One week in North NZ island

[Haplo]

My first ever trip report so if I stuff things up here and there please don't criticism too much

Day 1 (19/02/2017)

SYD -> VA 144 -> AKL (Langham Auckland)

I booked economy as part of Amex Reserve free flight and I debated whether or not I should upgrade to business class using points. In the end I decided not to as I get priority checkin due to my SG gold and also lounge access due to Amex Plat. Luckily I managed to score seat 3B for my dad and 4A for myself so it is almost as good as business class.

Arrival at airport was uneventful and we arrived 2.5 hours early to our 10:30am flight. Check in, customs and security took less than 30 minutes. I was told by the girl at check in as SG Gold I could access NZ but was denied entry at the lounge. I tried my luck at SG lounge and was also knocked back. Definitely not happy that check in staff doesnt know the lounge policy, I went to the Amex lounge with my dad was waited 2 hours there whilst having some food at the lounge. It is a small lounge and the food wasn't great, but will suffice.

Boarding was very good with only 6 people in the priority queue and I gave my dad the 3B seat for legroom and I got the 4A window seat

The customary AFF leg shot



Some nice picture from the window as we arrived into Auckland





The plane landed 15 minutes ahead of schedule and we got out at around 4:00pm. Pick up our rental car from Thrift and got a shock as I got to the car park.



I booked a entry level auto car and instead got a Ssangyong XLV. it is alright but my main complaint is that the turning signal is on the left so took me 30 minutes to adjust to it (and while adjusting, windows swipe went up a few times while I was turning without a signal light).

Stay tuning for arriving into Langham Auckland

 

[Haplo]

I got lost on my way to the Langham Auckland because according to google map there is a Langham Auckland and The Langham Auckland within 200 meters of each other, and GPS led me to the wrong Langham. After driving around Auckland CBD for 20 minutes with phone running below 5% battery I finally found the right Langham and left the car key for valet parking.

I picked the Langham because of Amex fine hotel and resort which gave me free breakfast and 100 USD property credit (which I used for valet parking and a nice dinner in the restaurant, more to come)

Screenshot from Lobby



We were upgraded from a low floor room to high floor room (as per FHR benefit) and the room is nice but not great. I still think Asian 5 star properties are the best for both value, service and quality.





We had dinner at the Palm Court downstairs and for 100 NZD we had an entree of sushi and sashimi, main of fish and chip and mega veal schnitzel and a local beer. We were full after finishing all of the food only to find we had chocolate placed on our bed as part of the turndown service. The service is excellent even through the restaurant is quite full. Would definitely recommend people to try the veal schnitzel if they are staying at the Langham.

For the room night rate of 199 NZD it is about as good as you can get.

More to come tomorrow.

 

[Haplo]

Can someone tell me how to rotate the picture?

 

[Haplo]

Day 2 (20/02/2017)

Auckland -> Drive -> Taupo

Breakfast at Langham was excellent with nice spread and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Checkout had some problem as the hotel forgot to apply the FHR property credit but after a few minutes it was sorted.

The drive to Taupo is amazing. We had clear sky for the entire day and there are some excellent mountain and valley view on the way.

Arrived at Hilton Taupo at 2:30pm and we were upgraded from a basic room to a junior suite (3 level upgrade) over looking the valley. The hotel then try to upsell me an one bedroom suite (5 level upgrade) over looking the lake which I declined. Nevertheless, the junior suite is very spacious. I also got 2 full free breakfast and two drinks voucher as HH Diamond benefit, along with 2 bottles of water and mini chocolate bar as part of the Diamond turndown service.

Arriving into Lake Taupo





Hilton Lake Taupo - Room





View from the Balcony





Turndown service was quote disappointing - I was just given two bottles of water and the chocolate bar at the door and the house keeper left after handing across the item.

 

[Haplo]

One of the places I visited was Huka falls. It is an amazing place where waters go wild due to the bottleneck during the flow, causing massive foam and splashing. I got there quite late so it was quite good as there was not a lot of people.





We also went for a walk alongside Taupo lake. It is the biggest inland lake in NZ and I was amazed by the view.





We were tired by dinner time so we just got some take away from Taupo town center and ate at the balcony instead of a proper sit down meal.

 

[kermatu]

Enjoying this TR so far.

I've driven around South Island a fair bit but never the North, so this is useful info.

