A Journey Through Paradise - My Travels Through the North Island of New Zealand (Part Four)

Hi friends! I want to continue sharing my journies in New Zealand. When I think back to my time in New Zealand, it feels like a whole other universe. New Zealand is such a peaceful country, boasting more sheep than humans. I lived in New Zealand in 2014 while studying abroad at the University of Auckland. However, I did not want to be in the center of the city, so I ended up WWOOFing on a farm 1 hour west of Auckland. I also wanted to see as much of the country as I could, so I found a "hop-on hop-off" bus company called Stray. Basically, I bought a "bus pass" of a certain route that allowed me to hop on and hop off the bus whenever I wanted to. The buses ranged from 10-40 passengers and one amazing bus driver, who was also the guide. It was an amazing way to meet other travelers from so many different countries. It also offered an easy way to travel, which I don't usually prefer, but when I was juggling a full course load and working on a farm, I didn't have much time to plan my travels or flexibility to "get lost".

I bought a bus pass that looped around both the North Island and South Island. My first leg of the trip started in Auckland, and I began to explore the most Northern part of the North Island. I wrote about the beginning of that journey in previous posts that you can read here, here, and here. This post is the continuation of my journey in the North Island.

After we left the beautiful Maori whare whakairo, we traveled to Rotorua. Half of the bus hopped off for a tour of Hobbiton, where Lord of the Rings was filmed. I chose not to hop off. Although I'm a Lord of the Rings fan, I personally thought the tour was overpriced, overcrowded, and a bit overrated for myself. However, my friends who went on the tour loved it, and my friend Lidewij shot the beautiful photo above of Hobbiton for us to see.

The alternative activity to do while our friends were touring Hobbiton was to walk around the geothermal activity of Rotorua. We walked around for a couple of hours, and we were covered in the smell of sulfur and astounded by the mystic steam coming from the ground. We were surrounded by geysers and beautiful multi-colored pools. We ended our walk around with a foot soak in the mud pools. A Maori man was also making beautiful carvings out of wood and offered to teach us how to make a few simple carvings of traditional Maori symbols.

We left Rotorua and headed to one of my favorite stops on the trip, Lake Aniwhenua. The Maori Ngati Manawa tribes live in the area, and we were staying at the Maori Kohutapu Lodge. The lake was absolutely breathtaking, and it was one of the only places in New Zealand that I didn't take photos of because I was in such a state of peace that I didn't even think of taking my camera out. The photo below was taken by my friend Eric. When we first arrived, we were greeted by our hosts, and then we had an hour to wander around and settle in. I found a secluded bench that overlooked the lake, and sat there for an hour overlooking the calm water, the sun setting, the birds weaving together and then apart, the lone person kayaking, the leaves in the tree above me slowly dancing in the wind.

We then gathered and learned how to cook Maori fried bread from scratch that we later ate for dinner. We also learned how to weave a Maori bracelet. Then we gathered to make a hangi, which is a traditional ground cooked feast, pictured below. After the hangi was done, we ate dinner and were invited to eat without utensils. I love eating with my fingers, so it was a blast for me to eat that way and to see everyone try as well. After dinner, we tried some night time eeling on the lake, and then we gathered around the fire to hear stories from our hosts.

The next morning, we waved goodbye to the lake and headed to Huka Falls. Huka Falls is part of Waikato, the longest river in New Zealand at 425 kilometres. Huka Fallls has 200,000 litres of water fall down its 9 meter drop it every second, which is enough to fill five Olympic swimming pools every minute. We saw some crazy kayakers pull up, prepping themselves for the adventure of navigating down the falls, which can be deadly. It was a powerful waterfall to stand next to, and it boasted a surreal color of blue.

We hopped back in the bus and headed to Blue Duck Station in Whakahoro. Blue Duck Station is truely in the middle of nowhere. It is a lodge and residential grounds for a few people. We were staying in rustic lodges. We settled in for the evening, ate dinner, and started a fire. I love staying in the middle of nowhere with a group of people, because I think the feeling of remoteness bonds groups together so well...and it did. We were soon all gathered around the fire, and someone started DJing. The evening turned into a dance party, and I remember one moment when we were all dancing like crazy and the rain started falling on us, while the fire was blazing, and we were just blissfully laughing and yelling.

What a night... The next morning we woke up and 6 of us headed out to go goat hunting. I wrote about that experience in a previous Steemit post. In short, it was a beautiful and humbling experience. I had never hunted or killed an animal before, and I figured that if I was going to occasionally eat meat then I should be able to kill the meat myself. Goats are also invasive in the area and eat all of the eggs of the local blue ducks, threatening their survival. After hours of scrambling up goat ridges in the rain, we ended up killing a goat and taking it back with us. We gave thanks to the goat, skinned it, brought the meat back to slow cook it for dinner, fed the rest of the goat to the farm's dogs. We shared the slow cooked goat with the rest of our friends on the bus, all the while giving thanks to the animal for feeding us for the night.

The next morning we packed up and headed to Tongariro National Park. We were hoping to do the world rated hike, the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. However, weather conditions were too dangerous to go up the volcano. Instead, we went on a short hike and headed to the hostel. The hostel was cozy and had a blazing fire, which we huddled around for the evening.

The next morning we said goodbye to the beautiful Tongariro volcano (pictured below), and set off for our last destination on the North Island, Wellington. Although I only spent one day in Wellington, it was my favorite city in New Zealand. It reminded me of San Francisco, with the small, compact city grid, the strong winds, the cute coffee shops and alternative stores, the pedestrian-friendly streets, and the general relaxed feel of the locals. I spent hours doing my favorite activities in a city - walking around and people watching. My adventure time in the North Island was coming to a close, as I had classes at University of Auckland restarting in a couple of days. I couldn't have asked for a better exploration of the beautiful island, and was so thankful for the land that offered itself to our adventures, the people that offered themselves to new friendships, and the cultures that offered themselves for an exchange of human connection.