For the majority of the 3 weeks that Laura, Alex & I were in New Zealand we were on the, very popular, Kiwi Experience.
However, our first 2 days in NZ we actually did our own thing - on the first day we headed down to the Kiwi Experience head office to check our bus booking, then after that we got a train out to the suburbs to meet Laura's old school mentor and headteacher, who since teaching Laura, have emigrated back to New Zealand to work at a school here. Laura's old mentor, Janet, met us at the train station then took us for a tour of the school they now work at, before very kindly treating us to lunch. This was such an interesting way to see parts of the city we would never otherwise have seen and to experience a different culture by comparing their school system to ours. It was so interesting to do something different to the 'norm' of backpacking and I can't recommend it enough if you are going travelling and have some foreign contacts!
On our second day we took a ferry out to Waiheke Island, which was absolutely beautiful!
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| Auckland skyline from the Waiheke ferry! |
We started the Kiwi Experience on our third day - we chose the Sheepdog pass, starting in Auckland and finishing in Christchurch, with a minimum time of 16 days and stuck to this timing, as we had to!
Doing the Kiwi Experience was such a great way of getting to see loads of places in New Zealand without having to worry about organising it all ourselves! It was also a really great way to meet people and make friends, so I would definitely recommend it to other first-time travellers like us! Other more independent options include the Stray, Magic and Naked buses or a lot of people hire their own camper vans!
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| Our route round New Zealand |
From Auckland we travelled to Hot Water Beach, where we stayed in some really modern lodge-style accommodation and attempted to dig hot pools in the sand at low tide. The next day we travelled to Waitomo, where we skipped out on caving (the main activity there) to save money and sunbathed all afternoon, then Rotorua the following day, where we went to the Polynesian Spa which was voted one of the top 10 spas in the world by Conde Nast! Rotorua is a volcanic area and the spa was made up of hot springs that looked straight out on to Lake Rotorua - once we got over the smell of rotten eggs (from the hydrogen sulphide), it was absolutely beautiful!
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| Polynesian Spa in Rotorua |
Taupo was our next stop and the first place where we stayed for 2 nights. Lake Taupo is the largest lake in the Southern Hemisphere and provided amazing scenery for our skydive which we did on our first day there with Taupo Skydive! Taupo is the cheapest place in NZ to do a skydive and I am so glad we did it there, the weather couldn't have been more perfect! Taupo is also the first place we had a night out at the bar under Base hostel, which made it so easy to get to bed after - even though I don't remember the process! On our second day, Ed came to surprise me as we weren't planning to see each other in New Zealand which was so nice, although unfortunately not a hangover cure!
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| Skydive Taupo |
From Taupo we travelled to River Valley which was literally in the middle of nowhere (no phone signal and outdoor toilets and showers!). The following morning Laura went horse riding whilst Alex and I sunbathed, before heading to the capital city of Wellington where unfortunately we only got to spend a few hours as we arrived late and left early. Had we had more time I would have wanted to stay an extra day there to explore the city properly!
An early start got us on the 8.15am interislander ferry which took us to the South Island where our first overnight stop was Kaiteriteri. We travelled through the optional hop-off of Nelson which was a really pretty city and if I could do the Kiwi Experience again I would definitely plan to spend at least a day in Nelson! Westport came next, where we went jet boating - so much fun! From Westport we headed to Lake Mahinapua (I love all the Mauri place names in NZ) where we had a fancy dress night with the theme of St. Patrick's Day green! Lau, Alex & I dressed up as the bright green Kiwi Experience bus!
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| The Kiwi Bus! |
Next we spent 2 days in Franz Josef at my favourite accommodation of the trip, Rainforest Retreat, where we spent our second day doing an ice hike on the Franz Josef glacier, which included a helicopter ride! This was without a doubt my favourite activity in New Zealand - possibly because weirdly enough I feel totally at home when surrounded by snow and ice!
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| Franz Josef Ice Hike |
After a great 2 days in Franz Josef we headed to Wanaka, which I was really excited to visit, as it is where Olivia, my little sister, has lived for the past 4 summers at the Treblecone Ski Race Academy - it was absolutely beautiful and Olivia is one lucky girl! From Wanaka we went to Queenstown, the adventure capital of New Zealand, famous for bungee jumping... and we sunbathed! Adventurous or what! We did however visit the infamous Fergburger which I can confirm was amazing! Definitely the best burger I've ever eaten! Two days later we headed to our final stop of Christchurch which was devastated by an earthquake in 2011. Most people we met had warned us not to spend too long there as the city centre is pretty much deserted with boarded up buildings everywhere you look, but I actually found it so interesting to see how a large city is coping with the aftermath of such a huge natural disaster!
New Zealand is without a doubt the most beautiful country I have ever visited and I will definitely be returning! Next stop Australia... x
