The North Island of New Zealand is full of active volcanos and beautiful beaches. Although it’s smaller than the South Island, it is more populated (77% of the country lives up here). This is a 10 day trip starting and ending in Auckland. From there we chose to fly to Christchurch rather than drive down and take the ferry. Here is an awesome 10 day itinerary for the North Island of New Zealand.

Day 1 – 2

AUCKLAND

Auckland is New Zealand’s biggest and busiest city. Driving around here was a bit crazy for us and we wanted to get in and out as fast as possible. Because of it’s hectic vibes, we didn’t spend much time exploring it. The city is surrounded by dormant volcano cones, here are a couple to check out:

• Mt Eden – Easy 2km volcano hike and highest volcano in Auckland. At the top, it provides great views of the Auckland cityscape, and it’s 50m deep crater from the last eruption 15,000 years ago. (Unfortunately due to our campervan rental pick-up taking forever, we didn’t have the time).
• One Tree Hill – Another volcanic peak within the city, and at the top is an obelisk, a memorial to Māori. Underneath is the grave of Sir John Logan Campbell, the founding father of Auckland. We found this park randomly, we were just looking for a nice place to eat lunch, and you can drive to the top of it.

Other stops to consider around Auckland are the Waitakere Ranges, the black sand beaches of Piha or Karekare, and Fairy Falls.

NORTHLAND

Unfortunately all our plans to go north stopped when our van broke down 45min outside of Auckland and we had to be towed back. On top of that, our dive boat tour was cancelled the next day due to high winds. The universe was against us at this point, but I’ll still include things that were supposed to be on our itinerary.

• Waipu or Abbey Caves – glow worm caves in Whangarei (both free!)
• Whangarei Falls
• Matapouri – Mermaid Pools (Go at low tide – 20min walk one way)

That was what we had originally decided we had time for since our entire next day would be spent on a dive boat to dive the famous dive location, The Poor Knights Islands. Because of the currents in the area, this dive spot is one of the only where a mix of temperate and tropical fish can be seen. Diving the Poor Knights (gear included) costs $300. If you choose to go even further north or spend an extra day, here are some more ideas:

• Waipoua Forest – Kauri Trees (largest and oldest in the world), and the Four Sisters
• Bay of Islands – Cape Brett Walk
• Mahinepua Peninsula Track – start at Mahinepua Beach/Bay
• Cape Reigna – The most north western point of the North Island, and the meeting point for two seas: The Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean

There are plenty of free campgrounds around here to choose from, use the FREE Campermate app to find them!

Day 3

COROMANDEL

Karangahake Gorge

1hr 45min from Auckland

Gold mining used to occur here, and you can see all the relics left behind and wander through pitch black tunnels. There are lots of trails around here of various lengths and difficulty levels. We did the easy Windows Walk Loop which takes about 1hr (2.5km). While you walk along the cliffs and through the tunnels, there are “windows” with views of the Waitawheta River below.

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Owharoa Falls

1min from Karangahake Gorge

When you see a sign for Owharoa Falls, turn right into Waitawheta Rd, and cross the river over a one-lane bridge. The carpark is on the right hand side just after the bridge. Walk a little up the hill to the trail, which is a short 5min walk down to the beautiful falls.

Hot Water Beach

1hr 30min from Owharoa Falls

Natural hot springs can be found just under the sand, you can dig yourself your own mini hot tub.To be able to access the hot springs, go at least 2 hours on either side of low tide!  We went in the pouring rain on a cold day and lying in the hot water by the ocean was amazing.

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Other things to do in this area of the Coromandel include a 45min walk to New Chums Beach (also have to go at low tide) or the Kauaeranga Kauri Trail to the summit of The Pinnacles! This is a long day hike that can also be split into two days, with one night spent at the hut along the way.

Camping: Because we wanted to go to Cathedral Cove early in the morning before all the crowds hit, our choices in cheap campsites nearby were non-existent. We decided on Hot Water Beach Top 10 Holiday Park ($26 per person for unpowered site), which has a short 15min trail that leads you straight to Hot Water Beach! This way you can avoid paying at the beach car park. You can also rent a small shovel ($5) at the office to dig your own pool at Hot Water Beach. (We’re hella cheap though and decided we’d dig it with our hands, and someone just offered us their shovel).

