May 2023 I spent on the north island of New Zealand.
Even though most of the people will tell you to skip the north island for the south island, I can only recommend seeing that one as well.
I haven’t been to the south island yet, but I am sure it is beautiful, but the north island is so rich of culture and stunning nature as well and worth a visit.
My first 2 weeks I spent on a dairy farm near Rotorua, milking cows, going hunting and discovering the area.
After that, I travelled back up to Auckland, where I arrived by airplane on my first day and did a road trip at Northland with 2 others.
These are more specific spots I have been at and can recommend visiting if you are in the area.
Rotorua
As I stayed on a farm near Rotorua, I’ve been to the city of Rotorua a few times.
The city is located in the “bay of plenty” and borders to “lake Rotorua”.
You can find a lot of geothermal activity in this area.
I went for a walk in “Kuirau park”, where you can find bubbling and steaming pools of water.
I also liked the “Rotorua Lakefront Boardwalk” along the lake and “Government gardens” with “Rotorua Museum” in it.
The museum and the visitor center have a unique architecture that you should definitely check out.
If you do plan a visit, you should be ready for the bad, rotten egg like smell of the hot sulfur pools, that all the locals are already used to.
Whakarewarewa living Maori Village
If you want to learn something about the local Maori culture, I can recommend visiting “Whakarewarewa living village” in Rotorua.
You can do a guided tour through the village where they will show you how they cook, bathe and live.
You can also see the active geyser “Te Puia” on the tour.
I also watched the cultural dance performance with their typical Haka dance, which was very interesting to watch.
There is also a geothermal track where you can see more geothermal pools and can walk up a hill for a view of the city.
I loved learning about the Maori culture, as I find it very interesting, and most of this culture you will find on the north island of New Zealand.
Redwood forest
The “redwood forest” in Rotorua is a peaceful and quiet forest with huge trees and at least one natural sulfur pond.
There are different tracks which are different in their length and there are also mountain bike trails.
In the front you will find a tree walk you can do above the trees that has beautiful lights in the dark.
You could also see the lights from below if you don’t want to pay the money for the tree walk, which is what I did, but it is totally worth to see the artistic lights and go for a walk in the moody forest.
Blue spring Putaruru
This spring near Rotorua is very clear and appears light blue and turquoise in some spots.
There is a walk you can do along the river to admire the beautiful water and nature around it.
It is totally worth a visit.
This place seems magical.
Taupo
I did a day trip to Taupo to go for a hike on “Mount Thauhara” which was pretty steep, but totally worth it for the view from the top.
It took me around two hours for the whole hike.
Afterward, I did a boat tour on “lake Taupo” to see the Maori rock carvings that you can only see from the water.
There are several different boat tours with different kind of boats, you can start at the harbor of Taupo.
I can recommend to book a boat in advance, as they can be pretty full.
The rock carvings are breathtaking.
I can’t imagine someone carving that in stone from a boat.
On my way back, I went past “huka falls” that are near Taupo.
These falls appear light blue to white because there is a huge amount of water going through that small passage.
You can be at the falls in 5 minutes from the car park, and it is worth a short visit.
Hobbiton
Hobbiton was on my bucket list before going to New Zealand, and I loved seeing the small village.
You will be able to see the movie scene of the hobbit village from “the Hobbit” and “the Lord of the Rings”, get insider info and can get a drink at “the green dragon”.
The tour guides, additional to the props and tiny houses, did an awesome job at creating a nice atmosphere to make you feel like you are in the movie even though you can not enter most of the houses.
You can also book a tour with lunch included.
Hobbiton is located near the small village “Matamata” between Hamilton and Rotorua.
Hamilton gardens
Hamilton gardens are located in the south of the city.
You can see many different gardens that are designed in different kinds of styles from all around the world.
You can walk through on your own and read the info signs for more information about each garden and get a map of the gardens for 2NZD at the entrance or do a paid tour which is not necessary though.
They are designed very nicely, and I can recommend them to everyone who is in the area.
Waitomo glowworm caves
This was one of my favorite spots.
I did a tour through “waitomo glowworm caves”.
The cave tour included a guided walk through a lit cave, the entrance of the actual glowworm cave.
We got information about caves in general, this specific cave and the glowworms.
Then we went on a small boat and drove through a pitch black cave whose ceiling was lit by thousands of blue glowworms.
It was the most beautiful feeling being on the water, looking at the blue ceiling in a pitch black and dead quiet cave.
There are also tours like white water rafting through a glowworm cave or seeing another normal cave that you could do as well.
Bridal Veil Falls
“Bridal Veil Falls” was one of the prettiest falls I have ever seen.
I loved how the water fell down a few meters away from the wall.
You can walk to the bottom of the falls going down 261 steps, which sounds a lot, but is not too bad and worth it
(I did not count the steps. There is a sign how many steps there are:)
Waiheke island
I went on “Waiheke island” because a friend recommended it to me, and we went there together.
We spent some days there just chilling, and this island is perfect for that.
We stayed at a hostel near the beach and went to the beach to go for a walk or a swim every day.
We also did a walk to “palm beach”, just through the roads, and there is such a cute street café there where we picked up sandwiches to eat at the beach.
The view from this island is just stunning.
I instantly fell in love with it.
You can get to the island by ferry from Auckland harbor.
Auckland
I have only been in Auckland for a day and a half.
I can recommend “Queen street” for a shopping stroll, the harbor and “Karangahape road” if you want to go partying.
In that road there is “St. Kevins Arcade” which is a nicely decorated arcade with cafés and small shops and a walkway to “Myers park”.
After Auckland, I did a road trip around Northland, but I will share my itinerary for this road trip in another blog post because it is a bit longer, and I would like to go more in depth.
It took me a long time to find the best spots to visit and routes to take, and I would like to share my full itinerary with you separately.
Those were most of the spots I visited on the north island.
I just stayed rather north and wasn’t able to do everything I wanted due to the weather, but I still had the best time ever, and it just gives me a reason to go back to New Zealand, to see the rest of the north island and the south island.
I got around mostly by intercity bus or got taken by other people.
It is also pretty normal in New Zealand to hitchhike longer ways, which I didn’t do though.
Next time I go to New Zealand, I would rent a van or car with someone and be able to get to all the places I want to and sleep wherever I want if it is a self-contained one.