North Island Road Trip

Have you ever had the opportunity to show someone around your home country? I was so stoked to have my friend Steph from Canada and her partner Roar from Denmark visit me and take them on a classic New Zealand road trip! They had two weeks here so we decided to keep it local and drive around the Waikato, Coromandel and Bay of Plenty of New Zealand’s North Island.

Read on to see what we got up to!

Waitomo Caves

Our first stop was the Waitomo Caves which is a couple of hours south of Auckland. We did the cave walk with the boat trip at the end. It was great walking through the limestone caves and seeing the stalactites and stalagmites forming and learning a bit more about the process. At the end we were taking on a silent boat journey through one of the caves with lots of glowworms. It was so stunning and peaceful.

Waitomo Caves with boat tour - $61pp

The House With No Nails

That night we drove to our destination, The House With No Nails, which I thought deserved a paragraph of its own because it was so special. It was a little out of Matamata but there weren’t many accommodation options there because we learned after booking it that people doing Hobbiton tours don’t stay in Matamata, they just do a day tour from Auckland or Rotorua. The House is owned by Jen and Dewie, who build the house by hand. Dewie used a unique technique of carpentry and building with wooden pegs that is very old school and it was a labour of love. They have had it as an Bed & Breakfast for the last few years and offered dinner as well.

We were initially staying in the loft which would’ve been very cramped with four large adults but we were able to move into two rooms which was a lot more comfortable. Connor and I were in the smaller room for the first night but then when the other guests left we were put in “the wing” which was huge and private, we loved it. On the first night we had our own food with us but the other guests were cooked big Tomahawk steaks on the open fire by Dewie. It had us salivating! We opted to do that for the second night and Connor was invited to make sides from veges in the garden so it was a beautiful communal meal.

Hobbiton

Hobbiton is always a good time. I say that like I’ve been there a lot but this was only my second time and it was just as fun as the first time. I think when I did it many years ago we didn’t have a tour guide and we just walked through it. I can’t quite remember though, it was years ago. I really enjoyed having a tour guide to point out which parts of the set were featured in which scenes, and give some extra insight to what went on BTS. The tour was great and my only issue with it was that we only got a short period of time at the Green Dragon Inn to enjoy a drink at the end. I think it was less than half an hour and then the tour bus would leave so we felt very rushed. But apart from that it was an awesome experience and even our Canadian friend who hadn’t seen Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit enjoyed it. Don’t worry, we made her watch The Fellowship of the Ring before we even started the road trip.

Hobbiton standard entry - $89pp

Wairere Falls and the Blue Springs

We made a couple of stops on our way to Rotorua, including the Blue Springs just outside Putaruru and the Wairere Falls. The walk to Wairere Falls was stunning but a lot steeper and rugged than we had anticipated. Hiking boots and exercise clothing would’ve been much better than the casual summer clothes we had on. It was very cool in the bush but we quickly warmed up with the walk and poor Connor overheated and didn’t make it to the waterfall lookout at the top. It took us over an hour and we thought it would be more like a leisurely 45 mins. We also stopped at the Blue Springs which is definitely a gentle stroll and absolutely stunning. They were working on a viewing platform at the little lagoon bit so we didn’t have a great view but walking further along does also give you good views.

Rotorua

It’s been many moons since I went to Rotorua to do the touristy stuff and it was sooo much fun! We didn’t do too many things because we were on a budget but over 3 days we had a lot of fun. We just had a chill afternoon when we arrived in Rotorua because it had been a big morning.

In the evening we headed off to the Redwoods to do the treetop walk with night lights. This was another unexpected highlight for me because I really had no idea what to expect. Walking through the giant trees on suspension bridges with beautiful night lights was so magical. There was one section where we were 20 metres above the ground which made me a bit anxious but the whole walk is very safe. I think doing the walk at night also makes it less scary because it’s harder to see how high up you are.

Redwoods Nightlights - $37pp

The next day we wandered through the free, geothermal Kuirau Park. It’s so cool there, you just stroll around looking at the mud pools and geothermal lakes. The whole trip to Rotorua wasn’t as smelly as I remember it being, maybe the winds were helping. Then in the afternoon we headed to the iconic Skyline Luge! I forgot how fun the luge was, we had the best time! You’re not supposed to compete but we did and we all won one race except Roar, who won two. Poor Connor got stroppy because he was too heavy and kept getting left behind. The only way he won a race was by sheer grunt force and nearly ramming us off the road.

Skyline Rotorua Gondola + Luge (5 rides) - $84pp

The next day we did the Zorb! I had never done it and it was so much fun. It’s a tad expensive and the fun is over very quickly but I’d say it’s something you should do once in your life. You get into your swimsuit and they drive you up to the top of the track and then you have to dive into the zorb. It’s filled with water so you don’t stick and go upside down but the water was nice and warm. I wouldn’t recommend it if you get claustrophobic because the next step is to zip the ball up and then they push you down the hill. It’s so much fun and hilarious to watch your friends slip out of the opening when done. We took turns going solo or together and did three runs in total.

