In this post I'm going to talk about the Auckland City, The Hobbiton and Coromandel Cove. I will cover the rest in Part 2!

We decided to spend around 1 week in each part of New Zealand. Honestly, I think this 2 weeks journey is just not enough to fully enjoy New Zealand. We landed in Auckland and I can say we spent a total of 3 nights in Auckland. Auckland is a big and busy city, like Kuala Lumpur itself. There is traffic everywhere. We stayed in 3 hostel/hotel in Auckland - Jucy Hostel, Ibis Airport and Haka Lodge - all received good reviews from myself.

The main place to go in Auckland is the famous Queen Street which is a typical business district. They do have some cute cafes for cafe hopping and you can try to enjoy the wharf and the Auckland Tower. We did ventured out a bit to the best look out point in the city which is Mount Eden. There is a parking space near the summit where you can park your car and walk to the top. 

This is the highest point in Auckland and you can have the best sunset here overlooking the Auckland city. One place we did managed to visit is the famous Giappo Ice Cream Parlour. The price is hefty but it provides an unforgettable ice cream experience you will ever have. Their concept is that you will choose the ice cream based on taste rather than the visual effect we are used to every time we visit Baskin Robbins. Do take note that Hokey Pokey is not halal since it has gelatine in it. The ice cream is presented gourmet style, so pleasing to your eyes and you bet, it tasted amazing as well!

The next destination I am going to talk about is The Hobbiton. The place that shot to fame because of it being the filming location for both The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit series. The filming location is located in a small town called Matamata which is not far from Hamilton. The drive to Matamata took 3 hours from Auckland.

We booked our slot prior to driving, but you can just walk in to the Shire's Rest cafe to purchase the tickets on that same day. We opt to drive to The Hobbiton, which is an extra by 10 minutes from the Matamata i-Site. If you are the books' or movies' fans, by all means, please come here. The set in Hobitton will make you lose yourself wandering in the Tolkien world. I looks so realistic and the rolling hills are just beautiful.

You will be on a guided tour and there is not much time for photography. Everything is a touch-n-go so you would have to be quick to get that killer instafamous shot that will make your friends back home die of jealousy. They do offer free drinks at The Green dragon Inn which is of course a pub in the movies. They offered a non-alcoholic beverage too in the options.

New Zealand is mainly famous for it's beauty and because of that a lot of movies had New Zealand in their filming locations. The next one is both and Instagram famous spot and a filming location. It is the Cathedral Cove in Coromandel. It was way further south from Auckland and took around 3-4 hours drive. The drive was full with S bents and curves. 

This location is used in the Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, where the 4 characters arrived in Narnia from the London train station. To get to the cove, you will need to walk/trek for about 45 minutes. This is not a flat walk since there are inclination and stairs involved. It is doable for my standards - both of us walk in our normal clothes, for sure you can do it.

Parking space is very limited at the top and the beach will get crowded in the afternoon. Nevertheless, that fantastic walk-through cave was as I imagined and the waters are so blue. Sometimes, to get a good photo, you have to go through hell first. It was worthwhile. We then went to the next location famous to an unconventional beach.

The reason I said unconventional is because the beach is situated on an active seismic activity plate. Which in turns, make the sand hot. It is like you will have a personal hot tub by the beach. It is call the Hot Water Beach on Mercury Bay. If you are interested in having your own jacuzzi, please bring your own shovel to dig up the sand to let the heated water comes to the surface.

On our way to Napier and Rotorua, we did passed through plenty of small towns that offers great FnC. I think the North Island is the best place to have fish and chips because the fish are fresh and the price is really good with the portion that we had. Till next time folks for Part 2!