Addy & Shell's Adventures in NZ

For three months (May-July) I traveled around the North Island in New Zealand. For the first month I traveled with Michelle (a dear friend from Australia). This time was marked with spontaneity, silly antics, tears and laughter! A broad smile comes to my face as I remember the trouble we got into and caused!

At first we rented a car and planned on making it all the way down to Christchurch in only 2.5 weeks... Clearly, something was off with our planning! This trip eventually extended to 4 week, where we stayed on the North Island and were in each place on average for about 5 days.

The trip started off with us heading north of Aucland to Northland, which is a super magical place. There we visited the Kaori forest and spent some time at a cozy hostel in Paihia.

That's where we discovered the Ngawha Hot Springs, which in our opinion were the best in New Zealand! They are about a 20 min drive from Paihia on Hwy 12. Seriously, it blew us away! For only 4$ you had access to about 20 wooden pools with different minerals that were thick, colourful, and piped in straight from underground. It was the wild-west of sulfur experiences. (It must be noted that this falls on the opposite spectrum of the luxury spa experience. It is mainly locals that visit and the word 'rustic' comes to mind. Perfect really.)

Lake Taupo is the largest fresh water lake in Oceana and is the caldera of a huge volcanic explosion! I certainly picked a good day to kayak - as you can see the volcanic mountains of Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe, and Tongariro. Normally there is at least some cloud blocking their view in the winter.

This is the carving of Ngatoroirangi that is located on the cliffs of Lake Taupo. This carving was relatively recently done (I remember being told that it was 20 years old, but wikipedia says 1979. Wikipedia is probably right.) and is certainly very impressive.

Above is a thermal river in Taupo. You can see the steam rising if you look closely.

This is a picture taken in the Redwoods forest near Rotorua. It was one of my favourite places to go and get lost in... there's just something special about that place.

Here is Michelle repacking her bags on the way to that airport. It's a great mystery how she managed to make that international flight - considering we showed up at the airport 30 mins before it was due to leave!!

Bye Michelle - until the next adventure!