While on my visit north from Rotorua to reach Auckland, it is good to have a stopover at the famous Waitomo Caves to enjoy the magnificent glow worms. For me personally, I don’t really like Waitomo Caves but also near the cave (free shuttle is provided from Waitomo Caves) is the Ruakuri Cave. The latter for me personally is much more worthwhile.
The experience in Waitomo is rather at a fast mode because the cave is rather small so for the amount you pay for the entrance fee you get to see very little ~ the only plus point is taking a small ferry boat while you are in the cave to see even more glow worms.
However, at Ruakuri, it is a rather large cave and you can pretty much see the glow worms up close (way closer than at Waitomo).
Entrance to Ruakuri cave.
My only regret is not having time to try out the Black Water Rafting because from the look of it, it is pretty amazing. So from here I head straight North till I reach Auckland. Here, I stayed at Chiefly Suites Apartment.
Its a nicely well maintained apartment with rather fantastic view from the balcony. All the amenities of an apartment is available here. Superb.
Auckland city is like many other cities in the world but what is unique (in my opinion) is its location to the waterfront. From there you can take small ferries to other nearby islands such as Coromandel and its likes. As I had only 2 days in Auckland, I didn’t have the chance to visit those small islands : (
And if you are like me who is short of time then what you can do is just walk over to the TOWER (you can do bungee at the tower if you fancy such activity) as shown above. From there you can purchase a ticket on a hop on hop off bus which will take you to major sites within Auckland itself. But if you wish to purchase the tickets earlier (like me) then visit the site HERE.
Thus a few places to visit (its along the hop on hop off route) in Auckland will be the Auckland War Memorial museum!
Another great stop will be the ZOO but I gave that a miss because due to a shortage of time I have to visit its Maritime Museum!
Inside a mock ship’s cabin in the museum.
From the museum you can also opt to have a ride in a yacht-like sail boat known as a scow. The one that I had the chance of sailing with is the TED ASHBY Deck Scow.
But if the bustle of Auckland is getting on to you (it did for me) then also under one of the routes of the Hop on Hop off bus is MT EDEN.
From the top of this mountain, you can pretty much enjoy a scenic view and yet enjoy the peace that comes with it.
And after all that journey (in which case there is still so much more left undiscovered) my 2 weeks journey across South and North island of New Zealand came to an end for it was time to return home.
It has been a fantastic holiday and it is definitely one that I plan to repeat again.
