New Zealand Part 1 - North Island

Flying over, after a delay in Honolulu, was long and seemingly unending with a decent set of movies. I spent a good bit of time watching as we danced with the rising sun. Leaving me to land very early on December 16th, sadly my bag did not make it until two days later. Mental Note: Always carry a bit of clothes with you on the carry on!

Arriving in Auckland at 7am on a Sunday is odd since the city is dead quiet. The first thing I realized was the food was ridiculously expensive. Who pays $16.50 for a spinach mushroom omelet?! Wow. I found a place to get a few clothes to hold me over and then back to the hostel. After finding a "reasonable" place to eat on the harbor with a view of some docked boats (see above L). Then walking along the harbor and finding fun architectures (above R).

 

This walk also included some fun and interactive street art (above) and a huge lounging area. Auckland has a bit of personality. The day of walking continued to the Sky Tower (see below) which has some amazing 360 degree view (see below). Don't worry I won't subject you to the whole view.

 

This put a cap to day one and the hostel was pretty chill and well situated at Queen St and Fort St. This made it easy to find and get around. The next day was a longer wander of the Auckland all the way out through the Domain past a man made lake with ducks (see below) to the War Memorial Museum. The museum has a lot of history and Maori ancestry ( see below).

After a long day of walking, it was finding or more making food and relaxing. Then gathering a group from the hostel and going out for drinks and dessert. Yet before you know it, you cannot sleep because you are waiting for the next day, which comes before you know it.

 

Auckland Contemporary Museum, has such great interactive art pieces. The three above are my favorites. The whole morning was spent wandering slowly through this incredible museum that I could jump into the art piece as well! Then it was back to the hostel to meet up with people before the next adventure.

Checking out the zoo! It was hard not to be busy when you only had a few days to enjoy each place. It was fun seeing animals like monkeys, kangaroos, emus and more. Lost my glasses in the Kiwi exposure, basically a dark cave replicating night. Some animal were in more of wilderness engagements and others were just in cages. It was very sad to see the distinct difference.

After Auckland I meant to drive the coast up north east and then down to Rotorua. It was a lovely drive through rolling green hills. I stopped to make sure my idea and directions were accurate. Sadly Murphy decided to strike and when I was just south of Thames someone picked up car keys. Yes you read right my keys, they did it by accident I am sure since they left me the locked car. Thus I got stuck waiting for a good bit.

Well, after I got towed back to Auckland and got a new car because they had to make a key... I drove straight south to Rotorua. This meant the day was a wash and I spent a good bit of time driving in traffic to get to my hostel. Made for a quiet night, where I made my own dinner then crashed early.
 
I woke up early to go to the local sulfur pools and to see the natural geyser (See above right). Ran into random people from the hostel and we started walking through the pools together. Two of us stopped at the champagne pools and marveled at the amazing colors. Even though the sulfur brought a rotten egg smell with it, the natural pools were stunning! After about an hour walk around the thermal pools; I decided to fit in Zorbing and Luge! Below is (in order) a sulfur pool, the view from the Zorb location and myself getting ready for one of two rides.

 

I went to find zorbing! If you do not know what that is, basically it is being in a giant plastic bubble within a bubble, with some water and splashing around. Above is the women strapping said bubble onto the truck to drive me up to the top. The middle picture is a close up of the zorb and the right is the curvy track. To get a better understanding go to the blog: http://onlynatasha52weeks.blogspot.com/2012/12/zorbing.html    or  check out the YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqk-O3s_KDY

Energized and excited after the zorb, I ran right over to do luge at the Skyline! Luge is usually known to the world as a winter iced course in which you are racing down. Here it was a little go cart, in which you sit in (see above), with a decent track through tunnels, forests, rolling hills and mini twists and turns (see above). Afterwards I drove around Lake Taupo, which was just incredible and changing through out the drive. You can see the colors and geographical change in the pictures above and below. There were times when the sky and water looked so close in the shades (see above).

 

Others when the sky was so vibrant and the clouds in a distinct pattern (see above) you had to stop for a moment. Continued to drive though the national park to reach my hostel and stay the night at Ohakune. I finally got to chill out for a bit in a hot tub while looking at the sun set behind the trees (see above).

I woke up early to drive up Mount Ruapehu, a nice road to zip up yet I take my time winding down.  Stopping for the views (see above) almost every inch of the way. It was crazy cold but then again their was still snow on the mountain (see above).

Then continued down to Wellington. It was hard not to make stops along the way when you would drive over a bridge and see a cute creek lying below. The trip to Ms. T and Mr. B was full of little detours and even going to rocky beaches.

Made it their safe and sound, had to find a internet cafe to get driving directions. Naturally the only 3 days I have the car and I get a ticket parking in the wrong area but I was in the right place! Did really well driving on the other side of the road and even parking, felt a bit accomplished.

 

Once in Wellington and with Ms. T and Mr. B, we explored Wellington's little shops and the waterfront (see above), including Te Papa the national museum. Which is where the giant squid has been memorialized and the LOTR Trolls pretend to stomp on people (see above left).  The city is wonderful and well laid out (see below right) and the museum is incorporated interactively to the surrounding grounds; including a jungle ( see below right).

 

Then grabbed take out for dinner at Satay Kingdom and had a look at the night markets. We later went to Matterhorn for cocktails, and then clubbing on Courtney Place. Finally, we had hot chocolate bowls at Enigma at 2am. Home by 4am, trying to be at a "reasonable" hour since we were going to the South Island tomorrow... and I will continue my blog with it soon.

To see my route or get a better understanding see or click below:

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