Review: Although pricey, it is a very nice campground. It was quiet and had large sites with a bit of privacy in between each one. There’s also free wifi, a large equipped kitchen, drinking water, and hot showers (we had zero wait time for them, but we were there on a weekday – Feb 2018). 

Day 4

COROMANDEL

Cathedral Cove

10min from Hot Water Beach

You can NO longer park in the Cathedral Cove Car Park. Due to a high volume of tourists and congestion in the streets, you HAVE to park in Hahei Visitor Carkpark on Pa Rd. It’s free, and starting at 10am during the high season, there is a shuttle ($5 return) that takes you to the start of the trail. OR you can do what we did and leave earlier in the morning before the crowds hit, and walk to the start of the trail yourself. It doesn’t take long at all to walk through town to the beach, and from there there is a trail that takes you to the “official” start of the trail. From the car park it took us 1hr 15min to walk to Cathedral Cove along a paved pathway. Cathedral Cove is a beautiful beach with it’s famous cave. They also filmed a Narnia scene here!

10min from the car park you will come across a side trail down to Gemstone Bay where there is a snorkel trail. Cosmo tried it out but the visibility wasn’t very good as it wasn’t a very calm day. The next bay you can go down and check out (before Cathedral Cove) is Stingray Bay and 20min from the cark park.

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After Cathedral Cove, we checked out the short trail to Lonely Bay, which is 15min away from the town of Hahei. It’s near Cook’s Beach, where Captain James Cook anchored in 1769 and named the place. Lonely Bay was almost empty AND COVERED IN SO MANY PRETTY SHELLS THAT I WANTED TO TAKE HOME.

1hr 10min from Cathedral Cove:

Camping: Wentworth Valley Campground ($ 13 pp – DOC campsite pass accepted)

Review: Nice, quiet, and very large campground. Hot water showers for $2, and clean BBQ facilities. The stream crossing was shallow and really easy in our campervan, and it had been raining before we got there. (Feb 2018).

Day 5

Wentworth Valley Falls

In the morning, we decided to take the easy trail that starts from the campground to the huge waterfall (3km, about 1hr). When you reach the viewing platform, there is a short and steep trail down to the bottom of the waterfall where you can go for a cold dip in the pool!

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Mount Maunganui, Waihi, Whangamata (Onemana Beach), Whitianga are other beach towns you can stop and enjoy in the Coromandel. We checked out the surf town of Whangamata briefly for lunch, and continued south to the town of Matamata.

2hrs from Wentworth Valley Campground/Falls:

Camping: Brock’s Place ($8 pp) – check in 4-6pm. Because we were doing an early morning Hobbiton tour, we wanted to camp as close as possible, and this campsite is only 5min away!

Review: Great quiet, little campground. Bathrooms are very clean with flushable toilets and hot water showers for $2. No kitchen facilities but there is a large picnic bench, sinks to wash dishes, and drinking water. Beauitful views over the hills and a great spot to watch the sunrise/sunset! Host was very nice and welcoming. (Feb 2018).

Day 6

Hobbiton

BEST DAY OF MY LIFE. HANDS DOWN. WELL WORTH THE $80. WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS MY JOY. You get a two hour tour through the real set from Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. The detail for each hobbit hole is simply incredible. The tour guides are great and provide fun facts about the filming process for the movies.

30min from Hobbiton on the way to Rotorua:

Te Waihou Walkway – Blue Springs. There are more blue springs in Rotorua but you now have to pay for those, and this one is free! (Unfortunately we got a flat tire in the Hobbiton parking lot on a Sunday and the campervan rental company had the wrong size tire underneath. The tire change turned into a half day fiasco and some things once again had to be cut from our itinerary, including this).

ROTORUA

40min from Te Waihou Walkway / 1 hr from Hobbiton

Rotorua smells like rotten eggs, but don’t let that stop you from going here! It’s full of geothermal activity and a fun town to spend a day or two.

