Our last stop on the north island is New Zealand’s capital Wellington. Since we haven’t updated our brains quickly enough we once again end up a bit outside town, but luckily Wellington is not so big, they indeed call it “the cutest little capital”. We are just a botanic garden away from the center, but still on top of he hill, so to get to downtown is not really a problem as much as getting back to the room!
Less than one hour on the bus brings us to Taupo. This is the main starting point to explore the Tongariro National park and in particular to hike the Alpine crossing between the volcanoes there. It all looks nice and pleasant in the guide book, but the weather is putting us off: low clouds, chilly temperatures and rain forecast. We have been smart enough to put this activity on “the next time” list and just enjoy the view of the lake and the windy shores. Better proceed to the east coast and Hawke’s bay, which is famous for its wineries and fancy architectures. So we arrive in Napier in the early evening and check-in at “central backpackers”.
A pleasant ride on the bus is bringing us to Hamilton, few km south of Auckland. Hamilton is a relatively small university town grown along the river, and it turned out to be a very charming place to stay for a couple of days.
The city center is full of dining places and out for the evening meal we caught a good deal for roasted lamb: buy 2 pay 1. We figured it was so cheap we couldn’t miss it, but we got carried away by the wine list and the dessert menu and the dessert wines and so and so forth…ended up spending about three times more than we should have. But it was all excellent! After investigating our possibilities for a day excursion we find that the Hobbiton movie set is close enough for a visit.