New Zealand Road Trip-North Island

Our most recent adventure was a trip to New Zealand. Visiting New Zealand was certainly a dream come true. We'd both wanted to travel there, especially after seeing the gorgeous scenery in the Lord of the Rings movies.

New Zealand didn't disappoint. It seems like traveling to New Zealand from Japan would be much shorter than visiting from the U.S., but it's still a LONG way down there. We flew from Nagoya to Hong Kong, which took four hours, and then from Hong Kong to Auckland, which took around 11 hours. Needless to say, we were pretty exhausted when we arrived. But, that didn't stop us!

Here's a brief breakdown of our trip: Auckland, Thames, Coromandel, Tauranga, Mount Maunganui, Rotorua, Gisborne, Napier, Lake Taupo, Tongariro Crossing and then back to Auckland. I designed the trip to be relaxing. We avoided long rides in the car so we could be sure to get out and enjoy as much as possible. We stayed in a combination of B&Bs, hostels and hotels, which made for a fun and interesting experience. You'll have to ask Travis and me about those experiences! We did lots of hiking, which was quite important since we also did LOTS of eating.

New Zealand's scenery is hard to describe, but I felt like it was a combination of Hawaii, Ireland and the American Northwest. There are many volcanoes and gorgeous coastlines, which reminded me of Hawaii. The countryside is filled with rolling green hills covered in sheep, which reminded me of Ireland. It's also mountainous and covered in redwoods, which reminded me of the American Northwest. In other words, it's pretty much paradise.

Below are several pictures from our trip. Perhaps too many. :)

This photo was taken along our drive in the Coromandel Peninsula.

This is one of the secluded beaches we walked to. I was so surprised to see no one on the beaches. We visited New Zealand during their fall, but it was still very warm in this part of the country.

This photo is of Cathedral Cove, a popular tourist attraction. We hiked for around an hour to see it.

Another tourist attraction in the Coromandel Peninsula is Hot Water Beach. At low tide, you can dig your very own hot tub! The water underneath the sand is so hot it was boiling in some places.

Here's Travis digging his tub.

The highlight of our trip was hiking the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, which has been called the best one-day hike in the entire world. It was 18 kilometers (about 11 miles) long. But, it was well worth it.

At the beginning of the hike, I was a little worried because it was freezing. We saw lots of icicles along the streams, and I was really nervous that I was going to freeze to death on the top of a volcano, but after a couple of hours, it really warmed up, and we were stripping off layers in no time.

For the first few hours of the hike, we were able to see Mt. Doom (Lord of the Rings) by our side. Breathtaking.

After one of the more grueling parts of the hike, we were greeted by the Emerald Lakes. Just amazing! The scenery was so unique and beautiful. A bit nerve-racking to see the ground steaming in several places, though.

The hike was so much fun, and I highly recommend it. I will say that after six+ hours of non-stop hiking, I earned the biggest blister you have ever seen! I have pictures, but I will only share them upon special request. ;)

Another trip highlight was a visit to Napier. The city was flattened by an earthquake in the 1930s, but it was completely rebuilt as an art deco city. It was totally adorable, and it may make it on my list of Possible Places to Retire. It was that cool.

Napier is located in Hawke's Bay, a famous region for New Zealand wine. So, of course, we had to do a tasting.

We had a really fun time. The wineries were beautiful, and of course the food and drinks weren't bad either.

Prior to visiting New Zealand, I read some information on the road conditions there. The roads were in great shape, but they were certainly treacherous. They are extremely curvy and narrow. Plus, we were traveling during logging season so we met several trucks along the way. Thank goodness Travis doesn't mind driving.

One of the funniest experiences we had during our trip was driving along and meeting a huge herd of cattle on the highway.

I was raised on a farm so I was somewhat familiar with this sort of thing, but we really didn't know what to do. There were so many of them! One of the farmers told us to, "just drive through them." So, that's what we did. It was hilarious.

We visited the town of Rotorua, which is famous for all sorts of funky geothermal activity. We visited a park there, and it completely blew my mind! The B&B where we stayed was also located right next to a redwood forest.

We had a fun time exploring the forest, and then Travis had the great idea that we should run through it. Ugh. Speaking of, I ran my first 10K in Napier! We ran a total of 15 miles on this vacation. At one time, I thought I wouldn't run 15 miles within my entire lifespan.

We also visited the town of Mount Maunganui, which is also now on the list of potential retirement locations. We climbed the mountain and were rewarded with a 360-degree view of the surrounding area.

What do you think of my Mickey Mouse t-shirt? I swear, Japan is getting to me.

Another one of our trip's highlights was a visit to Kerosene Creek. We heard about it at our B&B and packed our swimsuits. After visiting some other areas, we headed there. It. was. incredible.

The weather was a bit chilly that day, but the creek's temperature was perfect. It felt like a hot bath. I couldn't believe it just existed there naturally. It may have been my favorite part of the entire vacation.

We ended our trip with a couple of days in Auckland. On our last day, we took a short ferry ride to Devonport, an adorable little city filled with lots of colonial architecture, cute cafes and shops.

We took this picture from the top of Mt. Victoria, an inactive volcano.

New Zealand was a great vacation for us, and I can't wait to go back to explore the South Island, which is typically the more popular of the two islands for tourists. It was an extremely relaxing and easy vacation. I'm sad it's over.

Speaking of over, today marks 43 days until our move back home!