New Zealand

Is New Zealand the prettiest spot on earth? Well, close to it. It’s a land of rolling green hills spotted with “happy” cows and woolly sheep. In between and at the top of the hills are stands of tall trees along with ferns that resemble California palm trees, we dubbed them fern palms. Our nicest surprise was the people. Overall, everyone was extremely welcoming, saying hi and often taking time for a conversation. Coming from LA, it was truly refreshing. Auckland is a mix of urban and suburban. And of course, water everywhere. We visited for Thanksgiving, their early spring, and experienced bright blue sky’s mixed with cloudy mornings and light rain. On our trip, we rented a car and drove a few of hours both south and north of Auckland, spending our first and last days in the city. Feel Free, Sail If you want to feel the wind blow through your hair and possible do the Titanic pose on the front of the boat, book an Explore sunset cruise around the harbor. We had booked for five people and two of us were delayed at the airport so we posted on some blogs free tickets and two locals took us up on the offer for a free dinner. It gave us a chance to learn more about their culture and they bought us a glass of wine in return. The tickets would have been non-refundable anyway so it ended up being a win-win. The cruise included dinner with your choice of entrees. We selected all the choices and just shared. They were all good and the slow cooked lamb received top picks. We first cruised into the harbor using the boat’s motor and tied up near a row of docked boats to eat dinner. Afterwards, the crew hoisted the sail and off we went. If you want to steer the boat, Nolan, the captain, is more than happy to let you take a turn. We were rewarded with an amazing view of the sunset. Notes: They will email or text you the day of your cruise to confirm your meals. The meeting place is kiosk across from Nightingale restaurant. We booked through Trip Advisor. I found this the easiest way to book all of our excursions. This way, I was able to just pay once. Budget: Sailing and dinner was $98/per person Get Steamy, Geothermal Pools, Kayaking and Glow Worms Our second day we drove down to Rotorua, it’s only about 3 hours away. Kuirau Park in Rotorua is a free community park where you can see dozens of geothermal pools. Some are clear pools with steam coming off the top. Others are smelly pools of bubbling mud releasing Sulphur into the air causing your nose to wrinkle in disgust. There is also a small pool near the playground where you can soak your feet in the warm water. We spend an hour or so here walking around and taking photos. Budget: Free! We elected to bypass the highly hyped glow worm caves for a sunset kayaking trip in Rotorua to see the glow worms in the cliffs. Once again, we booked it through Trip Advisor an “Evening Glow Worm Kayak Tour in Tauranga.” We ate before we left and met at 6:45 for the tour. You ride a bus to the site and are welcomed with New Zealand wine and cheese followed by kayaking to the site. The kayaks are dual so if you don’t have a partner, they will couple you up with someone. The glow worms are actually Arachnocampa luminosa or spider larvae. They glow to attract prey into their webs. You’ll learn more on the tour. Budget: $91 Maori and Geysers Next stop was Coromandel, a three hour drive to the north to enjoy Hot Water Beach. The drive ended up taking all day because we stopped along the way but totally worth the adventure. None of us had ever seen a geyser before so felt we should see Pōhutu (‘poor-hoo-too’), the largest active geyser in the southern hemisphere. Pōhutu means ‘constant splashing’ in Māori and ii is. We saw constant steam coming out of the top and just as we were about to leave, it erupted spraying water high into the air. The Te Arawa, a Māori tribe, control the land and you need to pay an admission but it’s totally worth it. You can enter though two different ways. We came in through Te Puia which seemed to offer the better view from above the geyser rather than below. This was one of the highlights of our trip. Budget: $54/Adults $27/Kids It was 9:00 by the time we reached Hot Water Beach and low tide was set for 2:00am. If you are hungry for a late night dinner, I would suggest you

stop and bring it with you or eat before you arrive as the town closes up at 9:00 and we ended up having desert for dinner. We left the Airbnb at 2AM to walk to this beach and catch the low tide, only to dig a hole. Lol. The hole fills with water and depending where you dig, it will be boiling hot or freezing cold. The trick is to dig in spot with the perfect temperature for you and then relax in your mini-spa. I will say it was an adventure and we can say we did it but next time, we’ll do it during the daytime low tide. Budget: Free! Our last stop before going back to Auckland was Paihia and the Bay of Islands. It was another five hour drive that took all day. The roads in New Zealand are beautiful and curvy. Around each bend is another place you will want to stop and take photos. By the time we got to Paihia, we really only had time to stop at Hunua Falls, eat and fall into bed as we had to get up early the next day to fly to Australia. Budget: Free! Lesson’s learned. We loved our short time here and we kept running later and later. I should have allowed more time for spontaneous adventure and cut the driving times. There are always things that you will want to do but won’t have time for so prioritize. Also, I had booked another kayaking trip in Pahia but there wasn’t enough time so we lost the money. Oh well, we’ll just have to go back. Overnight suggestions: Auckland: We used points to stay at the Hilton. It’s on the point of the Bay and a beautiful hotel shaped like a ship. An amazing breakfast is included. Rotorua and Hot Water Beach: We used Airbnb. I would recommend our place in Hot Water Beach Map: Here is the map of our travels.