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Étaperia

New Zealand in 10 days: Far North, Waitomo and Taranaki, day by day

Ten days from Cape Reinga to Mount Taranaki: Ninety Mile Beach by 4x4, Tāne Mahuta the country's largest kauri, Hobbiton, the Waitomo Black Abyss, the glowworm caves and the circuit of the volcano from Dawson Falls.

Sequenced by Kylian Updated on 20 September 2026

The Auckland skyline and the Sky Tower at sunset, yachts moored in the bay
  • 10 days
  • 21 places
  • 10 nights
  • sustained pace
Start
Mangonui, Far North
End
Wellington
Main transport
Rental car throughout, plus one day by 4x4 with a licensed operator on Ninety Mile Beach
Recommended season
November to March: the Taranaki circuit on days 19 to 21 follows exposed mountain tracks, impassable outside the southern summer

What you get

  • The complete itinerary: 10 days sequenced Morning / Afternoon / Evening / Hotel
  • The card of every hotel, with the address and a direct booking link
  • Quota tickets, fixed-date tickets and surcharges flagged in advance
  • The country quick guide: weather, transport, formalities, budget
  • A PDF file of 20 pages

What the price does not include

  • Flights
  • Hotel nights
  • Tickets and admission fees
  • Travel insurance
  • On-the-ground assistance during your trip

The travel book preview

The free day in full, with its hotel card. This is the sample.

Day 2

The kauri coast and Hokianga

Morning

Drive from Mangonui to Waipoua

Three hours by the west coast, including the crossing on the Rawene-Kohukohu ferry : departures every 45 minutes from 7:45 AM to 8:00 PM, payment on board, no booking.

Tāne Mahuta

The largest known living kauri: 51 metres tall, more than 13 metres in girth, an age estimated at between 1,500 and 2,500 years. Its name means “lord of the forest”. Five minutes of boardwalk from the road is all it takes, and the shock of scale is immediate: the trunk rises without a single branch for nearly eighteen metres.

Afternoon

Kauri Walks, Te Matua Ngahere and the Four Sisters

The forest’s second network of tracks leads to Te Matua Ngahere, “the father of the forest”, lower but far broader than Tāne Mahuta, and to the Four Sisters, four close-set trunks grown together.

Hokianga Harbour and the Opononi dunes

The estuary where, according to tradition, the navigator Kupe first made landfall. On the north shore, white sand dunes tens of metres high drop straight into the water, opposite the village of Opononi. Access by water taxi from Opononi for those who want to go down them on a sand toboggan.

Good to know

Kauri dieback works: Te Matua Ngahere and the Four Sisters reopen in late October 2026 after the boardwalks are rebuilt. Tāne Mahuta stays accessible during the works. Cleaning your shoes at the entrance stations is compulsory, and never leave the boardwalk: the disease is carried by soil stuck to soles.

Hotel · Night 2

The Kauri House Lodge, Dargaville

A gentleman’s house in solid kauri on the heights of Dargaville, furnished with antiques, with a library, a billiard table and a pool in the garden. The logical stop between the Waipoua forest and the road south.

Address
· 60 Bowen Street, Dargaville 0310
Website
· kaurihouselodge.co.nz (new tab)
Check-in
3:00 PM · Check-out 10:00 AM
Book this hotel (new tab)

Buy this itinerary

€39 incl. tax

that is €3.90 per day of travel

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  • Available immediately in your customer account: online reading with clickable booking links, downloadable PDF for offline use
  • Method: what is checked, and when

A hotel in the itinerary closed or impossible to find, a place to visit permanently closed?