First things first, GO SKYLINE LUGING!! This crazy mix between go-karts and tobogganing down a mountain was SO FUN. We ended up going luging in both Rotorua and again in Queenstown. While the views from the top in Queenstown are better, the tracks in Rotorua are way better! There are three to choose from (beginner, intermediate, and advanced), and we had a blast on all 3. TIP: If you go on BookMe there are usually good deals for luging.

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Okere Falls Track (30min one way) – This easy trail along the river provides views of Okere Falls, as well at Tutea Falls, the world’s highest commercially rafted waterfall. At Tutea Falls you can go down Hinemoa’s Steps and view the waterfall and rafters from a closer vantage point.

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Other things to do in Rotorua:

• Kuirau Park (free geothermal activity)
• Whakarewarewa Forest – The Redwoods (Walks from 30min – 3hrs)
• OGO Rotorua – Zorbing ($40-45 for one roll in a zorb compared to the same price for multiple luge rides – we chose luging instead).
• Hamurana Springs Recreation Reserve ($18) – Spring with the clearest water – OR do the FREE one in between Hobbiton and Rotorua: Te Waihou Walkway.

25min from Rotorua:

Camping: Lake Okaro ($8 pp)

Review: ALL toilets plugged and overflowing! 🙁 Shame because it’s a beautiful and quiet location on the lake. Tons of room to park on the grassy areas on either side of the parking lot, BBQ available. There is an honesty box for $8 pp but there were no envelopes, the box looked like it had been broken into a lot, and if you can’t keep your toilets maintained then we don’t see why we should pay. Closest cheap campground to Thermal Wonderland. (Feb 2018). 

Day 7

10min from Lake Okaro Campground / 30min from Rotorua:

Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland

Thermal Wonderland costs $32.50, but we thought it was worth it! We found it really interesting, from the famous Champagne Pool to the beautiful colours of Artist’s Palette and Devil’s Bath. It opens at 8:30am and allow about 3 hours.

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• Lady Gnox Geyser explodes at 10:15am everyday. (In the end we decided to skip it. The quietest time at Thermal Wonderland is in the morning, especially when everyone is watching the geyser. By 11:30am when we were close to finishing the boardwalks were packed with people).
• On our way out, make sure to go check out the Mud Pools! We loved watching the mud bubble and explode from so close up. The Mud Pools are FREE, if you don’t want to pay for Thermal Wonderland you can still go visit them.

TAUPO

30 min from Thermal Wonderland:

Aratiatia Rapids

Filming location for The Hobbit – Release times for the dam are at 12pm, 2pm, and 4pm.

There are a couple different viewpoints to watch the rapids. The first (and where 95% of people watch it from) is the large walkway across the Aratiatia Dam. There’s even a timer at the car park counting down to the next dam release. There’s also a Lookout Walk that starts across the street from the carpark, leading to a couple other viewpoints.

The second we discovered through NZ Frenzy Guidebook (Our bible while in New Zealand – HIGHLY recommend). Drive past the dam down the road to the Aratiatia Power Station and park in the small carpark. Cross the bridge and walk straight to the fence. There’s a path on your right that follows along the fence. When the fence ends, the path will continue and open up to some large rocks right along the Waikato River. You’ll hear the alarms for the dam release from here, it takes about 15min for the rapids to start. Enjoy the show from your front row seats! We had the place to ourself.

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10 min from Aratiatia Rapids:

Huka Falls

Quick tourist spot to see a powerful waterfall and the Waikato River of the BRIGHTEST most brilliant blue. 220,000 litres per second fall from the waterfall, enough to fill one Olympic sized swimming pool in 11 seconds. There are tracks of various lengths around here as well – but I would continue on to some more impressive ones in Tongariro National Park

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TONGARIRO NATIONAL PARK

1hr 20min from Huka Falls:

Tawhai Falls (Gollum’s Pool)

OMG ANOTHER LORD OF THE RINGS FILMING LOCATION, GOD BLESS. It’s a short 15min walk to this waterfall where Faramir and the archers watched Gollum fish.

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As you continue driving into Tongariro National Park, Mt Tongariro will come into sight, and eventually even MT. DOOM FROM LOTR (Mt Ngauruhoe). There are SO many day hikes to do in this park, but these are the ones we chose.

