This 6-day tour takes in all the highlights of the central North Island, including the Maori cultural capital of Rotorua, the subterranean wonderland that is magical Waitomo and the outdoors playground of Taupo.
With so many mind-blowing thrills to be had in such short space of time, just take an appetite for adventure and have a blast!
- Rotorua's Tamaki Maori Village - Maori music, food and culture
- Take the Volcanic Loop to Tongariro National Park
- Fire up your adrenaline in Taupo
- Legendary Black Water Rafting in Waitomo
- Waitomo Glowworm Caves
Start: Auckland
Finish: Waitomo
Duration: 6 days
Day one - Auckland to Rotorua
Pick up your Britz Campervan from the Auckland branch head down south on SH1 to Rotorua. Rotorua is known to some as New Zealand tourist capital of New Zealand. This is the city that you will experience some of the best of New Zealands nature – with mud pools, spouting geysers and natural geothermal mineral life.
Visit Hells Gate to experience one of New Zealands unique geothermal & cultural areas. Hells Gate is home to New Zealands most active geothermal field, it showcases a large variety of volcanic features such as exploding waters, steaming fumaroles, pools of boiling mud, the only accessible mud volcano and the largest hot waterfall in the Southern Hemisphere.
After you have had your fill of New Zealand culture head to the Blue and Green Lakes and take a walk. This 40 minute walk will give you chance to clear your head and exterience some New Zealands nature.
Overnight in the Blue Lake Top 10 Holiday Park.
Day two - Rotorua
Spend today in and around Rotorua. Rotorua is the ideal place to experience the Maori culture. Experience an overnight stay on a marae (Maori gathering place centred on a wharenui ‘meeting house’), sample Maori culture, share of hongi (the pressing of noses to signify the exchange of ‘the breath of life’), say “Kia Ora” (an informal greeting) and try food cooked hangi-style. Hangi is the name for a Maori earth oven which traditionally used hot stones to create steam. Old-time local Maori utilised Rotorua’s natural geothermal steam resources to cook their traditional hangi feasts, and their descendents still do today!
A ‘must do’ in Rotorua is a visit to the Tamaki Maori Village. Here you can explore the rituals, music and food of a culture that existed before the Europeans arrived in New Zealand.
Experiencing a Maori concert performance is an essential part of a Rotorua visit. There are many venues from hotels to marae to a purpose-build Maori village. There are also non-traditional options offering a more theatrical style that combine the best of traditional with a contemporary twist.
After you have had your fill of New Zealand culture head to the Blue and Green Lakes and take a walk. This 40 minute walk will give you chance to clear your head and exterience some New Zealands nature.
Overnight Rotorua.
Day three - Rotorua to Tongariro National Park
Continue to Taupo and take the Volcanic Loop, an extension of the Thermal Explorer Highway. Circle Tongariro National Park to view the impressive Mt Ruapehu and stop to explore some of the many walks in the area. Tongariro National Park has some amazing walks including the Tongariro Crossing over the moonscape craters of Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe and Tongariro, native forest, lava formations, glaciers, crystal clear rivers and lakes.
Overnight Ruapehu
Day four - Tongariro National Park to Taupo
Retrace your steps back to Lake Taupo where there is just about every adrenalin adventure you could want on air, land and water. Options include jetboating, 4x4 motorbiking, white-water rafting, kayaking, jet skiing, tandem skydiving, bungy jumping, horse trekking, parasailing, replica race-car driving, mountain biking, abseiling, rock climbing, skiing and snowboarding. Try water-skiing, fishing, sailing or fly over and land on the lake in a float-plane. Bungy jump off a platform over the Waikato River, Tandem-skydive for a birds eye view of Lake Taupo, or get up close and very personal with the jaw-dropping Huka Falls in a jet boat or helicopter.
But it’s not just the “man-made” attractions that make the Lake Taupo region an adventure-junkies paradise. Take a moment to look around your surroundings. Wild, unspoilt, unmatched. The little town of Turangi at the southern end of the Lake is “Adventure Central”. On its doorstep are the Tongariro River, Tongariro National Park, Kaimanawa Ranges, Lake Taupo and the Whakapapa and Turoa Ski Areas.
Stay in Taupo tonight
Day five - Taupo to Waitomo
Depart Lake Taupo and head across to Te Kuiti and on to Waitomo Caves, an ancient underground labyrinth of limestone caves and grottos. Go Black Water rafting or abseiling through the caves. We recommend the Legendary Black Water Rafting tour. The Black Labyrinth is Waitomo's original and amazing underground cave tubing experience that is known and talked about all around the world.
Ruakuri Caves is another must do in this area. You will enter the cave and begin a spiral descent from ground level via an incredible drum entrance and walkway. You then continue on a 1.6 kilometre guided tour underground. Ruakuri is New Zealand's longest guided underground walking tour and an experience that must be seen to be believed. It will leave you open-mouthed, awe-struck and humbled by the sheer majesty of nature.
Waitomo Caves is world renowned and a magnet for all holiday makers. The Waitomo glowworm, Arachnocampa luminosa, is unique to New Zealand. Thousands of these tiny creatures radiate their unmistakable luminescent light as the expert guide provides informative commentary on the Caves' historical and geological significance.
Over your 45 minute guided tour, you'll take in the spectacular Glowworm Cave with its majestic and ornate cave decorations, the deep limestone shaft known as the Tomo and the equally magnificent Cathedral cavern where New Zealands own opera diva Kiri Te Kanawa once performed. Your tour guide will deliver an informative and entertaining commentary, sharing stories, cultural legends and the natural wonders of this living masterpiece.
Your visit concludes with a brief, yet remarkably moving, boat trip through the Glowworm Grotto.
Stay overnight in the Waitomo Top 10 Holiday Park.
Day six - Waitomo to Auckland
This morning have breakfast at the Long Black Café, start the day with a good coffee and hearty breakfast!
Today while travelling north you have a further opportunity to enjoy the Waikato's wealth of activities and stunning scenery before heading up the Thermal Explorer Highway to Auckland to return your Britz Campervan.