Please find below a day by day account of our travel :-
Day 1 : Arrived safely in Auckland and checked into Scenic hotel at the heart of Auckland's CBD overlooking the Skytower.All of us were hungry hence we grabbed a quick bite and straightaway ventured towards the skytower and took a tour of it , spending close to 3 hours.The highlight was all of us
having coffee at Sky Lounge overlooking the Auckland harbour and city. Came back to our hotel , took some rest and and bought nice New Zealand white and red wine to give us company at dinner (which was a combo of Indian and Mexican).All of us had the urge to watch AVATAR across the road at Sky theater but we refrained from it.
Day 2 : Woke up and had a sumptuous breakfast and then went to Budget Car rental to get our car - Toyota Corolla , checked if all parts are in order and then switched on the GPS to drive straight to Hamilton.Took us 2 hours to reach Hamilton and we passed by townships of RamaRama,Bombay and Helensville.In Hamilton we went to our friends place and were well received by them , had a heavy brunch there and were forced to stay for lunch...cm on gimme a break my tummy was stuffed..hence we promised that we would join them for dinner at Hamilton.From Hamilton we drove to Matamata a small town blessed with picturesque surroundings and boutique cafes.Matamata was our launch point for our tour to Hobbiton the home for the movie set of Lord of the Rings.
The tour costs NZ$58 per head and is worth every cent if your a LOTR fan / fanatic , else one can spend more time in Matamata/Hamilton.Having said that Hobbiton is a beautiful place and you would feel as if you are in the 15th century , highlight of the place is when you get to enter in to a Hobbit hole and can take pics around the Party Tree.
After the tour to Hobbiton we came back to Matamata and had very nice coffee at Matamata and spend some time in the town before heading back to Hamilton.Reached Hamilton and had dinner with our friends and walked around the city before heading back to Auckland.
We were pretty tired by the end of the day but I was still brimming with excitement.
Day 3 : Woke up a bit late but were all ready by 10am in the morning , the whole day was planned in and around the Waikato region and we drove down towards Waitamo caves famous for the Gloworms and black water river rafting.It took us 3 hours to reach Waitamo and we booked our cave tour and then had lunch at Curly's bar a unique restaurant/bar overlooking lush green meadows. I had a pint of Steinlager and pasta and was refuelled for the cave trip. The caves are famous for their limestone formations and freshwater lakes , the limestone formations are a miniature version/ copy of Jenolan caves @ Sydney..hence might be a let down for Sydneysiders.The highlight is when you take a boat and move further into the caves to look at the glowworms who are embedded into the walls and you feel like you are looking at millions of stars.The feeling is ethereal and you don't want to leave the place at all as its full of mysticism.
Anyways as all good things come to an end so did the cave tour and we were back outside the cave in the real world.After spending some time near the caves /museums we drove back to Auckland and reached by 8.30 pm.Our stomachs were rumbling and we decided to go for Italian , had amazing Italian food capped with nice Chianti red wine .. I was feeling really happy after a couple of glasses and my wife's glare also looked like a smile to me...ahh...thats what good food and wine does to your senses....
Day 4 : This was our last morning in Auckland and we decided to part ways in grand terms ,after checking out we went to Devonport a small village town 20 mins from Auckland famous for its Anglo - Saxon settings and fish n chips. Brekky was on our mind and we went to Mecca a fine dining "Breakfast" restaurant ......after eating a little bit more than our capacity we drove down towards Rotorua - the spa/sulphur capital of New Zealand ..just kidding...
Reached Rotorua around 4 pm and checked into our hotel which was overlooking Lake Rotorua.I fell in love with Rotorua as soon as we entered the township. The lake and surrounding areas pretty much governs all the activities in the city.The place is dottde with Mud / Hot spa's ,the most famous one's are - Polynesian Spa and Hell's Gate. Our first eveining was already pre booked as we had to go to Mitai Maori village for a Maori experience , we were greeted by the village community and were exposed to their customs , rituals and the traditional Haka dance.Post which we again took a glowworm tour and had a nice earth cooked Hangi meal.The village experience is a must do for all first timers in New Zealand.After the great Maori cultuarl experience we retired to our hotel , I was feeling a bit restless so my wife and I went out for a walk across the Lake Rotorua before crashing. I woke up suddenly around 3am in the morning as the whole room was smelling like rotten eggs , was a but tense since I was suspecting that some insect might have slid into my backpack from the Maori village and now it was growing bigger in my room releasing this noxious smell.Well sanity prevailed over my imagination and I gave a call to the reception who informed me that it was the Sulphuric gases which was emanating from the earth surrounding Rotorua.Anyways I slept off peacefully post that.
Day 5 : We decided to drive and visit all the adjoining lakes so our first stop was at Lake Taravera and the adjoining buried village.The very name of the buried village intrigued me as I was thinking of Pompei and ruins like them.So we booked ourselves for the Taravera buried village tour , the village was buried when the now dormant Mount Taravera erupted in the late 19th century.What remains now is some earthen pots a couple of huts and a
beautiful walk.It was disappointing as there was a lot of hype over the buried village before the tour , so my recommendation would be a complete no-no to go for the buried village tour. Lake Taravera was pristine and I was dying to go kayaking but was stopped by my wife as she was petrified that I might topple the kayak and sink....she thinks I am the anchor of her life and sometimes view me like an anchor ...pun intended.....Anyways I wanted to spend more time at Lake Taravera however we had plans to go to Lake Taupo so we pushed the pedestal towards Taupo. Lake Taupo is the largest lake in New Zealand and is a beautiful township. Fish N Chips was the mood for the day and so we indulged ourselves sitting write in front of the massive lake. Spend the rest of the day in Taupo and returned back to Rotorua around 7 pm.Needless to say the drive was beautiful as are all the drives in New Zealand.
Day 7 : Was the big day for us as we had White Island (NZ's only active volcano) and a Mud Spa treatment on our agenda. An early morning scenic drive took us to the Bay of Plenty township of Whakatane dotted with beautiful lake shore houses and boutique cafes.We boarded our cruise ship at 9.15 am sharp and I immediately jumped on board asking Amie our hostess if there was a bar on the cruise.I don't know why , but I was feeling like having a J
D early in the morning.Anyways we rushed of the Whakatane harbour into the pacific ocean towards the majestic White Island.White Island is 45 nautical miles from Whakatane and the trip takes 1.5 hrs , you can see the island for the last 30 mins of the onwards journey and its looks beautiful.The water near the island is a mix of azure blue and emerald green because of the sulphur river which has trickled down the island into the ocean.A small jet takes you from the cruise to the shores as there is no proper landing area.We walked in and around the island looking at all crevices and the dormant portions.The volcano last erupted in 2002 and is privately owned by the Butler family.NZ govt has an agreement with the family to treat the island for tourism purposes and also as a heritage site.It goes without saying that the family takes a large proportion of all the earnings. Anyways the moments I spend on the island will always remain etched in my memory and I would love to go back there again.We got back to Whakatane and then straightway drove back to Rotorua for our mud spa appointment.The day was the best one of all the days and I slept like a baby aware that this was our last night at Rotorua.Day 8 : Getting up in the morning knowing that I was leaving Rotorua was not a good feeling I had , I did make a promise to come back to Rotorua soon ...so it was Kia Ora just for the time being.We handed back our rental car at the Rotorua airport (please note you need to pay airport tax here to fly out..) and boarded our 30 seater Air New Zealand Bombardier plane to take us to Queenstown via Christchurch.
..... wait for the next blog for a detailed description of our stay in South Island....
No comments:
Post a Comment