The Camps in New Zealand--The North Island

 

On most of our trips, we’re lucky to get one or two photos with the two of us together. This time we got a lot more because our tour director kept offering to take them. Unfortunately, we don’t seem to have any joint photos from the North Island, so I will have to give you individual ones. Since I’m the photographer, I’m fortunate to even have one of just me, but the tour guide at Hobbiton took it. The first photo shows me as a Hobbit, and the second has Roland checking the bath temperature at the thermal village. More about both later.

Our North Island adventure started on Valentines Day there (although it was February 13 in the U.S.). The plan was to fly from Queenstown on the South Island to Rotorua on the North Island, with a connecting flight at Christchurch on the South Island. We got up at 3:00 a.m. and made our first flight without any issues. When we reached Christchurch, however, we discovered that our second flight had been cancelled because Cyclone Gabrielle was supposedly headed to Rotorua. But our awesome tour director got us onto a flight to Auckland, where the worst of the cyclone was already supposed to have passed. Then she arranged for the bus driver who was supposed to meet us in Rotorua to meet us in Auckland, instead.

So far, so good.

The plane to Auckland actually had enough legroom for Roland and arrived on time. Then we sat on the tarmac for about 1½ hours before they freed a gate for us to disembark. That was the beginning of our tribulations.

When we finally made it into the terminal, it was a madhouse. We must have been about the last plane to make it in, because the first thing we heard on entering the terminal was that all flights in and out had been cancelled. You would think this wouldn’t affect us since we were being picked up by bus, but you’d be wrong. They were unloading all the checked luggage on the cancelled flights first, and word was that ours would not be available until the next day. Our luggage wasn’t lost—we knew exactly where it was—but we couldn’t get at it. Rather than have us wait around with no place to sleep in Auckland, our tour director sent us on with the driver while she stayed behind to wait for the luggage. Here is a photo that shows you a bit of the madness at the airport.

Roland had packed some emergency clothes in his carryon luggage but this was about the first time I hadn’t. So I washed out some underwear and wore Roland’s swim trunks and my fleecy to bed. Fortunately, I had my contact stuff in my carryon. The bus driver bought toothbrushes and toothpaste for everyone, and the situation made for interesting conversation among the group since we were all in the same boat (or plane or bus).

By sending us ahead with the bus driver, the tour director also got us to Rotorua in time for our evening activity, which was a Māori Village and Hangi Feast. Hangi is a cooking method where they steam the food in the ground to give it the flavor of the wood. The feast was held in a banquet hall with a number of tour groups and was preceded by a show that was clearly designed for tourists. Even so, the food was good and the show was entertaining. The next two photos show the food where it was cooked and the setting for the show.

I had signed up for a tour of Hobbiton for the next morning, but Roland had no interest in going. The plan had been for him to do the laundry while I was gone, but that was hijacked when our luggage was. So he relaxed and walked around town a bit.

For those of you who don’t know what Hobbiton is, it is the movie set for the home town of the main characters in the Hobbit movies, based on The Hobbit by J.R. Tolkien. (A Hobbit is a type of creature, sort of like calling us people.) In a joint venture between the farmer who owns the land and Peter Jackson (director) and the company that produced the movies, they took the temporary set and turned it into a permanent tourist attraction. They did a really nice job with it, and I learned a lot about the production of the movies during the 1½ hour tour through the set. The first photo at the head of this post shows me peering around a door in one of the Hobbit houses. (We didn’t get to go inside any, however.) The photos below show Frodo’s Hobbit Hole (home), another Hobbit Hole, the mill, and the Green Dragon pub, all from the book and the movies.

In the afternoon, our tour director arrived with the luggage but we didn’t have time to change before we were off for a gondola ride and wine-tasting on Mt. Ngongotaha. Then we visited a jade-carving factory and walked through a redwood forest before setting out for another Māori dinner that was more solemn but told much the same story we had heard the night before. It was also less touristy, however, and we were the only group there. The next two photos are of  Rotorua from Mt. Ngongotaha and Roland showing the size of a redwood.

The next day we loaded our luggage on the bus for our trip back to Auckland—on purpose this time. Before we actually left Rotorua, however, we toured the Te Whakarewarewa Living Thermal Village, which is where Roland is testing the temperature of the water in the photo at the top of this post. It is a Māori village built on top of a thermal field. Part of the tribe moved to that location many years ago after their village was wiped out by a volcano. They use the thermal pools in ways that don’t disrupt their natural state, so they don’t pipe hot water into their homes. They have more traditional heating there. And although they use the thermal heat to cook some of their food, they have regular stoves, too. The next four photos show a pool where food is quickly cooked by dipping it in, another pool that provides the heated water for the baths, a geyser, and part of the village partly obscured by the steam.

As we traveled from Rotorua to Auckland, I was remined of the differences between the two islands. Aside from the weather (the South Island is colder than the North), the South Island was carved out by glaciers and there are a number of sheep farms. The North Island was created by volcanos and primarily raises cattle. The next two photos show the gently rolling green hills of the North Island and two volcanic mounds.

When we arrived at Auckland, we visited the Auckland Museum and then took a driving tour through the town. It was a beautiful day, and most of the damage from the cyclone had already been cleaned up. The next photos show the skyline, the bay, and two of the mansions overlooking the bay. I love the pink one, but it is owned by the owner of a pink “pleasure palace,” and many people in Auckland see the color of the mansion as an insult.

Our final day in Auckland was on our own except for a farewell dinner at the hotel, so we rode up the Sky Tower for views of Auckland, finished our Christmas shopping, and walked along the wharf. The final two photos show the Sky Tower and a view of Auckland from above.

Our flight home left at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 18, and arrived just after 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, Friday 18. No, we weren’t using a Star Trek transporter machine, but we did cross the International Date Line.

We arrived home tired but happy after a great trip.

Now I’ll have to think of something else to blog about next week.