Wellington - Napier
Napier - Taupo
Taupo - Rotorua
Rotorua - Hahei
Hahei - Te Puru
Te Puru - Piha
Piha - Whangerai

[Word of warning: a bit of a long waffly blog this time!]

After a few days rest in Wellington, we finally hit the road again with the aim to cover some remote areas of the North Island of NZ. Shortly after leaving Wellington, we managed to puncture our tyre 50 metres from a random town (thankfully it wasn't in the middle of nowhere!!!).

Once the tyre was repaired we made our way to Napier, equalling art deco mania. It was like being thrown back into the 1930's (even though we don't know what it was like in the 1930's). The town was rebuilt after the 1931 earthquake and they didn't want to build any more high rises in case of another one...We found a hostel which was a former stables...there were lots of saddles and pictures of horses around - Helen was at home!

The following morning we headed to the Bluff Hill lookout (102m high) for expansive views over Hawkes Bay which was gorgeous and the sun was shining. Once we grabbed a hot drink, took pictures of Napier's art deco buildings we headed to Taupo, where New Zealand's largest lake is. Lake Taupo is 606 sq km and it was vast. But, nothing beats the beauty of Lake Geneva.

Nick did the Lake Taupo hole in one challenge, where if you get a hole in one you win $10,000 so obviously Helen was secretly praying that he would get a hole in one. However, the winds were not in our favour blowing the golf balls wide...or maybe Nick's just rubbish at golf. (an addition from Nick - One ball did bounce on the green...). We gave up and went to the viewpoint..it was cloudy so we made our way to the Hukka Falls where 220,000 litres per second falls through its narrow chasm (enough to fill 5 Olympic sized pools in one minute). Down the road was the Aritiatia Rapids, where you can see the water crash through the dam when they open the flood gates..however we did not read the information and realised that they only do this 3 times a day in the winter...so we missed it...

The main reason for visiting Lake Taupo was to do some Skydiving, Unfortunately Helen chickened out...so we headed to Rotorua stopping by the viewpoint again to take pics of the glorious Mount Ngauruhoe aka Mount Doom, in the midst of middle earth. For you LOTR fans, you'll know what we're talking about!

We knew we had arrived in Rotorua once we caught a whiff of sulphur due to its volcanic activity. As a result Rotorua is full of hot springs, explosive geysers and bubbling mud pools. We did a driving tour taking in the lake and Ohinemutu, a historic Maori village. We debated whether to go to the Polynesian Spa or the Waikite Valley Thermal Pools, but our hostel advised that Waikite would be quieter so Waikite Valley it was. Each pool was between 35-42 degrees and it was absolutely gorgeous despite the air being cold. The evening was spent at our hostel enjoying free dinner courtesy of our hostel.

Our next destination was the Hobbiton movie set, right slap bang in the middle of a sheep/cow farm. Obviously somewhere along the course of our travels we have become LOTR fans...Hobbiton is the only set still standing from the LOTR and the Hobbit movies due to copyright laws but SOMEHOW Hobbiton's owners managed to negotiate with the film company to keep the hobbit holes. From standing in the middle of Hobbiton its evident as to why the location was chosen...there is absolutely no sign of the 21st Century! We saw Bag End, Frodo and Bilbo Baggins home, the Party Tree and the new hobbit holes made for The Hobbit film. The tree above Bag End was amazing as it was chopped down and reconstructed using bolts and fibreglass leaves, so it looks really weird in the midst of winter as its really green! Once Helen fed the lambs, we stopped by at Te Aroha and Tairua. We had planned to stay overnight in Tairua but all the backpacker places were closed (its winter...) so we headed on to Hahei.

Hahei only has a population of 270...but its the prime location for Hot Water beach which was our destination the following morning at low tide! We almost froze to death in our hostel as there was no heating or double glazing. (Yes, we still cant get over the fact that NZ don't do either). Hot Water Beach is exactly what it is! A beach where if you dig in the sand hot water seeps up from a underwater volcanic hole and the water can reach temperatures up to 64 degrees. Nick obviously being 'wise' jumped right in and burnt himself...

We then went for a leisurely walk to the Cathedral Cove (yet another filming location, only this time for the Chronicles of Narnia). It was amazing, and we managed to find a secret cave where we had to beat the tide to get in otherwise we would have gotten soaked. We then drove to Te Puru via Coromandel Town, we couldn't find any hostels in Coromandel town nice enough, clean enough or the staff flapped cause we were deaf so we continued onto Te Puru. Patience certainly is a virtue, as we found an absolutely amazing hostel - Basically, it was an apartment with 3 bedrooms with wifi, tv, kitchen, etc you name it.... and we had it all to ourselves. It even had heating...but no double glazing.

Our next stop was Miranda to do some bird watching, we realised that without binoculars there was not much point in bird watching. However we did see lots of shore birds that visit Miranda due to the huge aquatic worms that grow here. We then drove across to Piha which was highly recommended by a Kiwi friend of ours.

Piha is a beautifully rugged, black sanded beach. The view approaching Piha was breath taking with the majestic Lion Rock taking its place of pride in the middle of the beach. The sea here is so dangerous that NZ's Baywatch reality show is filmed here. We scaled two thirds of the Lions Rock (the top was closed off) and it really was a great lookout over Piha, the beach and the ocean. We stayed at this ultra trendy beach stay and again we were the only ones. The only downside was that the power decided to go off in the living area's leaving us in the dark and trapping our clothes in the watching machine. They did however have a gorgeous cat that didn't hesitate in keeping Helen warm, snuggling in her lap all evening.

On day seven after leaving Wellington, we were faced with TORRENTIAL rain and a hazardous drive up/down the hills of NZ. We sought refuge from McDonalds until the rain died down and we then went for a beautiful coastal drive up the east coast of Northland. Our stop for the night was in Whangerai at this lovely place, the Little Earth Lodge where the rooms had a Balinese infusion. What topped our stay was that they had a cute scraggly dog called Muttley and two miniature ponies called Tom and Jerry. We had planned to do the Abbey Caves next door but what with the recent ridiculous amount of rain, it was too dangerous. Hopefully, we won't have the same problem at Waitomo.

Some of the discussions we have had this week -
- What do Cows think about?
- How is NZ is so green despite it being mid winter?
- Are birds on a suicide mission seeing as they keep flying into our car?
- How amazing our accommodation choices have been this week, thanks to our trusty BBH guide!