New Zealand 2024: Auckland to Tongariro, New Plymouth and back

Our first stop after leaving Auckland was Huntly where we stayed at an interesting lodge called Manor Views. It used to be a hospital with the old wards (including labour ward and nursery) transformed in guest rooms. The views towards Huntly were impressive, including the power plant stacks.

Hopin Stopin café is a quirky colourful place where we had a really nice breakfast. From there we went and did the Kauri Loop Track which was very nice, with scenic views towards Waikato river. Weather was a nice combination of sun and cloud. Apart from the majestic kauris we saw lots of fern trees and nikaus, the local palm trees.

Next stop was Zealong tea estate, developed by a Taiwanese New Zealander who missed the oolong tea that is commonly drunk in Taiwan. We had cheese scones and enjoyed some of their beautiful oolong tea at the restaurant, admired the amazing views and gardens (with statues telling stories about tea trade in the past and how oolong tea is made). We learned about the Horse Road (which maybe should have been called the Donkey Road) which began in the Yunnan region in Southern China, through Burma, Bengal, Nepal, Sichuan Province and taking tea to harbours to be shipped to the rest of the world.

Our first stop in Hamilton was Jansen Park where we were told that the cherry trees might still be in bloom, but it was too late in the season, we’ll have to go back another time to see them. We then went to Hamilton Gardens, some of the nicest gardens we’ve ever seen, with the gardens having different sections, well designed, colourful and beautifully maintained. Apart from the usual cottage /English, Japanese, Italian and French sections, it had a beautiful Indian one, one inspired by Alice in Wonderland and an Egyptian one. The Maori section had “puke”-s, mounds that they used to plant kumara and most totems had clear depictions of male and female characters. The Indian section was extremely colourful and joyous.

We stopped in Tirau as there were some quirky cafes, but didn’t stay long. We drove some really nice winding roads to reach Taupo. The one other stop we had was at Lava glass on the way, a glass blowing studio where they made objects out of glass made to resemble New Zealand landscapes.

In Taupo we stayed at Millenium Resort, right on the lake shore. We were treated to a spectacular sunset the first night as it was cloudy.

Craters of the Moon volcanic walk is quite an experience. Since we went very early / just after they opened for the day, we initially had the park to ourselves so it felt serene with traffic noise in the far distance and the steam venting off cracks all around us. We saw a pheasant in the carpark (and warning signs that they had been accidentally released from a nearby farm).

Next stop was Aratiatia rapids, where they release water on a regular basis (at least 4 times a day, at 10 am, 12 pm, 2 pm and 4 pm, and extra if needed). We arrived there for the 12 pm release and despite some drizzling when we arrived, the rest of the show was rain-free. Our observation point was the midpoint lookout and the water coming through as it filled the spaces behind rocks and then overflew was quite impressive. They built a dam and hydroelectric station to use the natural drop of the rapids of 28 meters over 1 kilometre. The name means the stairs of Tia, who is a mythical Maori explorer.

From Aratiatia we went to Wairakei Terraces Thermal Spa where we spent quite a few very relaxing hours moving between the four pools (between 36 and 40 degrees temperature), sometimes while being rained on.

Next was a short walk to see Huka Falls before having dinner at Plateau Bar and a brisk evening walk on the shore of Lake Taupo.

We found a great place to have breakfast on Halloween day – the Cozy corner, very nice and similar to Manna foods in Freo. Staff were wearing Halloween-themed costumes and they even had a trick-or-treat jar where I had a lucky dip and got a brownie!

After breakfast we stopped by the lake to take a few photos before heading towards Tongariro National Park.

We drove down highway 47 which was very scenic.

We stopped at the lookout towards Lake Rotoaira and then walked to Opotaka (which used to be a Maori village) and there are allegedly ruins of houses underground – there’s not much to see on the surface.

Next stop was Rotopounamu Track to see Lake Rotopounamu, a beautiful track through rain forest to reach a peaceful lake. We only met three other couples for the whole six km of the track!

We arrived in Tongariro National Park late afternoon and checked in at Alpine Chalets. The accommodation was right on the side of the main road with a truck stop next to it (and we saw many truckies transporting cars doing their driver changeovers here).

