Emma & Ben… Far From Home

11th -15th February 2017

One of the nice things about travelling is that you get to catch up with people who have made the leap to move from the UK to live abroad. We are very fortunate to have a number of family and friends who live in very exciting parts of the world, and New Zealand is no exception.  

Our next stop in the North Island took us to Rotorua to meet up with the lovely Bridget (my aunt’s sister). Rotorua, like Taupo, is famous for its thermal activity (lots of hot springs and exploding mud pools). The smell of egg is a constant reminder of what bubbles away around the town. Taking into consideration our tight travelling budget, Bridget very kindly showed us round some free mud/steaming pools in Kuirau Park which is a volcanic area on the edge of the town and were fascinating to see. She then took us to the brilliant Fat Dog Cafe, for lunch. It was lovely to see a familiar face and get some local insider knowledge! (thank you Bridget for all your advice) If time had allowed we would have liked to have stayed longer in Rotorua (we only had a day) to see more of the sights, but instead we started the journey south to Napier. 

The reason why we choose to break up our journey to Wellington in Napier was because the architecture is very unique. 

After an earthquake in 1931, the city was rebuilt quickly so all the buildings are art-deco and as I’ve always been a fan of The Great Gatsby and that era, I was intrigued to see it! The other bonus is that it’s one of the sunniest places in the North Island (and sure enough, there was no need for our matching waterproofs).

The city is very quaint, a typical seaside resort, it was nice to see but not a lot to do so we were glad we only had one night there. 

From Napier we headed straight to Wellington, our last stop on the North Island. We checked into the Wellington YHA which is very central, and pretty huge, it reminded us of a university halls of residence. On our first night we met up with our friend Rich, from our M&S days, he was a brilliant tour guide and took us to a lovely cheap eat for tea (Little Penang) and then up to the Mt Victoria Lookout for amazing views of the city. 

Our stay in Wellington also involved us visiting the free Te Papa national museum (this had been recommended to us by a lot of travellers. Well worth a visit to see the very moving Gallipoli exhibition), taking a trip on the Wellington Cable Car and a walk around the Botanical Gardens. 

On our last night we were invited round for dinner at Tina and John’s house – Ben worked with Tina before she moved to NZ. They were so welcoming (despite us gate crashing their Valentines Day – we totally forgot what the date was) and made us a lovely dinner. 

We both really liked Wellington, and yet again easily felt we could have stayed for longer. We ended our visit to the North Island on a high and hoped the South would live up to our expectations… 

(Posted by Em)