10-14 April: Goodbye New Zealand

So today is our last day in New Zealand, and we are spending it in a palatial hotel room in extremely close quarters to Auckland International Airport (cough cough). So tomorrow morning we fly out at 7am to Hanoi (via Hong Kong) so we dare say that this is the last of NZ that we’ll be seeing.

Our 10 days in New Zealand have gone quickly, but we seem to have packed a whole heap into them. I think we have certainly done more things and seen more sights than we would have had we gone to Japan. That is more to do with us wanting to go down memory lane in Japan, than to do with Japan itself, mind you!
We have both been so surprised at the North Island of New Zealand as it doesn’t seem to get much of a write-up, but it was amazing! There are so many activities, so many sights and such great countryside, it has been a joy to drive our way around the north. Each corner you turn on each windy road, looks different. One turn might look like Hobbiton (it actually could be), the next like the Canadian rockies, the next a gurgling, volatile landscape, but the rest are unmistakeably NZ.

Since our last post we have:

Experienced a natural Geyser, being unnaturally activated
Been on the Huka Falls Jet: A jet boat that speeds along the river towards the Huka falls weaving in and out of trees and fallen debris, with millimetre perfect precision. (No photos sorry)
Visited the Waitomo Glow-worm caves: Amazing place where we took a boat ride through the cave to see glow-worm covered ceiling. Awesome! (Again no photos)
Visited the Ruikuri Caves: amazing cave with dramatic stalactites and stalagmites, black water rafting, glow-worms and the scariest damage protection system known to man, a $10,000 fine for any damage whatsoever.

Below are a couple of photos, of the great time we had in New Zealand, but now, Vietnam! Stay tuned for the next instalment!