So much for staying up-to-date with the blog. We have been having too much fun going non-stop to sit down and write. So now as I sit on a long flight I will recap our past adventures.
First stop, New Zealand. We broke our New Zealand trip into two different road trips, one in the North Island and one in the South Island. The two islands are so different, it really felt like two entirely different vacations.
This entry will cover our tracks on the North Island. Wanting to spend more time in the South, we only allowed 6 days in the North Island. Looking back on our entire trip, if I were to add more time to New Zealand, I would have spent a little more in the North Island. But there is only so much time, especially when you are trying to fit so much into a specific time. We will just have to go back!
Auckland
When getting advice for our trip, everyone said we only needed one day max in Auckland, and that's mainly because you have to land there. I can see why people would say this as there is not much to do from a tourist's perspective. But that being said, as a city, I absolutely LOVED Auckland. It has all of the amenities, culture and vibrancy of a big city, while still maintaining that friendly, relaxed, small-town feeling. 
We stayed in an Airbnb right across from the Sky Tower hotel and casino complex. This was a very central location, but was definitely very loud and had bright lights late into the night. The best part of the location was its proximity to great restaurants. Multiple people recommended we eat at Depot Eatery and Oyster Bar on Federal Street. This is one of New Zealand's top TV chef Al Brown's restaurants offering fresh kiwi food including fresh oysters. Despite not loving sea food, I really like oysters (strange I know!) so we had a half dozen of local oysters and shared a few other side dishes. I would definitely recommend this place!
That afternoon we learned about New Zealand's history at the Auckland Museum and then strolled through the beautiful Auckland Domain park. At night we walked along the waterfront to Wynyard Wharf and Silo Park where a strip of cute restaurants line the dockside. The following morning we had amazing bagels at another one of Al Brown's spots, Best Ugly Bagel.
Waiheke Island
Just a 35 minute ferry ride away from downtown Auckland, Waiheke is known as the island of wine due to its many wineries and vineyards. We were quite jet-lagged and unfortunately got a late start to our morning so we didn't make it to the island until close to 1pm. As most of the wineries close between 4 and 5pm we only had time to check out a few. We contemplated renting bikes to explore the island but given the short time period we opted for the bus. Boy were we glad we went with this option as the island is quite hilly! There are 2 options for busses: the hop-on/hop-off bus that takes you to all the wineries and the normal local bus. Again as we had little time left we opted for the cheaper local bus. While we had to walk a little bit from the stops to the wineries it was much cheaper and super easy. If you have the whole day I would recommend the hopper (you can buy a combo with your Fullers Ferry ticket - for $60NZ saving you $6NZ).
We went to Stonyridge Vineyard first for lunch. This winery is famous for its organic reds. It was beautiful but very expensive! We did their red tasting, as these are the wines they produce onsite. I forget the exact cost, but it was something ridiculous like like $30/40NZ for 3 tiny glasses of wine! Granted one of the wines (Stonyridge Larose) is $50NZ/glass alone! The wine was good but definitely not worth the price tag. The views on the other hand are definitely worth the visit as the cafe and deck overlook the vineyards. So I would suggest either getting the cheaper tasting or just grabbing lunch and a glass of wine.Next we went to Obsidian, a very cute winery set in an "amphitheater" of vineyards. This winery had a great deal as we got 5 decent-sized pours of delicious wines for only $15NZ (free if you buy bottles, which clearly we did). They had one of the best Chardonnays I have ever had, and you know how I love my chardy's. We wanted to end the day at either Cable Bay or Mudbrick as we had heard both have amazing sunsets overlooking Auckland, but both were closed for private events. So instead we went to a cute wine shop, Waiheke Wine Centre, on Ocean View Road, bought pre-paid tasting cards and did our own DIY tasting. This was actually pretty cool because there was a selection of 40+ different wines from the island so we had a wide variety to choose from. Plus there's a back deck with a great view of the bay. We had dinner at the Oyster Inn, a cute bistro with ocean views and really great food.
Note: It's a smart idea to check the exact times of the night ferries as they do not run as frequently as the day ones. We missed one by 5 minutes and had to wait over an hour for the next one. Needless to say we returned to Auckland exhausted and ready for bed!
The next day we set off for our North Island Road Trip
Stats: 736 KM (457 Miles) covered in 4 days / 3 nights
Coromandel Peninsula
Jutting off the eastern coast of the North Island, the Coromandel Peninsula stretches 85km into the Pacific Ocean. Only an hour drive outside of Auckland, it is a beautiful tropical paradise.
Coromandel Peninsula
Jutting off the eastern coast of the North Island, the Coromandel Peninsula stretches 85km into the Pacific Ocean. Only an hour drive outside of Auckland, it is a beautiful tropical paradise.