 

[Major]

Lake Taupo is good for trout fishing...if your're into that sort of thing

 

[amaroo]

One of the places I visited was Huka falls. It is an amazing place where waters go wild due to the bottleneck during the flow, causing massive foam and splashing. I got there quite late so it was quite good as there was not a lot of people.

View attachment 91715

View attachment 91716

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Great place - particularly the lodge that goes by the same name

The view as the chopper was lining up the final approach.

 

[Haplo]

Day 3 (21/02/2017)

Taupo -> Whakapapa -> Taupo

Started the day with a full breakfast at Hilton. Most of the review on tripadvisor said the breakfast is really bad but I thought it was okay. After we had breakfast we drove all the way to Whakapapa ski resort. It is summer so there is obviously no snow but nevertheless the view is magnificent. The weather was on my side as I was told it was raining all week last week and it only turn sunny on Sunday. The drive there is about 90 minutes so the visit pretty much took most of the morning and parts of the afternoon. Some photo I took in high res but due to the 2mb file limit I couldn't upload it here.

Approaching Whakapapa resort



View from the top of the mountain at the ski resort cafe (top of lift N)




In the afternoon we went for the river cruise departing at Taupo. Apparently the Maori wall carving is only viewable from the waterside. I think the price of $46 per person is quite steep for about 5 minutes viewing of the rock. The view of the lake from the cruise is okay but nothing too flashy, maybe it is because I have been looking at the lake for the last 2 days and got quite used to it

Taupo Lake skyline from the cruise



Maori rock carving (Mine bay)



For dinner we had pizza at one of the cafe by the lake side. For some reason I don't know every cafe advertises pizza as one of their selling points (e.g. one cafe had a sign outside which claim it has "The Largest Pizza in Taupo"). The seafood pizza is very fresh and the meat pizza is also tasty.

Tomorrow I bid farewell to Taupo and onwards onto Rotorua

 

[Bindibuys]

Following with interest, taking the family (6A) to North Island next January.

 

[drron]

Welcome to the AFF's TR writer's circle.OK I just made that bit up.But there is no such thing as stuffing up a TR.It is your trip and experiences that matter and we can all learn from it.
A good TR with some very good pics.

 

[love_the_life]

It's been quite a few years since we were in that area (doing a North Island drive around), but I do remember staying a couple of nights at Taupo. Hotel was a lovely location on the lake though the rooms were quite small. Had to do a bit of a Google but think it has become the Millennium now. It did have a good restaurant where I had venison for the first time Enjoying seeing the photos and descriptions which bring back memories. Your weather looks similar to what we had and from memory we were there about the same time of year (the old brain cells aren't what they used to be, not even sure what year it was when we went).

 

[Haplo]

Day 4 (22/02/2017)

Taupo -> Drive -> Rotorua

Started off the day with breakfast at Bistro Lago. I managed to have a sneak peek of the breakfast list and of the 80 or so guest who booked / entitled to breakfast in the hotel, around 40 of them is normal guest (i.e. non tier or OTA), about 36 of them is gold (the entire row is highlighted in gold) and 4 of them is diamond (the entire row is highlighted in blue). We were seated very close to the counter and I overheard when gold member came in the hotel offered them continental breakfast or an upcharge for full breakfast. I guess I was lucky to avoid the upcharge when I match HH Diamond last year with the Accor Platinum that came with my Amex charge card.

A word of warning is that we saw a few groups that were part of the tours came out of the restaurant as we went in so I made a mental note to avoid going there before 7:30am if I come back next time. Check out was efficient and the hotel asked me a few questions about the stay as part of the elite member feedback. I was then given two bottles of water as a departing gift (tap water in NZ is drinkable but it was a good gesture) and left the hotel at 9am.

The drive to Rotorua was uneventually, other than we were stuck behind a logging truck driving at 40k on the Freeway for a good 15 minutes. When the logging truck finally turned into a side road there was a queue of about 20 car/trucks in total before we accelerated to freeway speed.

We arrived at Buried Village of Te Wairoa just before noon. I choose this place because it is not over commercialised and I was not disappointed. The story of the site is that it was the first hotel opened in NZ in the early 1800s before a volcanic eruption in 1886 buried the entire area with two meter of ashes. It then took the better part of 100 years to dig out and reclaim the site.

Te Wairoa waterfall (bottom of the waterfall)



View of Lake Tarawera



Apologies as a few photos are over 2mb and I can't upload it.

Afterwards we went to Novotel Rotorua and we arrived at around 12:30pm. Luckily the room was ready and we were given a complimentary bottle of white wine as part of the platinum benefit. There is a saying that Novotel is the McDonald of hotels (i.e. you know what you will get, no more and no less) and we got more of less of what we expected from Novotel.

