Lower half of the North Island

After the beautiful South Island, we have now arrived on the North Island. Here, opposite the sparsely populated South Island, we experienced a real cultural shock. Instead of narrow, winding country roads, we suddenly encountered four-lane highways in Wellington.

But the capital of New Zealand definitely has more to offer than well-developed roads. In beautiful sunshine, we strolled around the city and the botanical garden. Of course, we couldn't miss the ride on the "Wellington Cable Car". A special highlight in Wellington was the visit to the Old Saint Paul's Church, which was completely built of wood. Here, once again, the openness of the New Zealanders was evident. In the church, we were approached by an elderly gentleman. After a short chat, he took us on a personal city tour.

Although a city also has beautiful places to offer, we quickly felt drawn back to nature. So we drove up the west coast to Mt Egmont National Park. This is a spherical peninsula formed by an extinct volcano. Around the peninsula, we found several beautiful black sand beaches.

On the way to the east coast, we made a short stop at the Waitomo Caves, where we visited two caves. In the Glowworm Cave, we took a boat ride through a cave. On the ceiling, there were hundreds of glowworms to admire. A truly unique experience. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed, so we couldn't capture it. But just Google it and be amazed. In the second cave, we enjoyed a private tour, as no other visitors signed up. So we received interesting information about the glowworms and the limestone cave from the completely enthusiastic guide for two hours. When we returned to the surface, a torrential rain awaited us.

But we were very fortunate that it was only raining where we were. Because at the east coast, a severe cyclone was raging at that time. And we realized the extent of the damage caused by this storm when we arrived at the east coast just one day after the storm, in glorious summer weather. Several rivers were still flooding and individual trees had fallen over along with their roots.

One highlight on the east coast was the visit to the geothermal area at Orakei Korako. A beautiful boardwalk led us past various smoking caves, bubbling mud pools, boiling springs, and colorful spots. And everywhere, there was a slight smell of rotten eggs in the air.

On the east coast, we found beautiful bays, sandy beaches, and cliffs again. But we definitely didn't plan for one highlight. Near Cape Kidnapper, an estimated 150 old Model A Fords gathered for a rally. Although we are not car fans at all, we strolled through the cars with wide eyes and admired the vintage cars.

The route then took us along the east coast towards the north. We took the beautiful road around the Eastern Bay. Again and again, we passed deserted and kilometers-long sandy beaches. At East Cape, a small lighthouse awaited us on a hill. 700 steps led up - a great workout for the next season!

By the way: The Easter Bunny or rather the Easter Kiwi also found us in New Zealand ;-)

Now we are tackling the last part of New Zealand. What we will experience there, you will find out as always on this blog.