New Zealand- Week One- North Island
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| Geyser at Te Puia in Rotorua |
We were very lucky to have spent three weeks in New Zealand for the girls' spring break. We did a lot and will have to break this into a few posts. We spent one week in the North Island and almost two in the South Island. This post will focus on the our time in the North Island.
Our vacation began on Caitlyn's birthday (as the school term always seems to end right about that time). We had a quick (early) birthday celebration for Caitlyn at home the night before we left since the majority of her actual birthday was going to be spent on planes and in the airport.
We love this kid SO much and can't believe she is already 13. And it's been so easy so far. I don't know why people complain about raising teenagers! :) On to the trip....
Day 1- Traveling to Auckland
We had a relatively early flight out of Canberra on the morning of Caitlyn's birthday. We got to the airport too early because Shannon doesn't enjoy the stress of rushing through all the things. It is always a little different, because the Canberra airport currently only has flights to one international destination (Fiji), so the security screening is only for domestic Australian flights. It simply isn't as stringent. You can have liquids and anyone can go to the gate, which is, for us, a little weird. Surprisingly our Qantas flight to Sydney was on time. Shannon may or may not have strategically picked this flight because it is one of the only flights to Sydney not on a little plane. That first flight was good. We got to Sydney with plenty of time, which is good, because when you are traveling somewhere international, you have to clear security a second time.
Our flight to Auckland was delayed. And there was a last minute issue that we had to solve with the Air New Zealand folks before we could get on the plane, but we made it to NZ no problem. This was our first time flying with Air New Zealand, and we were relatively happy with it. The plane we were on was weirdly configured. We were in the third or so row of the economy section and somehow there was no seat in front of Shannon (the row she and the girls were in had three seats, but the row in front of them only had two). Shannon got a lot of extra leg room, but was basically seated in the aisle, which was super weird.
There was bad weather in Auckland when we landed, but the plane was so big and the pilot was good, so it was actually quite a decent ride into the city. However, the Auckland airport was a bit of a disaster, but we'll try not to dwell on it too much! It took us what felt like FOREVER to clear customs and biosecurity. The passenger arrival card for New Zealand was also the most comprehensive we have ever seen. It was a booklet. They take biosecurity very seriously. We "declared" that we had shoes that had been in the wilderness, so we had to wait in the longer line for them to eyeball them and make sure we had actually cleaned them. It was a tremendous amount of waiting for very little assessing of the actual shoes. Getting our rental car also took FOREVER, even though we already had a paid reservation. The signage for rental cars at the airport was terrible, so it took a while to even find the rental car lot. Once we finally made it through all of that, it turned out the rental car lady forgot to give us a code to get out of the parking lot, so we had to double back and get that. By the time we finally made it to our hotel, it was almost 10:00pm (NZ time). We paid for a cheaper ticket on the plane, so despite it being a 3 hour flight at dinner time, we didn't get any food. The kids were starving and not much around the hotel was open, so we just ordered room service and went to bed. While the time difference between Canberra and Auckland isn't bad, it was just a super long day, and we were all glad to get some food and end the first day.
Day 2- Travel to Kawhia
Our first surprise in arriving there was that New Zealand started daylight savings time one week before Australia. So we now had a three hour time difference. As a result, we got started to our next destination later than we had planned. Shannon had really wanted to take the kids to a hot water beach while in New Zealand. She had read about the most famous one in Coromandel where you can dig our own natural hot pool just feet from the pacific ocean. Naturally heated mineral water bubbles up (at low tide) if you dig in the right spot. Since we only had a week on the North Island and SO many things we wanted to do, but we couldn't make the drive to Coromandel work. She found a blog post on another hot water beach just south of Auckland (and on the way to where we wanted to go to see a glow worm cave). The beach was also a black sand beach, which the kids had never seen before. So we planned one night at Kawhia.
Sadly, due to the timing of low tide and our late start, the stars did not align, and we did not make it to the beach in time for low tide and were unable to dig our own hot pool. Lauren did have a great time digging in the sand and the beach was beautiful, it just wasn't what Shannon had hoped to experience. We're not sure we would suggest this particular town to other travelers. It wasn't crowded as it likely isn't well known to even New Zealanders themselves (as more than one person in Kawhia said to us), but the town was a bit rough around the edges. The holiday park we stayed at was probably my least favorite of all the places we stayed over the three week period, and there were no restaurants to speak of. The blog post we had read was written pre-COVID, and our guess is that the dearth of tourists killed off any burgeoning tourist industry this town may have had.