We went to Whakapapa info centre then drove up on Whakapapa road past the now disused Chateau Tongariro (closed because of earthquake risk), then up Bruce Rd to the Whakapapa ski fields – allegedly for great views on nice clear days, but we didn’t get to see much.

We had booked to do the Tongariro Crossing with Adrift Tongariro but it wasn’t meant to be, we’ll have to come back another year to complete it. The weather did not look great from the beginning as it was foggy and drizzling. After the obligatory briefing by our guides, Chris & Anthony, we got taken by bus to the start of the track on Mangatepopo Road. There was a totem wrapped up and lots of chairs under a marquee as they were going to unveil the totem later in the day.

Even without seeing much scenery around us the walk as quite nice and interesting, and something we definitely wouldn’t have attempted by ourselves. One of the guides had photos on his phone at the different stop points, so he kept showing us what we would have seen if the weather was nicer. The initial section to Soda Springs was really quite easy. Devils’ Staircase to South Crater was not as hard as we expected it to be, mainly because they build steps to help go up. We saw some snow and lots of fog, with visibility to 20 metres at the most. The flat section that followed was wet (raining but also puddles on the ground) and foggy, the first part of the climb towards the Red Crater again wasn’t too bad, but when we reached the final section to ascend just before the ridge we had to turn around as the wind was really strong, gusting up to 90 kph. I could barely stand up.

We stopped and had a quick lunch on the way down (my hands were nearly frozen despite the gloves) then kept going. By the time we arrived back at the Mangatepopo Road carpark the totem was on view and the marquee was gone.

The guides offered us to go to Taranaki Falls, which was very nice and quite different weather to what we had up on the mountain.

We left Tongariro next morning. First stop was Raurimu spiral lookout but didn’t really see much as there were no trains and it is quite well hidden in the hills and by the trees.

From Taumarunui we drove a really nice road called the Forgotten World Highway. We stopped at Nevins lookout, Tangarakau Gorge and then Tangarakau Village ghost town and Fossil Canyon.

A short video with some highlights of the drive can be seen here.

We walked to Mount Damper Falls, which were quite nice and unexpected (we walked past sheep and lambs in paddocks, then nearly stopped at the first lookout but luckily decided to keep going and found the lower platform offered the best view). The falls are quite spectacular dropping over the white cliff face for 70 metres.

We stopped and thought about Joshua Morgan by his grave – a surveyor from late 1800s who died while working in this area.

We then drove through Moki tunnel,

over Tahora Saddle, and stopped at Whangamomona pub for lunch. Whangamomona is an interesting place, the Hutt Province of New Zealand – they declared independence when Wellington removed them from the Taranaki Region. For some reason they have a Czech embassy (the only one in town).

We arrived at our friends’ place near Stratford around 4 pm, just in time to enjoy a beautiful sunset.

Next day our friends took us to Pipiriki to go jet boating on Whanghanui river. It was a 2 hr drive to Pipiriki, then up the river from there to the Bridge to Nowehere, then lunch at John Coull Hut. It was an amazing experience going so fast up a river but also the views surrounding us were quite extraordinary.

Here is a short video of the jet boating experience.

The Bridge to Nowhere was built when the government allocated that area to soldiers returned from WW I to settle – but it was too unhospitable, so they all left and the bridge got left behind leading nowhere.

On the way back we stopped at Manuka Lodge, a combination of hut for hikers and marae for locals.

Next day we woke up to a beautiful chilly day – only 3 degrees and spectacular views towards Mt Taranaki.

First stop was Mangamingi Saddle

and then we went to Lake Rotokare where there is a bird sanctuary where we saw the education centre (a school that had been relocated here) and then some bird feeders. From there we went up a track and then came back along the reserve fence – a very impressive one designed to keep away all the predators. Some of the sections were quite slippery and we rescued a Paradise shell duckling (there were three of them stuck on the inside of the fence, while the parents were outside and the mum pretended to have a broken wing to make us go to her). We saw tuis, robins, hihis, saddlebacks, a shining cuckoo.

From Rotokare we drove to Tawhiti museum. Their cafe is themed with characters from Wind in the Willows and is a mini-museum in itself. We managed to see most of the museum before they closed at 4 pm. We were really impressed by the facial expressions of the figurines, probably the best we’ve ever seen. They are based on real characters from the area, and all are the creation of only one man, whose workshop is inside the museum. They had a very interesting section on Maori history and also one on a Chinese-New Zealander, Chew Chong, who sold edible fungus (wood ear or Jews ear) back to China.