Bentley in front of Novotel



In the afternoon we went for a walk along the shoreline of Lake Rotorua and took a few nice pictures (but I made the mistake of taking in high resolution). Later in the afternoon, we went to Rotorua Museum only to find out it is permanently closed. I wish google map actually update that information.

Nevertheless, I went for a walk within Rotorua city centre by myself and only a few random pictures, of which one of them is below.

A lady taxi driver looking bored.



In my drive around Rotorua I found a total of three traffic lights (I only found one in Taupo) so it was a change coming from Sydney.

For dinner we had the seafood at Novotel and it was reasonably price at $49 per person and after my 50% A+ discount it turns out to be very good value. It was perhaps one of the best seafood buffet I ever enjoyed, with the majority of dishes very fresh and feels as if it was bought up straight from the lake.

We went for another walk along Taupo lakeside and the dusk view is even more amazing than afternoon view.



Tomorrow will be a full day in Rotorua.

 

[Haplo]

Day 5 (23/07/2017)

Rotorua

We decide to spend a full day in Rotorua today.

Started the day with a breakfast in Novotel. Quality is not as good as Hilton Taupo or Langham Auckland but is good for a 4 star hotel. My only disappointment is the lack of egg benedict as a breakfast option, however is it priced cheaper than Hilton and Langham at only 30 NZD per head.

The morning part of the day we went to agrodome. I thought it is not a touristy place but I was so wrong. There was about 10 buses parked in front of the farm and about 200 people wondering around the farm. I was about to go to another place but then I decided to go it a go since we are already there. I took the farm tour option because the farm show involves shearing a sheep and I have seen it already in Brisbane Koala Sanctuary. We were surprised to find there was only 6 of us in the so called "Freedom traveler" carriage (also known as "not part of a tour group" carriage). The other cars had at least 50+ people in each of them. Now it is picture time and today I have a lot of pictures.

Picture of the tracker and the carriage



First stop - close up with the cows. We were told we can't get off because the cows could hurt you, fair enough

 

[Haplo]

Second stop - white sheep. We were told we are allowed to get off the carriage and walk around with the sheep. The farm provide a brush at the end of the tour to wash your shoes as there is a good chance you will step on sheep poo.









Last picture of me patting the sheep.

 

[Haplo]

Third stop - large sheep and black sheep. If you are into nursery rhymes then you know what I mean when I say "bah bah black sheep have you any wool".









Fourth stop - we were taken to where they grow kiwi fruit but I didnt manage to take any good pictures because we didn't stop at the vineyard. We did managed to taste some kiwi fruit juice and local honey. I was about to buy a bottle of the kiwi fruit juice however the tour guide said to me they are sold in Australia supermarket so don't waste your energy carrying it back. I guess I never noticed it when I do my weekly shopping at Woolies.

 

[Haplo]

It was a very enjoyable farm tour overall. With only 6 of us the guide was able to answer all of our questions individually and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

We had over an hour until the Mitai village tour so we drove back to the hotel for a quick rest before going to there.

Again we were lucky, the day time tour only had 7 people and the reason why I picked Mitai is because it is not as commercialised at the other site (e.g. Te Puia)

We were introduced to our guide and was given a welcome prayer, then we walked through the village (uninhabited) and took some photos there.

Traditional Maori pantry



House of the chieftain



House of the high priest



War canoe parked just outside of the sacred spring



We were also shown the sacred spring of the Mitai people and apparently it is one of the sources of the lake Taupo, so the Mitai people was advised against bottling the water as it would destroy the ecosystem downstream. We had a taste of the spring water afterwards and it was extremely refreshing.

 

[Haplo]

I missed the Novotel room yesteday so here is two pictures of the room. I must say I was shocked by the quality of the bathroom.

 

[Haplo]

After we came back from Mitai we had a short break and then we went to Ohinemutu, which is just two street of Novotel. It is a modern Maori village blended into the colonised world. There was no real guide as it is just a residential area so I took pictures without really knowing what they really are.

 

[Haplo]

We had a rest at the hotel and decided to eat at the buffet again as we found we enjoyed it so much yesterday we will give it another try. This time pictures attached.

Decoration outside of the restaurant



Buffet table







After dinner we had another walk along lakeside and decided to call it a day.

Tomorrow we head off to Auckland airport to say good bye to NZ.