Dinner on our first night was at Boulcott Street Bistro (99 Boulcott St, Wellington, 6011), a cozy bistro serving European cuisine with a New Zealand touch. They don't take dinner bookings, but even on a Saturday night we didn't have to wait very long for our table. Cocktails, delicious food, rich desserts - I was definitely back in my natural habitat.

Chargrilled pork cutlet, mustard seed belly bonbon, confit leek, perla potatoes, charcutière sauce - $37NZD

Front: Whittaker's Dark Ghana Tart, tea poached prunes, Frangelico cream, crispy hazelnut wafer - $18NZD

Coffee and Chocolates

Boulcott Street Bistro was a great find, and I think it would be the perfect choice for a special occasion - I'd definitely recommend it!

Our accommodation throughout our trip was all great, (with big thanks to Sandra for doing all the research and booking the accommodation!), but I especially loved our Wellington AirB&B! It was a three-story house in the suburb of Karaka Bays, which I believe is quite a posh area. (According to the owner: "Peter Jackson lives just down the road"). The house itself was fantastic - super comfortable, loads of space, beautiful balconies, table tennis table, but the views were just incredible! With apologies for the obscure reference, it really reminded me of the house where Sutton Foster wakes up in the pilot episode of Bunheads.

View from the AirB&B

View from the AirB&B

View from the AirB&B

Near the AirB&B

We spent our first morning on Cuba Street. I hadn't done much Wellington research apart from a quick poll on Facebook for restaurant and cafe ideas, but I vaguely recall Cuba Street being mentioned on the lovely Laura's blog, so I figured it must be worth a visit.

Fidel's on Cuba Street

We had breakfast at Fidel's, a cafe that kept coming up when I asked my friends for Wellington recommendations. To me, it felt like those grungy cafes in Fitzroy and Collingwood I used to frequent as a uni student. Service was a little slow but the food and coffee were all very good.

Fidel's

Flat White

Fidel's Feast - free-range bacon, poached eggs, Island Bay sausage, garlic mushrooms, slow roasted tomatoes, hash brown, ciabatta and hollandaise - $22NZD

Fidel's Waffles - Two crisp waffles served with maple syrup, fried chicken and toasted almonds - $18NZD

Following breakfast, we spent a few hours exploring Cuba street, which was full of quirky shops, cafes, and lots of cool street art. I think my favourite was this guy:

Cuba Street

The Great Egg Heist Fail of 1924

From Cuba street, we wandered down to Wellington Harbour, as we'd bought my father-in-law a helicopter ride as a birthday present, which took off from the harbour. I couldn't believe how gorgeous and clean the water was here - we legit saw a stingray in the water! Squeeee.

Wellington Harbour

Later that afternoon we stopped in at the WETA Cave (1 Weka Street, Miramar, Wellington 6022). The Weta Cave is the hub for the Weta Studio Tours, and is essentially a gift-shop-slash-museum. They have lots of cool displays for their different films (Weta did more than just Lord of the Rings!), and you're allowed to take photos.

Gollum!

District 9

We decided to skip doing a proper tour of the Weta studios - the tours were quite long and only provided in English, so the German in-laws wouldn't have gotten much out of this at all. According to reviews I read online, the tours are good but can be quite detailed, so perhaps more suited to a very enthusiastic film buff. For us casual film fans, the Weta Cave had heaps to keep us entertained.

That night we had a quiet night in, ordering pizza on UberEats and playing ping pong at the AirB&B. I would just like to add, however, that New Zealand has some damn fine chip flavours.

Ripple Cut Chips

For breakfast on our second (and final) morning in Wellington, we took a short drive down the road to Scorch-o-Rama (497 Karaka Bay Rd, Karaka Bays, Wellington 6022). This cafe came highly recommended by our AirB&B owner and it didn't disappoint.

