NZ North Island road trip

[love_the_life]

Road trip commenced in earnest today. We picked up our hire car which smelled of wet mustiness, asked if we could have a nicer smelling one instead, then had a quick peek in at Te Papa before leaving Wellington for Taupo via Napier. Saw the 'beehive' on the way out of Wellington as well as the National Library, didn't stop in though.

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We stopped in at Rivendell along the way, yes the actual film location, they built an elven archway after filming was done. It's half size compared to the one in the film. And the creek nearby reminded me of the river Arwen crosses with Frodo with the Nazgul chasing them.

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(I hope this isn't sideways for you, it is on my phone and not sure why, or how to fix it...)
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Napier was great, lots of cool art deco buildings. We had some fush n chups by the waterfront for dinner.

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Then off to Taupo where we found somewhere to stay right by the lake. It's 'rustic' and reminds me of the line from Rocky Horror: 'a hunting lodge for rich weirdos'.

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The blue hair is gone? Replaced by purple this time?
Te Papa is great. We had a long weekend in Windy Wellington about 12 months ago and visited the museum for the second time - still good.

 

[Drakecula]

The blue hair is gone? Replaced by purple this time? .

Yep, still got bits of blue through it but mostly purple

 

[Drakecula]

Speaking of blue, look at this!



So pretty. This is an amazing natural spring that wells up from the ground in Mitai Maori Village. Fresh, clean water that we had at dinner. Look how clear it is!

The rest of my photos from tonight are nowhere near as pretty as this. But we went to Ohinemutu village before Mitai to meet a local who took us around. It was very interesting to get an insight into the Rotorua local tribe. Lots of international dignitaries visit, including Harry and Meghan who are due to visit next week!

Oh and the guy who took us around, his uncle played Jango Fett. No biggie. (Oh my!)

Mitai Maori Village was great, kind of dinner and a show place. Learned lots about the culture, which was really nice.

 

[Drakecula]

Ok I missed a day of reporting due to poor wifi. Yesterday we ventured out to Hamilton Gardens which were lovely. Lots of different styled gardens with more planned to come. Here's a taste:





On the way we passed through a little town but had to get a photo of these two buildings!

 

[Drakecula]

After Hamilton we found a spot to stay in Cambridge for the night. At the i-Site I discovered a wonderful gem in Morrinsville. They have a Herd of Cows! Being a big fan of cows of course we had to have a drive out to check it out. The brochure listed over 40, but we didn't see them all. But they were wonderful!

Here's just a few to give you an idea.





The last one was in front of a chemist and was called 'farm-assist'. Teehee.

 

[Drakecula]

This morning 'we were going on an adventure'! I absolutely loved this. But I'm a nerd. Our guide D'artagnan (Dart for short, what a neat name!) was great, full of lots of fun facts.

 

[Denali]

I loved Hobbiton, glad you had good weather for it!

 

[Drakecula]

After Hobbiton we headed north for a visit to Coromandel. We stayed in Hahei for the night, in someone's converted garage. Wasn't too bad actually. Lovely area. We started this morning early with a sea kayak trip to Cathedral Cove. It was a glorious day and along the way we saw two blue penguins, snapper, stingrays and a seal!






After the kayak trip we headed round to Hot Water beach to dig a hole and laze in warm water on the beach. The water in some parts is veeeery hot! But we found a good patch with a blend of cool and hot. You have to time your visit right, usually an hour or two either side of low tide. Pretty neat.

 

[RB]

A


After the kayak trip we headed round to Hot Water beach to dig a hole and laze in warm water on the beach. The water in some parts is veeeery hot! But we found a good patch with a blend of cool and hot. You have to time your visit right, usually an hour or two either side of low tide. Pretty neat.

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Looks like your hot water experience was a lot more crowded than ours-we were there in a Sept and only a couple of groups
Enjoying your write-up

 

[Drakecula]

Today we were in Waitomo with the mission of seeing glow worms. Before our trip to the cave, we visited a native bird sanctuary where we got to see kiwis! And a whole bunch of other birds including the cute kakariki we got to feed.



(Again sorry if this is sideways, dunno how to edit on my phone)

Then on to the cave! We donned wetsuits, grabbed tubes and off we went! It was wet, it was cold and it was awesome!! I was also the only person to successfully throw my tube onto a post. Go me (total fluke). After the wet tour we got changed and did the normal boat tour of the cave as a bonus. What a great day.

 

[Drakecula]

I like cows. I like puns. Welcome to Bulls, a little town along our way back to Wellington. The signs are great! We're sitting in Macca's using their free WiFi. It's sign was 'consum-a-bull'. Too good. The library is 'read-a-bull'. The medical centre is 'cure-a-bull'. I saw a clothes shop, 'fashion-a-bull'. I love it.

 

[get me outta here]

Can I have some more please?

 

[Drakecula]

Can I have some more please?

More puns? The chiropractor was 'adjust-a-bull'. And we didn't see a sign at the petrol stations but we figured they'd have to be 'refuel-a-bull'.

 

[get me outta here]

Enjoying the TR, more of everything.

More puns? The chiropractor was 'adjust-a-bull'. And we didn't see a sign at the petrol stations but we figured they'd have to be 'refuel-a-bull'.

 

[Drakecula]

This morning we went to the Weta Cave for the workshop tour. Very cool. I knew they got their big break with Lord of the Rings, but they've done so many more movies than I thought.

 

[Drakecula]

Alas, today is our last day so we're currently sitting in Wellington airport waiting for our flight home. But there's still cool stuff to see here.




I'm not sure how many people come to New Zealand purely because of Lord of the Rings (I admit Hobbiton is why we came to the North Island) but they sure put on a good show. Of course there's so much more than just that to NZ and I'm happy we've seen a good chunk of the North Island on this trip. Next time, the South and maybe Auckland and Bay of Islands after that.

 

[Denali]

Do they still do the Thunderbirds tour? We ended up doing it on our own and it was fun, hubby enjoyed reliving his childhood with the set pieces.

 

[Drakecula]

Do they still do the Thunderbirds tour?.

Yep they have that option as well. We didn't do Thunderbirds though as it's not our thing.