Sooooo…
Back in 2016, me and two friends hopped on a bunch of planes and ended up in New Zealand. Some sort of travel schedule worked out, the next 20-or-so days were to be spent in car/van catching a few memories in this wondrous land.
Our chosen route wasn’t the fastest nor the most practical.. nor.. uh.. What it comes down to: I guess it was semi-cheap. And because we passed China, we also got to visit that wall over there. Something that I’ll get to posting some day, maybe. It mostly came down to this:
Anyway. Landed and all, Auckland airport greeted us warmly, then did a bio-check.
We picked up our ride as per recommendation: fly to the other end of the world, ignore possible jet lag and drive in the dark. Right? At least our slight detour already fixed my biological clock.
Won’t you look at the beauty our first rental was? From the front, it looks like a racing machine. The rear resembles somewhat of a minivan. The side.. Still don’t know why they couldn’t straighten that line.
Anyway, after meeting up with the local Dutch guy (they are EVERYWHERE) and resting, we set for the first planned activity: Te Puia in Rotorua. Half Maori museum, half geyser landscape.
Yeah, pronounce that name. Waka-wara-wata?
Obviously, selfies are well-practiced (not). Hey Mr Asian.
We then drove off to .. some.. large trees? I can’t recall whether this was planned, but we found large trees and a PE class. 
More driving ensued, looking for more pretty nature. Plenty of that around.
Quick stop by a natural hot bath. I jumped in, no great photos of that though.
Aannd.. then we were too late for the hobbiton tours, but I got a photo of a kid on a bike instead.
So we ended the day back in hometown Hamilton. Went shopping for groceries and a very adulty birthday cake for Birthday Boy, pirate Bevert. Cheerios!
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