New Zealand is a Bucket List destination for many people. I have put off writing this blog for 2 years now, but with enough of my friends asking me about my trip as they plan theirs I figure it's about time I get it all put down before I forget too much of it. So let me start off with some of the thoughts my husband and I had, then I'll walk you through our itinerary.
Day 1Try to get a flight that arrives in the morning. Especially if you can sleep on the plane. The jetlag isn't bad since it's almost a full day ahead, making it easy to get adjusted. This means if you land in the morning, you get almost a full extra day. We got off the plane early and started towards our rental. We rented from Juicy a very cheap and popular choice. Know that Juicy is a very long walk from the Auckland airport though, so definitely catch a shuttle or get a ride. I don't remember why we walked, but it was a long one carrying all our luggage in the unaccustomed heat. Although there were some photo opportunities along the way... ![]() Piha Beach - Now that we had wheels the first stop we made was a Piha Beach. It is a cute little surf town that had a few stores where we picked up some sandwiches and had a picnic at the beach. The beach is huge and is used for surfing competitions although no one was out when we were there. The best part of Piha Beach though was Lion Rock (that lone peak in the picture below). You can climb up to the almost top. We did not expect that and therefore climbed it barefoot since we left our shoes in the car. I recommend bringing them along, but it was definitely a good start for kicking off New Zealand. Auckland: We headed back to Auckland as we had time before our check in time with our Air Bnb. So we played a round of Frisbee Golf, got some basic groceries that wouldn't spoil for snacks on the road, and went to the two highest points in Auckland: Mount Eden and One Tree Hill. Both were pretty cool ways to see experience the city but you could choose to do the sky deck too if you are more city than nature oriented. Our Air Bnb was cozy and our host very friendly. We watched Dr. Who together as we ate our dinner. We weren't in New Zealand for the city life so this was the best use of our time in Auckland. And allowed us an easy day after the long flight there. Day 2
Rotorura - The disappointment of not getting in did not last long as we had other exciting things planned for the day. We rented some mountain bikes in Rotorura and hit the trails. I had zero experience mountain biking before and had a lot of fun. It's also one of the top three mountain biking destinations in the world, so no matter your skill level, there is something for you. I did wind up taking a spill, but if you didn't are you even mountain biking? Make sure you have a map as there are a LOT of trails and it's easy to get turned around. Road side attractions Aratiatia and Hot Springs - This was an accidental find. We did not plan this ahead of time, but thought they sounded cool so we made a short jog over to see them (since we had a little more time with Hobbiton not panning out). Aratiatia was recommended by the locals as it's a dam that is pretty impressive in size, and the hot springs (don't have a name unfortunately) were pretty neat, especially for my husband who had never seen hot springs. The island was a little bit warmer so make sure to bring a water bottle! Our Air Bnb that night was absolutely incredible. It was a side room off of their house with our own bathroom, and two entirely glass walls looking over the country side of New Zealand. It was way nicer than anything we could have afforded at a hotel. Plus our hosts were hilarious and taught us some Kiwi slang including my husband's favorite word - "chocka": meaning overflowing, especially in reference to town's being overflowing with tourists. They told us of a place in the area to go swimming where hot springs meets a cold river and you can pick your own temperature for swimming that not too many tourists knew about and made great dinner recommendations. This is one of the best reasons to do Air Bnb, is getting the inside scoop on where to good places are to go and learning more about the country by talking to the people who live there. Day 3
Because there is so much more to see than just Mt. Doom, I would recommend taking a shuttle service so that you can do the complete hike if this is something you are interested in. The trails naturally have a one way feel to them as this is how most people do the hike, although we saw a few camper vans that allowed people to hike halfway and back out without paying for a shuttle. Also, the parking is only for four hours so you will not get to see very much unless you are going fast. There is so much to see if you do this, you should definitely take the shuttle. We were unable to do either of the two add-on hikes (up to two higher peaks) because of our time crunch and with the pace we kept we were pretty tired by the end of the trail. We were happy our Air Bnb host that night had offered to make us dinner so we could just stay in and relax that evening. Day 4Wellington - This day's main purpose was to cover some ground. We had to make it to Wellington, which is the southern most city of the north island, as we were crossing to the south island the next day. Since we had a very physically active day the day before we used this as an opportunity to relax and take it easy. Our Air Bnb was an adorable chalet that was quite cozy. We saw some sights in Wellington, but didn't want to spend much money so we kept it to local hikes and dinner. We discovered a New Zealand favorite: Cranberry, Chicken, Brie Pizza. Day 5![]() The Crossing - We got up early the next day as we had to cover some ground after the ferry. The ferry we took across was GIANT. On board they had theaters and a cafe besides the three level parking garage for cars. The views along the way are absolutely gorgeous. Make sure you get out to the deck to enjoy the sights of the crossing. It was windy the day we crossed and I have a tendency to get seasick, but it is worth getting out. I recommend keeping some snacks on you as you need to leave your car and won't have access to it until you arrive and the food on board is pricey. We also brought a crossword puzzle book to keep us entertained. Once we got across we made the journey to our Air Bnb destination in Motueka. Here we had a space all to ourselves. We did a little shopping here to get our family some Christmas presents/souvenirs. We also got some fresh groceries for dinner and went to bed early so we were ready for Day 6 Day 6Abel Tasman - This was one of my favorite