Cape Reinga

Ithilien

Wellington

Sauron

Spermwhale

Mt Sunday, better known as Edoras

Moeraki Boulders

Royal albatross

Ulva Island

Milford Sound

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So, this is it. Only tomorrow left and on Wednesday it’s time to leave New Zealand. I’m actually kind of looking forward to that, it’s nice to get home again and see snow!

But, back to New Zealand summer for a while. After Rotorua it was time to visit Te Puke, the  kiwifruit capital of the world. We went to Kiwi360, which is a kiwifruit farm. They grow some other fruit there as well, like apples and avocados. In the parking area there is a huge kiwifruit. It’s green on the other side and yellow on the other side (becuse there is green and golden kiwifrtuis). We went to a nice tour around the farm and got to taste some more kiwi juice and wine + kiwijam which was delisious.

After Te Puke we spent the night in Tauranga and then continued to Coromandell for two nights. The place was really small and we wondered what we thought we could do there for two days! The first day we spent pretty much at the hostel, expect visitin this one museum. Yesterday we did Driving Creek Railway, which was really nice.

And today we arrived to Auckland and tomorrow it’s time to see what Mt Eden looks like. It’s also time to pack tomorrow and now I say thank you to all who have read this blog (if somebody has read this ).

I’ll upload some photos when I’m back in Finland. Until that, Cheerio!

Today was the last whole day in Rotorua and tomorrow it is time to continue to Te Puke (to see Kiwi 360) and then Tauranga for the night.

It was raining the whole day today so we did not dp much, just shoped a bit and read at the hostel. Yesterday we visited Agrodome, which is a working farm close to centre of Rotorua. There we went to a sheep show and saw 19 different breeds of sheep and also 4 cute little lambs We also took an hour lond organic farm tour and saw alpacas and more sheep and also one baby alpaca, which was just one day old. There it was standing on the paddic outside in the rain with its mum.

All in all Rotorua was quite nice place, a bit smelly sometimes though. They do not call Rotorua Sulphur city for nothing, eh?

Again its been a while since I last wrote here. But, in Wellington we spent two nights and on the 16th Feb we did our last Lord of the Rings tour. It was called the ultimate movie tour and we visited a lot of places around Wellington, including Rivendell and the forest of Shire. In Miramar we also saw some sets for the Hobbit movie

From Wellington we went to Napier. It was Art Deco Weekend in Napier, so people were dressed up in old time clothes and there were many old cars. We saw a parade including the old cards and also motorcycles and bicycles. We also did a prison tour, which was really nice and interesting. All in all Napier was a nice place, too bad we only spent one night there.

Taupo was the next destination and there we did the Big Sky Parasail, which was awesome! We also went to Cratesr of the Moon, Aratiatia rapids and Huka Falls. All were very nice and beautiful places, really worth a visit.

And yesterday we came to Rotorua and visited the museum. Today we went to Wai-o-Tapu thermal park and saw the Lady Knox Geyser. This evening we will go to Tamaki Maori village where we will eat hangi (a traditional Maori dish).

And next week, on Wednesday, it is time to leave NZ. But before that we will visit Te Puke, Katikati and Coromandel.

Kia Ora!

After Wanaka (where we went after Mt Cook) we spent two nights in Franz Josef. Franz Josef is a small village and the most famous thing there is the Franz Josef glacier (named after the Austrian emperor). We did a 3,5 hour guided walk in the glacier valley and we also got to touch the ice With a guide we were abel to go further than people without a guide. In Franz Josef we also went to a Kiwi house and saw 3 more kiwis. These kiwis were the rarest specie in NZ called rowi. There is only about 350 rowi left and they all live in the same area, just a few kilometers from Franz Josef village.

After Franz Josef it was time for a 10 hour bus trip to Nelson. During that we stopped in Pancake rocks and blowholes, which are located in Punakaiki National Park. The blowholes were really cool and the Pancake rocks were quite interesting as well. No one actually knows how pancake rocks are formed.

We spent two nights in Nelson and during our whole day there we walked around the city centre. We saw a goldsmith place called Jens Hansen. He made the Ring for the Lord of the Rings movies. Sadly he passed away on August 1999. We also went to a church called Christ Church Cathedral and the Queens Gardens (the Botanical Gardens in Nelson).

And today, before going to Picton, we stopped at Pelorus Bridge. Maybe some of you know why And now we are back in North Island and tomorrow is time for the last LOTR tour here in New Zealand. It’s called the Ultimate Movie Tour. That’s quite good name for the last LOTR tour, eh?