Hi,
My friend and I will be flying into Wellington mid July and looking to travel to Rotorua and then eventually up to Auckland for a flight home. Any suggestions on the trip (i.e bus or hire car), places to stop and see, detours etc. Even suggestions for Rotorua and the trip from there to Auckland would be great if you have experience!
Cheers
I did a 8 day trip solo from Wellington to Auckland (hire car). Made life easier to get around to places at the time I wanted to.
I recommend going west to Taranaki, the hike and views are amazing! and there is this Forgotten World Highway which is a great drive hidden in between Taranaki and Lake Taupo (which is my pick over all the other places in north island).Views are amazing, skydiving, bungy and lot of outdoor stuff to do.
Over to Rotorua which was good to experience the maori villages(its a one time thing), and then off to the west again to Waitomo. Check out the Lost world adventures(I recommend the 8 hour one which is gruelling, but the most challenging thing I have ever done! with the bookings, look for sites which offer discount prices during off season). there is only one hostel here, so I recommend using that. Back to hobbiton, and the rest are upto you from there on to auckland!