The Obis and the Kiwis

October - December 2019

Oktober 2019 Read more

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Traveler The Obis and the Kiwis
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- Nov 2, 2019
- ☀️ 18 °C
- Altitude: 11 m
- New Zealand Waikato Thames-Coromandel District Hahei Te Pare -36.839558, 175.80891436°50’22” S 175°48’32” E
Day 13
Miranda to Hahei Beach
November 2, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C
It does take some time in the morning to get ready and start the day. Whoever has 2 little kids knows what we‘re talking about 😂 finally we‘re setting foot on the well known Coromandel Peninsula. We drove along the west coast. The roads are narrow and winding, but still close to the water. Before arriving in Coromandel town we made a detour (gravel road) and saw a small waterfall. We returned to the SH25 and made it to Whitianga and then further to Hahei beach. Oh dear that was a drive. Very steep, very narrow and curvy road...

Hahei Beach - the perfect base to see the Cathedral Cove, which I and the kids skipped due to my current walking abilities. But Thomas was fairly impressed by the walk. Took him 40 min from the campground. In the meanwhile the girls and I enjoyed the beach.Read more
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- Nov 3, 2019
- ☀️ 21 °C
- Altitude: 19 m
- New Zealand Bay of Plenty Western Bay of Plenty District Waihi Beach -37.40564, 175.94340537°24’20” S 175°56’36” E
Day 14
Hahei Beach to Waihi Beach
November 3, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
Had a rather early start. The coffee shop next to the reception was good! Next stop‘s Hot Water Beach, where you could dig your own bath tub, which was only 10 min drive away. Tried to be there around low tide. The girls had a great time. Greta dug sand for over an hour. And Matilda switched between hot and cool pools 😂. Had a quick lunch in the camper (we love our current home 😄) and headed southwards to the Karangehake Gorge. Now we could only see the remnants of the gold digger time very impressive. Did the windows walk, which was good fun for the girls, as we needed a torch light to walk through the tunnels. Unfortunately we were only able to do parts of the Hauraki Trail, as it would‘ve been too much walking.

Headed back to Waihi Beach for the night. Probably the last night at a beach for the next 10 days. And the weather‘s nice, which is a bonus.Read more
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- Nov 4, 2019
- ⛅ 23 °C
- Altitude: 173 m
- New Zealand Waikato Matamata-Piako District Hobbiton Movie Set -37.871841, 175.68298337°52’19” S 175°40’59” E
Day 15
Middle Earth
November 4, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
The Obis and the Hobbits
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Traveler The Obis and the Kiwis
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- Nov 4, 2019
- ⛅ 23 °C
- Altitude: 175 m
- New Zealand Waikato Matamata-Piako District Hobbiton Movie Set -37.872303, 175.68283137°52’20” S 175°40’58” E
Day 15
Waihi Beach to Hobbiton
November 4, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
Enjoyed a nice morning at the beach, which was really nice with barely any people. This was the beach with the biggest seashells so far. Walked to a nearby cafe for a brunch. After that we headed off to Middle Earth. Yay! I promised Thomas to watch all Lord of the Ring and the Hobbit Movies (extended version of course) over Christmas so I get to know what‘s going on 😂

Lots of people who want to see the filmset of the Hobbit, which is on private farmland. Matilda had a great time, as everything was her size 😂

After the tour we stayed in a driveway of a nearby farm for the night. The girls were happy to see all the animals. Just the baby cows, who were calling for their mom, as the milk box was empty made my heart crinch.Read more
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- Nov 5, 2019
- ☀️ 24 °C
- Altitude: 68 m
- New Zealand Waikato Waitomo District Waitomo Caves -38.259903, 175.11068738°15’36” S 175°6’38” E
Day 16
Hobbiton to Rotorua
November 5, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
What to do next? Waitomo Caves or Rotorua? Both are about 1-1,5 hrs drive away. Checked the weather forecast and decided to go to Rotorua. The heart of the geothermal area. But first we made a visit to the Californian Redwoods. It‘s nice to see them again after our visit to California and Oregon in 2015. The climate in New Zealand is even better than in California or Oregon, which leads to a quicker growth of the trees.

For the treewalk we were able to use one of their specially made strollers, as no baby carriers were allowed, but Greta decided anyway to walk half of the treewalk holding on to mama‘s hands 🙈

Walking makes us hungry and we headed to downtown Rotorua and found a nice little Vietnamese Bistro. The Pho Bo was good, as well as the Rice Noodle salad. You do taste that everything‘s made from scratch & fresh.

