Coromandel Peninsula

We drove from Rotorua to a little town called Hahei on Friday afternoon. This little town has a hostel/resort, a cafe, and a small convenient store...and that's it. It was really nice to be away from all the people and take some time to relax on the beaches. 

 

Friday night's sunset on the beach 

Cheesy and cliche North Island tour picture 

On Saturday, May 16th, we went to Hot Water Beach. When the tide is low, you can dig a hole and it fills up with really hot water. It's a small area where you can dig, so it was a little crowded, but everyone kinda joins in together to build the hot tub. 

Hannah and Dejan hard at work

Mission accomplished!

We were really lucky and had PERFECT weather that day. We were able to sit on the beach in our swimsuits all afternoon and relax in the sun. After that, we took an hour hike to Cathedral Cove. The hike was all along the coast, sometimes going through NZ's native bush. 

Saw this little guy along the path. New Zealand has no native mammals, all the mammals were brought here for one reason or another...or by accident. 

Cathedral Cove. Made over many many many years by the power of water! 

Selfie with my pal Pier! 

On our hike home, we were able to see the sun set. 

Enough beauty to have TWO pictures of the sun set. 

On Sunday we will drive the three hours to Auckland. We will hang out there until Tuesday morning, where we will part ways. Pier, Hannah and Dejan will go back to Wellington, and I'll head to Christchurch. 

Rotorua and Some Maori Culture

After Hobbiton, we headed to Rotorua. Rotorua is a cultural center for New Zealand's indigenous Maori people. The surrounding area is full of geysers and mud pools, fueled by geothermal activity, making Rotorua the second largest geothermal activity area, Yellowstone being the first. We were in Rotorua for less than 48 hours, most of that time it was raining...which was a really nice excuse to sit in our incredibly quiet hostel and watch Shark Tank. During my time in New Zealand, I rarely watched TV or movies. My brain was easily sucked into this addicting show, for hours afterwards, we talked about deals, stakes and what inventions we would make. It was a moment *cough* day *cough* of much needed weakness. 

The sun did shine eventually though. The morning before we left, we headed to a little park that was filled with mud pools. It brought me back to when I was 14 years old, hating the smells of Yellowstone National Park and refusing to get out of the car. Though it was smelly, it was pretty cool to see! 

Part of the park we walked through

New Zealand is in the middle of their autumn, which was weird when my family kept talking about the snow melting and the leaves coming back on the trees. 

I thought of my mom and brother when I saw this bike tree

We went to a Maori village in Rotorua as well. We had to watch where we stepped, the place was covered in hot spots and sinking grounds. At one point, I stepped into what looked like solid ground and my foot went 6 inches under....

The Maori people are rich in culture. Before they had a language, they used arts and crafts to communicate. Many sculptures tell different stories or represent spirits of the past. To learn more about what different symbols mean, click HERE. 

The community or gathering center for the village. This is a sacred space, tourist were not allowed in. 

Dejan and Pier really wanted me to take a picture of our rental car...so here it is 

On Friday morning (May 15th) we head north to the Coromandel Peninsula to see Cathedral Cove and spend some time on a few beaches before heading to Auckland. 

What About Second Breakfast?

Pippin: What about elevenses? Luncheon? Afternoon tea? Dinner? Supper? He knows about them, doesn't he? 
Merry: I wouldn't count on it. 

When I read the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, I knew right away that I could relate to the simple life of a Hobbit. Hobbits love to eat, play, and be merry with their friends and family. If you ask me, there is nothing that really beats that. After watching the movies, I had a new goal of going to The Shire in New Zealand and see what one of the most beautiful places in Middle Earth looks like in person. Hannah and I have been talking about this day since senior year in college when we first came up with the New Zealand idea. 

As we drove down the curvy roads, through the farm land, Hannah and I became more and more excited; Pier and Dejan laughing as our excitement was bubbling over! We got to the Hobbiton base, where a bus took us out to where they had The Shire set. It was a big deal for Peter Jackson to find the perfect spot for The Shire. It was suppose to represent the beauty and simplicity of England. He sent planes out to scout for the perfect spots. Once he "discovered" the then small family farm, he knocked on their door and asked if he could take a look around. The owner was busy watching a rugby game, so he told him to go check it out himself. I think if that farmer knew what his land was about to turn into, he may have turned off that TV. :) 

We were in a tour group with about 20 other people. Along the tour, the guide gave us a lot of facts about the making of the movie. For example: At the beginning of the movie, Frodo and Gandalf are riding together in Gandalf's horse and carriage. In order to make Frodo look small, he is actually sitting about 3 meters back from Gandalf. The following are a bunch of pictures of our day in Hobbiton. Words can't describe how cool it was, so I'll let the pictures do the talking. 