parts of the trip. We went to Abel Tasman, rented sea kayaks, kayaked to a drop off point, left the kayaks and hiked back. It was amazing for the following reasons: sea kayaking is so much fun (and remember I get sea sick pretty easily and I still loved it), the sights were absolutely gorgeous and so diverse, and there were seals (we only got the picture of the one because it was too choppy to risk taking my phone out where the others were)! But for this, I'll let the pictures do the talking. After the kayak trip we had do a little travelling before we reached our hostel/bar/restaurant that we slept at that night. Berlin's Cafe Bar and Accommodation was really the only option as there was not much around this area. We had a delicious burger with beet on it. This was New Year's Eve and we thought it might get rowdy, but we were in bed by 10 and no one woke us up. Day 7Our only thing on the agenda for the next day was to get to Queenstown. This allowed us some spare time and we found a lot of cool stuff on the way there! Punakaiki Cavern - These caves were just a hole on the side of the highway and although we only had the light from our phones we decided to stop and check them out. Glad we did as they were pretty neat. Also the walk there from where we could park wasn't too bad either... Pancake Rocks - Just down the roads we came to Pancake Rocks. These are one of those natural wonders that no one really know why it is the way it is, but for free entry again, it was a really cool stop. The rocks are named for how they look stacked on top of each other which is pretty cool, but the stop is more than just rocks; it's a gorgeous hiking trail right along the ocean. Franz Josef and Fox Glacier - This was so cool to us that in one trip we were hiking volcanoes and glaciers. Again, you just have to get there and park in order to experience these two hikes. You do have to hike a little ways to get to where you can see them, and weather dictates how much you actually get to see but there are so many beautiful things along the way. If the trail does not get you close enough, you can take an air tour and get right to them. For us, this was close enough to experience them both and still stay on schedule. Day 8Queenstown - This part of journey was focused on getting to Queenstown. Queenstown is the world capital of adventure. You can go bungee jumping, paragliding, jet boating, all sorts of intense things. While it was definitely a stop we wanted to make because of it's hype, we kept the Queenstown vibes a little more chill. We did some Frisbee golf and hiked up Queenstown Hill. Hill is a very bad word to describe this as it was quite the climb. Queenstown is gorgeous from any angle and the views from the top of Queenstown hill did not disappoint. There are so many more photos I could put in here, but you will just have to go see it for yourself. Day 9![]() Glenorchy- This day was spent to get us close to our next big adventure. We took a drive out of Queenstown along a path that they filmed more iconic Lord of the Ring shots at. This took us through some beautiful country, but unless you are a major LOTR fan, you probably won't recognize specific scenes from the drive alone (my husband did, I did not) but you do get the overall feel of driving through Middle Earth. I'm sure once you get to Glenorchy there is more you can do, but we just turned around and continued to our destination. ![]() Te Anau Glowworm Caves - This was not something we had planned ahead of time but was something I had heard a lot about. We couldn't take many pictures there as it disturbs the worms, but a google search on Te Anau Glowworm Cave will give you an idea of what they are if you haven't heard of it. It was a little pricey (about $67 USD a person) so I don't know if I'd do it again now that I've done it once, but I was glad we took the opportunity to go while we were there, especially since we had the time and didn't have to replace anything else with it. And we learned about the takahe a really cool bird that semi-resembles Kevin from UP. Plus, we learned about a bird sanctuary where we got to see the takahe and other cool NZ birds. That night we stayed at the Possum Lodge Motels and Holiday Park since it was near the launch spot for our final big adventure. Day 10 and 11Two Day Kayak Trip of Doubtful Sound - I told you it was a big last adventure! This trip was a trade-off for the more popular Milford Sound, but it is equally gorgeous but less crowded because it's harder to get to (a win for us!). This was my husband's favorite part of our trip. The company we booked the trip through provided us the kayaks, wetsuits, rain jacket, thermal, water bags, sea skirt, tent, cooking supplies, and guide. Really the only thing we needed to bring was food, our cameras, clothes, toiletries and ourselves. The trip was unbelievable. It was a small group of travelers from around the world so we got to learn a lot about New Zealand and other places. The waterfalls and cliffs are amazing to behold, the bizarre weather was a welcomed adventure, and the wildlife included dolphins and penguins (while we didn't see any dolphins our guide told us this was more likely than penguins, but we did see a penguin). Our guide also let us get out to explore at random points and we blazed a trail down land no human has tread before and that was pretty neat. The company has a camp site set up that has an outhouse, a screened in kitchen and enough camp sites for each group on the trip. It was a great way to immerse yourself in the sounds. I will do my best to not overload with photos and provide some diversity, but there are so many beautiful things about this trip, we have many amazing pictures that I feel are worth sharing. When we returned from our trip we drove around the south island up to stay with a friend from college. We realize that this is a luxury not everyone has, but having just come back from this trip, we spent most of that night condensing our stuff, repacking for the flight and getting rid of perishables/things we couldn't fly with. Day 12And as promised, our trip ended in 12 days. A very boring last day of getting on a plane in Christchurch and flying back home to Chicago with a layover in Auckland and LAX on the way. Recap:So there it is. An adventure packed two weeks. We fit in
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AuthorI am someone who loves to write. I like to think and be creative. I was encouraged by my husband to write more and so this is me writing. Hope you find something of value in these words. Archives
December 2019
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