After years of travelling to the West (United States), in 2015 we decide to go to the East and the land is New Zealand. We search the internet about New Zealand (highlights, road conditions, hotels, etc..) . After we have done our homework, we plunder our savings, book airplane tickets, hotels, car, and we are ready to go.
We choose 8 hour overlay in Singapore because we want to explore Singapore too. Our intent is after we take the free tour (provided by Changi Airport), we will take the subway/bus to go to the City and explore by foot.
Once we arrived at Changi Airport, we take the free tour, but when we walked out of the aiport, we were hit by a wall of hot and humid air and I began to sweat like a pi..euh.. dog 🙂 Lucky for me is the tour-bus is air-conditioned but I have to get out now and then to take pictures, and every time I get out to take picture all I want is to get back to the bus asap.
After the bus return to the airport, instead of taking the bus to City, we went directly to the the cooled and comfort area of the airport. The problem now is, we have to wait 6 hours for our plane, so we we go shopping, visiting butterfly garden, make use of the free accommodation and sleep. Later on that night we board the plane and heading for Auckland.
Day 2 – Auckland
After pick up our luggage we take the shuttle bus to our hotel at the harbor, get the key, drop our stuff and walk to the tower. The tower provide 360-degree view over the “city of sail”.
Hanging around for 2 hours we go to the harbor (across the street from our hotel), which is full with restaurants, and all serve the same seafood.
Because we still have jet-legs, we decide to have some small meal and early to bed for a full excursion day tomorrow.
Day 3
8.30 am, a small touring car stop at the hotel and we are the only 2 who booked for today, so the schedule for sightseeing is flexible. First site is the crater, which is sacred for the Maori, and only a few tour operators are allow to drive on to the crater, but there are rumors that the Maori’s don’t want any car on the crater. So it could be that from 2016, you have to walk to the crater, and we do see peoples walking up the crater because their operators are not allow to drive up there.
Next site is a small garden near Anzacs Memorial. New Zealand use this fern as their national symbols, because the Maori’s use this fern when they walk in the forest in the night so they can find the way back. The fern has a arrow shape and it’s back reflects the (moon) light.
Picture is taken from beneath the fern
leaf with flash on
After this we go back to the harbor for lunch (included), it looks and taste good…Seafood and a local beer. Everywhere I go, I always want to taste a local beer and snap a picture of it.
After lunch the driver take us to the beaches (west and east side) . On the west side the water is rough stormy while on the east the water is calm, he also bring us to see the third biggest Kauri tree of New Zealand.
Day 4
The car is brought to our hotel, after fill in the paper works and check out the hotel, we are good to go. It is for me the first time I drive on the left-hand side and in the right-driver seat, so it troubles me for first 15 minutes, but I manage to get out of Auckland without any accident.
First stop is Whangarei and at the Information Center they have a stuffed Kiwi. The best part in NZ is you can get a lots of info at the Info Center, and they got Info Center on every (major) city.
After a fast lunch at the Info Center we go to the Whangarei Falls and continue to our journey to Pahia.
On the way to Pahia we stop at the Hundertwasser-toilet to make pit-stop and admiring his toilet 🙂 .
Day 5
Today we go to the gumdiggers park where in the early days people excavating gums. On the way to the park, we pass by a small town called Cable Bay, where houses with beautiful view to the sea.
The main attraction of the park is a ten thousand years old kauri tree buried in the ground and the park is surround by a forest of tea tree
From Gumdigger park we travel to the coast the “so called 90 mile beach” where you can drive your car on the beach.
Unfortunately our car insurance didn’t cover this so we ride all the way back to Highway 1 and HW12 further to Opononi and Omapere.
After a short stop at Omapere we travel further to Waipoua forest for “lord of the forest” (Tane Mahuta). We arrive just before sunset and see the giant in the sun.
Sitting there, watch the giant, knowing how long it takes to get to that size, and yet how fragile the giant is, makes me feel sad, because there is a tree disease that affect the Kauri tree. 
Sun is going down fast so we haste our self towards the “three sisters” further down the HW12. From the parking to the trees is quite far, when we get to the trees, the sun goes almost under and people are leaving the forest. We walk around the trees, take some picture and make our way back to the car. Lucky for us, we always bring flashlight with us, so we can walk easily out the forest. By the way there are 4 trees and not 3. So I still don’t know why it is called “3 sisters”.
On the way back to our hotel in Pahia, we stop by a mud pool for relaxing our muscles and our skins. Because the damp is not good for the camera, so I only take this picture to show how hot it is.
We start with the Velvet, have a chat with other peoples in the pool, then we jump to the Lobster. Man.. it is hot, I am cooked medium rare 🙂
Once my body get use to the temperature, sitting there and looking at the stars of southern hemisphere and thinking…. life is so good….But like everything, this also has to ends, because they are close down for the night.
