Of all the beautiful places in New Zealand, it beats me as to why so many people choose to live in Auckland. Sure, it's where all the business is, but it's not a very nice city in my opinion, in comparison to the beauty that surrounds it. But whatever, we luckily only had to stop over for one night. I chose a backpackers in town that had free internet so I could do some more planning and booking. After getting into town around 2:00, it was raining and cold. After getting lost (or course) we finally made it to our hostel for the night--it is owned by the same woman whose hostel we first stayed in upon arrival to New Zealand. When we got to the front the office wasn't open but there a phone where you could speak to the manager. So I called her up and she said that someone would be there soon to greet us. A while later, the office manager wakes up from his nap and opens the office again. He calls the manager--15 more minutes. An hour after we first arrived, the woman we first met, Seema, who is a very nice lady, shows up and apologizes to us--she has a new manger running this hostel and they accidentally have given away our room. Both of her main hostels are booked for the night, but they recently bought a third that is open and she will give us a nice room. Is there free internet at this new hostel? No. Fantastic. The only reason we opted to stay in Auckland in the first place. She offers to let us go to her other lodge, Freeman's Bay, that is right around the corner and use all the free internet we want. But by the time we got settled I didn't feel like going back out in the rain, so we stayed put. The only time we ventured out was to the go to the grocery store--and of course--got lost on the way. We decided to get a decent ($20) bottle of Pinot Noir and finished it that night to try and make us feel better. It did. :)
The next day we ventured a bit out of town to Kelly Tarlton's underwater world. It was pretty cool--we got to see all these different feedings: sting-rays, fish, and penguins. They even had a little ride that allowed you to get up and close to their Emperor penguins.
We had a good time despite all the young, screaming children running around. It was a fun, amusing, and educational way to spend the morning.
After that, it was time to head out of town--but not before getting lost one more time trying to find the main highway.
We do not like Auckland.
Nor do we enjoy the smell of Rotorua much either, but that's where we were headed next. After trying about 5 times we FINALLY had a booking for a try drive that we had GrabOne coupons for. As we aren't certified, this experience let us put on all the diving gear and get the feel for diving in an indoor pool. The deepest the pool went was two meters--but still--it was a cool thing to breathe underwater. The instructor was really nice and gave us some basic educational stuff and talked about what you had to do to be dive certified.
One day it's something we would like to do, as to be able to dive in the open ocean near coral reefs and stuff would be awesome. Don't have the money at the moment, unfortunately. We spent one more night in Rotorua before making the drive to Wellington. In between we tried to stop in the small town of Matamata where they have the set for The Shire, or Hobbiton, from the Lord of the Rings films. We thought we could just drive by and see it--but we're talking about a Hollywood (or "Wellywood") film set here--of course not. They charge $66 per person for a 2 1/2 hour bus tour out to the set. Highway robbery. So we skipped that.
Passed by Tongariro once again while driving down and caught a nice view of Mt. Ruapehu collecting snow. One day. . . one day . . .
We tried to stay in the same Wellington lodge as the first time, Moana Lodge, in a small costal town just outside of Wellington, but unfortunately they were booked. Our only other option was a placed called Lodge in the City as it had off-street parking and John and I didn't want to risk parking our car on the street (plus it would get expensive). I had read some not-so-great reviews about this place, so I was a bit apprehensive. We had to get a share room this time, since Wellington hostels are expensive, and while that was an adjustment, overall it wasn't too bad--clean rooms, clean bathroom . . . nasty kitchen. Gross kitchens have been a common occurrence in many backpackers we have stayed in (though not all). I have learned that the three things I value most in a hostel are: quiet, clean kitchen, and free internet. Usually the bathroom and rooms get cleaned daily, as do the kitchens. The problem is that so many young, lazy, drunk, spoiled (or any combination of those) kids can't be bothered to clean up after themselves and do their own damn dishes. It is my one pet peeve as it is so rude when you are in a backpackers to leave your mess for someone else. Anyways, we managed to avoid using the kitchen (except for breakfast) by meeting up with our American friend Mark our first night there. We hadn't seen him since the last time we were in Wellington and so it was great to catch up over some beers and food. He's been doing really well for himself in Wellington and it was great to swap stories. He also pointed out the famous homeless blanket guy, who is a local celebrity. He is running for some political office soon, I hear. We made it an early night, as we had been driving for a good portion of the day.
The next and last day in the North Island (for now) was spent on a tour of Wellington Museum City and Sea and a cruise out to Matiu/Somes Island. We got the tour through GrabOne and it came with a personal tour of the museum as well as fish 'n' chips for lunch! The tour through the museum was pretty interesting and the tour guide was really nice. We learned a lot about the history of Matiu/Somes Island that sits out in the middle of Wellington Harbor.
Maori's originally used the island as a safe haven and once the Europeans came it was used as an animal and human quarantine station as well. During WWII it was used primarily as a human quarantine station for mostly individuals of German descent who were suspected of being a security liability. It was also used as a Degaussing station for Navy ships to protect them from underwater magnetic mines planted by the Germans. Before that, in the 20s and 30s, it was primarily used as a human quarantine station to protect the mainland from diseases. In the 70s and 80s it was an animal quarantine station for all imported animals into the country, and apparently one of the best in the world at the time.
Now, Matiu/Somes Island is a nature reserve for some very interesting species of wildlife including Weta, Little blue penguins (the smallest in the world), and the Tuatara. All the mammalian predators on the island have been eliminated--mice, rats, possums, stoats, weasels--in order to help the wildlife flourish. It also meant that had to check your bags for any possible mice that could have mooched on a free ferry ride over. None for us, but apparently they have found a few before.
There was a nice circuit track around the island, that provided some great views of Wellington harbor.
We saw a few birds, but unfortunately no penguins or Tuatara. We also walked around the now abandoned animal quarantine station and up a hill to old WWII gun emplacements. The island was in perfect position to defend the harbor from any enemy submarines/ships. They had a few, very pregnant sheep on the island to help keep the grass low as well.
When we arrived back on shore, our fish 'n' chips were waiting for us. We were supposed to have them for lunch, but the place was undergoing renovations and couldn't get them to us before the ferry left, so we got a free lunch from another place, and then had our fish 'n' chips on top of that! We spent a bit more time at Te Papa, looking at the new exhibits, before heading back for the night.
Overall, it was a great little trip and a great way to cap off our North Island adventures (for now). The next day, it was, FINALLY, off to the South Island!
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