New Zealand

I have decided to break down my New Zealand blog into four different areas:


Part 1: Introduction of why I traveled to New Zealand!


Part 2: Rotorua

  1. Redwood Forest
  2. Skyline Rotorua
  3. Hobbiton Movie Set & Waitomo Caves


Part 3: Wellington

  1. Capital
  2. Walking Around The Area
  3. Boat Tour


Part 4: Auckland

  1. Waiheke Island
  2. Cathedral Cove
  3. Bay of Islands


Part 1: Introduction of why I traveled to New Zealand!

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Have you ever wanted to travel to a far off destination? I have, and this time I have traveled all the way to New Zealand.


A little back story on why I am visiting this beautiful country. I was volunteering in Fiji and met a really good friend who lives in New Zealand. ​This friend of mine told me all about the amazing sights to see.


Once hearing about the amazing sights in New Zealand, I knew it was time to save some money and take a vacation over to see my friend. I was ​pretty excited about all the landscape photography I would be able to capture during my week and a half trip! I was only able to visit the North ​Island of New Zealand this time!


A few of the big cities that I traveled to were Rotorua, Wellington, and Auckland. These are just some of the cities that I visited, but from each of ​these, I branched out and did little excursions to other areas.


Keep a lookout for next week I will be talking about Part 2: Rotorua and what I did around this area!


Thank you for taking the time to read my blog on my trip to New Zealand!


Part 2: Rotorua:

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Once I landed in New Zealand, I went outside the airport to catch a bus to Rotorua. The bus to Rotorua was about 4 hours long, but it makes a ​stop in Hamilton. While waiting in Hamilton, the friend I was going to be meeting in Rotorua surprised me by picking me up. It was more ​comfortable than sitting on a bus for another 2 hours! When we arrived at my friend's parent's house we settled in for the night by grabbing ​some food from the little town nearby. After we ate I went to bed because we were going to be starting the day off early and travel to the ​Redwood Forest!


Must do in Rotorua:

  • Redwood Forest


The Redwood Forest has multiple trails to walk. My favorite ​part of visiting this forest was walking on the Treewalk. The ​Treewalk has 28 bridges and 27 platforms to be able to view the ​forest and animals.

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  • Skyline Rotorua


If your ever in Rotorua you will need to visit Skyline Rotorua. ​You will catch a gondola ride up to the top, of Mount ​Ngongotaha. Once you reach the top you will want to capture ​some of the lovely views that can be seen from the top. ⁠Even ​though there is so much to do at the top of the mountain you ​will want to do the Skyline Luge. It was so much fun.



  • Hobbiton Movie Set & Waitomo Caves


One of the most popular and must do in New Zealand is to travel to ​the Hobbiton Movie Set! The movie set is located in the Waikato ​Region (Matamata)!


The movie set was built in 1999 for the Lord of the Rings and The ​Hobbit Trilogies. During the tour, you will be taken around the 12-​acre set and will end at the Green Dragon Inn. Once you reach the ​Green Dragon Inn you can try one of the pub's drink! They offered ​two traditional ales, apple cider or for the non-drinkers they offer a ​ginger beer. All the drinks are exclusive to The Shire.


After going to the movie set you will want to take a detour to the Waitomo Caves! Waitomo Caves has thousands of illuminating glow warms ​that can be seen during the cave tour by boat ride.

[A side note for all the photographers out thier you are not allowed to take photos in the cave.]


Keep a lookout for next week I will be talking about Part 3: Wellington and what I did around this area!


Part 3: Wellington

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Capital:

Wellington is the capital of New Zealand and is located at the bottom of the North Island. Wellington has a lot of different excursions from ​walking the coastline to taking a boat tour around the bay area! There are lots of places to grab lunch and dinner! ⁠I was in Wellington for about ​three days and was able to see a lot during my stay.

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Explor Tour & Walking Around The Area:


Explor Tour is a tour group based in Wellington. It has Full and Half-​day Tours available. This tour departs from the i-SITE information ​center by a van and some of the things you will be able to see from ​the van are:

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  • Te Papa Museum of New Zealand
  • St Gerard's Church & Monastery
  • Embassy Theatre
  • Waine Memorial
  • Rugged Coastline
  • Nation War Museum

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Take pictures at these spots when the van stopped:

Beehive Parliament Building

  • Old St Paul's Cathedral
  • Wellington Sign
  • Mount Victoria
  • Iconic Cable Car
  • Weta Studio (some of the areas where they filmed Lord of the ​Rings movie).


