May 7, 2016 – Arrival into Sydney, Australia
Arrived at the airport around 7am and took public transportation to the Zing Hostel.
The temperature was in the mid 70s F.
We walked around the city to see some sights. There was some fires outside of the city so it was pretty smokey. We later found out that they were doing a controlled burn off to avoid forest fires.
Sights that we saw: Mrs. Macquaries Point, Sydney Opera House, Botanical Gardens, The Warf, and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Sydney Harbour Bridge
Sydney Opera House
Cool tree in the Botanical Gardens
May 8, 2016 – Blue Mountain Tour
We took a Blue Mountain Tour form Sydney that included the following: Olympic Park, a River Stop, Scenic World, Leura Village and their lookout, Wentworth Falls, Kings Table Land (Lincoln), and a river cruise at night back into the city.
The temperature was about 70 F and there was a little rain.
Note that it is not fog in the images below, but smoke from the controlled burn off that they were doing to avoid wild fires.
The Three Sisters on the left of the first image.
May 9, 2019 – Travel to New Zealand
We flew from Sydney to Queenstown, where we picked up our champ of a rental car and drove to Wanaka-Lake Hawea. It was a beautiful drive with tons of mountains.
We stayed in Wanaka at the Lake Hawea Hostel. A nice little hostel behind the Hotel. The bathrooms are in a different building which was a little inconvenient, but not a big deal for 1 night.
The temperature was about 60 F and there was a little rain.
Drive from Queenstown to Wanaka.
Sunrise at Lake Hawea.
May 10, 2016 – Drive from Wanaka to Franz Josef
We wanted to go to the Rob Roy Trail to do a 4 hour hike, but it started raining as we got to the road that goes out there. We decided to give the road a try. It was a super narrow dirt road and we ended up fording a ton of water in our small little rental car. Of course, there is no way to turn around so we had to go the whole way out there before we could turn around and come back. The roads were getting really bad so it was not safe to stay out there.
Drive from Wanaka to the Rob Roy Trail.
On our drive we saw a rancher herding cow and deer with a helicopter.
We then drove up to the Fox Glacier Trail for a walk our to view the glacier.
Drive from Rob Roy Trail to Fox Glacier.
Fox Glacier Trail
The drive up to Franz Joseph was through the mountains and gave us a beautiful view of the ocean.
We stayed in Sir Cedrics Glow Worm Flashpacker Hostel. It is a nice place. We had an ensuite bathroom and kitchenette. They had a shared kitchen and free home made soup for dinner.
The temperature was about 60 F and there was rain.
May 11, 2016 – Drive Franz Joseph to Punakaiki
We drove out to Franz Joseph Glacier, but the rain was way to heavy to make the hike out and be able to see the glacier. We were really glad that we decided to stop at the Fox Glacier the previous day or we would not have been able to see a glacier.
We made a stop at Ross to look at the Gold Mining area. It was not all that thrilling.
We continued on and stopped and the Pancake Rocks (Punakaiki). Which is a really cool site.
We then drove out to Te Nikau Retreat where we were staying that night. This place is awesome! It’s in a really wooded area close the a small beach and has a shared kitchen and recreation area and ensuite bath.
We took a little walk in the woods towards the beach.
The temperature was about 60 F and there was heavy rain.
May 12, 2016 – Drive Punakaiki – Karamea – Picton
We drove for 2.5 hours on crazy curvy roads up the mountain to Karamena to see the Opapara Basin. When we got up there we had to drive 14 km on some scary dirt roads to get to the basin, but it was WORTH IT. The Opapara basin was beautiful. The water is red from the clay.
Opapara Basin
Then we drove back down the mountain for a 5 hour drive to Picton; where we spent the night and planned to catch the ferry to the north island the next day.
We stayed at the Picton Yacht Club which is probably the nicest place that we have ever stayed.
May 13, 2016 – Travel to North Island and on to Ohakune
We took the Ferry from Picton to Wellington. Our incredibly inexpensive rental car came with tickets for the ferry for the car and two people. It was awesome.
View of Picton from the Ferry.
Once on the north island we drove straight up to Ohakune.
We stayed at the Hobbit Motor Lodge. Which was really nice. They gave us an upgrade as they were doing some maintenance.
The temperature was about 60 F and there was a little rain.
May 14, 2016 – Ohakune to Rotorua
This morning we did three walks in the Ohakune area.
Rimu Walk & Mangawhero Forest Walk – these walks run together.
Waitong Falls Walk
We then drove up to Rotorua, stopping at the Thermo Mud Pools (Te Puia) and took a walk around Rotorua city center.
