{"id":3616,"date":"2026-05-05T12:13:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T04:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/?p=3616"},"modified":"2026-05-05T12:13:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T04:13:12","slug":"north-island-nz-rotorua-to-wellington-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/north-island-nz-rotorua-to-wellington-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"North Island NZ – Rotorua to Wellington 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

25 April<\/strong> \u2013 A wonderful day\u2019s drive today, from Pukekohe to Rotorua. We had planned to avoid Hamilton, to avoid driving over country that we would traverse on our way back to Auckland. We got tired of the motorway driving and decided to take an exit to have a break and change drivers. The town of Cambridge came up and we selected it. Big mistake. The town was hosting a major cycling event and the whole town square was choked with bikes and parking was non-existent. As we tried to navigate the centre of the town, workers moved ahead of us blocking off roads. They literally placed barriers in front of us. We deviated, detoured and swore a lot, finally finding a ramp back onto the motorway. By this time, Apple Maps was quite confused and sent us on down the A1 to Hamilton. It decided it had done wrong by us and started finding every minor road it could to take us across to the main road to Rotorua. The upside was that we saw some very beautiful country, filled with picturesque farmlands ablaze with autumn colours and big herds of fat dairy cattle. We stopped at a rest stop for our much-needed break. As I stepped out of the van, there was a distant \u201cbang\u201d and I turned to see a car do a somersault further down the road. It looked like a serious accident. I started off to help but a number of cars had already stopped so we held back. Within ten minutes, police, fire brigade and ambulance were on site. It looked nasty.<\/p>\n

We booked into the Rotorua Family Holiday Park, a neat little park on the shores of Lake Rotorua. It is actually in the little town of Ngongotaha, about 7km from Rotorua itself. It had the advantage of being removed from the thermal activity at Sulphur Point and the smell of Hydrogen Sulphide that affects most of the town.<\/p>\n

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Lake Rotorua<\/p><\/div>\n

In the evening, we were picked up by mini bus and taken to the Mitai Maori Village, for a cultural performance and hangi based dinner. We shared a dinner\u00a0table with Canadians, a couple of Chinese Americans, an Irishman and a lady from Argentina. It made for an interesting discussion comparing travel experiences. The cultural show was very well done and it was fortunate that we came prepared for cold weather because there was a lot of the show outside. \u00a0A highlight was a group of young men paddling a war canoe up the narrow river lit by flaming oil torches. It was quite spectacular in the darkness of the forest. The singing was really beautiful and the traditional weapon drills were mesmerising. We have sat through many cultural dance and music displays in our travels but this was by far the most entertaining.<\/p>\n

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The dinner was amazing, a huge range of buffet offerings, much of which came from a traditional hangi. We went back far too many times and filled up on mussels, sweet potato (kumara) and delicious sweets. Christine had the pavlova and explained to the Canadians how the Kiwis had laid false claim to the origins of Pavlova. They seemed unaware of the dish and not very interested in trying it.<\/p>\n

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26 April<\/strong> \u2013 We held on for a late rising due to the cold morning. We had planned on a tour of the city and some of the lakes on a 1942 vintage army duck, needing some warm clothing against the open air. The experience of the old \u201cduck\u201d was a lot of fun, supported by the wit and non-stop bevy of puns from the driver as she gave her commentary. We were a bit disappointed with the very small part of the tour devoted to the city itself but once out past the Redwood Forest and on to the Blue Lake we thoroughly enjoyed the concept of driving into and out of the water. Like all hybrid machines, the duck was neither a great truck nor a great boat but for a machine built over 80 years ago it was quite amazing. From the Blue Lake, we moved on to Lake Okareka, where we admired some of the beautiful houses nestled along the banks. Given that the lake has a good reputation for trout fishing, it would be a terrific place to live.<\/p>\n

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After the tour, we drove to a stop on Lake Rotorua, with a stop at Sulphur Point to take in the thermal vents that expel clouds of hydrogen sulphide and steam. The smell was bad but bearable. The lake itself away from the alkaline thermal vents is clear water and dominated by Mokoia Island in the lake\u2019s centre, the original volcanic peak. There is a lot of birdlife on the lake but much of it is introduced, including mallard ducks, domestic geese and even black swans. New Zealand has a poor history of introduced feral species, and we have seen a lot of road kill that includes, possums, wallabies, weasels, stoats and ferrets. The western settlers felt that the country needed some game then tried introducing other species when animal populations exploded. It never works.<\/p>\n

A visit to Kuirau Park was terrific. A lot of thermal vents of different kinds are set in pretty parklands. There was bubbling steaming water, steam fumaroles and alkaline mud patches. It was wonderful and, unlike some of the more famous attractions, completely free. We understand that places that survive on tourism need to charge for attractions but some of the things we have encountered are quite over the top price wise.<\/p>\n