Boat Tour :

After seeing the city by land, I wanted to catch a boat tour ​around the harbor to watch the sunset! Set sail on the ​MEGISTI Sailing Charters with drinks available and took a ​cruise in the harbor as the sunset!


It was a good and busy three days in Wellington!


After seeing some of the buildings and how close the Te Papa Museum was ​to the i-SITE center, I decided to take a walk to the Museum and get a closer ​look into the history of New Zealand. At the Museum they had a display of ​the Terracotta Warriors, which I was glad I was able to see! When done with ​the Museum, I decided to walk along the coast to see the different views of ​Wellington and tried to find something for dinner and spotted a boat tour ​around the Harbour at sunset!

Keep a lookout for next week I will be talking about Part 4: Auckland and what I did around this area!

Part 4: Auckland

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I did not spend a lot of time in the city of Auckland, but this was a hub for me to catch a bus or ferry to my next destination.


Must do around the Auckland Area:

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Waiheke Island:


Take the Fullers 360 Ferry over to Waiheke Island! The ferry ride is about 30 minutes. Make sure to sit on the top deck to watch the ​Auckland cityscape grow smaller and smaller while you travel out of port.


I was only going to be staying on Waiheke for the day. I decided to do a wine tasting tour. The wine tasting tour was about four hours ​long and we stopped at four different wineries. Waiheke has about 22 different wineries.


These are the wineries we visited:

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1. Mudbrick Vineyard


2. Stoneridge Vineyard


3. Kenny Point Vineyard


4. Obsidian Wines

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Each vineyard has its unique brand of wine and atmosphere!

Once the wine tasting tour was over we had about 2hr before the ferry ​would leave to go back to Auckland. We had the opportunity to return to ​our favorite winery. I chose to go back to the first winery Mudbrick, I ​just loved the atmosphere and view of the water.


After hanging out at Mudbrick for a while, I thought it was time to try a ​different vineyard on my way to the ferry. Right across the street from ​Mudbrick was another vineyard called Cable Bay Vineyard. This ​vineyard was not on the tour guides list, but it was right there and I ​wanted to see how it looked and try one of thier in-house wines. After ​eating something for dinner, it was time to head to the ferry. I got ​turned around and was going the wrong direction! I had to call the taxi ​company that is on Waiheke Island.


Cathedral Cove :

From the Auckland City Sky Tower, you will catch a van from the bus station and head ​toward the Coromandel Coast area. This tour made a stop at Mount Paku and you will ​head to the top for amazing 360 views of the ocean and nearby town. After seeing the ​view from Mount Paku, you then head on over to Cathedral Cove.


To get to Cathedral Cove it takes about an hour to hike to the beach from the car lot. ​Along the way, you will have beautiful views of the ocean and nearby islands. Along the ​hike, you might be able to see cows and sheep. Once you reach Cathedral Cove you are ​going to want to take pictures. This place is magical! If you have ever seen Narnia you ​will be amazed by how gorgeous this place is in person.


The tour had about 2 hours to hang out at Cathedral Cove before moving to the last ​stop of the tour. Although the tour did not stay long at the next site it was a neat ​experience to have. It called Hot Water Beach because you will dig your self a hole at ​low tide and try to find yourself a hot water source.


Bay of Islands :

If you like me, a planner go ahead and book your ​tour to Hole in the Rock & Dolphin Tour on​ https://www.bookme.co.nz This site will give you a ​discount on any tour that you book.


Once you book your tour you will need to catch a bus ​from under the Auckland City Sky Tower to Paihia. ​Paihia is a small and friendly town in the northern ​party of the North Island of New Zealand. In Maori, ​the word Paihia means Good Here. Paihia is a great ​place to be able to explore the Bay of Islands. The ​bus ride to Paihia is about 2 hours long make sure to ​charge your devices because some of the tour buses ​do not have plugs for you to charge your devices. It ​also helps to keep you occupied during the trip.




Once you reach Paihia you will need to find the Fuller Great ​Sight Boat to begin your tour around the Bay of Islands. The ​boat tour is about 3 to 4 hours longs and it explores all the ​different islands. One of the most famous and exciting island ​you will see in the Bay of Islands is the Hole In the Rock. Hole ​in the Rock is also called Motukokako. When you reach the ​Hole in the Rock if the condition is right you might be able to ​set sail threw the opening. This island is the furthest away ​from all the other islands, in this area, you will see Cape ​Brett Peninsula. This peninsula is home to Cape Brett ​Lighthouse. This tour also included seeing dolphins but ​during the tour, we did not see any dolphins so the tour ​company gave us a free lifetime voucher to redo the tour.


Here is to one day going back to New Zealand.