Day 6
Today we go to the town called Russell; Russell is a quiet small old town and have beautiful scenery. You can travel from Pahia with a ferry to Russell (without car) directly, because we want to drive around Russell, so we ride to Opua and take the ferry to Okiato, and from there drive to Russell.
From town center we go to Flag staff hill which overlook the wharf and the town.
Day 7
Today a long ride back to Takapuna (Auckland), on the way back we stop at Kawiti glow worm cave own by the Maori people. This is our first encounter with the glow worms. To protect them we are not allow to take picture of the glow worms. They are beautiful creatures, it looks like the sky at night, all tiny lights flickering in a dark cave, some are bright some not. The bright ones are hungry so they produce more lights to allure small insects like mosquito.
Day 8
We heading south passing thru Auckland and from Manurewa taking the scenic road along side the Coromandel coastal line. On the way we stop at the “world famous” Kaiaua Fisheries to have their version of Fish&Chips. It taste better than the one I have in Auckland, and it doesn’t look fancy, just wrap it in a paper. After the lunch, we continue our journey along side the coastal road until we reach Coromandel.
Just before we enter Coromandel, I see the Coromandel Oyster Company, which they sell fresh oysters, and I have to taste it. It is soooo good….even now when I write this down, it makes my mouth water!
After this short stop, we arrive at the Driving Creek and take the mono rail to the top.
After this, we want to take the HW25 to Hahei, but they close the road for old-timer car racing. So I have to go back and take the 309 road, which work out well for us, because we want to buy the 309-honey. It is called 309-honey because the beekeeper live along side of the 309 road. After buy a few pots of honey, we travel to the hotel in Hahei.
The hotel called “The Church”, it is because it was a church until they rebuild it to a hotel. The restaurant serve very good food. A definition of a good restaurant is when the locals comes to have their diner.
Day 9
From Hahei we go to Cathedral Cove and Hot water Beach, from the parking lot which is on top and we have to walk all the way down to the sea level, and it is worth the walk. In the summer this is a perfect place for swimming, because we go in April, the water is a little too cold to swim.
At the Hot water Beach, every tourist starts digging around. The funny part is, there are only 2 places of hot water (the water is quite hot), so I lay down and watch people digging several places.
That evening we dine at the Church restaurant again, and this time we make a reservation upfront so we don’t have to wait like yesterday.
Day 10
We heading to Rotorua, and on the way we stop at the Hobbiton (Matamata). Beautiful village, not 2 house is the same, and every tree is real, except the tree on mr Frodo house. That is a fake one.
In the evening we have a diner show at the Maori village in Rotorua, where they perform their cultural dances and feast with tradition cooking (cook everything in the heat earth). After the diner we have a guided tour in the Rainbow Spring park to see the kiwi’s in action, we are not allow to take picture because the flash will stress them.
Day 11
We start the day with a revisit the Spring Park, because we have a free ticket from yesterday. Just behind the entrance door there is a huge green stone (jade)
In the afternoon we go to Te Puia, everywhere we walk we see boiling water, steam coming out of the ground, nice smell of sulfur. There are plenty paces to walk around, one of it, I forgot the name, you park the car on the side of the lake and pay for the ferry to the island
Day 12
Today the journey continues towards Taupo, on the way lies Wai-O-Tapu, where the hot water fountain will blow exactly at 10 am, buy ticket for the park and drive to the fountain and wait for the show. The park ranger tells the history of the place and why this the most accurate fountain in the world is. After he finish his story he throw some soap into the fountain, and there you have it… the most accurate fountain of the world 🙂 .
After the show we drive back and visit the park; The steam, smells, boiling mud, colors… it seems you are in complete different world.
Just before Taupo, we stop at the Huka falls and a place called “Crater of the Moon”, it is so green and steamy,
I don’t think the moon looks like that, but I never been on the moon, so who am I to judge 😉
Around noon we have our lunch at the Prawn park, where they breed shrimps, and according to the pocket guide I have to try it. With high expectation, I order a plate, but it is not thát good, so I was a little disappointed.
After lunch we go to the hotel at lake Taupo. The hotel has 2 natural hot bad and a outside pool, so we try the natural hot bad.
After the hot bad and refreshment in the room, we are go out for diner. Because it is off season period, not much restaurant are open, so we ask the reception, he give us the direction to the “local” restaurant.
We arrive at the restaurant, the people look surprise at 2 “lost” tourist, and as always they are friendly towards foreigner.