Scorch-O-Rama

Scorch-O-Rama

Scorch-o-Rama

SCORCH-O-RAMA LAMA DING DONG - Bacon, kransky, hash browns, portobello mushrooms in herb oil, and eggs poached, scrambled or fried. - $22.50NZD

After breakfast we drove up to Victoria Lookout for some fab views over the city. (You'll also notice that the weather had vastly improved after our cold and rainy days in Rotorua and Taupo!)

Mount Victoria Lookout

And finally, we spent some time walking through the lovely Wellington Botanic Gardens, before finally driving to the airport and heading home.

Wellington Botanic Gardens

Waimangu Volcanic Valley

So! From Rotorua, we drove to Taupo. Our first stop on the way was the beautiful Waimangu Volcanic Valley geothermal park, a protected scenic reserve on Lake Rotomahana, with many interesting geothermal features like steaming volcanic crater lakes. There are a few different options for exploring this area; we chose a two hour self-guided walking tour of "Waimangu Highlights". The walk itself isn't too challenging, but you do need a reasonable level of fitness, good mobility and proper closed-toed walking shoes with treaded soles. The more difficult Mount Haszard Hiking Trail was closed on our visit due to inclement weather. And speaking of weather - it wasn't just inclement, it was totally crap! (Scheißwetter!, as we exclaimed numerous times throughout the walk). It was freezing cold, windy and rainy. But, this was our only opportunity to visit the Valley and some of us (not me) were super excited about seeing it, so we all donned our rain ponchos that we bought at the gift shop (best $5 I've ever spent) and powered on through.

It wasn't the most glorious day, and we were soaked to the bone by the end, but I'm glad we still did the walk - it was beautiful and we saw lots of cool stuff. Here are some photos. (Lots). We joked that we'd taken the in-laws to see Hobbiton, now it was time for Jurassic Park!

Waimangu Volcanic Valley

Waimangu Volcanic Valley

Waimangu Volcanic Valley

Waimangu Volcanic Valley

Waimangu Volcanic Valley

Inferno Crater Lake

Waimangu Volcanic Valley

Waimangu Volcanic Valley

After the Waimangu Volcanic Valley, the plan was to visit Wai-o-Tapu, a thermal wonderland with a geyser, mud pool, and geothermic park. Unfortunately, however, due to the heavy rains and strong winds, they had to close it for safety reasons. This was disappointing as we were really looking forward to it! But, safety first. I guess it's just another reason to come back to New Zealand!

It's a pretty remote spot, and there weren't many options for food, but some of us were cold and hungry and grumpy (yup, that was me), so we went for lunch at the nearby Waiotapu Tavern (2476 State Highway 5, Waiotapu R D 3 3073). This is a low-cost accommodation and pub which, I gotta say, was pretty dated and had some serious Bates Motel vibes going on. I wasn't expecting much from the food, but I was pleasantly surprised - it was exactly what I needed. My lasagne, chips and salad (with grated cheese!) was warming and delicious and I practically inhaled it. The family's other choices of pork chops and cordon bleu chicken schnitzels weren't quite as good - they'd clearly come straight out of the freezer - but they were tasty enough and did the trick.

Waiotapu Tavern

After lunch, we drove into Taupo, where we checked into our accommodation and could finally (finally!) change into some nice dry clothes. Yay! Once we'd settled in, getting warm was our next priority, so we hightailed it to Wairakei Terraces, a health spa with natural hot thermal pools. It was so wonderfully relaxing (what a contrast to the start of the day!), and the waters are apparently full of good-for-you minerals. Our skin felt so lovely and soft afterwards!

Wairakei Terraces

We were quite tired after the adventures of the day, so got some takeaway and had it at the accommodation. Online research led us to Master of India (47 Ruapehu St, Taupo 3330), a super popular restaurant in town. It was chock-a-block full, with a steady stream of takeaway orders going through while we were waiting for ours. I can see why it's so popular - the food was great!

Master of India takeaways

The next morning was a huge day of driving, from Taupo to Wellington. It's 372 kilometers, or almost a five hour drive! Phew! We started early and took lots of little breaks along the way.

