After Australia I went to the Philippines for a few weeks and then off to New Zealand for two weeks to embark on an epic road trip from the North to the South. I flew into Auckland and met up with Marissa. The next day we rented a car aka Milton and braced ourselves for driving on the other side of the road 😳 We may have gotten honked at in the city, but honestly the roads are a bit confusing!! Once on the highway though it’s smooth sailing. Also very proud to say we are now pros at driving through roundabouts! 

^^ Photo of our route give or take a few different stops. Our first stop was to the city of Coromandel, about 2.5 hours away.

^^ We stopped at Hot Water Beach. Something about geothermal heating makes the water super warm and you can dig out your own hot spring. We lucked out and a family offered us their hole ha! It was still super cold though. Marissa and I both just came from Asia and didn’t expect it to be soooo cold in New Zealand. It’s “spring” here, but feels like winter.

^^ Afterwards we went on this hike to Cathedral Cove.

^^ Okay, New Zealand should be renamed land of the sheep not the kiwis. Sheep are E V E R Y W H E R E! Not complaining though, they’re super cute.

^^ On our second day we went to Hobbiton. I really wish we could have rewatched LOTR the night before, but it was still as epic as ever..

^^ The next day we drove to Rotorua which has this gross egg like sulphur smell in the air, again because of geothermal warming. We mapped to this redwood forest that was recommended to us and it took us to this random lake?? Still pretty, a bit eerie but pretty.

^^ The next day we were off to Lake Taupo and saw the beautiful gushing Huka Falls.

Next we drove to the city of Wellington. We had been sleeping in our rental car the last 3 nights so we were very excited to spend 2 nights in a hostel with a warm bed and showers.. Sleeping in the car was probably definitely illegal, but it did save us heaps on accommodation haha.

^^ In Wellington we went on this coastal walk that took us into the hills with the most amazing views. I felt like I was in the Sound of Music.

Next we took the ferry from Wellington to Picton. Still amazed at how this ferry carried about a hundred cars. It was literally a parking garage on a boat! Crazy. Now off to the South Island!