Author: Lindsay & Igor

Day 31: The Far North

We decided to camp out at Spirits Bay the night before – the park was a bit packed, but the beach was pretty empty when we explored the next morning. After breakfast, we made our way to Cape Reinga, stopping at the Giant Te Paki Sand Dunes along the way. Our timing was perfect – we had the dunes all to ourselves! Climbing the dunes was very challenging, but the views were very rewarding.

Sunrise walk on the beach in Spirits Bay

Peaceful moment in Spirit Bay

First ones in the carpark – we have the dunes to ourselves!

Quite a climb to the top! These boots need a rest!

View from the top of the Giant Te Paki Sand Dunes

Igor had a lot of fun coming back down the dunes. While other people rent boogie boards to slide down the dunes, Igor decided it would be a bright idea to roll down the dunes. I love my husband – he’s very entertaining.

 

Igor is King of the Mountain – until he tumbles down

The very tip of the North Island is Cape Reinga, or Te Rerenga Wairua – a very spiritual place for the Maori. According to their folklore, the spirits of the deceased pass through here before returning to their ancient homeland. At the very end of the walkway is the Cape Reinga Lighthouse, right where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean.

Trailhead for Twilight Beach – just a quick hop over the fence

Panorama of the Far North

 

The 800-year-old pohutukawa tree which Maori spirits must climb before returning to their homeland

The lighthouse at Cape Reinga – fully automated with solar panels

 

The turbulent waters of Cape Reinga, where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean

Since we couldn’t go any further, we turned South, this time heading for the West Coast of Northland, stopping at mile 25 of the 90-Mile Beach.

 

90-Mile Beach (which is only 54 miles – gotta love Marketing)

We spent the night at the Trounson Kauri Park (recommended by our Canadian friend from the Routeburn Track – hi Rachel!), which is known for kiwi sightings. We got the park just after sundown, so we headed into the forest looking for a loud, screechy jungle chicken. We soon ran into a group of about two dozen tourists following a park ranger – we figured we would never find a kiwi with that many people, so we headed back to the RV for dinner & a bottle of wine. Around 10PM, we decided it would be an awesome idea to go back into the forest looking for some kiwi! After about 30 minutes, we did hear a really freaky screech, but unfortunately it wasn’t close enough for us to locate the bird. We stumbled back to bed, only to hear the kiwis screaming throughout the night.

Day 30: Northland

After Hobbiton, Lindsay took the wheel and drove us North into the wee hours of the night, as we didn’t want to get stuck in Auckland traffic in the morning. We arrived in Snells Beach a little after midnight and passed out in the public parking lot.

 

Cloudy sunrise in Snells Beach

Since we were already in Northland the next morning, we made our way up the coast at a leisurely pace, passing through the Bay of Islands and Mangonui, on our way to the very tip of New Zealand’s North Island: Cape Reinga.

Surfers waiting for the perfect wave in Mangawhei

Drive-by of the Bay of Islands

Signs of local birdlife in Mangonui

Walking the Heritage Trail in Mannui, trying to get cultured

 

Sailboats in Mangonui

Day 29: Hobbiton

When we got up in the morning, we were glad we had taken the ski lift to see the mountains the day before – the clouds were so thick, we couldn’t see any of the three peaks. We still had the morning free, so we walked the Taranaki Falls Walk just for our health, before heading off at noon.

 

Bit of morning tramping to the Taranaki Falls

A few mossy steps to a great view

Both hubby & New Zealand look amazing AF

After a very light lunch, Lindsay took the driver’s seat because she was just that excited and couldn’t wait to arrive at our next destination – for years she had been dreaming about visiting a magical place that once only existed in the imagination: Hobbiton!

 

Fangirl squeal of excitement!

We were booked for the Dinner Tour which left the Visitor’s Center at 4:45pm. About 50 fellow tourists climb onto a big green bus with us, we drive through the locked gates of the Alexander Farm, down about 5km into the sheep fields of the working farm, along a road built by the New Zealand Army to accommodate the film crew for The Lord of the Rings (max capacity 130+ vehicles per day).

 

On the bus to The Shire! Lindsay is swooning over her tickets while Igor is checking his emails via mobile phone

We get off the bus and follow our guide, Andy, into the heart of the Shire…guys, it’s every bit as wonderful as I hoped it would be. Andy took us along the pathways, telling us little behind-the-scenes stories about the construction of the sets, pointing out which hobbit holes were full scale, and which were “hobbit-scale”, what was real, and what was fake, as well as a few jokes (“Why are hobbits no good at boxing? Because they destroyed the ring!”). We had plenty of time to take photos as the sun slowly went down, and we made our way to the Green Dragon Inn.