Day 13
Today it is a long way drive to Wellington. Half way we stop at Hunterville for lunch. This is the sandwich they served… some people told me that I have a big mouth, but not that big to bite this…
Around 3 pm we arrive at Wellington, we go to mt Victoria for a view over Wellington, it is windy and cold at the top, so we go back to the center, park the car and walk around.
we book the 2 am ferry to southern island, so we visit the museum at the wharf where they keep the giant squid and wandering the wharf and watch the sunset. Because I don’t have to drive much (just from the parking garage to the ferry), we dine at the local beer brewery (Mac’s brewbar).
at 1 am we board the ferry, get to our cabin and try to get some sleep as fast as possible, because at 5 am the ferry will dock at Picton.
Day 14
4.30 am the wake up call sounds thru the cabin, and we get ourself ready and get in the car. From Picton we drive to Farewell Spit, the HW6 is a small,tortuous mountain road. After 30 minutes driving, I stop somewhere along side of the road to rest, and watch the sunrise over the mountain.
Now I can see the road clearly, we continue to Farewell Spit and stops at the first open town for breakfast and coffee. We didn’t make it to Farewell Spit, perhaps next time.
Late in the afternoon we drive south, around 8 pm we stop at a motel a long the road and stay for a night.
Day 15
We leave early towards Punakaiki for blowholes and pancake rocks
April in NZ is almost winter, so the weather is quite cold and stormy, you hear and see the water blows out of the hole. From here we continue to Greymouth and looking for a hotel.
Once we found a hotel, put our luggage down we go to the Brewery. You can have a guided tour here, but I don’t need a tour, all I need is a tasting set 🙂 so I order 1 set and some food.
Beside us sit an American couple, so we talk about beer and they tell me I have to try American Pale Ale (APA), I tell him I will when I finish this. Short after that they leave and so do we. We go back to the hotel for diner.
Day 16
Today we go to Hokitika, the green stone town. On the way we stop at Shanty town Heritage Park. You travel with a steam train thru the forest and get to see how people lived and work in the early days, and here you can mine gold.
At Hokitika we choose a hotel near the center and check in, then we go to center and beach looking for green stone, we found a lots but not the real “jade” green stone.
“Disappointed” 🙂 we go to Hokitika Gorge, the water color can change depends on the type of water flowing thru. We go back to the town center and windows shopping till we feel hungry and have our diner
Day 17
We go to lake Kaniere, with its beautiful scenery
Off season travel has its benefit, so you can take this kind of pictures. Then we go back to town, and visit the local zoo where they keep kiwi in captive. They fake the night, meaning in daytime they darken the room, seems like night so the kiwi go out search for food, when our night time, they brighten the room, it’s day time for the kiwi. As we stay behind thick reflection glass kiwi can’t see visitors but visitors can see them. This is the second time we see kiwi’s running around.
Then we go to the Mountain Jade house for a guided tour about all different kind of jades in the world and watch how the artist creates their own creation. We have our diner at sea view restaurant
We have been told that there are glow worms in the neighborhood, the Glow Worm Dell is just along side of the road, and here we can take pictures. From the 10 pictures I take this one comes out best. But in the reality it is much more beautiful.
Day 18
Today we leave Hokitika and west coast behind and go thru Lewis pass to Kaikoura. The road is a little snowy but still doable. At Kaikoura we check in a randomized hotel and drive to Point Kean viewpoint to see seals.
They laying and hopping around, make sure don’t get too close to them or they will bite. From Point Kean we walk up the top and along side of the coast, as sun is set we drive around searching for food.
Day 19
Last night the storm has passed by, so the trip to watch whales is cancelled, so we travel to north via Hakapu road. We park our car along side of the road and walk to the sea.
It is not smart to go to sea when a storm is going on, but it does give you beautiful pictures, and before we know it, a huge wave comes in and wash everything. We are lucky that we stay at a “higher” ground (middle picture), but we do get wet feet when we walk back to the car (right picture).
After this excitement we go back to the viewpoint. The road is litter with rocks and grind, the parking lots where we park our car yesterday is now submerge in the water. Seals flee to the high ground.
Later on the evening we drive to the higher land to watch sunset.
Day 20
Christchurch is our last destination, so we pack early and drive. We stop at the I-center, take some folders and buy combi tickets, then we drive to the cableway station for the view over Christchurch.
Then we go to the hotel, throw our stuff down and go to the pier. Today the sea is calm, it is kind of boring so we decide to go to the local brewery.
and have some tasting set.
Day 21
Our last day in NZ, so we go to the center, because we are too early, none of the shop are open yet. With the combi ticket we hop-on the historical tram and sightseeing the city. The city is still in ruin due the earthquake in 2011, but they are busy with rebuilding
Day 22
4 am we return the car at the hotel near the airport and get us transfer to the airport. 3 Weeks in NZ has capture our hart, sometimes I just watch the Haka on the internet and feel the magic and warmth of NZ again. We will return to NZ some day and this time we will do 3 weeks on 1 island.
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