The whirlwind tour continues, with a visit to Wellington, New Zealand’s sleepy capital city. I knew a couple of people who lived there, who I’d met on the Egypt trip earlier in the year, so it was lovely to catch up with them, and they showed us a couple of the sights of the city, like the Beehive… er… the Parliament Buildings. They also introduced us to the amazing Hell’s Pizza, which did gourmet (and gluten free!) pizzas.
We also took the furnicular to the top of the hills surrounding Wellington to see the fabulous views.
Next stop was Rotorua, famous for the volcanic activity, hot springs and lovely sulphurous smell permeating the air… We took a Duck tour to get our bearings. It’s always a bit offputting when your vehicle suddenly takes to the water!
Rotorua has lots of touristy things to do, like taking the cable car to the top of a mountain (good for those with a feat of heights, let me tell you!), traditional Maori exhibits, dances and Hangi dinners, which was very tasty.
We also visited the volcanic park, which had lots of hot springs. Although you couldn’t go far without coming across a steaming hole in the ground in Rotorua! Even the youth hostel we stayed at had used the hot spring on their property to build a spa bath!
The last stop on this trip was Auckland. This was very similar in atmosphere to Perth, so we felt very much at home there. We visited Davenport on the other side of the bay, and found a fantastic Japanese place that did amazing Teriyaki Salmon. Yum!
Two Weeks Away 