New Zealand

Ah, New Zealand. How great it was to be among the Kiwis! We had such a great time in New Zealand and met so many great people. In fact, everyone we met in New Zealand was super friendly. It's a great place to visit if you want an active holiday; there are a ton of great hikes and walks and ways to get out and about. There are beautiful picnic areas and campgrounds throughout the entire country. We loved the vibrantly green hills and many thermal springs in the North Island and also the beautiful fiords and glacial lakes in the South Island.

Since it's an English speaking country it was very easy for us to rent a car and get around on our own, which made it easier to explore areas where we probably wouldn't have otherwise. It's also very safe and stable country; I never felt unsafe in anyway anywhere that we went. Prices were reasonable in New Zealand; for the most part it was comparable to US prices, outside of gas which was a bit more expensive (often $2.20/liter). It is sparsely populated so there is a lot of open space. You will see a ton of camper vans along the roads, since that's how a lot of people decide to see the country. The weather was very pleasant while we were there in February, the daily average temperatures were between 63-73 F. I was comfortable most days in shorts and short sleeves with a jacket in the evenings. The only bummer about traveling to New Zealand is the flight time. We flew from Chicago and had about a 24 hour long itinerary before we landed in Auckland. You also have to keep the time change in mind when planning; we flew out the afternoon of the 14th and didn't land in Auckland until the morning of the 16th since you cross the date line. Oh, and the sand flies suck on the South Island. Be prepared with bug repellant and anti-itch cream.

There were some NZ phrases that were different from the US and we found entertaining. Most of them are pretty British, but funny nonetheless:

A "trundler" is what they call a shopping a cart.
A "tramp" is a hike.
"Jandles" are flip flops.
"Give way" is what they have on signs instead of yield.
"Toot" means honk.
"Boot" is trunk.
"Nappies" are diapers.

Link to all New Zealand pictures

Overview of our trip

We decided we wanted to visit both islands so we spent 5 nights on the North Island and 10 nights on the South Island. Both islands had a lot to offer and I can't really recommend one over the other. We had considered driving all the way through the North Island and then taking the ferry to the South Island, but in the end we decided not to do that. This was mostly because we didn't find much we thought we wanted to do in the southern part of the North Island so we didn't want to spend the time driving through it all. Plus the flight from Auckland to Christchurch was almost cheaper than the ferry would be (our flights were free since we used points, but they would've been about $61/person). If you do decide to use the ferry you should book it in advance, since it fills up rather quickly during the prime tourist season. You'll also have to decide if you want to ditch your rental car and get a new one or if you want to bring it across as well. Some rental companies include the ferry fee for the car with the one-way fee, so that's something to check out.

North Island

Once we landed in NZ we spent our first two nights in an airbnb right outside of Auckland. While staying there we ventured west to the Coromandel Peninsula for a day. It was a really fun and twisty drive through the mountains. We explored the Cathedral Cove, which is a bit of a hike to get down to. We also went to Hot Water Beach which was a really unique experience where you could dig your own hot tub right on the beach. Highly recommend that!

Then we drove south and stayed the next two nights on a farm near Rotorua. While down there we checked out the Rotorua thermal pools, went to Hobbiton (where The Shire scenes from "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" were filmed), and we also drove down past the largest lake in New Zealand, Lake Taupo, to Mount Ngauruhoe (aka Mt Doom!) and hiked part of the Alpine Crossing track to the south crater.

Our last night on the island we spent back in Auckland and we just checked out downtown a bit in the evening before our early morning flight the next day.

South Island

We landed in Christchurch fairly early in the morning with the plan to go straight to Kaikoura for a fur seal swim, but unfortunately that was cancelled due to poor water visibility so instead we spent the day driving southeast to the Akaroa. This was a pretty drive along a lot of the bays but there wasn't much else notable about the area. Then the next day we did finally get up to Kaikoura for a swim with the dolphins and this was fantastic. A must-do in my opinion. It's one of the only places in the world where they can consistently find wild dolphins and they rent out all of the snorkeling gear for you to get out and swim with them. Here's a link to my blog post for that day for more info and a video! I was sad we weren't able to do the seal swim since I had heard great things about that too, but I don't think you could go wrong either way.

Straight after that we headed west to the other coast since we planned to drive south along the west coast. We stopped first in Greymouth for the night but didn't spend much time there. There was a free Glowworm cave near there but we didn't make it to that so I can't comment on how that is.  The next day we made it to Wanaka/Lake Hawea area but on the way we stopped at Fox Glacier, Lake Matheson, and the Blue Pools. If you're traveling this way I'd recommend stopping at all three. Fox Glacier was cool to see but I was a bit disappointed that we weren't able to get as close as I had hoped. They also have helicopter tours of the glacier but we opted to not spend the money on that. It's ideal to hit Lake Matheson either early in the morning or at dusk because that's when the water is the most still. The idea is that during those times it's shows a great reflection of the mountains, including Mount Cook. We went at the wrong time and thus didn't see the perfect reflection but it was still a pretty view. My favorite of the three though was the Blue Pools. It's basically exactly what it sounds; crystal clear blue glacial waters. It was a quick easy hike there, just enough to stretch your legs, and definitely worth it. Wanaka was a very cute little touristy town nestled in between Lakes Wanaka and Hawea. There are plenty of little shops and restuarants there to keep you busy for a few days. We spent two nights in the area and in between we drove up to Mount Cook to hike. We did the Hooker Valley track which was great; we got to see a couple of other glaciers and ended at a glacial lake. Even though this was a great track it was quite a drive up there from Wanaka and we heard from our host that there were also some great tracks in the Wanaka area so I was a bit sad we didn't make time for those. 

