We love seeing friends and family on our travels and were joined by some of our favorite trivia and bird-loving friends for our time on the North Island.

Northland

After picking up our rental car, we drove up to Northland, stopping for some classic Kiwi treats along the way. Pies, thick milkshakes (a very specific flavor of milkshake), hokey pokeys, and tim tams are some of the most popular.

We found some amazing handmade pies on the side of the road. The cubano ones were especially delicious!

Once arriving in Tutukaka, we prepped for the tour Carey and Meg had been looking forward to for ages – a day-long pelagic birding tour. We spent about 9 hours out on the water and lots of birds. The most impressive was the New Zealand Storm Petrel, a bird once thought to be extinct.

The next day we explored some beaches. Carey and Meg collected shells while Albert and I went on quite the adventure to find coffee.

We visited the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, one of the most historically significant sites in New Zealand. It is where multiple agreements between the Maori and English were discussed and signed.

For dinner, we visited the city of Russel. Russel was once a major stopping point for sailors, but is a cute seaside village today.

On our way out the next morning, we went on a lovely hike out to a waterfall.

Coromandel

Coromandel is one of my favorite areas of the North Island. It is a lovely coastal area that is just begging you to relax. While there, we kayaked out to Cathedral Cove, dug our own hot tub at Hot Water Beach, and searched for shells along some beautiful beaches.

On our way to Hobbiton, we visited a lovely shorebird sanctuary. Carey and Meg had a great time.

Hobbiton

There are many amazing sites in New Zealand. But, being the nerd that I am, the one I was most excited about was Hobbiton. The set was originally built on a family farm and instead of being taken down, the family worked out a deal to keep the sets and sell tours. The family has done a wonderful job, even opening some new Hobbit holes where guests can explore the interior.

We took the Second Breakfast tour. This gave us the first tour of the day (best photo opportunities), a fun drink at a far less crowded Green Dragon, and a delicious, Hobbit-approved second breakfast.

Rotorua

Rotorua is famous for having an insane number of hot springs. Many Maori tribes have lived in this area for hundreds of years and have used the heat for cooking, bathing, heating, etc. While in town, we learned more about Maori history and culture, explored the lovely lake, walked the famous redwood canopy suspension bridges at night (the lights are lovely), and enjoyed the views.

Waikato

On our way to the next big tour stop, we stopped by a bird sanctuary for a hike. It is one of the largest in New Zealand and will be the first place the kakapo is reintroduced on the main islands.

That evening, we got to relax at a lovely glamping site. We had a wood-fired hot tub, s’mores, and Azul (one of my favorite board games).

The next morning we got to go to the glow worm caves – one of the sites Meg was most excited to see. It is insanely difficult to photograph the caves, but they look straight out of the Avatar films. As an added bonus, we got to see some moa bones (an ancient bird that could be described as a combo of an emu and a kiwi, but that doesn’t really do it justice).

New Plymouth

After the caves, we drove to New Plymouth and ran into a comical amount of traffic. New Plymouth is home to the mountain on the cover of the Lonely Planet guidebook for New Zealand. We only got to spend one night exploring, but the views were stunning.

Wellington

Wellington is the Portland of New Zealand. It is an insanely fun, quirky town and we all loved our time there. A few highlights –

  • We toured Weta Workshop, the company that made the props and costumes for Lord of the Rings. The company is quite small but has worked on a lot of other famous films (e.g., Avatar, live-action Mulan, a lot of horror films).
  • At Zealandia, a famous bird sanctuary, we took the night tour in the POURING rain and got to see a kiwi in the wild! We went back the next day and got to see a bunch of other rare birds, the takahe being one of the coolest.
  • Wellington is the craft beer capital of NZ and both Albert and I are fans of good craft beer. The city has a fun brewery tour and we enjoyed exploring the different breweries to see how their styles differ from Colorado’s. Our favorite brewery was Monkfish.
  • We got to meet up with a couple we had spent time with in Laos and catch up – it was a lot of fun to see them again!
  • To get to Auckland, we took one of the scenic trains. The ride was about 12 hours long, but the views were stunning and the train cars were great. They were almost entirely windows so it was easy to enjoy the views.

Auckland

All the Kiwis we’ve met in our travels had told us to fly into Auckland and then leave. That always seemed a bit harsh to me, but I see where they are coming from. Compared to the rest of New Zealand, Auckland is rather boring. Two things we really liked –

  • The food was some of the best in the country. For the most part in New Zealand, we only liked the fish and chips and the savory pies (there are exceptions to that – we found a couple of truly delicious restaurants over our 6 weeks traveling the country). In Auckland, we found some great Asian fusion food and some Thai food that was almost spicy (a rarity in NZ).
  • Weta Unleashed – Weta Workshop has a different attraction in Auckland that is more like stepping onto a movie set. The locations are quite different and it was worth going to both. We had a great time making our own mini sets as well.

After two weeks of wandering the North Island with friends, we said goodbye to the country we spent the most time in during our year abroad. New Zealand is truly stunning and we’re glad we were able to spend 6 weeks exploring.