We started our north island tour of New Zealand from Wellington, the capital city. We flew in from Christchurch to Wellington.
On day 1, our first visit was to the NZ parliament, where free guided tours are conducted. We booked the tour online; the history of evolution of the parliament was very interesting.
After the tour of the parliament, we drove up Mt. Victoria lookout. The views of Wellington from the lookout is totally worth the drive.
We started day 2, with a visit to Zealandia Ecosantuary. It took about 2 hours return trip. The forests, lakes, birdlife were great to experience.
In the afternoon on day 2, we walked along the waterfront, saw the Oriental beach and visited Old St. Paul Church.
On day 3, we left early morning for Tongariro National Park. First we went up the Sky Waka Gondola, which was okayish, since there were a lot of clouds around.
From the Sky Waka Gondola, we drove to the trail head of Taranaki Falls, which is a 2 hour return trip. The trail has significant ups and downs, but the views were pretty. Taranaki falls was also a very nice sight. From Taranaki falls trail head, we drove to see the Tawhai Falls (also called the Gollum’s Pool, because of the filming of Lord of the Rings). Our last visit was to the Alpine cross car park, with the hope of seeing Mt. Tongariro. Unfortunately, there was cloud cover everywhere.
On day 4, before the departure to Taranaki National Park, we drove on the Ohakune Mountain Rd, from were we had some amazing views of the valleys and mountains.
We arrived in Taranaki National Park on the afternoon of day 4. We spent the afternoon exploring various sights in New Plymouth, like Pukekura Park, Te Rewa Rewa Bridge and the coastal walkway next to the bridge.
On day 5, we drove to Stratford Plateau, from where we got great views of Mt. Taranaki. We did a trek to Manganui (1 hour return walk), with great views all around.
From Stratford Plateau car park, we did a trek to Dawson Falls, which is a 4 hours return trip. The track was quite challenging in places.
On day 6, we drove from Taranaki to Waitomo. On the way we stopped to see the Elephant rock and the three sisters. In Waitomo, we did the tour of the Waitomo glowworm caves, which was interesting.
On day 7, we drove to Rotorua, which is home to lots of geothermal activity. Our first visit was to climb the Skyline, with great views from the top. We did the treetop walk among the California Redwoods, then walked around Kuirau Park (with a lot of hot pools, and geothermal activity) and lastly we visited the sulphur point.
On day 8, we drove to Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland, which is a 30 minute drive from Rotorua. The geothermal activities in this place were awesome to watch. We also saw the induced eruption of Lady Knox glacier at 10.15am. From there we drove to Hahei, Hot Water Beach resort.
On day 9, we started with a short trek to Te Pare Point in Hahei. After breakfast, we took the “park and ride” shuttle to Grange Road in Hahei, from where we did the trek to Cathedral Cove. We got soaked in the rain, but fortunately the rain stopped when we reached Cathedral Cove. The area was not crowded and lovely to spend time in.
From Cathedral Cove, we drove to Auckland downtown, our last and final destination in New Zealand.
We spent 4 nights in Auckland, exploring the Botanic Garden, the Auckland Domain, visiting the Auckland Art Museum, Albert Park and Cornwall Park. In Cornwall Park, there is “One Tree Hill” which provides great views of Auckland. Auckland Domain is quite interesting, considering it is a volcanic crater that has been converted into a park.
We really enjoyed both South and North Island in New Zealand, especially the natural beauty. The three and a half weeks we spent in NZ just flew by. I would say NZ is a must visit country for nature lovers.
My Travels - by Sivamani 