After our invigorating waterfall hike, we headed south on Route 27, then Rt 1, then 32, toward the final destination of our trip, Lake Taupo. When I researched for our trip, I thought this area looked like it had lots of opportunities for tramping in the types of landscapes we'd never been in before. Several…
Our lodgings in the Matamata area Tuesday night were a "farmstay" near Wairere Falls. Of all the places I had found online for our trip, I was the most unsure about this one, based on its little webpage and its price ($80 NZ + $20 for 1 extra person, so that was only about $55…
Our Hobbiton tour bus took us back to Matamata just in time for an early dinner, so we walked across the street to the Redoubt Bar & Eatery, which had been recommended to us by the friendly woman at the information center. (I don't think we met a single person in NZ who was not…
Occupying Bag End Matamata sign We drove into Matamata (the sign and statue at left are in the center of town), and went to the information center to buy our Hobbiton tour tickets. Alex had found a 10%-off coupon in a magazine I picked up at the airport, so that was helpful. While we waited…
Breakfaast in the sunshine Tuesday morning dawned beautifully, bright and clean and sunshiny. We had another great breakfast involving a fresh fruit bowl and homemade muffins, with the sun streaming in the window and making the lush greenery sparkle. After bidding a fond farewell to Berris and Alan, and a promise to come back…
Ribbonwood – web Ribbonwood was our home for two nights in Warkworth, about an hour north of Auckland. It's a very nice home, with an attached apartment as the B&B portion. We had a living room/kitchen/dining area (with a sofa bed for Alex), a bedroom, and a beautiful bathroom. Our hosts Berris and Alan were…
Warkworth signs What with the great GPS, and the really helpful directions emailed from our hosts earlier, we had no trouble finding our way by about 7:00pm to our B&B in Warkworth, about an hour north of Auckland. We pulled into the driveway, and were met by our lovely hostess Berris at the door…
We had a quick breakfast of tea and biscuits (i.e. cookies) from the little pantry at Australia St, plus some various fruits and snacks we had been dragging around since the Lake House, knowing that if anything New Zealand's biosecurity is even stricter than Australia's, so we wanted to eat anything we had. We also went…
Double-deck train We took the train back to Newtown in the early evening, and walked down King Street looking for somewhere for dinner. The first couple places we tried didn't have any tables, but after some discussion they were able to seat us at an Italian restaurant called Cicciolina. That turned out to be a…
Since the rain had started up again while we were in The Rocks, we decided to visit the Aquarium rather than walk around the Botanical Gardens near the opera house. It's a very nice aquarium – here are some photos: Part of it is called an Oceanarium, one of the things where you walk…
Where have the days gone? 