Traveller's Notes
North Island
During April 2004 my wife and I toured the North Island.
From Sydney we flew to Auckland, hired a car and next day went south along the motorway turning east around the bottom of the Hauriki Gulf, then north to the Coriander Peninsula.
The road ran along the waters edge most of the way. We chanced on a beautiful bed and breakfast place at the Coromandel Township and stayed two nights to soak up the countryside. While there we boarded a small tourist train to take us up the mountain to see the magnificent views. We then proceeded over the mountain range and south along the coastline to Rororua where the main thermal activity is centered.
Rotorua is one of North Island's most famous tourist destinations with its geysers and bubbling mud combined with Maori Cultural Centres. 150 kilometers to the east coast is Napier.
We made only one accommodation booking on our trip, the first night in Auckland. We like adventure, inspect before we buy and mostly have no trouble in finding what we want and it is usually first class. The cars are good. The roads are good. The accommodation and goods are cheap compared to the American dollar.
They drive on the left side of the road. We had beautiful weather for our whole trip.
From Rotorua we proceeded to beautiful Taupo and on to Napier, 150 kilometers across spectacular mountain scenery. Not a petrol station on the way. We enjoyed Napier. The coastline seemed to go on forever when viewed from the mountain lookouts nearby.
Then south to Palmerston North. We skipped Wellington, turning north to the Tongariro National Park. We stayed at the 5 star Grand Chateau to relive our stay 30 years ago. Then north past Auckland to the beautiful Bay of Islands.
The Bay of Islands consists of 244 small islands most of which are uninhabited. The bed and breakfast place was great overlooking Piaha and the bay. We stayed one week then back to Auckland and on to Sydney. Total 3 weeks.
South Island
Ten years ago we toured the south island. Thirty years ago we hired a camper van when ice cream was 5 cents. The latest trip the ice creams were 3 dollars. However, the cost of travel and food is reasonable and on a par with Australia.
The south island is a magic land with high snow covered mountains, swift flowing streams and lush grazing lands. We flew into Christchurch to a bed and breakfast house and traveled around Christchurch by bus for three days before picking up a car for $49.00 per day.
We circled the island over the next four weeks going north firstly to Hanmer Springs to bathe in the hot pools for a few days and what a great B and B we had there, high on the mountain overlooking a ribbon river. Then to the wine growing country, down the west coast past the glaciers and on to Queenstown, the jewel in the crown.
Click onto the pictures and the NZ websites to see how the south island abounds in beauty. The glaciers, Mount Cook, Milford Sound, the Marlborough wine country, the Remarkables mountains, the Milford Track, Queenstown, and many other places of interest.