 

Welcome to the world of hobbits!

 

Uncontainable excitement over hobbit-holes!

BAG END.

 

Night falling on Hobbiton – time for supper & some ale!

At the Green Dragon, we got a complimentary beer – specialty brews from Good George made exclusively for Hobbiton and enjoyed the pub atmosphere. While sipping our ale, we met a couple from Brighton (England, not New York) who were visiting the wife’s sister New Zealand who later became our tablemates for dinner.

The calm before the storm – getting some ale at the Green Dragon

Cheers! Any surprise Igor is seated near the exit?

Speaking of dinner – what a hobbit feast! It was like a Tolkien Thanksgiving – the tables were literally full of food (Andy told us that when they are setting the table, their supervisors check to verify that there is not a single bare spot on the table). And the food is GOOD: roast chicken, beef & sausage dumpling stew, roast bacon, stuffed butternut squash, roast vegetables, ratatouille. After “filling in all the corners”, we still had dessert!

Tucking in for a hobbit-feast!

Dessert plate! I would expect nothing less from the Green Dragon

After the delicious dinner, each couple gets a lantern to light our way back through a night-tour of Hobbiton. Seriously, the sight of the Party Tree & Bag End lit-up in the dark is just magical – words can’t describe the wonder of being physically transported inside a novel.

Exploring hobbit-holes and considering moving here…

 

Pickles the cat, following the tour through a lamp-lit Hobbiton

Word of advice to any friend considering a trip to New Zealand: if you decide to visit Hobbiton, spring of the Dinner Tour – it’s worth every penny.

Day 28: The Forgotten World Highway & Mount Ruapehu

We made it halfway through the Forgotten World Highway the night before, and decided to spend the night in the “Republic” of Whangamomona. Apparently, this town in the middle of nowhere New Zealand declared themselves an independent state in 1989 (symbolically only of course – and just one day per year) to protest some redistricting done without their input. As we were not there on their independence Day (in January) it was just another rural New Zealand town – maybe a tad quirkier.

 

The rest of the drive through the Forgotten World Highway was, well a bit forgettable really. Although we did get flagged down near the end by a farmer who needed to let his cows through the road. That’s another thing we noticed about the North Island verses the South – more livestock seems to get loose from the fields up North – we never saw stray animals in the South but every now and then we’d find a cow, sheep or goat wandering on the road. Drivers beware!

 

Beautiful views of the Forgotten World Highway

 

Stray cows – this would never happen on the South Island!

 

Making way for herding cattle

We got back to Tongariro late in the afternoon, but we had enough time for a quick tour round the lobby of the stunning Chateau Tongariro Hotel. We skipped their High Tea in order to visit Mount Ruapehu (Mount Doom, to the Lord of the Rings fans out there) – the ski area was running its lift to the “highest café in New Zealand”, where there was also a short Skyline Ridge Walk. Unfortunately for us, we missed the trailhead and started blindly climbing up the mountain. In our defense, we were not the only ones – we even asked some other tourists coming down from the mountain if it was the correct trail and they said “Yes! The view at the top is amazing!” Once we got halfway to the top, however, we could see the correct trail below us, veering off to the left of where we were. Oh well, we still got a great view!

 

Lurking around the lobby of the Chateau Tongariro – pretending we rich people

 

We got there too late for High Tea – boo.

Snowless ski-lift up Mount Ruapehu

 

Views from the highest café in New Zealand

A couple of boots on the mountain – view of Tongariro in the distance

The ski area in Ruapehu is building a new lift – we got a front-row view of the construction by helicopter

 

Setting up camp for the night

Sunset view from our “living room” – #Gobycamper

Day 27: Mount Taranaki

We spent the night in a beachside campground in New Plymouth, and woke up to a bright & sunny morning! Perfect weather for a day-trip to explore Mount Taranaki.

Neighborhood chicken roosting in the campsite next to us

We decided to save our strength for the Tongariro Crossing, and only attempted the first half of the summit hike, making our way up to the Translator Tower. While we had many sunny lookout, clouds kept sweeping the mountain peak, We ran into several other hikers coming back down the mountain saying they all had to turn back from the peak, due to icy conditions at the top.