Drive to Rotorua
In Rotorua we stayed at The Backyard Inn. A decent place within walking distance of the city center.
The temperature was about 60 F and partly cloudy.
May 15, 2016 – Rotorua
Te Puia Geothermal Site
Kuirau Park
This is a small public geothermal park just outside of downtown Rotorua that we visited a couple of times.
Mamaku Blue – Blueberry Experience
Ruth had to visit this joint and try some of their homemade blueberry ice cream.
Government Garden
The temperature was about 62 F and partly cloudy.
May 16, 2016 – Rotorua
Wai-O-Tapu – Thermal Wonderland
The candy they sell in their gift shop. Look at the names. Would you eat them?
Rainbow Mountain Scenic Reserve Crater Walk
Whakarewarewa Forest – Redwoods walk
The temperature was about 62 F and partly cloudy with a little rain.
May 17, 2016 – Rotorua
Hobbiton Movie St (Matamata)
We took the tour of the family farm where the movies where filmed. It was a bit expensive but worth it.
We stopped at the Green Dragon Inn, where a cup of mead or cider was included in the tour price.
Wairere Falls
On our way back towards Rotorua, we decided to make a stop at these falls. I was a very pretty walk that was all uphill and took about 45 minutes. It was a relatively steep trail for most of it.
Te Waihou Blue Springs Walkway
Our next stop on the way back was this walkway. The water was so clear that you could see the bottom of the springs.
The temperature was about 65 F and partly cloudy with a little rain on and off.
May 18, 2016 – Rotorua
The temperature was about 55 F and it was pretty rainy.
We decided to take a lazy day and stayed in bed reading all morning. In the afternoon, we went out to lunch and visited the Rotorua Museum.
The museum houses this sculpture titled Two Friends.
This is the view from the museum roof.
The museum used to be a mud spa. In the basement, they have this replica of man in a mud bath. We are not sure why he has that ridiculous face, but we found it hilarious.
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May 19, 2016 – Rotorua
We spent the day seeing sights right in or near rotorua.
We had lunch at Che Chorizo. They had really good paella, empanadas and homemade churros.
Green & Blue Lakes Lookout
Kawerau
We wanted to see the Tarawera Falls. Unfortunately, it was on private property and and we needed a permit to access it. So we were unable to see the falls. BUMMER!
Okere Falls Track
Rotorua Night Market
We visited the night market in Rotorua. It was a few blocks of street blocked off for different types of vendors.
May 20, 2016 – Hamilton
On our drive from Rotorua to Hamilton, we stopped to visit the Waitomo Cave and the Rurakuri Cave. Both of which house glow worms. Unfortunately, none of the glow worm pictures turned out.
Waitomo Cave
Photography was not allowed in this cave. At the end of this tour they load you up in a boat and the tour guide pulls the boat along with a rope in the ceiling to get you out the other end. Unfortunately, the boat was not big enough for all of us so we had to wait for the next one which caused us to miss our next tour so we had to do a little rescheduling.
Rurakuri Cave
We stayed in Hamilton at the Eagles Nest Backpackers hostel.
We saw a street sign a couple of times today that read “Other people make mistakes, Slow Down.” Too funny.
May 21, 2016 – Keri Keri
We drove from Hamilton to Keri Keri and made a stop at the Trounson Kauri Park. When you enter the park, you have to hose your shoes off to not contaminate the park.
Trounson Kauri Park
We stayed at the Woodlands Motel. This place is great. We did not have a private bath, but we really liked the location.
It was a beautiful sunny say in the mid 60s F.
May 22, 2016 – Auckland
We left Keri Keri and headed toward Auckland stopping at a number of places along the way.
Haruru Falls
Bay of Islands (Paihia)
KawaKawa
We headed to Kawakawa because when a guide book recommends a public toilet, you HAVE to check it out. To our surprise, they has a small community festival going on.
Hundertwasser Public Toilets
Puff And Pull Festival
Yes, people are pulling a train car.
Whangarei Falls
Rainbow
A beautiful rainbow was seen on the drive.
Mount Victoria Summit
Short walk in Auckland
We walked down to the Warf. This neat looking building was still under construction on the interior.
We stayed at the Jucy Snooze Hostel.
May 23, 2016 – Auckland – Head Home
On our last day in New Zealand, we decided to take a walk in the rain up to the Auckland Domain where we some some interesting plants.
We then started our drive toward the airport but had time to kill so we stopped at The Warehouse (the Walmart of NZ). Here we picked up some snacks for our plane ride back.
We ended up driving 3501 KMs while on this trip. Our rental car held up well even when fording water
