Sights and Activities
Below are the places we saw and activities completed while visiting New Zealand:
Auckland
Devonport – Mount Victoria: Great views of Auckland Skyline
Devonport – North Head: Hiked along the beach and into tunnels. Spectacular views of Auckland Skyline
The Domain: Beautiful huge park
Auckland Museum: Interesting exhibit of Maori culture, Volcano exhibit was great with video on how New Zealand was created, enjoyed photography exhibition on nature
Wintergardens
Sky Tower: Viewed while walking through the city center, reminded us of Seattle
Rangitoto: Lava rock island, hiked to the summit. There were spectacular views of the bay and Auckland. We walked inside really cool lava rock caves.
Auckland Art Gallery: Beautiful Building with modern, contemporary, and Maori art
La Cigale French Market: Lots of good food, wine from around the world, fresh vegetables, great bread and pastries
Mission Bay
Mt Wellington: Great views! View of One Tree Hill.
Waiheke Island
WWOOFed at Uma Rapiti, be sure to read our article.
We visited three wineries: Mudbrick Winery, Cable Bay Vineyard, Jurassic Ridge Winery
Beaches
Visited Piha Beach, Karekare beach, and Muriwai Beach
Campervan
We drove on the left side of the road! We were nervous to drive and took us at least a day to get familiar. This was our home for two and a half weeks.
Hot Water Beach
There is a section of this beach that has hot water under the sand because of volcanic activity beneath. We dug out our own hot tub!
Waitomo Glow Worm Caves
Waitomo: meaning ‘water entering a hole in the ground’ is home to an underground world of ancient labyrinth of limestone caves and formations. We went on a silent boat ride through the spectacular Glowworn Grotto.
Rotorua
Agrodome Sheep Show: Into the world of New Zealand farming where we were introduced to 19 breeds of sheep. We witnessed a sheep shearing demonstration and Huntaway Dogs and ‘Duck’ dogs keeping sheep and ducks in line.
Whakarewarewa Thermal Village: Village where a tribe of Maori, indigenous people of New Zealand, live. Great Hangi food (Maori food cooked underground): Corn, cabbage, sweet potato, potato, chicken, beef, stuffing, carrots, and bread pudding for dessert. We viewed a cultural performance, given a tour of the village, and walked amongst geysers.
Spa at QE: got into the Rachel pool which is an alkaline thermal pool that is soft soothing water to relax. Temperature: 37 – 40 degrees C (99 – 104 degrees F).
Lake Taupo
Mt. Ruapehu
Whanganui River Journey
Be sure to read our article.
Tongariro Alpine Crossing
A one day hike that passes across beautiful snow mountains and active volcanoes. We started this 19.4 km (12 miles) journey at 8:30 am. The trail starts at an elevation of 1,100 m (3,600 ft) with the highest point at 1,900 m (6,230 ft) reached at the Red Crater. This challenging one day hike is for the most popular hike in New Zealand. We enjoyed walking through lava rocks, snow, and forest area. The 7 hour walk had spectacular views of the melting Blue Lakes, snow covered Mt. Ngauruhoe and Mt. Tongariro, smoky volcanoes in action, Lake Rotoaira, and Lake Taupo.
Wellington-Picton Ferry
We crossed from the North Island to the South Island through the Cook Strait and Marlborough Sounds on a car ferry.
Abel Tasman National Park
This National Park featured beautiful golden sand beaches surrounded by coastline forests. We took a small hike from where we were camping at Totaranui Bay to Anapai Bay and passed by many fern gullies.
Franz Josef Glacier
We hiked on a rainy day to the face of this glacier to see the enormous size of it.
Fox Glacier
We took a half day tour of this glacier and were able to walk on top of it. The glacier is surrounded by tropical rain forest and relatively near the ocean, which is unique in comparisons to other glaciers. We stood above 100 m (338 ft) of ice while walking! We saw a moulin formed on the glacier, these are windmills formed by water trying to escape the glacier.
Queenstown
This city is beautifully surrounded by snowcapped mountains and lakes.
Canyoning in Routeburn, be sure to read our article.
We visited three wineries in the Gibbston Valley: Chard Farm Winery, Gibbston Valley Winery, and Peregrine Winery
Doubtful Sound
We took an all day tour to visit this fiord located in Fiordland National Park. A bus took us from Queenstown to Manapouri and then on a small boat to cross Lake Manapouri. Next we get on another bus to pass Wilmot Pass with spectacular views of Doubtful Sound. Finally we boarded a cruise ship into the sound. We saw massive vertical formations that shaped the fiord, which was formed view glaciers. We passed by many waterfalls and saw some fur seals.
Moeraki Boulders
These uniquely shaped boulders were formed at the ocean floor many years ago.
Christchurch
Christchurch’s city center was closed due to a large earthquake they experienced early 2011. They continue to progress in their rebuilding phase.
We WWOOFed in Christchurch, be sure to read our article.
We hiked to the top of the Sugar Loaf in the Port Hills located southwest of Christchurch.
We took an overnight hike to Lewis Pass National Reserve – Nina Valley and passed two swing bridges with great views of the Nina River. The reserve is a forest filled with beech trees covered in moss.
We spent a couple hours relaxing in the Hanmer Springs – Thermal Pools & Spa.
We attended a local favorite, the Agricultural & Pastoral Show.
