We headed northward to see more of the North Island of New Zealand. For the first part of the drive, the ocean was on our left side going up the coast. I wasn't sure why, but it seemed kind of odd to me. All of a sudden, it hit me. In all of the family's traveling in the past 2 years, we always seem to stick to the east/south side of islands/continents. So, we are never headed north with the ocean on our left. That may seem silly, but it was something that really stuck out to me that morning.
The North Island landscape was absolutely beautiful. We drove along the coast of the Pacific ocean, through mountains, volcanos, a desert, and a rainforest. All in one day's drive. It is not often that you can say that.
We saw the tallest peak on the North Island, Mount Ruapehu, which is still an active volcano. Its last eruption was in 2007. There have been further warnings of an impeding eruption as recently as 2012, but luckily the pressure decreased back to a "normal" level without erupting. It is also known as Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings.
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| Mount Ruapehu |
Mount Ngauruhoe, is another volcano of the North Island Volcanic Plateau. This volcano did erupt in 2012. It was the stand-in mountain for Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings. It is only about a 25 minute drive north from Mount Ruapehu, but the scenery changed considerably in the short amount of time. We drove out of green pastures and into the Rangipo Desert.
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| Mount Ngauruhoe |
Just about 25 kilometers north of Mount Ngauruhoe, we arrived at Lake Taupo. It was absolutely gorgeous, plus, as an extra bonus, it had a great park for the kids. We had been in the car for several hours at this time, so a park was a welcome sight.
As Kiwis (New Zealand residents) would say, it was "sweet as". That is local lingo for awesome. The first time we heard it, our waitress kept saying it every time we ordered something at a restaurant in Dunedin. At the time, I thought maybe we were just mishearing her (and I hoped she wasn't saying "sweet ass"). Haha!! Then, we had an "ah ha!" moment when we saw a t-shirt in a tourist shop defining the meaning of the popular Kiwi expression for us foreigners.
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| Lake Taupo. It was such a windy day, we saw people body surfing on the lake. |
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| The kids running full-blast to the playground equipment |
Our highlight of the day was just a little north of Lake Taupo. We took a 30 minute walk in Wairakei Natural Thermal Valley. It was fascinating. The day had a chill to it with the wind, but the walk was actually very warm thanks to all the hot steam coming out of the ground. The only down side was that when you got too close to the steam, you are blown away by the rotten egg smell of the sulfur. That was not so pleasant. But, as long as you didn't breathe in too deeply through you nose, it was manageable.
The kids really enjoyed all the farm animals located right outside the building where we purchased the tickets for the walk.
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| Carter trying to decide if he could trust the alpacas |
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| Feeding the sheep |
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| Looking down at Wairakei Natural Thermal Valley |
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| Walking through all the ferns in the valley |
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| The kids and I were looking at one steam vent called the Dragon's Mouth because of the jagged rocks located all around the vent. |
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| A stream ran down the middle of the valley |
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| Kiwis are known for their wicked sense of humor. There were lots of signs around the tourist shop and cafe that reflected that. |
We drove on to Rotorua along the Bay of Plenty. We looked around the quaint town of Rotorua and had an awesome dinner at the Pig and Whistle Historical Pub. We were all pretty famished after our long day of traveling (today we had over 5 hours of driving) and the walk around the thermal valley.
That night we stayed in a suite at the Emerald Spa Motor Inn. It was an average motel room. It's claim to fame was a massive spa tub in every suite. None of the adults ended up soaking in the tub as that would have been a little inconvenient with 6 of us sharing one bathroom. The kids each took a luxurious bath that night though and enjoyed it.
Saturday, January 18th, was our last full day in New Zealand. We slept in a little bit and then got out of the hotel just in time for check out at 10:00 am. We went into Rotorua for an excellent morning brunch at Picnic Cafe. Everything we got was delicious and the coffee was flavorful without even a hint of bitterness. Sean's dad then took the kids over to the park to play while Sean, his mom, and I walked around town and did a little souvenir shopping. It was more of a park/mini carnival as there were a couple of rides right by the park. I am not sure if they are always there or if it was for a special event. Rotorua is a touristy town, so people do try to capitalize on that as much as possible. Anyway, the kids talked Papa into paying for them to go down the world's tallest inflatable slide and to drive jeeps around a ring. They loved it.
