New Zealand Days 2 and 3

Day 2

On the morning of Day 2, our campervan was dropped off at our hotel. Until this point, we thought we had reserved an automatic transmission vehicle. Much to my disappointment (since I never learned to drive stick), the vehicle was a manual. What were we going to do!? I called the owner and attempted to get things straightened out. We ended up waiting around in Auckland, with the hopes that we could switch the van with another that was automatic, but that didn't work out. So our day got off to a rough start and we didn't leave Auckland until early afternoon. But let me just say, Allyson is incredible. Of course, she is incredible for a million reasons. However, the #1 reason on this trip was that she drove all 3,160 kilometers (1,963 miles) of our trip in a 3.2 meter (10.5 feet) tall campervan around the windy windy islands on the opposite side of the road and shifting with her left hand. How's that for incredible?!

The inside of our campervan "Toadie"

 Allyson getting used to the van

First stop was Hobbiton. We almost didn't make it in time for the last tour of the day, but I think we're both glad we made it. Mostly, it was important to me that the campervan situation didn't mess up our day. The tour starts at The Shire's Rest. You take a short bus ride and then get out and walk around The Shire. Before finishing up the tour, we enjoyed a beer (and a cider) in the Green Dragon (the bar in the Shire) and then took the bus back to where we started. 

Bilbo's House. The oak tree on top is fake. Peter Jackson needed it to be just like the book describes and there were no oak trees in the area. So they built the tree and attached thousands of fake leaves. At some point, the leaves changed color because of the strong sunlight and it was someone's job to paint the underside of all of the leaves (only the underside because that's all we (the viewers) could see.

The big tree is the "Party Tree." The field was where the big party was for Bilbo's birthday in The Fellowship of the Ring and Gandalf's dragon firework flies right over the field and beyond the tree. I know, I know...I promise this is the dorkiest moment of my blog post!

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Entryway to the Green Dragon

We ended our day's adventures in Rotorua. The whole town smells awful. It is like the Yellowstone of New Zealand with geothermal attractions everywhere. Because we have been to Yellowstone, we instead used our time on Day 3 to enjoy the natural hot springs and the most incredible massage either one of us has ever experienced. 

Day 3

Another kind of crappy day of weather, but we tried to just enjoy it. We put our raincoats on and spent a couple hours in the morning walking around the Government Gardens and some trails that wound through some thermal areas along Lake Rotorua. We were basically just killing time before our appointments at Polynesian Spa (a World Top 10 Spa as voted by Conde Nast Traveler). The spa was amazing. We spent a little over an hour in the Lake Spa, which had four different pools at 36, 38, 40, and 42 degrees Celsius. It was a rainy morning, which made the pools feel even more incredible. And the Lake Spa overlooks Lake Rotorua, which I'm sure would've been more awesome if it was a sunny day. On the other hand, I had a much easier time getting completely relaxed with the mist and fog and cool air. 

We were nice and relaxed when we went in for our body polish and aix massage combos. These signature massages included a body scrub with Rotorua thermal mud polish, washed away with a warm water shower controlled by a massage therapist and rinsed over the body, finished off with a massage using organic coconut oil. Holy crap! This is not why we came to New Zealand, but it was definitely one of the most memorable experiences. And man, were we relaxed the rest of the day!

 Casual geyser next to a hotel

The original bath house

 The landscape was so weird and super creepy

 Starting at 36 and working our way up to 42

Outdoor shower of my dreams. Our house will have one of these one day!

After our massages, we grabbed a bite to eat at a great restaurant (kind of like a market too) called Capers. Allyson had a vegetarian lasagna and I had an interesting and delicious mix of gluten free salads.  Then we continued on our way to Tongariro National Park because Day 4 we planned to tackle Tongariro Crossing. 

 Cool barista mirror

Salad Variety Plate

We made shorts stops at Huka Falls and Lake Taupo. The clouds continued to loom over us, but it didn't rain too much for the remainder of the day. We arrived at Discovery Lodge, the closest lodge and campervan site to Tongariro Crossing, around 6:30pm. This was one of my favorite places that we stayed. Really quiet, great view of Mt Ngauruhoe (used as Mount Doom in LotR), and a beautiful sunset! Unfortunately, we were unaware that Mt Tongariro had erupted twice in the last six month, the second time being 3 weeks before we got there. We were not allowed to hike the whole crossing. I actually can't believe we were allowed to hike where we did! We were basically on Mt. Tongariro and I just read that scientists predicted another eruption within the few weeks following the last one. What if we had been up there! Anyway, you'll have to wait for the next post to read about our crazy Tongariro adventure!

Huka Falls

 Lake Taupo - Largest Lake on North Island

Sunset at Discovery Lodge

New Zealand Adventure - Day 1 Auckland

I know I still have my #1 US National Park post to write, but I'm going to switch gears to share some stories from our New Zealand Honeymoon while it's still fresh in my mind. Mostly, I'm doing this so I can re-live our amazing adventure. It's going to require several posts to really share everything we did while we were in New Zealand. But trust me, they will be worth the read. I'll start from the beginning and go chronologically. My favorite day wasn't until Day 15 of the trip, so it's hard not to jump right to that! But honestly, each day was one of the best days of our lives...that is until the next day happened. Every night we would say, "Wow...now THAT was a great day!"

So let's get started! We flew nonstop from San Francisco on an overnight flight that arrived two days later at 5:10am in Auckland, NZ. That was the longest flight I'd ever been on and we had no idea how jet-lagged we would feel. I had planned for us to do the Coast to Coast Walkway, a 16km (10 mile) hike across the city through beautiful parks, impressive craters, historic landmarks, and cute neighborhoods. Many people thought I was nuts. No way would we feel like doing this! But we did it. And it was the best thing we could have done to adjust. We were exhausted by the end of the day, but that helped us fall asleep (in our twin beds...that story will have to wait for another post) at a reasonable time and then wake up the next morning ready to truly begin our adventure (read: get manual transmission campervan and set out on the "wrong" side of the road!)

