We absolutely loved our time in New Zealand! It was a whirlwind of a trip with something planned almost every single day! We feel like we could have spent a month there and still missed seeing or doing something! Guess we will have to go back again and just stay a while! So yeah.. where do I even begin a blog on New Zealand? I guess the logical answer to that is the beginning of the trip… so sit back, relax, grab a cup of coffee or your preferred drink and enjoy!
A quick side note.. We flew from New Delhi to Auckland via Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific. Kaysi and I were very impressed with the customer service of the airline all the way around! If you are flying somewhere and have the option of Cathay Pacific, I would highly recommend them! One would think since you are already half way around the world that the flight to New Zealand wouldn't be that far from India.. well one would be wrong in assuming that! It was 6 hours to Hong Kong and then a nice 11 hours to Auckland!
So we arrived in Auckland on Tuesday morning the 23rd of February around 8 in the morning. We had probably gotten a good 8 hours of sleep over a two day period so we were both pretty worn out upon arrival. We rented a car and made our way to our hotel. We wanted to try to stay up as much of that day as we could so that we could sleep that night so we did some exploring around downtown Auckland and picked up a few things we would need for our trip. We also went and got a massage that day which we both slept through! That night we went to Katsura Japanese Restaurant that was in our hotel! It was quite amazing!
Day two, we were off to Waitomo where we went black-water rafting and spelunking through Tumu Tumu Cave. It was about a two hour drive from Auckland to the caves and we were able to begin to see the beauty of New Zealand! Once we arrived we had to take a shuttle about twenty minutes away to get suited up to head into the caves. Being under ground the water is quite cold so Kaysi and I both had to suit up into the first of many wet suits we would wear in New Zealand! Once suited up and got some rubber boots on it was off to the cave entrance. The cave entrance is just big enough for a person to shimmy down a ladder into the underground! I got to be the first person down into the cave after our guide where he took a beginning picture of us. Kaysi was second down and our guide had to take two pictures because he said the first one she looked a little frightened! Once in the caves we were able to do a little bit of everything! We squeezed through tight spaces, jumped off ledges into our tubes, floated through the caves as we were able to observe the glow worms, swim through some really nice and cold water (thankful for the wet suit for sure!) and even have a nice little snack of orange juice and chocolate! After a good two hours underground we emerged from the under world and were greeted by nice warm showers before heading back headquarters! It was a great adventure to start our trip off with! We then made our way towards Rotorua where we would be staying for a couple of nights at the Regal Palms Resort.
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Day three, was another day full of adventure! Our first adventure was to head to Hobbiton where the Shire scenes from the Lord of the Rings as well as The Hobbit were recorded. It was about an hour drive from Rotorua. The drive was super beautiful, as expected, and as we got closer we began to feel as if we were being transported to another world.. Middle Earth! You begin your tour from the Shires Rest which has a gift store and cafe. You make your way onto a sheep and cattle farm and after about 10 minutes you catch your first glimpse of the Shire! (I was like a little kid.. so stinking excited!) Once at the Shire we went on a guided walking tour where we were informed of different scenes that were shot in each place and even got to take a picture in front of Bilbo Baggins’ home!
It was neat to hear how the set was created for each of the two different series of movies. In the Lord of the Rings all of the Hobbit holes were actually just facades with all of the details painted on. After the Lord of the Rings was filmed they began tearing down the set but were stopped by torrential rains and had to leave several of the facades in place. In the mean time, the movies came out and word got out of where the scenes from the Shire were shot. Soon people came knocking on the door of the owners of the farm wanting tours of the Shire. Soon after this Peter Jackson (the director of the Lord of the Rings) approached the owners of the farm about filming for the Hobbit. The family agreed upon one condition, and that was that permanent structures be built so that it could be preserved for generations to come! We finished off the tour with some good cider from the Dragons Breath pub (Kaysi didn't think the cider was good.. her face was priceless when she drank it!).
Day three at this point was just getting started! We still had another adventure for the afternoon! That was rafting down the Kaituna river! The rafting trip was just about an hour long but along the way you go over several different waterfalls! The second or third water fall you go off of is the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world (that’s their claim) its about 7 meters high, so a little over 21ft! It was crazy awesome fun! We made it over the waterfall without loosing any members of our raft and without tipping the raft over! It was quite exhilarating! After that water fall they asked for a volunteer to ride on the front of the raft kinda like you would ride a bull so I volunteered! It was quite fun! We also got to swim in part of the river, as well as go over a water fall while floating on our backs! They asked for volunteers a few other times where they would have the volunteers sit at the very front of the raft and put the front of the raft right up against a water fall! Kaysi and I even got to reenact the scene from the Titanic movie, although Kaysi wasn’t all that excited about having the water continuously splashed in her face. One of the final waterfalls we went over things got a little bit hairy for a bit… I guess they didn't get the raft lined up right going into the water fall and the raft got trapped and just almost capsized as it was being pushed up against the side of some rocks.. we all hung on and got to one side of the raft and were able to get it free! I was pretty sure that the main guide was not freaking out… but it seemed as if our other guide was so we aren't sure if that is a planned thing or it was an accident?! Either way I thought it was pretty fun.. Kaysi wasn’t as thrilled with that part. Overall the rafting was quite amazing and the scenery even greater! We finished off day three with and amazing dinner where Kaysi had chicken and I had a great steak!
