Flip Flops and Wanderschuhe: One More Island and Not Nearly Enough Time in NZ

Our north island tour is a bit shorter than expected, but we pack in quite a bit and reassure ourselves that we will absolutely be back one day to discover more of it.

My favoritest cloud in all of New Zealand

A cute meat pie in even cuter packaging

In Wellington we get a brief taste of (tiny) city life again with public bus transport, pubs, and government buildings galore. As tried and true city folk, we like it here a bit more than Auckland, which is really just a sprawl of suburbs and a wee inner city, and would gladly spend more time checking out the various museums and craft beer bars if the price tags weren’t all so darn high.

Wellington, charming even from afar

I like Wellington's drinking style

As it is, we go to the most renowned museum in New Zealand, Te Papa, to learn about all aspects of New Zealand’s history and experience a simulated earthquake, something not new to me but exciting for Micha to be sure. The other strangest and most fascinating exhibit is a real, preserved giant squid that is the kind of thing that nightmares are made of. Leave it to the Kiwis to have one!

The next day, we head north along the coast and then straight through the middle of New Zealand. We stop for coffee and farm fruit along the way and discover that even the most remote locales in New Zealand are absolutely adorable and inviting. Our destination is the Tongariro National Park, which includes two spectacular volcano mountains, including Mt Ruahepu, the highest mountain on the north island, and Mt Ngauruhoe, otherwise known as Mount Doom! We even get so brave as to say we’ll hike part of the Tongariro Crossing – one of the Great Walks – the next day, but fortuitously or not, a full day’s downpour thwarts those plans just as quickly as we make them. The trip is not for naught, though, as we get spectacular views of the Mt Ruahepu on the drive there and get to experience our first DOC campground that night. While we both agree that we prefer real campgrounds, with kitchens, bathrooms, and other amenities, we’re grateful for this little taste of roughing it anyway. As the rain clouds start to roll in, we get talking with the couple in the van next to ours who we’re convinced has been following us all the way from Picton in the south island! Apparently, we’re on the same route and we have a lovely evening with the Texans, who are also on a RTW adventure, in our warm little campervan.

We drive through the rain to Rotorua next, with an oh-so brief stop and oh-so stormy and windy Lake Taupo, a place that Micha has been greatly looking forward to this trip due to its crazy natural hot springs, geysers, and volcanic activity. I was briefly in Rotorua back in 2004 with Natalie and remember only one thing about it: the smell. The notorious smell. When we arrive, it’s not nearly as bad as I remember (thank goodness) and our two days there prove much more enjoyable than I’d expected.

A gathered pumice stone from Lake Taupo, to make sister proud

We decide to visit the Orakei Korako thermal park on Natalie’s recommendation as it’s said to be the park with everything in its most natural state. It’s absolutely breathtaking as we walk around the rainbow-colored ground, bubbling mud holes, and steaming geysers. We don’t get to see a geyser go off, but the trek through the area more than fulfills our geothermal sightseeing needs (totally a real thing). That and the natural hot pools that are available in both of the campgrounds we stay at - best thing ever!

The unexpected surprise for me in Rotorua is the gorgeous redwood forest just a few minutes drive away. Real redwoods! Now, I've never seen the California redwoods, I'll admit (lame, I know), but holy smokes, now I want to more than ever. The trees were ginormous!! And apparently they really like the New Zealand soil or climate or something because they are said to grow three times faster there. So beyond worth a visit.

Micha vs. the ginormous, beautiful redwoods

I'd be lying, however, if I didn't tell you that my most anticipated stop near Rotorua is Hobbiton. Yup, the hobbit village set from the Lord of the Rings. Because how could anybody visit Middle Earth and not go there? (Well, except Micha, who isn't even sure what Middle Earth is and hence is not permitted to join me. Hobbiton ain't cheap!) It is fantastical - all I wanted and more. There are hobbit holes galore and thanks to the filming of The Hobbit, the set was expanded and made to keep for at least 50 years, just for geeky tourists like me.

Teeny, tiny, smaller-than-even-hobbit-scale hobbit hole!

Bag's End!

Why yes, we did get a complimentary LOTR stout at the end of the tour in the Red Dragon pub!

Since our time in New Zealand is slowly running out, we make one more stop before heading back to Auckland for our last couple days. We think we're making an awesome but silly stop to see some super cool glowworms caves but really, the whole thing turns out to be a laughable tourist trap that makes us slap our foreheads and wish we'd gone to the Coromandel Peninsula instead. Or at least chosen to do the amazing-sounding blackwater rafting. Oh well, live and learn... We go to the glowworm caves in Waitomo since we get one free entry with our rental car and then pay another whopping $48 for the second person. I cannot even express how happy we are when we emerge from the cave 40 minutes later to not have paid $48 per person. I probably would have cried. The whole glowworm part of the tour lasted maybe 10 minutes and was basically like looking at twinkly lights on the ceiling while floating on a boat from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. We make a nice night of it anyways - it's our last night with Brit after all! - and then begin the long haul back to Auckland and returning the van in the morning.

Not impressed by this Pirates of the Caribbean knockoff...

And yet finding Friends on the campground's kitchen TV can turn things right around! (That and wine)

Last meal with Brit

Our last, like our first days in New Zealand are spent in a home, which is the greatest luxury you can be offered when traveling long-term. We stay on the North Shore with Kiwi Dave, a friend through Natalie who she met while studying abroad there, and enjoy homecooked meals, dinners out in the neighborhood, barbecue evenings, long walks along the coast, and even a little puppy cuddling with the beyond adorable Zeph. We spend one way too long night drinking entirely too much red wine and other goodies in the living room and talking about how awesome Rachel's (Dave's fiancee) job is because she gets eight minutes with each All Blacks player before each game.

Unexpectedly delicious Mexican food in Auckland

It's pretty clear who had the most fun during barbecue hour

No one was sure quite why the Christmas market mug and schnapps glasses came out, but I think we could all agree it was very probably a bad idea indeed...

After a little exploring of the picture perfect north shore, a visit to Dave's parents for dinner with a fantastic view of the bay, and then a bit more wandering through Auckland with the requisite last good beer for a good long while, we said goodbye to the South Pacific and traveled back in time all the way to Santiago de Chile for the last leg of this great adventure.