Travel: Exploring New Zealand's Waitomo Glowworm Caves

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In our last New Zealand post, I shared the day that really was Jesse's reasoning for choosing to travel to New Zealand. Our Ultimate Hobbit Day in New Zealand was the reason Jesse begged me to add New Zealand to our list of must-visit destinations - but I had some reasons to want to go too!

One of those reasons was to tick something off my bucket list. I wanted to see glowworms. And ohhhhhhhhhhh glowworms did we see, my friends! 

Today, in our last New Zealand post, I'm sharing what really did feel like a magical experience as we headed underground to explore New Zealand's famous Waitomo Caves!

So why don't you join me on the adventure? >> 

Travel: The Ultimate Hobbit Day in New Zealand

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Today's New Zealand post is actually the reason we ended up in New Zealand in the first place. You see, whilst New Zealand is absolutely gorgeous and filled with so many wonderful things to do - we actually ended up choosing New Zealand as our holiday destination for one very specific reason....

Hobbiton.

You see, Jesse is a huge Lord of The Rings fan and has wanted to visit New Zealand ever since he found out the movies were made there - and when he learnt that you could visit the Hobbiton set, that become the number one thing on his bucket list. 

Whenever we talked about going on vacation, Jesse was always going on about how we NEEEEEEEEEEDED to go to New Zealand so he could tick that off his bucket list - and whilst I would have much preferred a relaxing tropical escape, I got to researching so I could put together Jesse's ultimate vacation - and this was the key part of our entire New Zealand trip; Hobbit Day. 

So let me share our Ultimate New Zealand Hobbit Experience with you! >> 

Travel: Time Travelling in Hamilton

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Hold onto your hats, friends - today we're heading back in time on a retro-inspired adventure as she share the next part of our New Zealand travels with you!

So let's jump right into it! >>

Travel: Sunshine and Our Very Own Riverside Oasis

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Our New Zealand trip was definitely a rain-filled one, however, we learnt very quickly that we needed to make the most of every sunny second we had as they didn't last all that long. 

Whilst our last New Zealand post was filled with lots of rain thanks to a freak rainstorm (Crowded House were apparently singing our life story when they sang Everywhere you go, always take the weather, take the weather with you because we seemed to take the rain with us), this one is filled with sunshine!

So let me tell you what we got up to on our next, gloriously sunshine filled, day in New Zealand! >> 

Travel: Exploring New Zealand's Coromandel Peninsula

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From the first picture, it looks like this post is going to be one filled with sun, surf and sand... but really, I should probably be calling this "What to do in Coromandel New Zealand on a Rainy Day". 

Why? Because after a few sunny beautiful days, the rain returned for our trip up to the Coromandel Peninsula - but that didn't mean there wasn't fun to be had...

So let me show you what we got up to! >>

Travel: New Zealand's Best Glamping Experiences on the North Island

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So, last week I shared out Adrenaline Packed Adventures in Rotorua with you and today I'm sharing the polar opposite. 

Pure relaxation. Switched off, no electricity, no television, back to nature bliss. It's exactly what we needed after such a heart racing, blood pumping kinda day and I cannot wait to share these two little slices of heaven with you all. 

So let me show you New Zealand's Best Glamping Experiences! >> 

Travel: Our Adrenaline Filled Day in Rotorua New Zealand

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I feel like when you get married, you find yourself doing things you never would have imagined doing for anyone else.

You do things; like smell clothes to see if they're clean (I always used to tell Jesse that was a disgusting boy thing to do... and now I'm guilty of doing it myself), actually wanting to spend time looking after someone who's sick instead of running away from the germs like your life depends on it and you have way more inside jokes than you ever thought possible. 

You also do things like risk your life for the sake of your husband's enjoyment... or maybe that's just me... 

The next edition of our New Zealand Adventures which I'm sharing with you today is about exactly that. We called this day "The Adrenaline Day" and it was EXACTLY that. A day that was totally, completely and utterly outside this girl's comfort zone, however, I actually found myself loving every second. 

Find out how this day for Jesse turned out to be one of our favourite days of the trip! >>

Travel: Getting to know Rotorua's History

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Well hey! To break things up, I thought I'd share a little bit more of our New Zealand Adventures with you (as we still have so much to share!). Just like in our last post, this one has BLUEEEE SKIES... but even better than that? 

This post has Jesse dancing. Yep. My "shy" husband doing the haka - but you'll have to read on a little bit for that video. As well as that there's bubbling brooks, boat trips, exploding geysers and plenty more to see!