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| The kids found a playground and kept themselves busy for quite some time |
Day 3- Glow Worm Cave Tour and Drive to Rotorua
The next day we had a glow worm cave tour set up for 1:30pm, but it was only an hour away from Kawhai. Since we did not love our accommodation or the town it was in, we left before breakfast. We stopped in Hamilton, New Zealand, to eat lunch and play at a playground. We still had plenty of time that morning so we ended up at the only other place we could find to do something in Hamilton, which was the Otorohanga Kiwi House which was a little zoo place that does some kiwi conservation. There we saw some kiwis and learned many kiwi facts:
- Kiwis are flightless.
- Female kiwis are larger/fatter than the males.
- Female kiwis have long curved beaks, while the males have shorter straight beaks.
- They are nocturnal and territorial. They are very solitary.
- There used to be 1.5 million kiwis, but now there are thought to only be around 66k. They did not have predators until we humans introduced them to New Zealand.
- They live in burrows.
- Baby chicks only stay with their mom for ten days to three weeks.
- Their eggs are large relative to the female kiwi's body.
- The come in several different colors/patterns to include spotted.
We then had lunch at a Thai food place in Hamilton that was actually quite good. Then we drove to take a small cave tour with the Spellbound tour company. We're glad we chose this tour group. They only take small groups (up to 12 people) and you get a chance to see one wet cave (and the glow worms that are there) and a dry cave as well. This was very high on our to do list, as Lauren really wanted to see a cave. We had planned to do so last spring break in Western Australia, but Mike broke his foot so our plans had changed. {Mike wants to know why breaking his foot keeps coming up! :)} We also wanted to to this in Tasmania, but the cave we were going to see was closed while we were there.
Shannon really enjoyed everything about this tour. We took a quick van ride across beautiful farm land. Then we took a five minute walk to get to the cave entrance.
We walked across a little stream. There were eels in the lake! When the guide first mentioned it, we thought he was joking. They had a little bucket of what looked like sausages and invited Lauren forward to feed the eels. Mike didn't know there was such a thing as freshwater eels and would have lost a bet.
Then we walked into the dark, wet cave. It took a few minutes for our eyes to adjust to the dark. We walked along a platform over the water. Then we got in a raft and went deeper into the cave. The glow worms looked like stars above us. The ride on the raft was very smooth, but was a little bit intimidating towards the back because you could hear the roar of the river. It felt like if we had been in a movie, it would be when the rope broke and all the action would begin, but it was all very safe and smooth.
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| Our guide showing us the glow worms in the light |
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| looks like the night sky |
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| walking out the wet cave entrance |
Some facts about the glow worms:
- Glow worms are not actually worms. They are larvae of fungus gnats. In the light, they look like a big mosquito. There are two types of fungus gnats, some that feed on mushrooms, and some that are carnivorous and feed on other insects (the type we saw in the caves). These glowworms are bioluminescent. They produce and emit light from an organ near their tails. They use that glow to attract prey. We were told they glow brighter the hungrier they are. The fully formed gnat only lives for three days, and the guide said that was because they have no mouth!
Next we had a snack. They offered tea, coffee, or hot chocolate along with some biscuits (cookies). Then we took another short (and beautiful) walk to a dry cave and got to see stalactites and stalagmites. The cave also had bones from a Moa, which is a an extinct (HUGE-12 ft tall) flightless bird endemic to New Zealand. All of New Zealand seems oddly proud of this extinct bird.
We would absolutely suggest this specific tour to anyone traveling to New Zealand. It was one of Shannon's favorite things we did while we were there. They only take small groups. They left on time. The tour guide was very nice and very knowledgeable.
After this two-hour tour, we drove another two or so hours to Rotorua, where we stayed for the next three days. Rotorua is a city in the Bay of Plenty Region of the North Island. It lies on the shores of Lake Rotorua. It is known for geothermal activity and hot mud pools, as well as opportunities to learn about the Maori culture. There are/were SO so many things tourists can do in Rotorua, we knew we had to stay a few days. We probably could have stayed even longer, as we barely scratched the surface of all you could do there.
Days 4 and 5- Enjoying Rotorua
Our first full day in Rotorua we went to Te Puia to explore the Te Whakarewarewa Thermal Valley (with geysers) and learn about the Maori culture. We signed up for guided tour of the valley and a cultural presentation. The weather was not fantastic the day we were there, but I was happy we did this anyway. We started the tour learning about the school they have there for Maori people to learn wood carving and weaving. We got to see students actually practicing the arts. Lauren was dismayed to learn that only males are allowed to do the wood carving. Though anyone was allowed to learn how to weave (however, it remained mostly females). If you asked Lauren, she's probably still upset about the gender-based roles.
