New Zealand - North Island

The ferry from the South Island to the North Island leads through Cook Strait.  While the 3+ hour journey has stunning views and occasional dolphin sightings (I wasn't that lucky), the intense wind kept me indoors for about half of the trip.

When I arrived in Wellington, I was met by the gorgeously friendly face of Caraline (whom I met while on the Machu Picchu portion of my trip).  She was generous enough to allow me to stay with her for a night.  That evening, we had a sunset dinner at the beach (I know, it sounds very romantic) while fighting off the sea gulls.  

She also took me on a driving tour of Wellington.  We stopped for a scenic view of the city:

The next day I explored the city.  The parliament buildings is a small cluster of neat buildings, including the "Beehive":

Te Papa - a free museum with several levels of exhibits including a colossal squid and an earthquake simulator. 

After Te Papa, I took the Cable Car up to the Botanic Gardens and had a lovely walk back down through the gardens.

After only two nights in Wellington, I caught an early Naked Bus up to Lake Taupo (again, not a bus full of nakies).  The plan was to spend only one night in Taupo, go sky diving the next morning, then take a late bus to Rotorua.  Unfortunatly, that was the ONLY day that they didn't offer the late bus...so sky diving wasn't in the cards. BUT, hot springs were!  I walked from the hostel to the hot springs (about a 30 minute walk), and found a nice spot where the extreme hotness of the springs mixes with the extreme coldness of the river for the perfectly hot temperature.

And then my final NZ destination:  Rotorua.  It.Smells.  Rotorua is a lake town built over a geothermal hot spot, giving it geysers, bubbling mud pools, hot springs, and the sweet sweet smell of sulphur.  Cool things to look at, not cool things to smell.  A fellow hostel-ite and I went out to explore the scenic smells.

Fair warning:  after visiting, you may smell like flatulence for the next several days...regardless of the amount of soap you have used.

The Government Gardens are home to the Blue Baths (geothermally heated pools opened in 1933 as NZ's first mixed sex bathing pool) and the city museum:

(not bad for a museum, eh?)

The lake offers all sorts of sports, including water zorbing...

...and it is home to some beautiful black swans, that are apparently fairly agressive:

There is a walkway leading along the lake to more geothermal hot springs, mud baths and the deceptively pretty (smelly) Motutara (Sulphur Bay):

During my time in Rotorua, I was introduced to the Tim Tam - a delicious chocolate cookie with caramel filling.  The annoyingly accurate slogan on the bag: "The most irresistible chocolate biscuit".  

This is normally the point where I would post a picture, but I ate them all (the cookies, not the pictures).

The following morning I was off to Auckland to catch a flight to OZ!  I didn't spend more than a few hours in Auckland this time around, but I enjoyed my time there at the start of my NZ trip.

Unfortunately, my time in New Zealand didn't include meeting hobbits or finding precious rings...but the scenery was stunning and the people were amazing.  I'd love to return for the popular camper van adventure.  Someday.  

New Zealand...check!

~Jac