Travel Blog of our Honeymoon around the World
Bula! (Fijian for «Hello»)
Matamanoa is a small island, about 1.5 boat hours away from the main island and contains just one holiday resort. We can enjoy our private plunge pool or go down to the beach and snorkel in the blue, warm water through the corals. Amazing.
We spent the first night on Fiji in Nadi in a nice hotel near the airport, before going to Matamanoa next day by boat.
Our itinerary on google maps:
Auckland’s Sky Tower is 328 meters high, observatory deck is at 220 meters above ground level and offers a great view over the city.
Auckland was built upon volcanoes: the Auckland Volcanic Field counts 48 (dormant) volcanoes. Why not climb on some of them?
We took the ferry to Devonport and walked on Mount Victoria which is fortunately only 87 meters high, but providing a good view on Auckland’s skyline.
Next one was Mount Eden with its very obvious crater.
After a Mexican dinner we enjoyed the sunset and a light show from Sky Tower (again).
Both “The Lord of the Rings”- and “The Hobbit” trilogies have been filmed entirely in New Zealand. “Hobbiton” is a movie set with guided walking tours. It was amazing to see the original film sets used in the film and to get some background information about the tricks used in the film.
The tour ended with a nice brew in “The Green Dragon” inn.
Not surprisingly, we had to watch “The Hobbit” that evening. It was also the last day with our campervan, which we returned in Auckland, before doing a quick stroll through the city and watching the end of the Superbowl LIII (the New England Patriots won).
Another day, another hike, or, as the Kiwis say, good time to tramp. The Wairere Falls are the highest waterfalls of the North Island. It is a nice, but quite steep track. It took us three attempts to see the falls: the first time we skipped the lookout intentionally, on our way down we missed the side-track but finally on third attempt we saw the falls. We also saw where we have been before: at the edge of the creek, just before the water falls 153 meters down.
We ended the day in a hot-water pool near Matamata.
First stop today: Hot Water Beach. Well, that was literally hot! You need: low tide (plus/minus 2 hours), a shovel and you’re ready to dig your own hot water pool. The water pouring out is either cold, warm or boiling hot. But you’ll realize it soon enough.
Close to it is the Cathedral Cove. Very picturesque – very touristy. But again, just do the side-walk to a lookout and you’re alone.
On partially unsealed roads we passed the Waiau Falls (good for a short swim) and reached our campground at Shelly Beach near Coromandel just before the nice sunset.
An obvious recommendation was to stop at Karangahake Gorge and to do the Windows Walk, where you walk along gold mining remnants and through a dark mine tunnel (torches highly recommended).
Near Rotorua we joined a guided horse-riding tour. Luckily, the horses knew the way and didn’t require much manual control from rookies like us.
The North Island lies on the “ring of fire”. Tongariro, Taupo, Rotorua and the White Island are all part of the Taupo Volcanic Zone, which is one of the most active volcanic area on earth.
On our way to Rotorua we visited three geothermal fields:
Orakei Korako (incl. Rainbow terrace):
Wai-O-Tapu (skipped the famous, but artificial Lady Knox Geyser):
Te Puia (incl. famous Pohutu Geyser, erupting around 20 times per day, up to 30 meters):
