New Zealand | Part 1

new zealand new zealand,

where should i start?!

in one word

AWESOME !

we just completed our first (non-child) holiday in 7 years.

it was amazing,

i'm really not sure why we have waited this long.

we went to new zealand for 8 days and explored some of the north island.

it is one of my absolute favourite places to visit in the whole world.

i always come back super energised and at peace with myself.

we left our boys behind on the 16th october and lived up every moment.

i even got to have an real nap on the flight

- it was bliss from there.

we arrived at auckland at 2:45pm and headed straight at Taupo from there.

it was a 3 hour drive but a beautiful 3 hour drive seeing the real raw new zealand country side.

we were lucky enough to pull up and watch the sunset over lake taupo as we pulled into our "cute romantic country cabin feeling" motel.

we had a beautiful (non-interuppted by children nagging they want to go home) dinner and got to eat proper adult food.

we woke up and went for a walk along Lake Taupo,

where we almost literally froze our be-hinds off.

the wind coming off that lake was ridiculous.

we could see a beautiful snowcapped mountain in the distance

and the lovely husband that i had knew i had to go to some exploring of it and he drove an hour and a half more south so we could go and hike it.

our car was super super SUPER old school,

so we came to this bumpy road that was going to lead us to the beginning of the track and we honestly didn't think the car would make it there in one piece,

there was a couple of times we wanted to turn back but we kept on going

and i'm so glad we did,

the view was beautiful.

after doing a short hike we headed back into Taupo to see Huka Falls.

these are some powerful rapids.

you could feel the cement bridge we were standing on move as the water raced down to the waterfall.

the colour was the mose beautiful aqua you have ever seen.

my camera couldn't capture how beautiful and vibrant it was.

we then headed on to our next stop Rotorua.

we did this with a little mid-stop at Kerosene Creek.

this was on my bucket list to do ever since we booked our tickets.

it is a natural hot spring in the middle of a national park.

once again we came to a road with big rocks all the way

and we thought there is no way the car will make it,

but we persisted and i'm so glad we did.

it was beautiful,

to be in the middle of nature in a natural hot spring was an experience i'll never forget.

the water temperature was perfect i could have dived right in

(and i don't go into the beach until it's like 45 degrees.)

this also made our skin and swimmers stink like Rotorua.

(anyone who's been there totally gets what i'm talking about)

we headed to our hotel in Rotorua.

if you are ever in Rotorua stay at the Arista Capri.

hands down the BEST service i have ever had.

jevan was knackered by the time we arrived,

so we had a shower and tried to rid our skin of the stench and then headed to dinner.

i had indian for the first time and it was DELISH.

we then came home and crashed out like we had been up all night with a newborn.