and energy during the trip
We were also very well prepared. We had packed for all seasons with raincoats and all. Having a car rental helped us a lot, we would leave the suitcase in trunk and carry only what we wanted. A lot of planning helped us cover lot more ground than others. We had also prebooked our main tours. We also had enough free time to explore local recommendations. But one thing that I missed a little was more spontaneity. I think the 4 am low tide hot pool took care of that too.
Yes, I would like to visit NZ again. Our people interaction was limited. But from the way the country is coming up, it is indeed a very good one to visit again. When we visit again - I will say - Kia Ora!
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