Day four was a travel day, but before we hit the road to Wellington we made a quick stop at Hells Gate which is a geo-thermal park. There are quite a few different mud pits and hot springs with a good portion of the water and mud reaching boiling temperatures. The smell is a quite lovely sulfur smell that stuck with me for several days, it loved it it was the best! After about an hour walk around the park we returned to the spa where you can take a mud bath and then soak in the hot springs! The water in those pools were not near boiling.. which is a plus!
We grabbed a quick bite to eat in Rotorua before we set out on our drive to Wellington which was a good five hour drive through more of the beautiful country side of New Zealand. On this drive we saw some of our first snow capped mountains of the trip even with it being towards the end of summer in New Zealand! We arrived in Wellington and got checked into our hotel and then went and had some Mexican food and I was able to have my first Jaritos Toronja soda in probably almost a year!! Felt like I was back home!! The Mexican food was ok definitely not like anything at home but it definitely scratched the itch!
Day five we had to catch a morning ferry ride from Wellington on the north island to Picton on the south island across the Cook Straits. It is said to be one of the, if not the, most beautiful ferry rides in the world! I would definitely agree with that!! The water was super smooth for the whole ride which made for a great ride! For the majority of the ride you could take picture after picture of beautiful scenery! The ferry ride was close to four hours but it was quite nice! Once we landed at Picton it was off to Christchurch! You drive through the region of Marlborough which is the largest wine producing area in New Zealand! This area was definitely one of the places that would have been nice to spend a couple of days at, but we just didn't have the time to do so. We also got to drive along the east coast for a while where the bluest ocean water I have ever seen was! It was such an amazing drive getting to see strikingly blue water set against a beautiful landscape! We made a few different stops to get some pictures and also let Kaysi chase a few seagulls! (We really are both just big kids!) Kaysi also made the mistake of venture out one to many stones out at one of our stops and the waves got her jeans and shoes pretty wet! We arrived in Christchurch where we stayed at the Pavilions Hotel. It was a neat family owned hotel with a nice restaurant in it. We settled in for the night to get ready for our next day.
Day six we had an exciting day planned in Akoroa! Akaroa is about an hours drive from Christchurch on the Banks Peninsula. It was another beautiful drive from Christchurch to Akaroa! We arrived and were able to grab a quick bite to eat. Kaysi had a hamburger that the worker described as a “very very plane burger” and I had the fish and chips! Once we finished lunch we went to get dressed and ready for our afternoon adventure! The afternoon adventure was swimming with the Hectors Dolphin which are one of the smallest and rarest dolphins in the world. We got a quick introduction to what we would be doing as well as getting suited up in our wet suits. Once suited up we headed out to go look for some dolphins! It took about twenty minutes or so for us to locate some dolphins and we were able to get out of the boat and start swimming with the dolphins. The water was pretty cool but the wet suits did a pretty good job of keeping us warm as well as keeping us afloat! We didn’t even have to wear a life jacket because the wet suits were so buoyant. We were instructed to not touch the dolphins if they got close to us, but they were definitely close enough for us to touch quite often! It was such an amazing experience! We were able to be in the water close to an hour and enjoy the experience! On the ride back into Akaroa we were able to see a mom and a baby dolphin!! (And all of the girls say.. awwww!! I guess the guys did too) Once we arrived back in Akaroa we set out on an adventure to find a lighthouse we saw on while on our way to swim the dolphins! It took us a little exploring and a few wrong turns and me not stopping to ask for directions but we found it! I think it was the first lighthouse I’ve ever had the chance to see up close so that was pretty exciting! I love lighthouse!
We headed back to Christchurch and set out to find an Italian food place we had seen the day before. We decided to walk instead of taking the car because I thought it was fairly close.. apparently I was wrong because it took us a good 20 minutes to walk there, oh well!! It was great food and we didn't feel as bad about eating a big huge meal!