But enough yapping, let's jump right into it! 

Join us as we explore more of New Zealand! >> 

Travel: Blue Skies and Geothermal Adventures

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Why hello there! I've got more of our New Zealand Adventures to share with you today and this time, SHOCK HORROR!, there's even some sunshine! 

In our last New Zealand post, I left you with Jesse driving to our next home away from home; Braxmere Lake Taupo - but before we got there, we had some driving to do. 

We'd left Paradise Valley Springs in the rain, however, as we were driving along the sun started to come out and we joked to one another that perhaps our rainy days were behind us and we'd get to enjoy our lakeside stay with a side of sunshine...

But there's something we forgot.... the ultimate rule; 

Don't speak too soon. 

Out of nowhere, the blue skies turned into grey skies and rain came teaming down from the heavens. 

And in true New Zealand style, the rain hit when we were driving down a narrow winding road right next to the lake. It was so hard that we actually considered pulling over and waiting it out, however, there wasn't anywhere to do that so we crept along at a snail's pace instead.

But just as quickly as the rain hit, it disappeared. I kid you not, this photo and the one above were taken just TWO minutes apart. 

This is where we learnt that New Zealand has some seriously bipolar weather. Those clouds don't know what they're supposed to be doing ;P 

By the time we arrived at Braxmere on Lake Taupo, the sun was out and the skies were gloriously blue!

Our home away from home for the night was a one bedroom self contained apartment with incredible lake views. 

The apartment was perfect. We had a comfy king sized bed (where we had one of the best night's sleep of the trip!) with lake views, a generously sized living room, private deck with barbeque, a HUGE bathroom and a full kitchen and dining table. The only thing we didn't have was an oven, however, we didn't need it!

Whilst we were unpacking the car, Jesse had mentioned that he felt like it was going to rain again - so we decided to get out and explore whilst we could!

Sure enough he was right and as we were standing on the dock, the rain clouds starting rolling back in! We wanted to eat dinner outside so I rushed back inside to cook, only to put dinner on the table out on the deck and have the heavens open up once again :P 

But whilst it might have rained all night, the next morning we woke to glorious sunshine once again, which was perfect as we had a busy day planned outside!

We loaded up our little rental car and hit the road again ready for our next adventures.... 

Travel: Walking on the Wild Side in Rotorua

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Well, I'm not going to lie... this next part of our New Zealand Adventures is another rainy one - but that doesn't mean it wasn't full of fun! Today I wanted to share one of our most action packed days. 

There's everything from dozens of ridiculously cute baby duckies (and videos... and squeals... I apologise to your ears in advance, but don't worry! I turned the sound of me WAAAY down on the video!), lions, deer a trip to the thermal spa and lots lots more. 

So let me share our adventures with you!

Travel: Exploring Lake Taupo & The Maori Carvings

Phew! Where has the month gone and how is it already February?! The last couple of weeks have been so crazy that I haven't had the time to sit down and tell you about our New Zealand adventures - but luckily I have the chance to share some more with you today!

In our last post, I told you about our first wet and soggy days in Auckland and just a few days later, we left Auckland (in the rain!) and headed down to Lake Taupo! 

Here's what we got up to on our adventures! >> 

Travel: Our First Soggy Days in New Zealand

Why hello there! We are back from our trip to New Zealand and so glad to be back home! We arrived home on Saturday night after a day full of delays and cancellations (we were originally supposed to be back home at 9am - not 9pm like we were!) - but that's a story for another day. 

After catching up on some sleep yesterday, I thought I'd sit down this afternoon to share the first pieces of our New Zealand adventure with you all! We managed to get through the trip without a single glutening (Coeliac Travel SUCCESS!) and without any major mishaps, however, we did get up to LOTS of fun things so we have heaps to share.

But whilst I'll fill you in on it as we go along, we wanted to start right at the beginning! We started our New Zealand trip the same way we finished it, in Auckland! Here's we got up to on those first (very soggy!) days!

Travel: Our Travel Essentials for New Zealand

The countdown is on! We fly out to beautiful New Zealand in just two short days.

We'll be travelling around the North Island for 16 days and packing in every adventure possible - and of course, we'll be taking you along on the journey with us through our blog posts once we're back home and Facebook and Instagram posts whilst we're there.

But before we head off, we've got to pack our bags! I thought I'd share some of our travel essentials for this trip as I think they should be on everyone's must pack lists!

So here's what we're taking along with us! >>