The campground for the night was next to a creek and to lake Rotorua. The creek was steaming, due to the geothermal activities the water‘s rather warm, if not hot.Read more
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- Nov 6, 2019
- ☁️ 19 °C
- Altitude: 353 m
- New Zealand Waikato Taupo District Wharewaka Taupo Airport -38.745018, 176.06936638°44’42” S 176°4’10” E
Day 17
Rotorua to Taupo
November 6, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
With 2 kids in the morning it does take time to get ready, if we wouldn’t have to check-out by 10 we would stay until noon! 🙈

Since Rotorua is midst of a geothermal field the must do is to visit one of the geothermal hot spots. We decided for Wai-o-tapu and saw bubbling sulphur pools, bubbling mud pools, sinter terraces, the sound of mordor, etc. Now my demand for eggs is fulfilled until 2025 😂

On the way to Taupo we stopped at the Huka Falls. Lots of light blue water‘s making its way down the falls. The sound of it would be perfect as a white noise for babies 😂

And by accident we ended up at a nice 🍔 shop. Still dreaming of the burger 🤤

The night we spent at a freedom camping space just next to the lake. It‘s really convenient to just park the camper and being able to start the bed routine immediately.Read more
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- Nov 7, 2019
- ☁️ 17 °C
- Altitude: 1,259 m
- New Zealand Wellington Waitonga Falls -39.3316, 175.50445639°19’54” S 175°30’16” E
Day 18
Taupo to Okahune (Tongariro NP)
November 7, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C
Matilda discovered the floating stones at the lake 😂 and kept throwing those into the lake...

We took the road on the Eastern side of the Tongariro NP to head South. The road was less winding and steep as thought (by far not as worse as in the Coromandels). Passed by Rangipo dessert (some scenes of LOTR were filmed here), while having Mt Doom (= Mt Ngauruhoe) and Mt Ruapehu on our right handsight.

And finally some hiking! Waitonga Falls Walk. To be honest it‘s not really hiking, it‘s more walking on well formed tracks. But it was still nice and the highlight was to see the snow covered Mt Ruapehu (NZ’s 2nd largest skiing area) from a close distance.Read more
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- Nov 8, 2019
- ⛅ 14 °C
- Altitude: 1,122 m
- New Zealand Manawatu-Wanganui Ruapehu District Whakapapa Village Waipuna Stream -39.20068, 175.53932239°12’2” S 175°32’22” E
Day 19
Ohakune to Whakapapa (Tongariro NP)
November 8, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
We moved to our next stop in the Tongariro NP. Weather‘s still nice, but high passing clouds on top of Mt. Ruapehu made it impossible to have a good view on top, so we skipped the cable car ride to the top (and to NZ‘s largest skiing area). Instead we did the Taranaki Falls Walking Track and started with the upper loop. An easy to walk track with Mt. Ngauruhoe (Mt. Doom) in front of us. After passing the waterfall we continued walking next to the Wairere Stream back to our campsite in Whakapapa. Tired but happy.Read more
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- Nov 9, 2019
- ☁️ 21 °C
- Altitude: 103 m
- New Zealand Waikato Waitomo District Waitomo Caves Waitomo Stream -38.268475, 175.07945338°16’7” S 175°4’46” E
Day 20
Tongariro NP to Waitomo
November 9, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C
We woke up to a rainy day and visibility was very low. We were happy that we had nice weather during our visit to Tongariro NP.

Our next stop are the Waitomo caves. We want to see some glowworms 😁 We booked a 2 caves tour and started with Ruakuri cave. Our guide led our rather small group down 15m of spiralcase. Lighting was minimal and our eyes got used to the darkness very quickly. Learned some things about stalactites and stalagmites and got to see the first glowworms in a close up. At the end of the tour we needed to wash our hands with the water at the stone, which was a kind of a cleaning ritual, since we were at a sacred place (a tapu).Read more
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- Nov 10, 2019
- 🌧 19 °C
- Altitude: 177 m
- New Zealand Waikato Waitomo District Mahoenui Punitawa -38.543228, 174.88325538°32’36” S 174°52’60” E
Day 21
Waitomo to New Plymouth
November 10, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 19 °C
After yesterday’s visit to Ruakuri Cave, we‘re on today‘s first tour (9am) to Waitomo Glowworm Cave. It‘s a rather short tour and the stalactites and stalagmites weren’t as impressive as the day before. But we came for the glowworms anyway 😁 since we were the first ones that day the glowworms glowed even more. And the highlight was a little boattour through the pitch black cave surrounded by thousands of glowworms. It was jawdropping.

Yes, the caves are a magnet for tourists and there were masses of groups. Since we were the first ones we didn’t feel the rush.
And make sure to use the underground path to the entrance from the car park if you don’t want to be yelled at, when you want to cross the street 🙈

The following drive to the west coast was beautiful. It‘s like driving through middle earth. Unfortunately missed the three sisters en route, as Greta slept and we wanted to get as far as possible.

Ended up in New Plymouth, but honestly we could of skipped it. Maybe it was because of the strong wind, or that everything’s closed or were closing down that day.Read more
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