 

Visit to the DOC to plan our Taranaki hike for the day

 

Super-crowded parking lot at Taranaki – we didn’t realize until later that Monday was ANZAC Day – the Australian/Kiwi version of Memorial Day. Igor’s superior parking skills came in handy.

Hiking up the mountain!

 

On a clear day you can see Mount Ruapehu & Tongariro from Taranaki – Lindsay could barely see Ruapehu in the distance

Igor taking a breather at the Translator Tower

 

Clouds rolling in – time to head back down!

That evening, we started heading back to Tongariro, via the Forgotten World Highway – a 150km route through the mountains. We were planning to speed through and arrive at Tongariro before nightfall, but when we called the shuttle service to book the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, we were told that once again, they were not running due to negative degree weather at the peak – luck just wasn’t with us! Since we no longer had to rush, we pulled over at the next campground…which had a little pony.

Goodnight, little pony!

Day 26: Waitomo Caves

Today was a rainy day – perfect for visiting caves! The caves in the Waitomo area are New Zealand’s most famous caves, and we decided to spend the whole day there to visit all three: Ruakuri, Aranui, and Waitomo. Our RV rental company, Britz, had a special “driver goes free” deal with the Waitomo Caves, so we got a 2-for-1 deal on our ticket fees – score!

The first cave we went to was our favorite: Ruakuri. The entrance is via a man-made tunnel with a huge spiral staircase. There is a natural entrance of course, but apparently a Maori chief is buried there, so the government created a new entrance out of respect.

Concrete entrance to the Ruakuri Cave

 

Spiral staircase and entry fountain

Not only are the cave formations really cool, but this cave also gave us our first look at glowworms! And we got a really close-up look too – we could see the little strings and beads the glowworms hang from the ceiling to catch their prey (similar to a spider-web). Actually, glowworms are not actually worms, but fly-larvae (but no one will pay to see ‘glow-maggots” –Marketing!) – the glow they produce is similar to a fire-fly, but it’s to trick other bugs trapped in the caves into thinking it’s the night sky & a way out of the cave – when the bugs fly up into the ceiling they get stuck on the strings and become dinner.

Original sign from Maori landowner protesting tours led through the burial site in the 1980s. The cave was shut down for about 20 years until the new entrance was complete in 2005.

 

Fossilized scallop shell & “The Pretties”  

 

Glowworms! Note to self: bring tripod for dark-location photography

The Aranui Cave was a dry cave (no water, means no bugs, which means no glowworms), but the formations were still very nice.

 

“Elephant ears” at the entrance to the Aranui Cave

Very long & tall stalactites & stagamites

Waitomo Cave was our least favorite cave. First of all, they have a no photos rule. Igor thinks the rule is to force tourists to buy the $40 Photo-shopped picture in the gift shop – Lindsay thinks it is to keep the tours running quickly. The place is like Disneyland, with a new group running every 30 minutes. As it is a 45min tour, each group is right on top of each other and the majority of the time is spent waiting for the previous tour group to walk-through / get on the boats. The number of glowworms is amazing – it really does look like the night sky – but the whole experience is not magical. Still worth doing, unless you can only pick one – if so, Ruakuri wins our votes.

 

Waitomo-Disneyland: long lines for the “rides”

Day 25: Lake Taupo & Rotorua

Unfortunately, the weather did not hold out for us. Luckily, Lindsay built an extra day into the North Island itinerary (when reviewing the days, we realized the scheduled skipped from Monday to Wednesday – happy accident!) so we decided to keep going North, and circle back to Tongariro later in the week when the weather improved.

Coming around the bend, with a cloudy Lake Taupo in view. World-class trout-fishing here (but we already knew that!)

This region is the Maori cultural center of New Zealand – lots of public art on display, including a “Tongariro Crossing”

We drove though Lake Taupo and went for a short walk to the Haku Falls – the North Island’s “biggest” waterfall. We assume they are talking about volume of water, not height of the falls. The place was crowded with tourists – not sure what all the fuss was about.

Huge crowds at Haku Falls

 

Kayakers going over the falls

In the afternoon, we moved on to Rotorua to visit Te Puia – a Maori cultural center & Te Whakarewarewa Thermal Valley with the largest geyser in the area.

