North Island, New Zealend

We're going on an adventure!

Our stay in Picton was very short. Just a few hours sleep before our early ferry departure in the morning. The chef at the hotel was a lovely South African lady from Cape Town. We had such a delicious meal and an even nicer chat before we all headed off to bed for an early night. The chef did scare me (Joanne) about the possible unpleasant conditions of the 4 hour ferry crossing. So I dosed the kids and I up with some sea leggs and we all slept really well. The ferry was huge! The biggest one we have been on this year. Of course, the weather was stunning and the waters calm. However the sea leggs had a strong effect on me and I slept most of the way, missing the beautiful scenery. I did manage to see some before I said night night!

We arrived in Auckland and drove straight into the city to grab some lunch. We had noted that our little rental car was making a horrific noise. After lunch, as we drove us the steep sharp corners of Wellington, we were very worried that we were going to loose some of our car. Ro contacted the rental company and he had to go through to the company depo to swap our car out. We were given a lovely RAV 4 and were much happier and more comfortable.

With our new car and no real plans, on the Sunday morning we drove into town and went up the cable car. The Wellington Cable Car (Māori: Te Waka Taura o Pōneke) is a funicular cable car. It runs between Lambton Quay the main shopping street, and Kelburn, a suburb in the hills overlooking the central city. It takes approximately 5 minutes each way. It was a fun little activity to do, and we got to take a look around the museum at the top and a little walk through the top part of the botanical gardens.

We had a walking tour booked with a guy off the AirBnB experiences platform. While his particular route and information was not great, and the hills of Wellington were making the younger members of our party complain bitterly. We were able to see parts of Auckland that we most likely wouldn’t have seen (or really wanted to see either). The bottom section of the Botanical Gardens were beautiful and I am glad we went in the end.

After our uninspiring walking tour we decided to pop into the Museum of New Zealand. Our time was short, so we focused on two sections. The natural history section and a special exhibition on Gallipoli.

The natural history section was good fun for kids and adults alike. There were some fun interactive learning displays and some pretty cool displays of animals both extinct and living.

We then moved across to the Gallipoli exhibit. Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War combines the world of museums with the world-class creative artistry of Weta Workshop to immerse you in the eight-month Gallipoli campaign. Weta Workshop were the people behind the Lord of the Rings movies.

The ground-breaking exhibition tells the story through the eyes and words of eight ordinary New Zealanders who found themselves in extraordinary circumstances. Each is captured frozen in a moment of time on a monumental scale – 2.4 times human size. It was such a surreal feeling walking next to these giant, hyper realistic sculptures and hearing their stories.

The giant sculptures took 24,000 hours to create, and countless hours were spent researching their rich histories. The kids and I were not prepared and you could often see one of us with tears in our eyes.

I must say that I had never heard of this particular battle and I felt rather ignorant about the people who’s lives were lost over that time. In total, 2,779 Kiwis lost their lives on Gallipoli. Anzac day which is celebrated on the 25th April, was the day that the ANZAC forces landed in Gallipoli and were met by a very strong Ottoman force. We all learnt a lot in that exhibition and we all agreed that it was both amazing and terrifying.

The next day we drove up to Rotorua. A place full of geothermal activity and little people (no, I am not being politically incorrect, I am talking about the Hobbits of Hobbiton).

Our first stop in Rotorua was to visit the set of the Hobbit movie. In true Hewitt style, we were super early so we stopped on the side of the road and had a picnic in the boot of our car. We then headed over to check in for our tour. It was super packed with people, but so fun from the moment you arrive.

We all hopped on a bus and found ourselves winding through the beautiful Alexander farm that was the Shire set for the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit trilogies.

It was absolutely beautiful. The set has been so well maintained and the feeling of Hobbits peering through their windows looking at you was present throughout the whole experience. I kept waiting to see Bilbo Baggins walking past. It was a lot of fun. I managed to convince Ro and the kids to recreate a scene from the movie, you can see that at the start of our video this week.

I don’t know how else to explain the experience except that it is one that I am so glad that we did, even though it was so busy and extremely “touristy”, it was really worth it. I kept having to catch up with the group, I couldn’t stop taking photos!

On our next day we went to Whakarewarewa Village. It is the legacy and home of the Tūhourangi Ngāti Wāhiao people. We had a guided tour of the village and learnt a lot about the people of that village. We had some delicious corn that was cooked in the hot water. We went for a picnic in a beautiful park. Then headed to a thermal spa for some deep relaxation. Only to find out in a few days that both Ro and I picked up a nice foot infection.

After hot pools and cultural experiences, we headed to the red wood forest. we decided to do the canopy walk. I don’t know what I was thinking when I suggested we do it. James and I are not keen on heights. We managed to get ourselves through it and there was something very special walking through the canopy of these beautiful giants. I was very glad to be on the ground at the end though.

We said goodbye to Rotorua and headed further north to a beautiful little escape in the woods near a natural hot water beach. Armed with a spade and a good dose of adventure we went off to find some hot water buried under the sand. There were a lot of people around and not everyone was successful. We were able to find a very hot bubbling spot and then made a canal to divert some of that boiling water into a cooler pool. It wasn’t very deep, but it was a lot of fun.

Our AirBnb had an awesome pizza oven and we had the most delicious home made pizza. There was a day of rain and we played a full game of Monopoly! I say full game, but I think the two remaining contenders ended up conceding.

The sun came out and we headed to a Veg fest that was about an hour away. It was such a cool set up with music, good food and fun for the kids.

Before long, it was time to move on again. We really enjoyed our time in this quieter part of the country. We packed up the bags, loaded the car and headed further north on to Auckland. Our final stop on our New Zealand tour. We chose to stay in a hotel as we had an early flight to Sydney.

I started to notice that my toe was really hurting now, but sore toe or not, we only had one day in Auckland and we had to make the most of it. We grabbed lunch and headed out to Mount Eden for a walk. It is a collapsed volcano and an ancient ancestral site to the Māori. It was a lovely walk and you were really able to get a view of the whole city.

We then went sailing in the harbour. What a fun afternoon. Ro absolutely loves to sail and the kids and I are learning to like it too.

After our time in the wind, my foot was starting to throb. I took my shoes off and noticed that there was definitely an infection brewing and I needed to see a Dr ASAP. We found the closest hospital and I went in alone. After 2 hours, I told Ro and the kids to go back to the hotel to eat and get to bed. Although the wait was long, around 5 hours, I was treated very well and got the medication I needed. I hopped in an Uber around 10pm, climbed into bed and tried to get some rest in before our 8am flight to Sydney.

New Zealand was such a wonderful experience for our whole family and we all talk about it often. It is definitely a place we would like to return to and explore more of for sure.

Next week we’ll be talking about the first part of our Aussie stay.

Until then, thank you for being here and being a part of our journey.

All our love,

The Grow Travel Family

xxx