Redwood Forest

I’ve officially passed my initiation and can now call myself a seasoned left-side-of-the-road driver! I managed dozens of roundabouts and left-hand turns without too much trouble. The trickiest part was remembering to get into the car on the right side. Of course, Jane often followed my lead and tried to get in on the wrong side too, which gave us a good laugh.

After a day of spelunking on Sunday, we began Monday with a scenic drive to Taupo. We enjoyed a lovely lunch at Victoria’s Kitchen before heading to Craters of the Moon, where we explored the geothermal landscape on foot.

Next, we made a quick stop at Huka Falls and strolled along the river, finishing our visit to Taupo with a walk by the serene Lake Taupo.

From there, we drove an hour to Rotorua and checked into the New Zealand owned JetPark Hotel, which we instantly liked. After settling in, we walked a few blocks to enjoy a delicious dinner at Thai Central Restaurant. During dinner, the skies opened up, but thankfully, Rotorua’s buildings have large overhangs that kept us mostly dry. On the way back, we stopped at a supermarket to pick up breakfast essentials—yogurt, blueberries, bananas, and muffins.

On Tuesday, we visited the Whakarewarewa Thermal Reserve, operated by the Tūhourangi Ngāti Wāhiao people. We marveled at the geysers and boiling mud and toured the cultural and heritage village. We also got to see a male and female kiwi (sorry, no photos since they are nocturnal).

Later, we experienced the Redwoods Treewalk, where we crossed a series of suspension bridges connecting the towering redwoods. At 117 years old, these trees are still young compared to the ancient California Redwoods.

On Wednesday morning, we returned to the redwood forest (I really like trees) for an hour-long hike before starting our journey back to Auckland. Along the way, we stopped at Hamilton Gardens, a very nice botanical garden.

In Hamilton, we found a block of restaurants and bars and had lunch at Nancy’s Dumplings +. We shared a dozen steamed lamb cabbage dumplings, which were delicious.

Upon arriving in Auckland, we went to our hotel to discover they had experienced a burst pipe and the entire property was closed due to flooding. Since we really liked the JetPark Hotel in Rotorua, we booked a room at their Auckland Airport location instead.

Thursday morning we left the North Island behind and flew to Christchurch on the South Island, ready for the next leg of our adventure.