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| Carter showing off his driving skills |
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| Aubrey wasn't quite so sure of herself |
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| She got the hang of it though! |
We finally got back on the road to Auckland at 12:30 pm. The ride to Auckland was fairly uneventful. It took about 4 hours with stops. The scenery was mainly green, lush, large hills/small mountains and farming communities. Sean and his dad were excited to see all of the various American muscle cars on the highway into Auckland (Mustangs, Camaros, GTO's, Chargers, etc...). Sean said there were more American muscle cars on that stretch of highway than he had seen in past couple of years.
Our first stop in Auckland was to check into our hotel, the Heritage Auckland. This was by far the nicest hotel we stayed in during our New Zealand trip. It was a beautifully restored historic building that used to be a Farmers department store. I thought we had a photo of our hotel room, but we must have been tired of taking photos by this point of the trip. So, you will have to take my word for it; it was a lovely hotel.
We did not stay long at the hotel as we wanted to go to a Japanese Steakhouse for dinner and we knew we would have to get there early on a Saturday night to get a table. I had looked a restaurant up on Trip Advisor and I thought it was a Japanese steakhouse. When we went into Taiko, we immediately realized there were no hibachi tables in the restaurant. The man working the front of the house, who appeared to be the manager and/or owner, was so nice and he was actually going to give us directions to a different restaurant so that we could have hibachi. At the last minute, we decided to stay and try out this more traditional Japanese restaurant. We were so glad we did. Everyone loved their meals and the kids even tried (and liked) octopus balls! We would never had ordered them, but our waiter gave them to us for free. I think he was trying to win us over. He did a great job and accomplished his goal!
After dinner, we came back to the hotel. This was the first hotel on the trip that had a pool that we actually had the time, and appropriate weather, to enjoy. It took a little bit to find the pool, but we were pleasantly surprised when we found it. It was a heated outdoor pool and hot tub on the 4th floor with a view overlooking the city. It even had a bar servicing the outdoor area. It was perfect! The kids had a great time playing in the pool while we chilled out with the gorgeous view. It was a great evening to end our trip.
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| The kids playing in the pool |
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| View of the Waitemata Harbour |
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| Fourth floor still gave us a great view since there are not many skyscrapers in Auckland and it is built on a hill. |
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| Auckland Sky Tower from the pool area |
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| Stunning sunset on our last night in New Zealand |
On Sunday we woke up and had breakfast at the hotel's buffet breakfast. It was very tasty. It may not have had any make-your-own Belgian waffles, but it definitely hit the spot. It even had filtered coffee for Sean's dad, which was a big plus since I don't think we will ever switch him over to espresso coffee.
After leaving the hotel, we still had a little time before our flight. We drove around downtown and got as close to the waterfront as we could. Unfortunately for us, there was an Ironman competition going on that morning. The competitors were running and biking along the waterfront, so it was all roped off. We gave up after a bit and then tried to return the minivan. We googled directions on our phone, reached the spot, and got all of our bags out of the van. THEN, found out we were at the wrong location. Good thing we gave ourselves plenty of time! We had to repack the minivan one last time to go to the RIGHT spot. I was very thankful the van got us everywhere we wanted to go, even though we were not very sure about it in the beginning. I will always think fondly of that van when I hear Katy Perry singing "Roar".
We hung out at the airport for awhile and finished up purchasing our New Zealand souvenirs. The flight went smoothly and last season of Breaking Bad was one of our entertainment options on the airplane. Sean and I had been trying to get through the entire Breaking Bad series before I left Australia (in only 4 days!). I am not sure we would have accomplished our goal if we hadn't gotten through almost 4 episodes on the plane. Just trying to use our time productively!
I feel as though this trip through New Zealand was like getting a sampler plate at a restaurant. It was fantastic, but it made me hunger even more for the dishes (or places) I really enjoyed. I would especially love to enjoy the splendor of Queenstown much longer and spend some time just relaxing by the ocean in Kaikoura. And, we didn't even make it to see the fjords and sounds on the southwestern side of the South Island! New Zealand is a remarkable country. I feel so lucky for the time we did get to spend there.
