#Worldtour: Discover New Zealand's North Island

As we imagined, New Zealand's North Island is very green, with beautiful roads surrounded by hills and sheep here and there. After landing in Auckland, we set off to discover this part of New Zealand, with its landscapes decked out in their most beautiful autumn colors (we recommend this time of year, which is less crowded with tourists than midsummer and just as pretty).

Here are our 3 favorites.

A long walk to Cape Kidnappers

As we were in the area, we took the opportunity to walk to Cape Kidnappers and take a stroll on the beach, as the low tide allowed us to do so (so we had 6 hours and not one more to finish the walk). Magnificent cliffs and beautiful scenery all along the way to the colony of Ganetts, yellow-headed white birds that will soon all be gone by the end of the month and return next summer.

Adventure on the Great Walk in Tongariro National Park

We arrived in the Tongariro National Park region to discover an impressive volcanic landscape. As the weather was very favorable, we were able to hike the Northern Circuit Tongariro loop, a Great Walk, over 2 days. What can we say except that, once again, we were blown away by the beauty of the scenery on this 54km walk: superb volcanoes in a multitude of colors, rocky deserts and incredibly green lakes...

We set off from the village of Wakatapa, saw the Soda Springs (waterfalls) before climbing the Red Crater (view of Tongariro) and descending to the 3 Emerald Lakes. We made a short detour to Blue Lake before crossing the desert, alone in the world, to reach the refuge. We slept in the middle of this magical place in the Otorere Hut, overlooking the Ngauruhoe volcano and the valley. The next day, more desert before a detour to Tama Lakes and Taranaki waterfall to reach the village.

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Basking in the warm waters of Rotorua

We stopped off at Rotorua, which is famous for its geothermal activity: geysers, crater lakes, boiling waters, mud pools and more. The smell of sulfur told us we were getting close to the city!
After a short walk to see a lake in a crater towards Rainbow Mountain, we went to see a steaming lake (hot water) near the road.

We took a tour of the town, which we didn't find too appealing, and then decided to relax in the thermal pools at Waikite Valley, a campsite with access to water between 37 and 41ºC (we didn't stay long in the hottest one!). We were able to enjoy them in the afternoons and early mornings without anyone else. The river of boiling water coming out at 98ºC was pretty impressive, and it ran right past the campsite.

Anne & Olivier

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