We landed in Wellington under torrential rains and cold winds. Where is the summer in NZ? We struggled to find it during our time there, but that did not put us off immediately. We rented a car and got our tent ready to camp along the road on our way to Auckland (10 Days). Our friend Michelle (who we met in the Serengeti few months back) threw us a welcome party and gave us a warm bed to spend our first night in NZ. Wellington is a small city with many charming houses on the hills near the harbor. Its harbor and downtown areas are small but well developed, offering different dining options and spaces to relax. That is where we went out for dinner to Wagamama to have the legendary Chicken Katsu Curry.
On our second day in Wellington we spent several hours in the Te Papa Tongarewa Museum learning about the Maori their history and the evolution of the country before and after the English arrived to colonize these beautiful lands. The museum is amazing and well maintained. We learned a lot about a culture that is quite remote to the rest of the world. We highly recommend it while visiting Wellington.
We left the city under torrential rains again, hoping for a break in the weather as we moved north. We took route 2 north towards Masterton, Dannevirke, Waipukurau, Waipawa and Napier to do some sightseeing and try some of the local wines. From there, we took route 5 northwest towards Taupo and Rotorua to see more breathtaking landscapes and learn more about the Maori culture as well as discover the benefits and disadvantages of active thermo geological areas. From Rotorua Lake we went west towards Hamilton to see the famous Ruakuri caves and Hobbiton. From there we went north to see Auckland, our final destination in NZ.
What did we like about NZ? Well, the natural scenery is astonishingly beautiful. The landscapes change very quickly from place to place along the road. New Zealanders’ are very friendly, polite and kind. The wines are good, even thought the prices are high. Lamb is as good as no other we have tasted before, and the Maori culture provides a great amount of mysticisms that enchanted us very quickly. There is undeniably no other place like this on the planet.
Besides the beautiful landscape along the road and the unfavorable weather some of the highlights of NZ were: the beautiful town of Napier with its Art Deco architecture, black sand beach and good wines; the cultural experience of the Rotorua region where we got to see and participated in some Maori traditions such as dancing, singing, welcome ceremonies, wood carving and natural fiber weaving. In Rotorua we also got to see an active geothermal area firsthand. It was pretty much like walking on a huge active volcano while life just goes around like nothing is happening. Finally, we visited the Whakarewarewa red woods forest,(http://redwoods.co.nz/info/) where we got to appreciate fully grown American red woods that were donated to NZ 100 years ago .
Stepping aside from Rotorua and moving northwest we visited Hobbiton where some of the scenes of the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit sagas were filmed. It was a fantastic experience not only because we both have seen the movies but because the place is truly beautiful and magical. We also learned many interesting facts and tricks that were used to make the movies while filming in NZ. For example did you know that the armies of ugly violent Orcs in the movies where battalions of actual NZ soldiers?
The last mega highlight of our time in NZ, and probably one of the top ten experiences during this trip around the world, was visiting the Ruakuri caves. We visited some caves in the Galapagos islands that were cool and interesting a few months back, but they are a joke compared to the Ruakuri caves. The beauty of this place is unique. The caves’ stalactites and stalagmites are so big and well preserved that it is hard to imagine that there are many places in the word with this kind of beauty. Finally, there are millions of glowworms living in the caves that make a fantastic light show for everyone to enjoy in the dark of the deep caves. It’s just like looking at the Milkyway on a clear night. We were very impressed with the setup of the company running this natural attraction as well. In NZ the owners of the land also own whatever is below and the above so these world heritage caves are privately owned. Amazing! Lucky owners!
During our final days in NZ we visited the city of Auckland. We took our time to walk its beautiful piers and downtown area. Auckland is much bigger than Wellington but still a small place in comparison to other cities in the world. We had a good time visiting the Auckland Art Museum (http://ackland.org/) which has a fantastic collection of Maori portraits and paintings depicting Maori life. We also enjoyed having some good local food and coffee around the city. It seems like the NZ culinary scene is going through a boom, so we got to try some of the good places in town.
On our last day in NZ we decided to take advantage of the good weather. We went to Mount Eden, the highest natural point in the southeast of Auckland, to see the city from above. As we were getting out of the car we decided to check our flight itinerary one more time just to be sure. Oh boy! What a surprise we had when we realized that the flight had left that morning. We missed the flight. We knew it was leaving at midnight but what we got wrong was which night it left. After letting out some frustrations we drove to the airport to see what we could do to get out of NZ. After few trips from airline counter to airline counter, calls to American Airlines and several emails with Ana, Claudia’s sister in the US who was helping us find something online. we got a flight to Hawaii via Sidney. So, we checked the bags and Henry went out to return the car while Claudia passed through security and waited for Henry to arrive. After a few very stressful hours and $2,000 dollars less in our pockets we made it out on time. We got to Oahu 24 hours later than expected but we made it.
We will be back to NZ to see the South Island some day. That was a big miss of this trip.
One Step Forward RTW 