Then we made it down to Queenstown. Ah, we loved Queenstown! So much to do, so much to see. We decided to do the luge (mountain slide), the shotover jets, and bungy off the Kawarau bridge. The luge was not much fun at all in the rain since you'd get soaked just sitting on the gondola ride up. But it was much more fun when we went back on a sunny day (we had to sweet talk our way into re-issuing our tickets due to the weather). The shotover jets were also fun and a bit unique to the area so I'd recommend it for that reason. It was beautiful to be jetting around in the canyons, but it was also supposed to be a thrill ride since they get up 70 kph and get really close to the canyon walls and do 360 spins. I enjoyed the scenery more than anything. It wasn't quite the adrenaline-thrill I was searching for though which is how we ended up also doing the bungy. The bungy was one of the highlights of my NZ trip. I'd never done it before and it was such a thrill! Plus it's cool to say that my first bungy was at the world's original bungy site. Also it's a very scenic location so you can admire the beautiful scenery as you fling yourself off a bridge.

After Queenstown we spent three nights in Te Anau. From there we were able to do a day trip down to Milford Sound for a cruise which was absolutely gorgeous, plus we got to see more dolphins and the fur seals lounging around on some rocks! We went through Milford Cruise New Zealand and really enjoyed it; they keep each tour pretty small so it's not crowded and it's a smaller boat so they can get in closer to the waterfalls and such. That day we also did the Key Summit Track which had some great views at the top and also had some unique vegetation. We also finally got to the Glowworm cave from Te Anau. It was really cool and you should definitely go to at least one of them if you visit NZ, but the Te Anau one is the only one you pay for and I can't say how it compares to the free ones. We also did some of the smaller hiking tracks around Te Anau lake and we went up to the beginning of the Kepler Track just to say we'd been on it, but of course we didn't do that track (it's a famous multi-day hiking track).

We spent our final night in NZ back in Queenstown since we flew out of there the next day. They have some great restaurants and shops down there so we enjoyed just walking around and seeing the sights. We found a really great Italian place called The Cow on Cow Lane. It was a small place tucked away off the main streets. We also climbed up to the top of Queenstown Hill where we were treated with some excellent views. and in the evening we wandered around the Queeenstown Garden which is free and worthy of a stroll.

So that's how we went about seeing New Zealand!

Budget

The total I spent in New Zealand not counting flights is $1,830 (per person!). I don't include the flights because our international ones were bought in a package with the rest of our flights and the domestic one was purchased with points. There were three of us traveling together so most expenses were split evenly three ways, which really helped keep the costs lower. We were in NZ for 14 days, so averaged spending about $130 a day (per person). This is all in US dollars. The local currency is the New Zealand Dollar (NZD) and the conversion rate was about 1 NZD=$0.73. Here's the breakdown for me:

Ground Transportation: $438. We rented a car on both islands, so we split that expense and gas. We were really glad that we choose to drive between locations since we got to see a lot of the countryside that way.

Lodging: $458. We stayed in Airbnb's for the most part which we really enjoyed. It gave us a more unique and local experience than staying in hotels would have, plus we got to meet some fantastic hosts. Also split three ways they were generally cheaper than hostels or hotels. We did stay in hotels in Queenstown and Te Anau and we stayed in two different hostels along the way as well when we couldn't find an airbnb that fit our budget and location preference. We spent an average of $33 per person per night throughout our time in NZ.

Activities: $647. This is where you could definitely save money and spend less than we did. We were doing reasonably well until Queenstown, where I spent $342 alone. But this is what we prioritize on trips; we try to be more frugal on lodgings and food so we can spend more on activities. 

Food: $287. We did a lot of grocery shopping and ate the majority of our meals that way. We did mostly fruit and cereal bars for breakfast and sandwiches either for lunch or dinner. We ate out at a restaurant on average once a day.

I didn't have any other miscellaneous expenses for NZ, since this was our first stop all of my gear was in good condition. 

Summary

We really enjoyed our time in New Zealand and would highly recommend it to people who want to get out and explore (it's not the ideal location if you want a relaxing beach vacation, although they do have some great beaches). If you have any specific questions please feel free to reach out to me directly (asmith0326@gmail.com) or check out my daily blog posts.

Kia Ora!