In the midst of the coronavirus scare that has spread globally to date, we had planned our first trip to NZ in Jan. As the panic situation was developing by mid-Feb, we were not sure if the vacation will materialize. The situation had worsened in S’pore (Alert from Yellow to Orange) just a few days before departure. Flights were been cancelled and our Auckland flight eventually was delayed by 9 hours due to crew scheduling issues.
We finally left on Sunday morning at 3 am and decided to wear a mask throughout the 10 hours journey, just to be on the safe side. Once we landed at 6 pm, we picked up our Hertz rental car (Toyota Corolla) and drove directly south to Rotorua. It took just under 3 hours and I was driving in the pitch-black roads for the later part. Sunset in NZ during this time was just after 8 pm. Finally settled in the hotel at 10 and had to order room service for a late dinner.
Started the next day early with a hearty NZ breakfast before we had a nice nature walk around the lake area. Then it was off to Tauranga, a one hour drive away. After a simple Turkish lunch, we went for a walk at the nice along the sunny beachfront. The evening was spent on a kayak for a glow-worm tour with a group of tourists till late. Again, we needed to do another night drive back to the hotel at 10+.
The next day (Tue) was jam-packed with activities, starting with a visit to the famous Polynesian Spa that was within walking distance from our hotel. A bit underwhelming, compared to the spas we were used to in Asia. Then we had a movie tour and lunch at Hobbiton in the afternoon. It was the place where the Hobbit village scenes were shot for the LOTR (2001/2/3) and Hobbit (2012/13/14) movies. We signed up for the Tamaki Maori dinner and tour in the evening. That was also a pleasant surprise as it was quite an entertaining and informative immersion into Maori culture.
Said goodbye to Rotorua the next morning as we headed south towards Taupo. On the way, we visited Waio-Tapu Thermal park and did another nature walk around the various hot springs and to experience the Lady Knox Geyser at 1015 am. Bought some good value Manuka honey along the drive to Taupo and stopover at a top-rated Thai Lotus restaurant for lunch (s0-so). Signed up for the Haku Falls river cruise that was a nice journey upriver to see the Aratiatia Rapids.
Taupo is a lovely and laid back vacation place. The lake itself is already the size of the whole of S’pore! Checked into our hotel which had a swimming pool and jacuzzi before having a formal dinner at the Edgewater restaurant that night. We were committed to drinking the good NZ wines for the whole vacation, especially the sauvignon blanc and pinot noir grape varieties.
I woke up early Thurs morning for a nice run along Lake Taupo before we went to the Taupo town riverfront to check out the town for a nice brunch venue and we settled for Dixie. They had a lamb fry (lamb liver) dish which I had to try. We had a pickup at 1 pm for river rapids rafting near Turangi which lasted till late afternoon. They were very professional and had lots of safety gear for everyone. Over 2 hours on the river, we moved passed 51 rapids locations. A quiet late dinner back in Taupo and we chose Italian at Osteria.
The next morning, we set off for an early morning start for the 5 hours drive south to Wellington. The drive was surprisingly pleasant and straight forward. Managed to arrive in time for a late seafood lunch at Crab Shack, which was very near our hotel. We explored the city during the late afternoon, checking out the shopping and wharf area. For dinner, we had a simple Vietnamese Pho noodle meal. Back to city life again.
On Sat morning, we had a nice NZ breakfast before being picked up for a 4 hours Wellington highlights tour. First off to Victoria Peak to get a great view of the city and check out the forest where some of the LOTR scenes were shot. Thanks to the virus issue, we could see that the Wellington harbour had come to a standstill as the ships and warehouses were already full of pine trees stock and they were unable to deliver them to China. All the world’s supply chains have been disrupted by the coronavirus as the world’s biggest factory (China) had stopped working.
Next stop was the Weta movie studio at Miramar to see the history of how NZ developed as a CGI location of choice after Peter Jackson decided to use his hometown of Wellington as a base for LOTR trilogy in 1999. Dinner was along the happening area of Cuban street at the Olive restaurant.
We returned the car at the airport in the early morning the next day for a 9 am flight back to Auckland. Reached our Four Points @ Sheraton hotel by noontime. A nice walk along Queen street shopping district towards the harbourfront led to a nice alfresco restaurant by the waters. We had a bottle of champagne and a long lunch which observing an LGBT “Love all” festival which also featured a drag queen visiting our table!
Mid-afternoon, we decided to visit the Sky Tower as it is a prominent feature of the city. For our last dinner of the trip, it was back to the wharf again to watch the sunset at a fusion Chinese restaurant called White & Wong.
The flight back to S’pore was uneventful as I binged on the LOTR trilogy to remind me of the places in NZ we had visited in Hobbiton and Wellington. NZ was a much more cosmopolitan country than I expected. More than 25% of the population is now of Asian heritage. It is a resource-rich country that is very laid back for chilling and the good life.
Being at the end of the world and away from everyone has made it an attractive location for billionaires to have a home there in case the world goes into a serious crisis. What a timely coincidence now with the current virus epidemic sweeping all countries! Jeff Bezos happened to be in Wellington when we were there too…
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