{"id":8691,"date":"2025-05-19T21:04:50","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T21:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/traveltales.ahot.online\/?p=8691"},"modified":"2025-05-25T19:11:53","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T19:11:53","slug":"sea-wellington-rotorua-en","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traveltales.ahot.online\/index.php\/2025\/05\/19\/sea-wellington-rotorua-en\/","title":{"rendered":"Wellington and Rotorua, New Zealand"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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1.4. \u2013 6.4.2023<\/p>

On Saturday we started to drive towards the small town of Picton. The ferry service that had been rescheduled already once had not been cancelled again, so the plan was to move from the South Island to the North Island. We arrived well before the ferry\u2019s departure time only to hear that it was late. And it wasn\u2019t an April Fool\u2019s. Well, better that than a completely cancelled ferry connection. We had about three hours to kill. We were told that we could park the car in the queue after check-in and go to town, if we wanted to. Since it was raining, we decided to stay in the car at the port and wait. There we would stay dry, and there was food in the fridge if we needed it. A couple in the car in front of us also decided to stay in the harbour, and started cooking in their campervan while waiting in the queue.<\/p>

Eventually Marko got tired of waiting in the car and, despite the rain, went for a short walk to Picton. He returned with a packet of margarine and a bottle of apple juice. But most importantly, he had spotted a Subway just around the corner. So the kids and I placed an order, and we sent Marko out into the rain again. We had time to eat our baguettes before the queue finally started moving slowly into the ferry.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Despite the rainy weather, the swell was only moderate.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Subway lunch while queueing.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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There's our trusty chariot waiting in line for the ferry to leave.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Once we got the campervan parked, we started to look for seats inside. The ferry was already pretty full, but we still managed to find a few more seats for our family. The kids spent the whole trip in the playroom watching cartoons, while us adults sat on the comfy armchairs near the playroom.<\/p>

The ferry didn\u2019t arrive in port until 8pm, so it was dark before we finally found our way to the campsite. We had to make a few extra turns on the way, as navigating in a big city with an offline map is not as easy as in small towns. Apparently the offline map doesn\u2019t show every single intersection and roundabout lane, so a couple of times we got a bit lost. Fortunately, on both occasions the mistake was easy to fix, and we only drove a couple of extra kilometers.<\/p>

When we arrived at the campsite, the reception had already closed. Marko found a box with an envelope addressed to us next to the reception door. There was the gate code, and the number of our parking space. In the evening, while setting the alarm clock, we discovered that it was the daylight saving time in New Zealand. Because we are on the other side of the equator, and everything here is backwards, New Zealand goes back an hour for wintertime. It\u2019s the exact opposite of Finland. So now the time difference with Finland is only nine hours.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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A view of Wellington city centre from the Mt. Victoria Lookout.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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After breakfast, we drove to the Mt. Victoria Lookout, near the centre of Wellington. After that we planned to make a quick stop in the city centre, and then continue our journey. The views from the top of the hill were great, but a little cloudy. From the top of the hill, we noticed that there seemed to be some sort of market going on near the marina. After returning from the lookout, we drove to the marina to see what it was all about. First we went to visit New Zealand\u2019s number one museum, Te Papa. Our original intention was just to go to the toilet there, but since the exhibitions were free, we decided to take the kids to the museum as well. Marko and Jaana had been to Te Papa on their previous visit to New Zealand, but didn\u2019t remember how great it was! Kids don\u2019t usually get excited about museum visits, but they loved Te Papa. All the exhibits we visited were really interactive. You could touch and try almost everything yourself.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\"What's there to see? Nothing. I'm not going all the way up there.\"<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Learning about Kiwis in the natural history exhibit.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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This eagle once preyed on small children.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The way to the (life-size) blue whale's heart is through blood vessels.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Exploring the Maori exhibit.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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After the museum visit, we continued to the marina. Since we were getting hungry we bought spring rolls, pork dumplings and chicken and meat rolls from a Cambodian food stall at the Sunday food market. For dessert, Jaana and the kids bought some Dutch pancakes. Stomachs full, we finally got to continue our journey towards our next stop, Rotorua. It was a 5,5h drive, so with one stop in Taupo, we arrived at 8:30 in the evening. Since we were in the wintertime now, we drove the last couple of hours in the darkness. Fortunately, our car has pretty good lights.<\/p>

We knew we had arrived in Rotorua when we started to smell a rotten egg. Rotorua is a very active geothermal area, so the smell of sulphur is unfortunately unavoidable there. Fortunately, our campsite was far enough from the most active geothermal areas, as the air was quite fresh there.<\/p>

On our first day in Rotorua we went to visit a farm called Agrodome. There we watched a show where we were introduced to different breeds of sheep, sheep shearing (did you know that the world record for shearing is 13 seconds!) and shepherd dogs. The children also got to feed little lambs, while some adults got to milk a cow. After the show, we were taken on a tour to the farm fields, where we got to feed more sheep and some alpacas too.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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A comprehensive overview of the different breeds of sheep.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Sheepdogs can also apparently ride sheep.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Sheep shaving is still a handicraft.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Children feeding children.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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This guy was dubbed as looking like Trump when his \"hair\" was combed to the side.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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