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| entrance to Te Puia |
Next we walked through the thermal valley. The landscape was absolutely beautiful (though it smelled like rotten eggs and farts). It was frankly almost other worldly. Like something you would see on Star Trek when they landed on an alien planet. It was the first time any of us saw a geyser in real life. it was super cool!
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| Lauren trying to protect herself from the fart smells :) |
Finally we went to a cultural performance. There was a lot of singing, dancing, and music. It was informative and interesting.
In the afternoon we went to another geothermal place called Hell's Gate. We didn't walk through their geothermal grounds though. We went to spend time in their mud pools and sulfur spas. We were only allowed to stay in the mud pool for 20 minutes. It was very relaxing. But both the mud pool and the sulfur spa had a particularly strong smell. They advise everyone to bring items you are ok with possibility never getting the smell out of. Mike actually rented a bathing suit for it. Shannon can attest to the fact that the smell is permanently in those suits and after several washings, they are now in the garbage. This was a fun experience, but we took zero pictures while we were there, so I have nothing to show you readers. Just picture us covered in mud. :)
The following morning, Mike and the girls went to Skyline Rotorua which involved a gondola ride and then riding a luge down the side of a mountain. As Shannon was not super interested in doing this, she went to a laundromat and did laundry. We only packed for one week and had to do laundry many times. The gondola ride up was pretty cool. They're equipped to also take mountain bikes up, but those trails were closed when we were there. Mike can attest that they looked very challenging (dangerous). Mike and the girls took one luge ride down the mountain. While the luge was pretty cool, we all felt it wasn't worth the wait. Maybe they were understaffed, but we didn't stay around for another ride.
After that experience, we had lunch and were then off to go Zorbing! None of us had done this before, and it really doesn't sound like something that would be enjoyable. It's basically rolling down a steep hill inside an inflated orb typically made of transparent plastic that also has some water in it.
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| Waiting their turn |
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| re-enacting what happened inside the orb |
This was reportedly invented in New Zealand. It looks like a GIANT hamster ball. They fill it with water, plop you inside (up to three people can ride in one orb), and roll you down the hill. Mike and the girls went down twice - for some reason. Once down a straight track and once down a zig-zag track. Mike feels like this could easily be a form of torture, and while we might look back and say we had fun, we'll probably not do it again!
Day 6- Hobbiton
The next day we left Rotorua to drive back to Auckland. The only thing on our schedule that day was a stop in Hobbiton where they filmed scenes from the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Once again the weather was not fantastic. New Zealand is really green. Vibrantly verdant and due to tons of rain. It was threatening to rain for the entire tour. However, we got lucky and really only had drizzle for part of the tour. It really was a super cool experience, but it is a highly orchestrated tour, and you couldn't really explore it on your own, which was a little less than ideal. They run rain or shine, so we were lucky that it wasn't a downpour the entire time.
Before sharing some pictures of our tour there (and you can start to see just how green things are), we will say we knew we were going to NZ during the "shoulder season" for tourists. We thought it would be ok because it is spring after all, but honestly it felt more like winter for much of our time in NZ. I suppose the upside is that all the things we were doing were not as crowded as they must be during the summer. There were still lots of people on our Hobbiton tour. We can't imagine what it must be like during the summer months.
What was particularly impressive about Hobbiton was all the attention to detail. All the hobbit holes were so lovingly made. It reminded us of Disney in a way. The whole place was beautiful and interesting to look at. We took what felt like a million photos. It is really hard to choose which ones to post. Here are more than you probably want to see:
We were told that a location scout discovered this spot from a helicopter. They chose it because of the tree below used in the party scene.
We got a chance to have drinks at the Green Dragon. Then they gave us all a mug from the Green Dragon. We were unable to see into all the hobbit holes and only allowed to go into one. However, they were doing some construction to include building a hobbit hole large enough that visitors will be able to go into it for a even more immersive experience. It won't be the one used in films, but it should look a lot like one. Given the attention to detail on the outside, we expect that it will be super cool. Shannon thinks we were given the Green Dragon mugs to make up for the fact that we couldn't see Sam's hobbit hole. We still think it was a neat tour and are glad we did it.
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| Lauren's dessert |
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| happy birthday! |
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