Coping with public and private transport since 2001
After a full night of rain we had hoped it would clear during the day, but unfortunately it did not. Luckily, the wind died down quite a bit, as it had caused for a full on stop of the whale watching boats yesterday. None had sailed. Today though, everything was going out, and we were to be on the 07:15
Continue readingAls we took one of the earlier ferries across the Cook Strait, the alarms on our phones went off a little too early in the day for comfort. Barely past 6 in the morning, we made breakfast on our room and started to pack our stuff into the car. By 06:30 we checked out and made our way to the
Continue readingWaking up to an overcast sky is never good when on holiday, but seeing today also is really cloudy and wet is somewhat reassuring. We know today we can’t walk the Crossing as we have to leave town to go to Wellington, but in this weather it wouldn’t be nice at all. Even though the wind has gone down it
Continue readingOur only full day at Tongariro National Park, and the forecast is basically rain with lots of wind. Not so great for a 10 hour walk. We are staying in a place called The Park Traveller’s Lodge, nearly situated in a town called National Park. As you would’ve guessed: the town is very near to the starting point of the
Continue readingToday, we woke up to the slight sulphurous odour which seems to be ever present in Rotorua. Because this smell has a reason for which the tourists come to this place, us included, we said our goodbyes to the host John and drove out of town towards our next destination: Tongariro National Park. After a short drive though we decided
Continue readingOh Rotorua. You and your stinky, sulphury odours from the depths of hell. How wonderful the sights are, and how revolting the smells. Today, we went a short distance out of the town of Rotorua to Waimangu Volcanic Valley, which is the site of a hydrothermal blast back in 1886. It is still really active in the sense that there’s
Continue readingWe woke up this morning to the tune of singing birds, nut looking out throughout the window didn’t yield the nice view we were hoping for. Grey overcast skies with a chance of rain were to be the weather for this day. Whangamata was destined to receive a few drops of rain over the next few days, which meant that
Continue readingAs we visited the ‘big ticket’ highlights in the area yesterday already, and we didn’t feel like driving the 100-ish kilometres again today, the first destination for us was the local visitors centre. Over here, these are called I-Site, and we quickly located one in downtown Whangamata, right in the neighbourhood of one of our favourite breakfast places: Subway. In
Continue readingWaking up in a really old country style house in the middle of nowhere in New Zealand is, well, just nice. Having the host cook you breakfast at the time you wish is, well, even better! The Drury Homestead is run by Carolyn and Ron, who took the place over not too long ago and completely renovated it to its
Continue readingToday is the day we are leaving the Hokianga region and are heading back down south towards Auckland. We even venture down a little bit further, and settle for a good nights sleep in Drury. But first: breakfast! The trip will be around 300 km’s but as the roads over here are not quite straight the average speed will be
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