We drove to Mt Edmonton (aka Mt Taranaki) lookout before going back home, with beautiful views over the valley but not able to see much of the mountain due to low cloud and fog.

We visited Stratford as well. We listened to the Romeo & Juliet scene at the clock tower at 10 am and then watched police who were busy trying to convince a guy to get off a roof. We visited Percy Thompson Gallery where they had some really nice things mainly made of felt, but also some nice paintings. We walked past the war memorial, through King Edward Park which is fairly large, has several walkways around and across creeks, and then past Victoria Park to see the memorial gates. The rhododendrons were in bloom with shades of red, pink, mauve-purple and white delighting our eyes.

Another place that we visited was Pukeiti Gardens which were spectacular but many rhododendrons had already finished blooming. There was a “giant” section where there were some truly big rhododendrons. In one of the rooms there was an exhibition with beautiful paintings by a South African – New Zealander called Jana Branca.

From there we went to New Plymouth, a small city that we really liked. We walked across Te Rewa Rewa Bridge where there is a really nice bike path as well.

We went to see where Waiwhakaiho River meets the Tasman Sea

Back in New Plymouth, we walked past Len Lye’s Wind Wand

and visited the Len Lye building, where they have they have many of his works but not enough room to display them all at once, so they keep rotating them.

From New Plymouth we drove to Waitomo. We crossed Mt Messenger which was very nice and scenic, with machinery on the side of the road as they are expanding it. We had lunch at Cafe 487, drove past Three Sisters and Elephant Rocks and got some beautiful views of the dark sand beaches of this part of the west coast.

Berries of all sorts were in season so we stopped at a berry farm in Piopio and got strawberries and blueberries. Asparagus was also in season and looked really good but we didn’t have much use for it without a kitchen.

We stayed at Waitomo Lodge and visited the Waitomo caves on the 8 am tour. It was quite interesting, some walking through the cave initially followed by a short boat trip in complete darkness to be able to see the glow worms better. The guide was quite funny (“for those of you who are curious by nature, touch these rocks outside now and they are exactly the same inside”). It was interesting to see the silk filaments that the “worms” have attached to them to trap any insects that might fly towards their light.

We also visited the museum in Waitomo village which had some interesting facts about the area and in general the karst landscapes.

We had a relaxing drive to Auckland, stopped on the way and did the Omana Perimeter Track with beautiful views towards Hauraki Gulf.

We drove about one hour north of Auckland to visit Brick Bay winery, where we had brunch and then went to see their sculptures, some of them amazing and thought-provoking.

It was interesting to see cork tress from up close as they had a whole grove.

Virginia King’s Aetherium Ancestral Vale was by far the most interesting display. There’s plenty of information about her project here and a short video filmed by us here.

Heading back towards Auckland, we stopped in Devonport where we walked along Victoria Rd and visited some shops. Being close to 11^th of November there were white crosses and poppies in one of the parks.

We went to see the North Head tunnels and reserve, with nice views towards the city.

Then we went to a nearby beach to fly the drone from (which got attacked by seagulls) then we took the ferry to downtown Auckland to have dinner.

We visited the Royal NZ Squadron YC – a reciprocal club to RPYC. We went inside the clubhouse and had a look as well, then watched the start of some yacht race that they had on – also caught on video here.

From there we caught an Uber to the city then we got a ferry + hop on hop off bus deal to Waiheke Island. It was really nice as we got to see quite a few places around the island. There were lots of Canadians and South Africans around as there was some hockey tournament on. We stopped at the northern end / beach at Charlies Cafe for a quick lunch; got back on the bus and then got off to do Cascades walk. We also saw a rooster park, where all the chucks bought for eggs and who turn to be cockerels, get dropped off (instead of going in a soup).

Our last day in Auckland was quite wet and gloomy, definitely a museum day. So we drove to The Domain to visit Auckland Museum. The weather was forecasted to turn rainy in the afternoon so we started with the Wintergarden and walked around the park first. The museum was quite informative, they had a few interesting exhibits mainly about Maori stuff but not only.

And this was our trip to Auckland. A short video shot from the drone is here.

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