New Zealand Holiday Tour

Apr152017

Posted in Culture • Geology • Geothermal • Nature • North Island • NZ • Weather

A day in Rotorua

Anne here…

After a day cwtched up in a pleasant motel room (with its own hot tub) avoiding the rain from Cyclone Cook, it was good to see blue skies first thing.

Redwoods in the Whakarewarewa forest

So a good walk through the Redwood trees of the Whakarewarewa forest on the outskirts of Rotorua was perfect. The Redwoods were just amazing. Also, in the typical New Zealand way, the various routes were really well signposted with lots of helpful information and no car parking charges.

There was a lovely atmosphere: lots of families enjoying the Easter Friday holiday; the regular dog walkers, runners and cyclists.

But the forest is so huge and there are so many different paths that somehow after 10 minutes walking, we seemed to have our path all to ourselves.

We spent a few days in Rotorua three years ago and loved the area. So it is a real pleasure to be back (although we had slightly forgotten how pungent the smell of sulphur can be! ).

So where do we head back to? Yes… the pub… in fact the Pig and Whistle traditional pub where we had a fab meal three years ago…and yes it is definitely still as good.

Hot springs in the Kuirau park, Rotorua

Then to walk off our pub meal we headed to Kuirau Municipal Park in the centre of Rotorua. Again a completely free public resource, really well done. But it is just really surreal seeing a municipal park with puffs and clouds of steam just coming out of the ground apparently randomly. In fact they are usually from boiling hot small geothermal pools, which the council has to fence off for safety. We were amazed, intrigued and enthralled.

And then back to the motel for a relaxing soak in the hot tub 🙂

Redwoods in the Whakarewarewa forest

Tree ferns in the Whakarewarewa forest

Apr132017

Posted in North Island • NZ • Weather

Ex Cyclone Cook

By Paul Thomas

Just to let anyone know who is concerned about us we are tucked up safe and sound in Rotorua.

We’re in a nice motel just waiting for the storm to pass by.

Apr122017

Posted in Lord of the Rings • North Island • NZ

A Visit to the Shire

By Paul Thomas

Paul here…

Sign Post, Hobbiton

We visited Hobbiton (the Shire in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films) almost exactly 3 years ago. That time it poured with rain, really poured. So we decided this time that if the weather was fine as we passed by then we would try again. Luckily as we drove from Piha to Tauranga, a 3 hour journey, the weather was OK and we decided to stop off.

As soon as we arrived at the booking office and departure point we realised it was busy – loads of visitors, and the distinctive green buses were flying around. Luckily, we managed to book a tour giving us an hour to grab lunch in the café by the booking office. There’s also a cute shop selling all sorts of Lord of the Rings merchandise. Entry is fairly expensive at $79.00 for adults and $39.50 for youths (9-16 years) but well worth it in our view. The tour lasted 2 hours.

Bag End, Hobbiton

You leave the booking centre in a coach which takes you the mile or so to the centre of the Shire. The bus driver gave us a running commentary on the history of the farm and how Peter Jackson found the location.

One of the tour guides then walked us around the site. The guides are invariably American or British backpacker types who are working there for a season or so. However, they are very knowledgeable and give you a lot of context around which locations are used in which film.

Yellow Hobbit Hole

It really feels as if you are really in Hobbiton, which of course you are. They work really hard to make it feel like the real thing. The chimneys are smoking and it has a good atmosphere about it. It even smells like the real thing. Of course the only thing missing are the Hobbits themselves!

There are lots of opportunities to take photos, and to pose in front of hobbit holes.

Well worth a visit, it’s recommended to book if you visit at busy times, and the Evening Banquet looks worthwhile to give you more time in the wonderful Green Dragon Inn.

Click on any photo for a bigger view.

The Old Mill, Hobbiton

Green Dragon Inn, Hobbiton

Apr112017

Posted in Beaches • North Island • NZ • Scenary

Piha Beach and Karekare Falls

By Paul Thomas

Anne here…

Piha Beach

We’ve had a great day on the beach…

And what a beach! Huge rolling waves, clear blue water, golden/black sand – (the sand is volcanic hence black!) and perfect weather.

A lovely day.

A couple of notes of caution:

the currents are very strong but as I was only paddling in the shallow water, I wasn’t too affected 🙂

And there is more rain in the weather forecast but not today. We’ve been so lucky to have breathtaking sunrises and sunsets, and a glorious sunny day on the beach.

Karekare Falls

Oh and we did tear ourselves away to visit the Karekare waterfall… Our fourth waterfall of the holiday. This one was tall and cascading and quite majestic.

Apr92017

Posted in History • Nature • North Island • NZ • Scenary

Kauri Forest

By Paul Thomas

Paul here…

We left the Bay of Islands and headed to the west coast of Northland. The roads were very quiet, and the area seemed to be less prosperous. We saw the amazing sand dunes across from Omapere. They were enormous! My photos just couldn’t show the scale of them. Much bigger than the Merthyr Mawr sand dunes!

Te Matua Ngahere sign

Then we headed south into the Kauri Forest. Kauri are a native tree, that have been in New Zealand for thousands of years. They are renowned for the quality of their wood, their gum (amber), and their size. We walked to the 2nd largest Kauri, it has a circumference of 16.41m. It was enormous! Though not as high as some of the other kauri we saw.

Kauri Trees

Later we visited the Kauri museum at Matakohe. This was an excellent museum that explained the history of kauri, their exploitation and their preservation. Well worth a visit.