Rotorua, Wellington and Abel Tasman (New Zealand): volcanoes, national parks and amazing scenery

26 February - 10 March 2011




New Zealand wasn't planned in my initial itinerary but when I knew I was going to Australia, i thought New Zealand is just next door, just go for it. So here I am.

I started in Auckland, North of the Northern Island. Nothing much to see, just a big city. A bit of shopping and lots of asian restaurants...
I decided to travel with Magic Bus, a hop on hop off bus, going to most of the main places on both islands, very convenient. It was also a good opportunity to meet people.













New Zealand is famous of its volcanoes. only one remains active on the White Island. But still on the North Island, especially in Rotorua, there are plenty of geysers and geothermal pools with bubbling pools, sometimes reaching more than 100 degrees. Of course I didn't take my mud spa in one of those but it was quite hot though. They say mud spa is good for your skin so I jumped in with 4 other strangers. My skin hasn't really changed but it felt really good.

I also joined a local show with Maori people, the indigeneous people of New Zealand, sharing their way of living. Very intersting altough quite "wild". The funny part is when at the end of the show, some of the Maoris go home with the same bus and explained to me that they live in town, have cars and have other jobs during day time...




Wellington, the capital of New Zealand with its cable car. That I took of course. Chinese people love cable cars wherever they go, they will jump on it... Also called the Windy City and this is so true. It was freezing there. Me and my flip flops and summer tops, I had to invest in winter clothes.


Despite the fact that it was very cold and rainy, Wellington is still a nice city with the all the government buildings, shops, museums among which a great museum, Te Papa, certainly the best I have ever seen. 6 floors about New Zealand origines, environment, wildlife, fashion, emigration, fotografers, etc, etc.










Time to move to the South Island. We took a ferry for 3 hours, beautiful journey.
We arrived in Nelson, a pretty little town, which is the gate to the Abel Tasman National Park.

Abel Tasman National Park, A wonder. We took a boat along the coast and then walked about 12 km back to the main entrance of the park. On the way of the coast track, it was just stunning. All the views on the turquoise water, the golden beaches, sculptured granite cliffs and much more. One among many of the nice surprises I had about New Zealand.

Next stops: Franz Josef, Queenstown, Milford Sound (New Zealand).