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Then it was on to Okere Falls on the Kaituna River. This was the site of a hydro power station in the early 1900s. Now it is a mecca for rafting and we had fun watching large groups crash over the falls and fight the rapids. The water flow was amazing.
\nAll in all, Rotorua has been a highlight. It is over commercialized, like many great attractions, but there are still lots of free sights and attractions.<\/p>\n

27 April<\/strong> \u2013 We had a short drive today, only around 65km from Rotorua through Taupo and on to Turangi. This has to be one of the great drives on the planet, especially Rotorua to Taupo. Once into the mountains we experienced some heavy fog, which would clear and reveal incredible valleys, forest scenery and mountains with thermal vents belching steam. There were thermal power plants, mud pools and spas, river crossings and small hamlets along the way. The farms were carrying an incredible load of dairy cattle, a greater stock load than I have seen anywhere.<\/p>\n

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We stopped at a rest stop where the highway crosses the Waikato River, and did a bit of forward planning for the next couple of days. Then it was on to the Aratiatia Rapids for an amazing experience. Here the Waikato River is dammed. The road has a bridge across the dam face with walkways for the crowds that gather. Downstream of the bridge, the river forms a deep gorge, with crystal clear blue hued water at the bottom. We watched a few good-sized trout laze around. Every two hours, the dam gates open and the gorge is filled with a gushing torrent of foaming rapids. No doubt the trout have adapted to this event. We had timed our visit perfectly and had only around 15minutes to wait. The transformation was incredible.<\/p>\n

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Next stop a little further along was the Huka Falls, upstream of the dam, where the Waikato River hammers through a narrow gorge for a couple of hundred metres. It was awesome. There is a jet boat tour from the dam up to the falls that navigates the gorge, a seemingly impossible thing.<\/p>\n

Lunch was a stop at a beautiful lookout giving an amazing view over Taupo and the lake, across to the mountains beyond, that already carried a dusting of snow in preparation for the upcoming ski season. After lunch we drove down through Taupo and along the shores of Lake Taupo to Turangi, another beautiful drive. The traffic was heavy, it being a public holiday in lieu of Anzac Day. We had selected an upmarket caravan park and resort based\u00a0 on their promised restaurant and bar, seeking a bit of pampering.<\/p>\n

We booked in, surprised that we were the first, then set off again to drive up into the mountains to the Opotaka Historic Reserve which was once the site of a Maori Village, reported to be the location of a significant battle against the British back in the 1820s and even the place that was the birthplace of the Haka. The site itself was quite disappointing, with a few plaques and signs telling a bit of a story but otherwise, not much to see. The view on the other hand, was staggering, across Lake Totoraira to the enormous forms of Mt Tongariro and Mt Ngauruhoe, a couple of active volcanoes.<\/p>\n

After another stop half way down the mountain at a lookout that gave wonderful views over Lake Taupo, we stopped at the shops for a couple for groceries then back to the resort. We checked out the bar, to be greeted by an apology that it was closed, because it was a holiday and crowds were down. We were suitably unimpressed. If you have a big sign out the front advertising a bar and restaurant then you have one, not an apology. We walked across the road to the Turangi Tavern and enjoyed a beer there. I have to admit that it was pretty quiet too.<\/p>\n

April 28<\/strong> \u2013 Another late sleep due to the cold and foggy conditions. Once on the road, we travelled a short way down Hwy 41 to the Tokaanu Thermal Pools. These were really interesting, seeming to rival some of the high-charging private attractions back towards Taupo. There was a big variety of pools, mud pools, bubbling hot springs and clear running streams. The main stream, not thermal, held a healthy population of very big rainbow trout, just holding position in the current. We wandered around the thermal walk and admired the many pools, as well as the beautiful ferns and mosses that bordered the pathways. There are a couple of thermal swimming pools available, one private that is all spa water and the other a public one that has thermal water mixed with fresh water. We thought about the process of finding swimming gear, changing, getting in, getting out, drying, dealing with wet clothes etc, and drove off.<\/p>\n

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The drive from Tokaanu to Taurmarunui was extremely hilly and winding. At one point there was a sign pointing to a rest stop with lookout off to the right. We took that and immediately regretted it. The road was one car wide at best and went straight up, winding its way for 1.5km. We were terrified of the prospect of an oncoming vehicle. When one did come, it right on a speed bump, which was positioned at a slightly wider piece of road. The other driver gave more than her fair share of road and we dropped a wheel over into a hole on our side of the speed bump. She got past us and we tried to take off, but went nowhere, the wheels spinning on the damp road and the speed bump holding us in place. Eventually, I managed to reverse far enough to get a run up to the bump and get over it. The view was worth the effort, mostly being above the cloud line with a few peaks poking through. In the distance, the majestic snow capped volcano Mt Ruapehu dominated the view. Christine was unhappy during the descent. I wasn\u2019t much better.<\/p>\n

