A chronicle of our travels around the world
Wellington was our last city on the North Island, and it was also our favourite. It wasn’t particularly beautiful, modern or classy, it just felt comfy and accommodating and we loved to walk its streets. What we didn’t know about the city was that it was hilly, in a San Francisco / Laurel Canyon kind …
As you will see from the series of photos below, most of the day was spent viewing Mount Taranaki from every possible angle. We covered a lot of miles and it was dark when we arrived in Whanganui, so unfortunately we didn’t spend much time there. Next up is Kaitoke Regional Park, home of Rivendell! …
Heading south, we decided to check out the area around Mount Taranaki, a very symmetrical volcano. We camped in Oakura, a small town by the west coast, at a campsite right by the beach. Although the area was windy, we had a very peaceful evening that brought us some wonderful light and a very colourful …
New Zealand has what they call nine “Great Walks”, and one of the most spectacular is the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, which is also one of the few that you can cover in a day (well, not all of it, but a pretty good portion). What made this 20 km walk so incredible were the sheer …
Our five night stop in Rotorua was jam-packed with activity. Although originally just a “base of operations” for driving around the central region of the North Island, we discovered that the city itself had a lot to offer as well. But the main highlight, I’ll have to admit, was visiting the very authentic set of …
The lush Coromandel Peninsula gave us some miserable weather, but also one of the nicest sunrises as well.
After our night at the top of New Zealand, we started backtracking south, heading for the Coromandel Peninsula.
After Paihia we spent the day driving all the way up to Cape Reinga, the northern-most tip of of New Zealand.
We chose Paihia as our base of operations for the Bay of Islands area, which was a cute little sleepy seaside town.
After two weeks stationed in Auckland, we were itching to get out on the road. Piha was our first destination.