Travel NZ’S North Island
Move over Queenstown! New Zealand’s North Island is action-plus, finds lifestyle director KRISTIE LAU
When it comes to chasing snowy hijinks in New Zealand, Queenstown rests comfortably with its crown. But a road trip through another New Zealand daredevil scene has thrown Queenstown’s whole “adventure capital” title into a tailspin for me. How can we overlook the North Island?
Setting off from Auckland Airport, I’m on a scavenger hunt through the region, a total slice of paradise with volcanoes and pristine national parks that stretches from Auckland down to the tip of Wellington. Looking for pulse-accelerating fun, I stop just over two hours away in Waitomo, famed for its caves speckled by glowworms.
Three hours of climbing, tubing and leaping through ice-cold Ruakuri Cave waters throws me right in the deep end – literally, about three terrifying plunges. The Legendary Black Water Rafting Co.’s expert guides offer up plenty of fast facts (did you know the glowing bits of glowworms are, er, excretion?) and quash my nerves. Waterdrenched laughs are followed by tea, coffee, hot soup and crusty bread before I hit the tarmac for my next dose of adrenaline.
After a good night’s sleep, I’m out at a very reasonable 9am to kayak stunningly blue Lake Taupo with its Maori rock carvings. Silky waters surround me as I hear from Canoe & Kayak Taupo’s guide about the history of the Mine Bay Maori Rock Carvings, which tower 14m above the water. But it’s not all easy breezy. Paddling for hours gets the heart thumping double-time.
My little rental car sees me safely to Rotorua, about an hour and a half’s ridiculously scenic drive from Taupo. Yes, it smells as strong as its nickname Sulfur City suggests but yes, it’s worth visiting.
If you’ve only got time for one thing, walk up Mt Tarawera, a volcano 24km southeast of Rotorua and the culprit behind one of the country’s largest-ever eruptions. I’m taken up for a crater walk through the Waimangu Valley, the world’s youngest geothermal valley, by Kaitiaki Adventures’ Nui, who quickly becomes cooler than Bear Grylls in my book. Suited to most fitness levels, the walk is challenging at times but Nui pushes us through with patience. Reaching the 1.1km peak makes everything worth it.
Don’t get shy when a scree, or “rock salad” as Nui calls it, appears on the trek back down. The thick carpet of shattered rock, cascading more than 100m into the crater floor, is simply made for racing (don’t forget sturdy shoes!). The exhilarating rush of sliding down such a soft, steep surface at such a high speed evokes thoughts of quicksand drifting. Known as “scree running”, this is one of my favourite travel memories of all time.
Throw in a rough-and-tumble 350m roll down a hill in a giant inflatable ball (it’s called Ogoing – the balls are “Outdoor Gravity Orbs”), a treewalk up to 12m high along the world’s longest treesuspended walkway and dodging gushing geysers in Orakei Korako
valley, and you’ve got a recipe for some spectacular sensory overload.
My advice? Get exploring this New Zealand region’s untainted beauty before the Queenstown crowds start cottoning on. For more travel ideas, visit newzealand.com.