The North Island

On disembarking the ferry in the capital Wellington, it was clear that the north island was far more densely populated than the south island. For once we were competing with actual traffic and roundabouts. In fact nearly 75% of New Zealanders live on the north island, this is despite it being far smaller than the south island. Our first stop was the WETA workshop where the special effects team behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy are based. 

We signed onto the behind the scenes tour which granted us access into the studios where cameras couldn’t go, because the WETA prop teams are working on films yet to be released. I’d love to tell you some of the things we saw, but then I’d have to kill you. Lord of the Rings daily fix over it was time to find somewhere to stay, there were a few options in town, but only one that was in walking distance of downtown so we rocked on up. To say it was a glorified carpark is an understatement, it was a funny sight seeing Cora running to the showers in her PJs, towel under her arm, while people walked by on their way to work. Picture camping in the IFSC and that gives you a idea!

Wellington was a nice little city, we caught the cable car up to the summit in Kelburn which afforded great views over the city. This enabled me to recreate the famous postcard I’d seen in every shop since we’d arrived, of the cable car with Wellington in the background. What do you think? 

The walk back down took us through the botanical gardens and we finished in the main shopping district for a coffee. It’s a tough life.

We stayed in Welly for a couple of nights, but got out of there just in time. We left our campsite at 12.30pm, did a bit of shopping and hit the road. At around 2.30pm the city was rocked by a massive earthquake measuring 6.5, a near miss on our part!

Our next stop was the Tongariro national park where we had planned to do the Tongariro alpine crossing. This gruelling 20km hike passes over the volcanic terrain near the volcano Mt Tongariro and is widely regarded as the best one day hike in the world. As it was winter, the only way to do the hike was with a professional guide rented gear to get you through the snow. The mountain was a no go on our first day because of poor weather, so we drove to nearby Lake Taupo and visited some geothermal fields and Huka falls.

Back in Tongariro and with a 7am start time we were both anxious as we waited for the bus to pick us up. Disappointingly the guide told us that there was a good chance that the hike wouldn’t happen today because the weather was still rough. With no more days to spare, this was our last shot! The bus dropped us at the start of the trek where the guides would make the final call. Immediately we were met with a “Danger! Considerable avalanche warning” sign. This made up my mind really, but the guides studied the mountain and the clouds before deciding to abandon the hike.

The mountain we didn't climb

Feeling a little down, the guide suggested a nearby trek we could do on our own. With the lunch and water packed, hiking boots on and time in New Zealand running out we thought why not! The 18km hike took us through vast wilderness where we felt like the only two people around for miles. It started off on flat open grassland, with the occasional river crossing to contend with. 

Then the terrain got far more rocky and suddenly it felt as though we were on the moon. All the while the vast snowcapped peaks nearby kept us company. We were promised that we would see some lakes towards the end of the hike, and boy we weren’t disappointed. We passed two lakes on the way both a beautiful emerald green colour, we sat at the top for a few minutes and had our lunch in utter isolation. On the walk back the cloud cover started to clear and I finally got some good snaps of the famous “Mount Doom” for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Looks much different when it doesn’t have molten lava spewing out of it eh?

Our walk in Tongariro was a fantastic experience and a highlight for me, and on the plus side it didn’t cost a penny! We couldn’t rest for too long, well at least one of us couldn’t. We had some serious driving to do before it got dark if we were going to make it to Rotorua that evening.

Rotorua is one of New Zealand's most popular tourist destinations for two reasons. It’s home to many geothermal fields with geysers and hot mud pools where people come to be healed. It’s also home to some of New Zealand's most richly preserved Maori culture. We thought we’d hit two nails on the head and go visit a traditional Maori village which was built right on top of a geothermal area. The town of Whakarewarewa is not what I expected a traditional Maori village to look like. But then I was a bit naïve in thinking that Maori tribes lived in log cabins and wore traditional clothing and spoke only Maori. The village was very normal looking apart from the sulphuric smell coming from the steam rising all around us. 

It did however have a traditional meeting house at the heart of the town covered with intricate carvings. The tour ended with a traditional Maori song and dance show, where we were treated to the famous Maori Haka among other things. All in all an interesting learning experience.

It was also in Rotorua where I celebrated my birthday! This year Rotorua NZ, last year Santa Marta, Colombia. Next year who knows! What better birthday present than a trip to Hobbiton. For those of you who haven’t seen the movies, it’s where Bilbo and Frodo Baggins live, and in real life is located half way between Rotorua and Auckland on a lovely working sheep farm.

It wasn’t the easiest place in the word to find and given that we had to have our campervan back in Auckland that evening we were running tight on time. We signed onto the tour and suddenly I was giddy as a schoolgirl on prom night. The tour took us through the entire set, which has recently been reconstructed for the Hobbit movie. The attention to detail in the set design was amazing, even down to the fake moss on all the wooden posts. It looked exactly like it did in the movies, so I’ll just let the pictures do the talking.

The tour finished with a free drink in the Green Dragon pub, which is now a fully functional old pub. It was a great experience and a must for anyone who is a fan of the movies. With no time to waste it was back into the campervan and the mad dash ensued!

We had two and a half hours to drive the 170 kilometres to Auckland to get our camper back in time. In a country with no motorways that’s harder said than done, we had to go through every single town on the way and crawl along at the speed limit. With the keys finally handed back and bills settled, we grabbed a taxi to our guesthouse. I cannot tell you how good it was to have a room again and a bed that you didn’t need to assemble each night and take apart in the morning! We didn’t exactly do much in Auckland except hit a few bars, and Cora took me out for a lovely birthday dinner.

Our time in New Zealand came to an end too soon. We were there in winter and I would love to return again in summer to see and do a bit more. We were really lucky with the weather though and apart for the odd rain day, we had mostly clear skies to take in the beautiful scenery. The Kiwis have to be some of the friendliest people I’ve ever met, everyone seems to love striking up a conversation with you. They love to hear about where you’ve been and where you’re going and will give you tips on what to see in their country, it’s as though they all work for tourism New Zealand which is great.

Two more flights and we’d be in New York City on our final stop. We had some friends coming to visit aswell, so it was gonna be epic!