Everything in this garden is real. They hire gardeners to keep up the maintenance. The tour guides get the vegetables for free! 

 One of the first Hobbit holes we saw. 

 Bilbo Baggins' house! 

 This is Sam's house. Seen at the end of the Return of the King.  Sam's daughter in the movie is his daughter in real life. 

 On to the Green Dragon for a pint! 

 The Green Dragon Inn

Just drinking our ales at the Green Dragon...no big deal...

We could even dress like Hobbits! 

It's safe to say that this was one of the coolest days in New Zealand! Hannah was the perfect partner to nerd out with! Quoting lines from the movie and pretending that we lived in The Shire too. 

Our next step is Rotorua. An area VERY similar to Yellowstone National Park. Leaving the beautiful, fresh smell of The Shire to the rotten egg smell of sulfur... Wooohooo! 

Taupo, Gisborne and Tauranga, Oh My!

On Sunday morning (the 10th) we left the Mordor area and headed to Taupo. Taupo is located at the edge of New Zealand's largest lake, Lake Taupo, where it discharges to the Waikato River. This area is a center of volcanic and geothermal activity, with many hot springs to bath in. 

One of the first places we stopped at was Hula Falls, which is part of Waitkato River, NZ's longest river. Here, the river is confined by hard, geothermal-altered rocks. Over time, it has carved a channel about 15 meters wide and 10 meters deep. The water churns along this channel at a rate much faster than the river.

The power and force that these falls have is absolutely breath taking! 

The Waikato River has developed into one of the country's major electricity producing rivers. It produces about 15% of NZ's power! 

After that, we saw signs for free honey tasting... if you know me at all, you will know that I could NEVER turn down honey tasting. 

The flavors were endless! The overall favorite was a honey-peanut butter flavor with chocolate chips. I also really loved the lavender honey too. If the honey wasn't so expensive, I would probably be coming home with an extra suitcase... 

Good luck was with us this day, the weather was perfect! So we decided to head to a natural hot spring that connected to a cold river. 

When we got too hot, we would just move towards the river, couldn't ask for anything better! 

On Monday (the 11th) we made our way all the way West to a town called Gisborne. Before we got there, we stopped at another place called Napier for lunch. It was another PERFECT day outside! The sun was warm enough that I could sit on the beach and read my book. While I did that, the others played mini-golf. We ended up staying in Napier most of the day. It was a beautiful city along the sea, with a lot 1930's architecture. A very cool impromptu stop! 

A panorama of my spot on the beach

I think I could be the next TOMS endorsor 

Eventually we made it to Gisborne on Monday night. We spent the night relaxing in one of the strangest/eeriest hostels we've been in so far. It was once a convent for nuns, which turned into a hostel with very long rooms and extremely tall ceilings. Dejan enjoyed making "jokes" all night about the ghosts that come out at night. I know it probably...well hopefully wasn't real, but if any place were to be haunted, this would be the one!  

On Tuesday morning, Hannah, Dejan and I got up bright and early to head to the beach to not only see the sunrise, but to also feed some stingrays! 

When the tide is out, the sting rays come in to feed on the sea floor. The stingrays we saw are wild stingrays, but they know food is there, so they are always happy to come back! Along with the stingrays were King fish. People from all over the world come to NZ to fish for these very valuable fish and we were able to see them and even pet them (except for the few times they bit us...). There are two types of stingrays in this area. The first one is the Eagle ray. They can grow up to 2 meters and are colored based on where they were born. If they were born in a sandy area, they are going to be a bronze/sandy color. If they were born near rocks, they will be more grey or algae green color. The other stingray was a Short-tail Stingray. These are the largest stingrays in the world, they can grow up to 770lbs! 

Stingray's teeth work like nutcrackers to crush their prey, which include crabs, fish, and other sea creatures. We learned that stingrays are incredibly gentle creatures. They LOVED to be pet. Even when our food was gone, they still came up to our feet to get a good rub down of their backs and under their chins. 

A young Eagle Ray

A small Short-tail stingray, she was incredibly friendly and loved having her chin scratched

Feeling like stingray pros now...we look the part anyway

Tuesday afternoon we drove back up north to Tauranga to see some of the northern coast. On Wednesday morning (the 13th) we got up early and headed to Mt. Maunganui. The mountain was only around 230 m, but when we got to the top we could see for MILES! 

I may have been having a little too much fun with the panorama feature

Not too shabby of a view! 

Smell that?! Ahh yes, that's the smell of Second Breakfast... we must be getting close to Hobbiton :) Stay tuned to see how our adventure continues to unfold!