Within 12 months of purchase, email contact@etaperia.com

Itinerary corrected within 7 days, or refunded in full. Terms in article 12 of the T&Cs, on top of the legal warranty (new tab)

€39 incl. tax · 10 days

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The day-by-day rundown

9 stops, 720 km as the crow flies

  1. Day 1 Cape Reinga by Ninety Mile Beach Cape Reinga by Ninety Mile Beach Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  2. Day 2 The kauri coast and Hokianga Drive from Mangonui to Waipoua Free
  3. Day 3 Down to the Waikato Drive from Dargaville to Hamilton Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  4. Day 4 Hobbiton and the Waikato hills Hobbiton movie set Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  5. Day 5 Waitomo, down into the Black Abyss Black Abyss, Legendary Black Water Rafting Co. Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  6. Day 6 The three caves and the Marokopa road Waitomo Glowworm Caves Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  7. Day 7 Towards Taranaki and Dawson Falls Towards Taranaki and Dawson Falls Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  8. Day 8 Around the Mountain, first day Around the Mountain, first day Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  9. Day 9 The western flank to Holly Hut The western flank to Holly Hut Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF
  10. Day 10 Back to Dawson Falls, drive to Wellington Back to Dawson Falls, drive to Wellington Day reserved for buyers, unlocked in the PDF

Found an error in this itinerary? Report an error

Country quick guide and logistics

The essentials of the country, scannable in ten seconds.

Weather and when to go

  • The Far North stays mild all year, but Taranaki is an isolated volcano facing the Tasman Sea: it makes its own weather and can sit in cloud while the coast is in full sun.
  • The three days around the mountain, days 19 to 21, are exposed: wind, horizontal rain and zero visibility are all possible in mid-February. Check the park forecast the evening before.
  • Ninety Mile Beach on day 12 is driven at low tide: the tide, not the clock, sets the departure, and operators move the pick-up to match.

Transport and permits

  • Rental car throughout. Ninety Mile Beach is a legal road but off limits to rental vehicles: day 12 has to go through a 4x4 operator.
  • The Waipoua road runs through the kauri forest: boot-cleaning stations at every trailhead, and using them is compulsory.
  • The climb to Dawson Falls on day 18 is a narrow, steep road; the stage ends on day 21 with four hours of driving to Wellington.

Formalities and safety

  • The Waitomo Black Abyss on day 16 has a minimum age, a fitness requirement and a firm booking: it is an abseil followed by underground tubing, not a guided visit.
  • Hobbiton on day 15 is guided-tour only, by timed slot, booked in advance, and places go early in high season.
  • Huts on the Taranaki circuit are paid and booked through DOC; the night before is spent at the Ngāti Ruanui Mountain Lodge, forty minutes from the start at Dawson Falls, where the car waits during the trek.

Budget and meals

  • The New Zealand dollar, roughly €0.55 to 1 NZD, card everywhere. Cash is needed nowhere, except for donations in the small museums.
  • Heavy items: the Black Abyss on day 16, the Ninety Mile Beach tour on day 12, Hobbiton on day 15 and the three cave tickets on day 17.
  • Tāne Mahuta, the Four Sisters and the Opononi dunes are free: the heart of the kauri country costs nothing.

Frequently asked questions

What exactly do I receive?

Your Étaperia itinerary, available immediately in your customer account after payment: readable online with clickable booking links, and downloadable as a PDF for the trip. Every day is sequenced Morning / Afternoon / Evening, with the hotel for each night, its address and its booking link, and timed-entry tickets flagged in advance.

How is this better than what an AI gives me?

A generative AI composes a plausible list in seconds, without saying what was checked or when. At Étaperia, every itinerary is sequenced by hand, place by place, with the booking constraints spotted before it is too late to get them. The Method page says what is checked, against which source and on what date.

Can I adapt it to my dates and my pace?

Yes. The days are self-contained blocks: you can shift the departure, stretch a stage or skip a day without breaking what follows. Only timed-entry tickets require adjusting the dates accordingly, and they are all flagged.

What if a hotel or a place in the itinerary has closed?

Email contact@etaperia.com within 12 months of your purchase. If a hotel in the itinerary is closed or can no longer be found, or a place to visit has closed permanently, the itinerary is corrected in your customer account within 7 days, or you are refunded in full. A hotel fully booked on your dates, a seasonal closure or a change in opening hours or prices is not covered. This guarantee comes on top of the legal warranty of conformity; details in article 12 of the terms and conditions of sale.

Who is selling you this itinerary

  • Kylian, sole trader, SIRET 927 587 709 00035
  • Consumer mediator: ANM Consommation
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  • Publisher, not a travel agency: you book flights, hotels and tickets yourself

In the same country

This module is one leg of the full itinerary: Complete New Zealand itinerary: 88 days, hotels and bookings

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