Pohutu Geyser – a natural geyser that erupts approximately every 60-90 minutes (unlike another in the area which are “soaped” to go off at exactly 10:30AM)

 

While admiring the scenery, this random group of Chinese tourists comes up to us and asks to take a group photo – WITH US IN IT – wtf?

Maori totems start appearing in the forest as we walk closer to the cultural side of Te Puia. Next to the maere house, a storage house carved for the 1906 World Exhibition 

Details of the carved storage house

Igor exploring the old Maori village

A traditional Maori canoe, and a new totem being carved by the Te Puia Wood Carving School

 

 

Day 24: Fly Fishing

Apparently New Zealand is a trout-fisher’s paradise, so Lindsay booked us a beginner’s fly-fishing trip with Gary – a local guide from Wild Trout Adventures who met us at the Waiwhenua Farmstay Campsite, and led us up & down the river looking for rainbow trout.

Spending a morning on the river, flying fishing.

Lindsay had the first catch (a tiny 10” little thing – we let him go), while Igor’s fish was about twice the size! Of course, our teacher caught the biggest fish of the morning – a 6-pounder which he then showed us how to fillet and cook by hot smoking. Lunch & dinner for two nights – we don’t fish just for sport – we fish to eat!

Gary catching our dinner! A 6-lb. rainbow trout. 

Igor catches his first fish! A respectable size, but Igor let him go free anyways.

Lindsay holding our dinner! Gary showed us how to fillet & smoke the meat. 

 

Smoked trout – two fillets will feed us for two days!

That afternoon, we made our way to Tongariro National Park, in order to tart “New Zealand’s Best Day Hike” – the Tongariro Alpine Crossing – in the morning. However, once we arrived and tried to book the shuttle to the trailhead, we were informed that due to a rainy forecast & high winds at the summit, many companies were cancelling their tours for the next day. We went to bed with our fingers crossed for good weather.

Day 23: Hawkes Bay

OK – I’ll admit it: we were a bit hungover today. Lindsay must once again acknowledge that she is not in her 20s anymore and visiting 6 wineries in a day (before lunch!) is no longer a good idea. Today was a slow day: we drove up to Hastings & Napier and enjoyed lunch at the top of Te Mata Peak, and a walk along the Cape Kidnappers beach. There is a gannet colony at the end of the beach, but you have to start the walk at low tide to avoid getting stranded on your way back, and we arrived as the high tide was already coming in. So we just walked until we got tired then played a good’ game of throwing rocks at bigger rocks.

Views of Hawk’s Bay from Te Mata Peak

 

Igor enjoying the view – and contemplating the hang gliding launch

Cape Kidnappers Beach

Throwing rocks and enjoying a lazy visit to the beach

In the afternoon, we started to head west to our farmstay/RV park – the Waiwhenua Farmstay. Unfortunately, we never saw our hosts, but we followed the signs to the riverside RV area. After shooing away a few cows and navigating a rather treacherous one-lane dirt road, we found ourselves in a completely secluded campground with safari-theme. That night we enjoyed our very first campfire, and Igor played chef in the “bush kitchen”!

 

Driving through farmland in Hastings

 

Own private RV camp – with fire-pits!

Igor cooking up a storm in the Bush Kitchen!

Dinner for two in the moonlight – camping can be so romantic!

 

Day 22: Martinborough Wineries

Since Lindsay sacrificed wine-tasting in Marlborough, we decided to leave Wellington a day early and hit the wine region in the North Island. Lindsay likes Pinot Noir (Martinborough specialty) better than Sauvignon Blanc anyways.

As we drove up north, we started to notice many more signs pointing out Lord of the Ring movie locations – including the former set for Rivendell in Kaitoke Regional Park. Detour!

The last remnants of Rivendell! A replica archway and a measuring post – Lindsay is as tall as Gandalf!

When we got to Martinborogh, we got a map of the tasting rooms (or “cellar doors” as they are called here) in area. We decided they were walkable and took off! However, we soon realized that Wednesday in the middle of harvest is the WORST time to visit wineries in New Zealand – half the cellar doors were closed, and many wineries had sold out or were at end of vintage of their most popular labels.

 

Visiting Martinborough wineries on foot

Stop #1 – Schubert Vineyards

So many wineries, so little time!

 

Final stop of the day – Lindsay is feeling a bit giddy!

However, we made the most of our day and hit 6 wineries before stumbling back to our RV for a late lunch and a 3-hour nap in the shade before we were sober enough to drive off.

 

A belated lunch & nap in the RV next to the park.