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We had morning tea at a park in Taurmarunui before driving on, putting our faith in Apple Maps that somehow seems to much prefer mountainous winding roads to open valleys. We saved a couple of kilometres but lost part of our sanity, dealing with trucks and fast drivers on mountain roads. The upside was the view. We saw some really spectacular country and survived to pull into Waitomo to get a site in the caravan park.<\/p>\n

After settling in, we drove a short distance down the road to the Waitomo Cave Centre. There are three caves, the most famous being the one with a river flowing through it. After a walk through the dry sections of the cave, everyone is loaded into a small boat which glides off into the darkness. The Maori guide actually pulls the boat through the cave by means of ropes which traverse the system. The highlight is the roof of the cave, covered in glow-worms, creating a milky way of tiny lights. The glow-worms themselves hang myriads of fine sticky tendrils down, using their bio-luminescent bodies to attract tiny flying insects to the tendrils. In the silence, the effect is eerie and quite mesmerising. Photography in the darkest parts is forbidden, which is good because all the flashlights would be quite off-putting. Eventually, we emerged into the daylight once again. It was a terrific experience.<\/p>\n

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29 April<\/strong> \u2013 This was to be our last full day in the Jucy van. Our main aim was to get back to Pukekohe, only 35km or so from the drop off, and clean up and organise our stuff. It is amazing how messy we can get in only a week.<\/p>\n

We set off faced with three possible routes through Hamilton, requiring a decision at Otorohanga. Apple and Google Maps have been very bad to us in the past taking us over some terrible roads to save a couple of kilometres. Otorohanga was a pretty little town so we stopped at the information centre and asked the question. The Hwy 3 route was preferred, still winding and full of fast trucks like other roads but at least with regular passing lanes.<\/p>\n

Hamilton proved to be one of the least interesting cities we have been to. \u00a0Even looking up \u201cthings to do in Hamilton\u201d makes lots of suggestions for places out of Hamilton. We drove though the city centre to make sure then got back on a motorway for the rest of the way back to Pukekohe Showgrounds for an afternoon of organising things and relaxing.<\/p>\n

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30 April<\/strong> \u2013 We packed up the last few things in the van in the by far our warmest and sunniest morning yet. It probably beats packing up in rain but its still frustrating. It was an easy 45km drive back to the Jucy depot along motorways and after topping up the fuel, we dropped off our little green beast. It has been mostly positives but we did prepare a list of little issues for their attention. We were generally glowing in our interactions with the company but it was not universal. At the caravan park in Rotorua, the managers told us that in their experience, our comments were rare. There was another Jucy at Pukekohe and the young Scandinavian couple were not as happy as us, after six weeks, with quite a few issues with their van.<\/p>\n

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We caught a DiDi car back to our apartment in Auckland, once again an Indian driver, who also quizzed us about living and working conditions in Australia, just as the Indian driver on the way out to pick up the Jucy had done. He choked a bit when we told him the average housing cost in Perth. I found it interesting that the main attraction\u00a0 that Perth has for Indian people is not the climate, or work prospects, but the availability of shorter flights back to India for their annual trip home.<\/p>\n

After dropping our stuff off and starting the washing, we set out to find a bite to eat. We ended up walking all the way to the Fish Markets, a place on our list of go-tos. The whole wharf area is packed with eateries offering all kinds of food at prices similar to Perth houses, but we wanted a simple fish and chips lunch.<\/p>\n

At the markets themselves we found just the place and had a good feed at a great price. In the markets, we saw a woman buying a whole salmon at $49\/kg. The beautiful fish must have weighed 5kg. Everything was pricey, except for the Kahawai (Australian Salmon to us), which we don\u2019t even try to sell in the market except for cray bait. We saw oysters at $28 \/ half dozen and scallops at $105\/kg. New Zealand has a lot of seafood but it is very expensive.<\/p>\n

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Auckland Fish Market<\/p><\/div>\n

Back at the apartment, we had a kip, the first afternoon nap for over a week.<\/p>\n

1 May<\/strong> \u2013 With a day uncommitted, we looked up things to do in Auckland. The only ones we hadn\u2019t done were go up to the top of the iconic tower for the view and tour the New Zealand Maritime Museum. The first option proved to be a crazy $42 each, so we shelved that one, and headed for the museum instead. It was very much like the Fremantle one, except larger and had, of course, a Maori perspective instead of an Aboriginal one. I was particularly interested in the Polynesian boat building techniques, which were good enough to facilitate the exploration and settlement of the entire South Pacific. The amazing use of flax to make rope and weave sails was a feature.<\/p>\n