We fuelled up with a hearty breakfast at a great little cafe in town: Piccolo Cafe (41 Ruapehu St, Taupo 3330). They do coffees, cooked breakfasts and lunches, and have a great range of cakes and pastries, which look to be made in house. I finally tried the Kiwi specialities of mince on toast (spoiler alert: delicious), and an Afghan biscuit (a chocolate cornflake biscuit with chocolate icing and a walnut).

Mince on toast with one poached egg - $18NZD

Clockwise: Cake cabinet; French toast served with bacon, banana, maple syrup & berries - $21NZD; Bacon & eggs - $15NZD; Afghan biscuit & mixed berry flan

From there it was just a big day of driving driving driving, all the way south to Wellington! I thought it might be a bit boring for the in-laws, but apparently the drive was a highlight of the trip for my father-in-law! He loved looking at all the changing scenery, and said it was like the New Zealand that he'd seen in movies and on TV, that he'd travelled all this way to see.

Wharewaka

Taihape-Winiata

Mangaweka

Mangaweka

Paraparaumu Beach

And then we finally got to Wellington! Hooray! Our AirB&B was incredible and I can't wait to tell you all about it... but that's going to have to wait for next time!

Hell's Gate, Rotorua

Today's post is all about Rotorua (and a little bit of Auckland).

So! We flew into Auckland, and spent one night there before embarking on our road trip. We didn't get to see much of Auckland (next time!) and to compound matters, we didn't realise until we got there that our one night in Auckland was also a public holiday in NZ (the day after new year's day), and all the restaurants in our area were closed. So, we took it easy, getting a simple Uber Eats dinner delivered to our AirB&B, and started off nice and early the next morning.

We had breakfast at a cute little cafe in Victoria Park Market, Standing Room Espresso (210 Victoria Street West, Auckland 1010).

Standing Room Espresso

And then we hit the road in our trusty little Toyota Corolla! Here's Waikato - it was a pretty spot for a rest on our way to Rotorua.

Waikato

So, Rotorua! Rotorua is a popular tourist destination, known as a geothermal wonderland, with beautiful scenery and heaps of natural attractions. Thanks to all that thermal activity, it's also known for having quite a strong smell, like rotten eggs, from the hydrogen sulphide emissions. I didn't find it particularly strong, but you could definitely notice it in town.

We were there for two nights, and stayed at this amazing AirB&B house in the middle of a cow paddock. It was beautiful! (It happened to be raining pretty much the whole time we were in Rotorua - I ran out to snap these photos during a rare sunny patch!)

Rotorua AirB&B

View from the AirB&B

Cow paddock!

Moooo

Our first stop was Hamurana Springs, a beautiful nature reserve. It's an easy walk around the reserve, with crystal clear streams and freshwater springs, and a redwood grove.

Hamurana Springs

Redwoods

This is Te Puna-a-Hungurua, the largest spring in the North Island. It's 15 metres deep, is a constant 10°C, and is estimated to produce about 4.5 million litres of water per hour. (Source). Wow!

Te Puna-a-Hungurua

We also visited Okere Falls. There are nice walking tracks so you can view the falls and waterways here. It's also a popular spot for white water rafting and kayaking if you're into that. I'm not, but we really enjoyed the walk and the views.

Okere Falls

Okere Falls

And you know what we were really excited about? HOBBITON! Yes, the iconic movie set! It was so pretty and perfect in real life, I couldn't believe it! According to our tour guide, after the first Lord of the Rings trilogy they dismantled the set and the area went back to being a normal farm, but heaps of tourists and fans kept coming to visit! So after rebuilding The Shire for The Hobbit trilogy, they decided to keep the set there and it's now a huge tourist destination and (I believe) big moneymaker and source of employment for the surrounding towns.

