North Island Road Trip Part 1

Today, we begin our epic NZ North Road trip! And, it also happens to be Waitangi Day; the day the Māori and the British signed the treaty, creating what we now know as New Zealand. #themoreyouknow! 🙂

First up: a drive through the perilous Paraparas. This road is small and super winding, with large trucks and an assortment of cars and campers traveling by. There is very little room for error and little to no opportunities to pass a slower vehicle; your passing game has to be strong here in NZ. This little road is a highway. Yup. A main road of egress and travel. So, if you’re caught behind a trailer, your trip can end up much longer than originally anticipated. 😅

As we wind our way through the Paraparas and towards the National Park, we begin to see a hazy view of the big mountain: Ruapheu. She certainly looks mighty in the distance, and I can’t wait to see her up close! 🤗🤩

Once we officially cross into the National Park, we look for a spot to take pictures of the beautiful volcanic skyline. There is Mt. Ruapheu, Mt. Ngauruhoe (also known as Mt. Doom, if you’re a LOTR fan), and Tongariro. My next trip to New Zealand must include a hike across the Tongariro Crossing… it looks absolutely epic! Our trio takes several selfies here, of course, and we jump back in the car and continue on our way to the Waitomo region.

Just beyond our Airbnb for the night are two side quests we need to see: a waterfall and a cave! The Marakopa waterfall was amazing! I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I wasn’t imagining anything grand; it was just a short stop off on the side of the road. Turns out, it’s quite impressive and well worth the side quest! The setting sun cast its golden glow along the falling water, and it made for a magical experience. This was also my first time walking through the woods (“bush”) in NZ, and I quickly identified my favorite tree: It’s a fern the size of a tree! Soooo cool! Hayden started looking for a silver fern to show me; a national symbol of New Zealand. It looks like a regular fern, but if you look underneath, the backside is a silvery white color instead of green.

The next side quest took us to the Piripiri Cave. Another short hike off the road, and we were staring at the cave entrance. The sun was setting, and it was pitch black inside. Too bad we didn’t bring head lamps. Oh wait, Hayden DID pack a head lamp in the 3 bags he brought with him, because “options,” haha. But did he bring it on the hike? Nope. 🙄. He left it in the car. So we amble down the steps into the cave with the flashlights on our phones, and Dana manages to snag some epic photos with her camera. I’m sorry to say my Samsung phone didn’t hold a candle to her pictures. Mine usually does really well, but not this time. 😬.

Next up was the biggest adventure of all: finding our way to our Airbnb located on an active farm. The list of directions the host provided us was the longest we’d ever seen, and they even provided a 4WD vehicle to make it all the way to the hut. Oh boy. Haha. We had to unlock a gate, close it behind us, drive past the main house to a barn, leave our car, transfer our stuff to the 4WD car, and continue down the path, through another gate, over a bridge, up a hill, and finally… our hut came into view. It was ADORABLE! If anyone wants a picturesque and quiet place while traveling in the Waitomo region, don’t sleep on this one, It’s amazing.  There was no light pollution, and the stars at night were breathtaking. We even saw the Milky Way and the Southern Cross!

Check out The Rimu Hut on Aibnb!:)

After exploring and enjoying our sweet, sweet home for the evening, we all curled up in bed for the night. I had my very own nook at the top of a very tiny bookshelf staircase! It doesn’t get any cuter than that, hehe. 🤗

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We woke up before dawn, and there was a beautiful yet spooky fog hanging around the farm. We packed our things and said our last-minute goodbyes to the most serene Airbnb we had ever stayed at. We have a big day ahead of us, but first, a trip to see a natural bridge!

This natural bridge was basically a two for one; the lookout point was on top of what appeared to be a natural bridge, and above it, there was also a natural rock bridge. We began this hike before the official sunrise, so hiking in was pretty dark. Do you think we brought the headlamp? Nope. Hah 🤣. The good news was that on our way out, we got to see everything in detail, as the sun had fully risen.

Our big excitement for the day was a cave tour with the Legendary Black Water Rafting! And we’d be seeing gloworms as well! The entire adventure would take about 3 hours. What an experience! We put on wetsuits, a first for me, and quite difficult, and we were taught a few things before driving out to the cave entrance. We did a practice jump into the little creek, as we’d have to jump a couple of times in the cave. In the dark. Hehe 🤗.

The water was pretty cold, but the wetsuit did help to keep us warm, and once we were inside, it was such a neat experience, I don’t even think I noticed the chill of the water. We crawled around in some places, had to float on our tubes to get through a narrow passage, and the big show of it was floating down the main area, with tons of glowworms above us, shining like stars. Amazing! I highly recommend this and would do it again. 😁

Our next stop was a surprise for me, but the trail we wanted turned out to be closed. So, we had to pivot slightly. We ended up driving to another trail head, and after nearly giving up on trying to find parking, we scored a spot in the parking lot! Not even on the street! Sweet!

So we begin a much shorter walk towards the Blue Spring Pools of Te Waihou. This was certainly an overcrowded touristy place, but I’d say it was totally worth it. We didn’t get the longer hike that we wanted, but we saw the beautiful and tranquil blue spring waters.

Soon, it was time to work our way to Rotorua for the evening. But not before stopping in to see some more waterfalls! We did the Okere Falls and hiked all around this area. It was an easy hike, and we were glad to get more of a walk in, since we didn’t get the one we wanted at the Blue Springs.

Next up to Rotorua for a hot minute! 🤗

Rotorua… smells like eggs…. It’s a huge area for geothermal activity, and thus, the smell is inescapable and undeniable, hehe.