5min from Tawhai Falls:

Taranaki Falls

We ended the day with an easy and great 5.3km loop hike (about 2 hours) to this beautiful waterfall. This walk provides views of both Mt Doom and Mt Ruapehu, the biggest active volcano in the area, and a popular ski mountain in the winter.

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NOTE: If you’re hiking the Tongariro Alpine Crossing tomorrow, make sure to CALL YOUR SHUTTLE SERVICE to confirm your booking. The parking lot at the beginning of the hike has a 4 hour time limit, not enough time to do the whole hike. You have to either be picked up by a shuttle (hotels and bigger campsites have a pick up/drop off service) or if you’re like us and camping in a DOC campground, you have to park at the parking lot at the end of the hike (Ketetahi), and prebook a shuttle to take you to the beginning of the hike (Mangatepopo car park). You MUST CALL TO CONFIRM because sometimes due to weather, shuttles will be cancelled or pushed to later in the day as they don’t want people hiking the crossing (This happened to us and we ended up moving our hike to a day later).

10min from Taranaki Falls:

Camping: Mangahuia Campsite ($13 pp – DOC campsite pass accepted)

Review: Great campsite, each spot has some privacy and it’s the cheapest/closest for doing the Tongariro Crossing. Toilet outhouses are clean, and water is available, but boil before drinking. (Feb 2018).

Day 8

TONGARIRO ALPINE CROSSING

This 19.4km hike has become incredibly popular. It begins at the Mangatepopo car park and starts out flat along a boardwalk. To get to the South Crater, you have to go up the Devil’s Staircase along the base of Mt Ngauruhoe (Mt Doom). Once you cross the flat crater, the trail goes up again and along the edge of the Red Crater of Mt Tongariro. The summit is 1886m, and as we walked along the crater edge we were completely surrounded by fog. As we started hiking back down the volcano, the incredibly beautiful Emerald Lakes and Blue Lake came into view. These thermal lakes are brilliant colours, with steam rising from the ground around them. The trail ends on the other side of Mt Tongariro at the Ketetahi car park.

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RAGLAN

3hrs 30min from Tongariro:

Raglan is full of great surf beaches. We weren’t expecting it, but it ended up being one of our favourite places on the North Island (behind Hobbiton of course)! It still seems a bit hidden from the tourist eye, and is mainly frequented by laidback surfers.

We usually don’t eat out but we were so tired from the Tongariro Crossing we didn’t feel like cooking and found this AMAZING and CHEAP little place to eat – Jo’s Takeways. We loved it so much, we went back for lunch the next day. There’s picnic benches to eat at, and a place to swim just across the little stand, or jump off the bridge like the local kids do! As Raglan is on the west coast, there are also amazing sunsets!

Camping: Te Kopua Whanau Camp ($10 pp)

Review: Huge field, not a bad campsite for $10. Most toilets and showers don’t have locks in Ladies Room but didn’t feel unsafe. The coin machine for $1 for 3min of hot water worked for me. Sinks available for washing dishes and drinking water. (Feb 2018).

Day 9

RAGLAN

Go for a surf!! The waves out here are great and there are beaches for both beginner and experienced surfers! In the summer, Raglan Surfing School has wetsuit and board rentals RIGHT on Ngarunui Beach! We also decided to go horseback riding on the beach, and let the horses walk through the waves with Surf and Turf Horseback Riding ($85 for 1.5hrs). Or, consider driving 30min to the nearby impressive Bridal Veil Falls (20min walk).

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1hr 15min from Raglan:

Camping: Te Kauwhata Domain (FREE) Campground is halfway between Raglan and Auckland. We decided to drive halfway so we had a bit more time in Auckland and didn’t have to rush before our flight to Christchurch the next day.

Review: Great free campsite! Toilets are clean (and flushable) and there is a sink outside for dishes. Very quiet and lots of space in this big car park. (Feb 2018).

Day 10

50min from Campground to Auckland

Whatever you didn’t have time for in Auckland on your first day, you can do today! We returned our campervan rental and hopped on our flight to Christchurch in the afternoon.

You have two options to get to the South Island: fly or take the ferry. We decided to fly to save some time, and the price was actually a bit cheaper. Note that most campervan companies will charge you a hefty extra fee for not returning the campervan to the city you originally rented it from.