Just a heads up: you can only go in tours (i.e. you can't just walk through by yourself), and you need to book your tickets in advance. It's extremely popular, with loads of tourists going through every day, but they do a good job of spacing out the groups and letting you take all your photos and ask questions. We got a bus transfer from Rotorua and did the most basic tour, which was a walk through the set and a beer in the Green Dragon (but no pipe-weed, unfortunately). However, if you're a mega fan there are other, longer and more detailed tours you can do too - evening banquets, private tours and the like.

It was so beautiful and I just loved the attention to detail. Definitely worth a visit! Most people I've spoken to who've visited Hobbiton have said they enjoyed it too - in fact the only person I ever heard say they didn't like Hobbiton was someone who HADN'T SEEN THE FILMS.

Hobbiton - just look at those tiny Hobbit clothes on the line!

Hobbit Hole

View of Hobbiton

Fake tree - each individual leaf was attached by hand

Squeeeee!

Look at that detail!

House

Whilst New Zealand had always been on my father-in-law's bucket list, Hobbiton was definitely the highlight of the trip for him. Germans are typically very punctual and organised (and my family is no exception), but the evening before our visit to Hobbiton, he had set out all our breakfast plates and prepared the coffee pot, and on the morning itself, he was up and dressed and had made all our drinks and toast a full ninety minutes before we had to leave, before I'd even gotten up! So keen!

We were also super lucky with the weather. When we arrived in Rotorua it started raining pretty heavily, and the forecast looked like it was set to continue all week, right through our Hobbiton visit. However, as our bus drove from Rotorua to Hobbiton, the sky kept clearing up and it didn't rain at all while we were there. Hooray!

The rain came back with a vengeance that afternoon, right in time for our visit to the Redwoods Treewalk. These are a series of suspension bridges built through a forest of 116 year old Redwood trees, so you can experience the majestic trees from up high. (These were actually built by a German mechanical engineer, Alex Schmid, once a tourist and now Rotorua resident). This just goes further to proving my theory that Germans LOVE New Zealand. The bridges get up to 12 metres high and offer beautiful views. Sandra's mum is scared of heights, and I'm generally poor at co-ordination and general physical activity, and the bridges got quite slippery in the rain, but we managed!

Redwoods Treewalk

Redwoods Treewalk

Redwoods Treewalk

You can do nighttime walks as well. I'm sure the forest would look gorgeous, all lit up! We decided not to do the nighttime walk, though, as they were expecting a pretty bad storm that night, and we weren't sure if the walk would be open or safe that night. Next time!

Redwoods Treewalk

Hell's Gate wasn't on our original itinerary, but we saw the name on a street sign, Googled it, and just had to visit! It's a geothermal reserve park with sulfur spa and mud baths, and was completely different to anywhere I'd ever visited before! We decided to skip the bathing (there was a whole lotta specific care instructions you had to follow to prevent your bathers from deteriorating, and we just did not have the energy or time to deal with that), and stuck to the Geothermal reserve walk. It was completely otherworldly and legit looked like the set of a dystopic 1970's sci-fi film set in the not-too-distant future. Also, I mentioned that the sulfur smell in town wasn't that strong? Well, it was verrrry strong here.

Hell's Gate

The Māori name of this area is Tikitere, and it was also named "Hell's Gate" by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw who visited in the 1900s. It's considered the most active geothermal field in New Zealand, and has boiling hot pools, erupting waters hotter than 100C, steaming fumaroles, hot water lakes and more (Source). Amazing!

Hell's Gate

As per my "Christmas with the In-Laws" post, this wasn't really a food focused trip, so whilst in Rotorua we mainly self catered or picked something up quickly at a local bakery between sights. However! We did enjoy dinner in town at The Thai Restaurant (1141 Tutanekai St, Rotorua 3010), and lunch at The Pig and Whistle (1182 Tutanekai St, Rotorua 3010). Their steak, ale and mushroom pot pie was delicious, and just perfect comfort food on a cold and rainy day.

The Pig & Whistle

The Thai Restaurant

Next post: Taupo!

Have you been to Rotorua? What's your favourite thing to do there? Any must-visit destinations that I've missed? Hit me up in the comments!