Zorb (3 runs) - $120pp

After that we drove around to the Green and Blue Lakes to just have a chill afternoon and enjoy the sun. Then we finished the day at the local Rotorua markets which was heaps of fun, we’re all big fans of markets. The food was great, Connor and I shared a seafood bowl and okonomiyaki.

Mt Maunganui

Mt Maunganui was a highlight of the trip for me, mostly because I got to surf for hours and hours each day. But also because we spent it with great company and just had lots of fun all round. We stopped at the McClaren Falls on our way there and they were so cool. I’d never seen them before but it was a great way to kill time. We were waiting for Connor’s friend to get home as that was where we staying for the night so when we got to Mt Maunganui, we just cruised around to kill time. We didn’t want to have a big night because we were getting up early to walk up the Mount.

On the Saturday morning the girls woke up early to hike up the Mount for sunrise. It’s not a long walk but it’s a very steep walk so we were puffed by the time we summited. The sunrise was fairly average but we were fine with the early start, we managed to beat the crowds and avoid the heat of the day. The rest of the day was spent at the beach where I surfed and the crew played in the water and collected pipi.

That night we had some drinks at our friend’s place after some frozen margs at the very busy Roxies. A couple of friends were staying with us and I think they wanted to go out but we were fine with drinking at home. The friend we stayed with had made a huge bunch of frozen margs at home anyway so it was a great night!

Climax Surf Club women’s surf meet up

On Sunday we had planned to go to the Climax Surf Club women’s surf meet up event at the Mount in the afternoon. It was a good thing that I woke up early and checked the event page for any updates as I had the time completely wrong and it started at 9am! We rushed out the door to make it to the event. They’re so much fun, run by Tessa from Climax Surf Wax and Leo from surfergirlnz, they’re free and just a fun day to meet other wahine surfers. The tourists were happy to have another chill day at the beach which was perfect for me, I had three surf sessions!!

Images from Tessa (Climax Surf Wax) and Leo (Surf Girl NZ)

Kuaotunu

After Mt Maunganui it was time to head up the Coromandel Peninsula. We based ourselves at the Kuaotunu Holiday Park where we stayed in a little unit with two rooms and a mini kitchen. It was a great little spot just across the road from the beach. They had good amenities (although they had 50c hot showers) andt there were lots of friendly ducks around which delighted the tourists. The only things on our itinerary were beach visits, how good!

Hot Water Beach

We went to Hot Water Beach on one of the days which was lots of fun. It is a beach with geothermal activity underneath it which means when the tide is low enough, you can dig holes in the sand and feel the hot water underneath. We didn’t have shovels (recommended) so probably worked a lot harder than we needed to to dig our holes. But after lots of work (mostly from Roar) we had our own natural spa pool. It wasn’t particularly warm all round though, only some spots got very hot and the rest was just sea temperature since the waves constantly brought in cold water. Connor and I both got to surf there too which was cool, I love finding new surf spots!

Sadly we were unable to take them to Cathedral Cove since the walkway was damaged by the recent storms. Steph and Roar took a speed boat trip out to see it but Connor and I skipped that since we’ve been a few times and wanted to save money. We just chilled at Hahei and filmed them on the boat with the drone. For the rest of the time we were there, we just beach hopped. One highlight was Luke’s Kitchen for dinner and drinks (pizza was to die for) which is basically the only thing in Kuaotunu apart from the holiday park and like, 10 baches.

We had a bit of drama on the day we were heading back to Auckland. Google Maps and Waka Kotahi both said that the road along the east coast was open and we had chosen to take that route so we could stop in Whangamata and Paeroa (for pies) on the way home. When we got to the road through the hills to Whangamata they told us that they were only opening the road for an hour at lunch time (we had arrived around 10am) so we would have to wait for the road to open. We were so glad we arrived before lunchtime and not afterwards, otherwise it would’ve added about 5 extra hours to our journey home! We killed some time in Tairua and then joined the queue to go through the hills. It was actually quite terrifying to see how bad the road had been damaged, a crater the size of a bus was missing and only one lane remained in tact! But in the end we got our pies from Providence Pantry in Paeroa, always a favourite.

Snells Beach

On the final weekend of the trip I took Steph and Roar up to Snells Beach. There we stayed with my grandparents and went to the vineyards around the area. Roar was the lucky sober driver that day and it was so much fun!

First stop was Brick Bay where we had brunch and did a wine tasting. They also have a sculpture trail but we were there for the wine. Next up was Heron’s Flight where we didn’t stay long. I think the owner decided that we weren’t rich enough to be worth his time from the get-go so we just drank our samples and left. It was very disappointing and I won’t be going back. On our way to the next vineyard, Matakana Estate, we stopped at Charlie’s to get gelato. We played corn hole out the back in their garden and enjoyed our gelato break. The staff at Matakana Estate were very lovely by comparison to Heron’s Flight but sadly we didn’t enjoy the wines as much. Our final stop was Omaha Bay Vineyard which was definitely the favourite. It looked out across Omaha and offered a wine & chocolate pairing. What’s not to love?

It was sad to see Steph and Roar off at the airport, not knowing when I’ll see them again. But we had such a wonderful time and will always look back on the trip fondly. Next we’ll have to get Steph to show us around Canada!