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Another very interesting section was that displaying the history of immigration, through the 19th<\/sup> and 20th<\/sup> Centuries. We saw a similar thing in Genoa, Italy, which focussed on the Italian migrations of post war Europe. It was immersive and very interesting.<\/p>\n

We used the afternoon to catch up on some badly needed rest. The bodies are hurting a bit from all the walking and we have been on the go most days since we arrived.<\/p>\n

2 May<\/strong> \u2013 Our train to Wellington was set for a horribly early 6:45 check-in. Once again, a DiDi car proved the answer and we were soon settled into our seats. The seats were arranged in sets of four, across a table. Much to our delight, they remained empty when check-in closed, giving us the freedom to sit either looking forward or travelling backwards.<\/p>\n

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The Northern Explorer always features in lists of the World\u2019s top train journeys. It proved to be the best we have taken. Scenery wise, it had everything, the rolling live-stock green fields, majestic rivers and the fantastic snow-capped Mt Ruapehu in the Tongariro National Park region. An excellent audio or written commentary was available via WiFi and an app so it was easy to keep track of progress over the eleven hours of the trip. We met a friendly couple\u00a0 from Malaysia, who have yet to visit the thermal areas and were keen to get ideas.<\/p>\n

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Most of our carriage was occupied by a tour, Gold Tours, on the first leg of a train based tour travelling to Wellington and then on through the South Island, on almost the same schedule as us. There is an open air car for those wanting the perfect picture. It was very brisk in the wind but a terrific place to be when crossing the deep ravines and viaducts of the Rangiteki River. There was also quite a crush in the open carriage when the train navigated the famous Raurimu Spiral, a circular climb of 139 metres onto a plateau.<\/p>\n

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It is a trip I could highly recommend, especially having driven over a third of the route just a few days before. The train was a better way of seeing the country. We are now looking forward to a couple more train journeys in the South Island.<\/p>\n

It was dark by the time we arrived in Wellington. A Didi car took us across the front of the city to our apartment, across the road from the Basin Reserve, one of New Zealand\u2019s test cricket grounds. We dumped our stuff and promptly headed out to walk down the road to a Woolworths to get something for dinner and breakfast. The apartment is actually quite well stocked and the owner invited us to help ourselves so it was just the basics we needed. We got back, had dinner and watched a bit of TV before collapsing.<\/p>\n

3 May<\/strong> \u2013 In the morning light, Wellington proved to be a compact city hugging one shore of an expansive harbour. Housing straggled up the steep hills that surround the city, looking very picturesque, but not somewhere I would relish living. I hate hills.<\/p>\n

After breakfast, we headed out. We had tried to work out the bus system, but abandoned the idea because (a) it was Sunday and the service infrequent; and (b) we needed a card for payment to avoid paying $3 a trip to the driver. A DiDi was not much dearer and a lot more convenient.<\/p>\n

Our DiDi dropped us in the main street outside the cable car station and we rode up the 1.3km ride up the hill to the lookout and Botanic Gardens. The cable car was built in 1904 to service the expansion of housing estates up the hills above the city and has remained a much-loved icon ever since. The views were excellent, the museum featuring the history of the system was fascinating and the air very, very chilly.<\/p>\n

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Back down, we joined the Sunday crowds, who mostly wandered along the harbourside area. This has been done up a lot in recent years with an entertainment precinct, up market eateries and a fabulous Sunday market area that had fresh fruit and vegetables to equal the best of the European markets. The highlight was the amazing variety of food trucks, all doing a roaring trade.<\/p>\n

We sampled a whitebait fritter and a mussel fritter, both expensive and a bit underwhelming, but at least sampled. We had heard about whitebait as a local delicacy. Much better was a bowl of Korean Ghao, highly seasoned pork belly with crackle and a steamed bun and shredded cabbage. Wonderful.\u00a0 There was a huge line-up for the Greek van so it must have been good stuff too.<\/p>\n

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We walked all the way back to the apartment to work off lunch and watched a couple of movies for the afternoon. This marks the end of the North Island trip, with the ferry to the South Island early tomorrow morning. It has surpassed expectations, the greenery and the amazing terrain keeping us enthralled. Everyone keeps saying that the South Island is better so we are really looking forward to the next part of our trip.<\/p>\n

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25 April \u2013 A wonderful day\u2019s drive today, from Pukekohe to Rotorua. We had planned to avoid Hamilton, to avoid driving over country that we would…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holidays","has_thumb","clearfix"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hinchy.org\/travels\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/PXL_20260427_214759899-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1440&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8sUAc-Wk","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3616"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3649,"href":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3616\/revisions\/3649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hinchy.org\/travels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}