Our first stop was a visit to Hot Water Beach. Aptly named, for two hours on either side of low tide, you can access an area of sand on the beach where hot water oozes up from beneath the surface. Timmy was hesitant to go as the photos in the guide books made it look super crowded with tourists. But I thought it sounded so cool, so I insisted we try to make it in time. And we were so glad we did! We rented a spade for $5NZ at Hottie's Cafe and set off to dig ourselves a private spa pool in the sand. It was interesting because you had to find the right spot to dig otherwise it would be cold water. But if you find the right place water can get as hot as 60°C (140°F). At times it got too hot! While the beach was very crowded, we just sat in our own little pool for close to an hour until the tide came in and knocked down the walls. It felt great to have the cold ocean water wash over us after being immersed in such hot water.
We then drove about 5 minutes to the beautiful Hahei Beach where we caught a water taxi to Cathedral Cove. We read that you could do a 70-minute walk between the two, but given time constraint we opted for the 10-minute boat so we could actually spend some time on the beach. Cathedral Cove is famous for its stone arch and natural waterfall. The beach was so beautiful but also quite crowded. We spent a bit of time walking around taking pictures. Our goal was to make the next water taxi (30 minutes in between each) but by the time we got back to the drop off a large line had already formed and we were just too late to make the first boat. So went for a quick 15-minute swim and then rejoined the line with 15 minutes to spare. Lucky we did because again the boat was totally packed! Not sure how all the people made it off the beach, and we never saw the walking entrance from the cliffs to the shore.
Rotorua
We ended our day 2.5 hours south in Rotorua. They say you will smell Rotorua before you see it. That is due to its geothermal activity of bubbling, steaming array of colorful sulphur pools and spurting geysers. We stayed in a nice little motel Astray Motel & Backpackers. The owner Tom was so informative and helped us plan our activities while there. There are many things you can do in Rotorua from mountain biking and zorbing (Google it) to zip lining and skydiving. Not too interested in any of these activities, Timmy and I opted to stick to the two main attractions in Rotorua - the hot spa and the Maori Villages.
This bathhouse opened in the Government Gardens in 1882 offering mineral baths (36-42°C/ 89.6-107.6°F) in several picturesque pools on the lake's edge. The Adult Pools area offers seven contemporary-style mineral pools fed with the acidic mineral water from the Priest Spring and alkaline mineral water from the Rachel Spring. I have mixed feelings about this experience. While there, it was a lovely experience as we sat in the different pools for a few hours relaxing our soar muscles. That being said this is sulphuric water... Which is very smelly. It wasn't bad while we were there but the smell definitely remained in our swim suits for a very long time. I think it took about three washes and multiple swims in the ocean before the smell was gone. So I am going to put this experience in the cool, but not necessary category. You decide for yourself.
The brochure promised that an evening at Mitai provides an "authentic traditional Maori experience." I put the word authentic/traditional into quotes as it was definitely a very touristy experience. It felt kind of like the New Zealand version of a Hawaiian luau. The problem is no one truly lives the old Maori way of life these days. But their culture is still very present in all of New Zealand and this was a nice way to learn about it. Through song and dance, their cultural performance provided an introduction to Maori culture and a time when the ancient customs and traditions were part of everyday life. After the show we ate a traditional hangi meal of meat and vegetables cooked in an underground pit (also very reminiscent of the whole pig cooked at luaus). So while it was definitely touristy - that's not always a bad thing. I would put this in the definitely do category. There are a few other options that I am sure are comparable to our village so do some research and decide which you think is best for you.
Waitomo - Glow Worm Caves
We donned full body wet suits (as the water is freezing) and were equipped with inner tubes. We then walked and floated down the river that flows through the Ruakuri Cave. The highlight was leaping off a small waterfall in pitch black darkness (I was scared at first but it was super easy) and then floating through a long, glowworm-covered passage. We had a great Kiwi tour guide who told us stories about the ancient Maoris who lived in the area and how they came to find the caves. Definitely worth a visit, you only need a day as there is nothing in this town besides the caves and a few hotels/restaurants serving the cave-goers. We had one of our best meals in New Zealand at Huhu Cafe. Note restaurants close down around 9pm here so you need to go early, which is hard when the sun sets at 8:30pm.
So that's our road trip! One quick funny side story. The road to Waitomo was rather easy so we decided it was the perfect time for me to practice driving on the left side of the road. I actually did pretty well given that it was my first time and the roads were very narrow. Every once in a while I would veer too far to the left and Timmy would have to yell "center!" But after a while I got the hang of it. When we were about 50km away from our final destination, Timmy noticed that the gas gauge read 27km. Oops! He Googled and the next gas station was 30km away. Gulp! Then the gas started to drop really fast and we were suddenly at 2km with 15km still to go. Double gulp! So Timmy took over the wheel and practically drove the entire way in neutral, probably only being in drive for about 3km. As we glided into the station we both let out a collective sigh. After that I wasn't ready to drive just then. But I did drive a few other times during the trip. All practice for learning to drive stick on the left side of the road in Cape Town. EEEK!
