Quote:
Originally Posted by CivicBlues
Thanks man appreciate your input. I've actually kept an eye on the Cyclone and it looks pretty bad. I'm hoping things will be fine in a couple months when I arrive. We've actually made all the bookings now for the N. Island and cut out Cathedral Cove because it seems like the direct roads there are all washed out and don't really feel like doubling the drive time to see a beach. Hope that's not a mistake!
So the first week of my itinerary now is Auckland > Worm Caves > Rotorua >Taupo> Tongariro > Wellington > Ferry to S. Island
Don't know if I'll be able to do the Tongariro Alpine Crossing though. Have you done that? Seems like a lot of the trail shuttles stop in April and then the weather turns to shit. Ah well. LOL we also sprung for the Hot Tub in the Rotorua hotel too before I read your comment, hope it's worth it!
Doing research seems like almost any popular natural has an admission fee slapped on it and even hiking shuttles that cost like $40 to get you to the trailhead. IS it really as bad as it seems? Point of comparison just went to Iceland last year and while shit was generally expensive, almost every attraction was free except for $5-10 parking every once in a while. Even the geysirs and geothermal areas were free there. But Rotorua's attractions cost like $30-50 bucks per head? How do they justify that?
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You will be fine without cathedral, as an alternative if your schedule changes, Three Sisters, on the west coast was actually nicer in my opinion. (Need to come at low tide tho)
Nah, we arrived late to the crossing, went to Taranaki waterfalls instead. 1hr walk from the gravel carpark
Private hot tub in hotel is always worth it dawg
Yeah the natural hot pools (both the ones you swim in, and just walk around) both have a fee of about 40$ per person. I mean it is a business, plus the maintenance costs and staffing ain't cheap. Some people spend 40$ in two days on cigarettes....
We went to Polynesian Spa, and Waiotapo Thermal Wonderland. I would highly suggest both.
The Spa is just a bunch of outdoors "natural" hot tubs with minerals, nice to lay around after x hours / days of driving.
The Thermal Wonderland was crazy, the colors of the pools really are neon, never seen anything like it before.
If you want to save money, there's a bunch of free thermal attractions and natural hot pools, we just didn't have time, crunched time budget for us.
At the end of the day, your blowing 1500 on flights, another 1500 on a place to sleep, and 1500 on food, PER PERSON, what's an extra 150-300$ in entrance fees.
You can pay off those entrance fees by working one extra day back home, ggnnaamm saayyyiinn. Plus, when will be the next time you get to see some of this stuff?
