New Zealand Bus Tour PT 1

Preamble: Now everyone, I’ve done my very best to summarize my bus tour. I talk a lot and a lot happened but I’ve condensed it as much as I can. The plan is to split this ‘bus’ story up into four (4) parts – the first two will cover the North Island of New Zealand and second 2 will cover the South. So here it goes, this Caribbean Girl’s travel story around the North Island of New Zealand (part 1).

To reiterate, New Zealand is made up of two islands known as the North and South Island. They’re very accessible to each other as you can get between the two via plane or ferry at almost any time. Because New Zeleand isn’t HUGE in size, you can cover a lot of places in minimal time as well. My bus tour allowed me to cover the following places in the North Island:

• Paihia
• Auckland
• Hot Water Beach
• Waitomo
• Rotorua
• Taupo
• River Valley
• Wellington

I planned and packed my bag for 23 days (see story here) then jumped on the bus starting in Auckland one early Tuesday morning (I was the first one on it). I made a friend (Manuel!) while I waited in the line for the bathroom at our very first rest stop (He’s a German fireman = greatest person to have on such an adventure). The bus continued North, making scenic and rest stops along the way. Here’s a little insight on our main stops (and some photos of course):

Paihia

(Pronounced Pa-Hia) is located ‘up North’ and is in the warmer region of New Zealand. It’s a small touristy place located on the coast (aka nice beaches). It’s also where you find the Waitangi Treaty Grounds – where the Maori (indigenous New Zealanders) and the British made a formal agreement and essentially ‘established’ the commonwealth country of New Zealand that we know of today. Super small but very picturesque, the hot weather attracts tourists to enjoy its natural, scenic views. It was my FIRST time staying in a hostel but Manuel showed me the ropes. After getting over the fact that I’d be sharing a room with 4 other strangers, we took a scenic walk, paid for an official tour of the treaty grounds, then ate & limed (hung out) at the bar at the Hostel (cheapest drinks & not much else to do!).

Auckland

The next day, we drove back south and returned to Auckland for one night (it’s where we started). Auckland is New Zealand’s largest city (approx 1.7million people) and was my NZ home base. I literally just went ‘home’, re-packed, slept and got ready for the next day (My own bed!).

Hot Water Beach & Cathedral Cove

Located a couple of hours south (and to the right of Auckland), the Coromandel is a small town area that gets its main tourists for two reasons – its Hot Water beach & Cathedral Cove. The hostel we stayed in was great (more of a campsite type vybe but clean and updated) and once we arrived we really went straight to the Hot Water beach (about a 10min walk). What is a Hot Water beach you may ask? Well, it’s a beach that actually has rough waves and COLD water from the ocean. However, there’s a patch of sand, about 15-20 big long steps across, that has some HOT water. This is scalding hot water, bun up ya toes if they’re in there a second too long type hot water (the geothermal activity below keeps the water hot!). But, everyone has a shovel, digs themselves a little ‘pool’, and chills in it like a hot tub. A few other travelers and I walked over from our hostel and sat in a ‘hot pool’ (after couping one for like 20mins – so many people!) and baked for about an hour or two. We then left and took the bus to Cathedral Cove – a scenic walk (about 45minutes one way) to a picturesque beach that’s famous for it’s ‘cove photo’. These activities were all free (the shuttle to Cathedral Cove was included in my bus tour) which I was very happy about.

Waitomo

A town that has but one street, Waitomo is tiny. Yet, it constantly has people in the area. Why? For its amazing underground world beneath it. Waitomo is known for it’s underground caves and ‘glow worms’ that thousands of people stop in almost everyday to see. I paid to do a tour where you ‘suit up’ (in a wet suit), abseil down into the cave (with a harness and rope), then travel in an inflatable tube along the (cold) water for about an hour in the underground cave. You get a special tour of the ‘glow worms’ and everything else an underground cave has to offer – Stalagmites and stalactites included (My high school geography teacher would be so proud). To learn about and explore this HUGE underground ‘network’ made for a surreal experience. Outside of the underground caves and glow worms though, I found there’s really not much else to do here (we did go to the ONE bar that was there in the evening though).

To be continued….(read part 2 for more!)