We started at Waitemata Harbor (Pacific Ocean) and ended in Onehunga (Tasman Sea). We took a short detour at the beginning to check out the Sky Tower (kind of like the space needle in Seattle), and used our trusty map to find our way over to Albert Park and University of Auckland. The most fun part of the day was trying to find the little Coast to Coast Walkway markers that guided us across the city. The "trail" was pretty well marked, but occasionally we had a difficult time finding the next marker. After the University, we walked through the Auckland Domain (Auckland's oldest park which also holds the Pukekawa volcanic crater) and took some time to enjoy it's manicured gardens, greenhouses, and fernery.

Following the signs, we made our way through Auckland Domain and then through neighborhood streets to Mt. Eden, the tallest volcano in Auckland. This clearly looked like a crater and gave us a great view of the city.

 One bad thing about this walk, is we saw very few restaurants and were getting very hungry by this point. The walkway seems to go through more neighborhoods and less streets with businesses. You'd think whoever planned the walkway would want to direct people to walk on streets they might end up spending money. We found a Japanese restaurant and ended up eating there mostly because we couldn't wait any longer.

After getting some food and caffeine in our systems, we continued on the walkway to Cornwall Park. This park is enormous and so beautiful! There was livestock within park limits, and huge trees that had clearly been there for awhile. One Tree Hill, a volcanic peak (182 meters) and important memorial place is accessed through Cornwall Park. The Coast to Coast walkway goes right to the top of One Tree Hill and that back down into the rather rundown neighborhood of Onehunga. Very conveniently, there is a train station in Onehunga that took us right back to Britomart Station (where we started).

Cornwall Park

 The trail up One Tree Hill

We could probably count on our hands how many stop signs/lights we saw in New Zealand. Instead, they yield, or "give way" and amazingly enough...people do it!

As you can see from the pictures, the weather wasn't terrific. It never got particularly warm and stayed cloudy the majority of the day. We were warned that we would need layers and that the weather would change throughout the day. Although it didn't really change in Auckland, I was very happy I had brought layers and didn't assumer summer = hot and sunny. I guess living so many years in the Bay Area had us prepared for that!

What's next? Day 2: Getting Used to the Campervan and Hobbiton and Day 3: Polynesian Spa in Rotorua

Top 5 National Parks - #2 Zion

Zion National Park...you are truly amazing! This post felt a bit daunting to start, because I've visited this park twice and done nearly everything a person could do there. This post could end up being super long with details of each day hike and backpacking trip, but I don't really want to go that route. Instead I'll just give a brief description of the hikes we did, favorite part of the hike, and share some pictures. One disclaimer, my first $90 point and shoot camera was all I had with me on my first trip to Zion, so I could only find a couple pictures I felt comfortable sharing!

First, we went to the less visited Kolob Canyons area of Zion and I highly recommend this (if you are willing to backpack). This area also would be nice to just drive through, if you were up for a little scenic drive. We started a 3-day trip from Lee Pass Trailhead and saw very few people the entire time we were out on La Verkin Creek Trail. We camped very close to Kolob Arch (which was beautiful first thing in the morning with the sun shining on it) and then took a side trip down a slot canyon to a little waterfall (can't remember the name of the canyon and it isn't on the park map). This trip was most difficult at the end, coming back up from the canyon. Once in the canyon, it's pretty flat and gorgeous with the canyon walls all around you. Good spots for swimming too!

Our campsite along La Verkin Creek Trail. Great spot! 

Off the beaten path....down the slot canyon to the little waterfall.

One of the scariest hikes I've ever been on has to be Angel's Landing at Zion. If you google it, you'll find out that 6 people have fallen to their deaths in the last 8 years on this hike. I really can't believe I did it, given my fear of heights. It's not like climbing a mountain. It's walking along a narrow (seriously....one wrong step and you could fall straight down) ridge with 1200 foot drop on one side and 800 foot drop on the other. On top of that, way too many people who are not careful or experienced go up there, so you have to worry about them too! It's a challenging and terrifying 5 mile round trip hike, but the views are incredible and it's just unlike anything else you'll ever do. 

For people who want something a little easier and safer, check out the the 3 mile round trip Emerald Pools trail. Make sure you see the lower, middle, and upper pools. You don't get any views from high up on this hike, but it's still beautiful and (depending on the time of year) you'll encounter some waterfalls too. 

Upper Emerald Pool Reflection

Probably the most well known hike at Zion National Park is The Narrows. I didn't do the Narrows on my first visit because I wanted to wait for Allyson to do it with me. I'm glad I did. It was an awesome day exploring the slot canyon. You have to do this if you go to Zion. You don't have to go very far to appreciate it, but you do have to go early in the morning and far out to escape the crowds. Thankfully, we went early in the morning and saw few people, but coming back in the afternoon we battled lots of families towards the beginning of the hike. You walk right through the river, so I recommend a pair of old running shoes that you don't mind ruining and a hiking pole/stick if you have one. 

Another classic hike in Zion National Park is Observation Point. This is a fairly strenuous hike, especially on hot summer days. You are in the sun a lot of the hike so bring plenty of water and sunscreen for the hike. It's 8 miles round trip and you will experience hiking across awesome rocks and through slot canyons while ending up with probably the best view in the park. It's worth the view! 

Echo Canyon on the way to Observation Point

View from the top

This park has a great shuttle that drives everyone from the visitor center all the way through the valley to The Narrows with stops along the way. For people who can't hike, it is still worth taking the shuttle through the park. For those that want to hike, there's a hike here for everyone!