Day seven, whew a week in already, was an adventure and travel day. We began the day by heading to Lyttelton which was a short drive from Christchurch. Our adventure for the day was to go Fly Boarding. With Fly Boarding you have a big hose connected to the jet on a jet ski that is attached to boots that are attached to a small board! Kind like a jet pack attached to your feet! The owner of the company Volo Jet Skis Nick was great! He told me before hand that he could get us both up and flying in five minutes and by the time we had done thirty minutes each we would be worn out! He was correct on both accounts! I went first and after just a few minutes I was up and flying! At the beginning I would get up eight to ten feet in the air and would freak out just a bit and then wipe out! Towards the end I was getting the hang of how to move so that you could keep your balance and change directions. I think by the end I had probably gotten maybe 15 feet off the water.. or it at least felt that high! Kaysi went next and she did great! It took her just a couple of minutes to get up and she was off and flying! She also would look down to see how high she was freak out just a bit which caused her to also have some wipe outs. She definitely enjoyed flying and she also enjoyed the ride from the beach out to the open water and back. Since the jet skis jet is attached to your feet you are the jet skis power so you get to be out in front of the jet ski and you feel like you are swimming crazy fast!! Kaysi said she felt like a mermaid! Fly Boarding was amazing, if you ever get the chance to do it, DO IT!!
Once we finished up we grabbed a quick bite to each and headed towards Franz Joseph Glacier. The drive was quite possibly the most spectacular of the trip! We drove through Arthurs Pass which was cut during the very cold winter of 1865 to help get gold from the west coast to the east coast. We passed quite a few ski slopes and lots of hiking and camping areas! This was another area we could have spent a few more days in if we had the opportunity. We arrived in Franz Joseph around 7pm and got settled into our motel and went and had some good Thai food at a local restaurant. We settled in for the night and enjoyed a nice and cool rainy night in the mountains!
Day eight we had grand plans of an amazing glacier experience! We awoke to blue clear skies so we were excited about our trip! We had our breakfast and then made our way over to the headquarters for our tour. As we were checking in we heard that the trip ahead of us was being delayed a bit and that our trip would be pushed back some as well. We got registered and were in the midst of filling out our release form when we got the bad news. The blue clear skies had quickly changed into heavy rain and dense fog over the glacier, so the trips for the day were canceled. We were both kinda bummed about that but I am pretty sure I dont want to be in a helicopter trying to land on a glacier in dense fog while its raining heavily. We got a refund of the tour and decided to go on just a hike up close to the glacier. The hike took about an hour to reach the glacier. You walked through a beautiful valley with water falls on both sides of you! Words and even pictures can’t really capture the beauty of the place. The water coming off the glacier is ice blue and so awesome!
We enjoyed getting to see a glacier in person and weren’t to sad about the money we saved! We left the glacier and headed on to the next town to grab a bite to eat. We had lunch in the town of Fox Glacier and then were off to Queenstown! Throughout our drives we had seen quite a few hitch hikers and since it was raining that day and pretty miserable outside we decided to clear out the back seat of the car to make room in case we came across anyone. As we pulled out of Fox Glacier we saw a guy with an umbrella hat in a poncho with a since saying “Wanaka”. He looked nice enough so we stopped to see if Wanaka was close to where we were going, and it was! He asked if we had room for two, which we did! His name was Dimitri and the second was Natalie. They were a neat couple from France. Our drive to Queenstown was about five hours and Wanaka was just an hour from Queenstown. We got to visit quite a bit and hear about their story! They actually met in India, she was working with a non profit and he was traveling around. Since they met they did more traveling around India on a Royal Enfield and then walked through Germany working as they went! They had been in New Zealand for about a week and were planning on being there for a few months. It was great time getting to know them, Kaysi and I both thought after we had dropped them off that we should have gotten some contact info from them! They seemed to have such amazing lives! We dropped them off and then headed in to Queenstown!
Dimitri gave us a hint to take a different route that was a more scenic route! We were very thankful for his hint because he was so right about the views! We made it down the winding roads through Arrow Town and then on to our hotel which was right outside of Arthurs Point. We stayed at the Nugget Point Hotel which is a boutique hotel. It was definitely our most favorite hotel of the trip!! The restaurant of the hotel looked out over the Shotover river (as did part of the rooms, but not ours). We so enjoyed the views as we had our dinner that night! It was absolutely beautiful!! We ended the night by going down to the pool and spa area which was magnificent as well!!
Day nine was a day to explore Queenstown and to go zip lining! We started the morning off with an amazing breakfast in the restaurant looking out over the Shotover. As we were having breakfast we saw a jet boat coming down the river. We had looked into riding a jet boat but had decided against it. After seeing the jet boat going down the river and remembering that we had saved quite a bit of money by not going on the glacier tour we decided that we should see if we could get on a boat the next day, and we were able to but more of that in a bit! We headed into town and did a little bit of souvenir shopping. Once we finished shopping we made our way up the gondola for some lunch and then on to zip lining after that! The zip lining was another great and fun adventure! There were a total of six different lines we were able to zip on that was close to a kilometer in length all combined. We had two guides for our trip each giving us some history of the area as well as showing us how to do different tricks on the zip line. We were able to zip upside down which was quite fun as well as doing a free fall backwards off one of the platforms. The final line dropped several stories! The trip ended with a short hike down the remainder of the mountain. After zip trekking we were a little tired so we went back to the hotel for a quick nap before we were to head back into town for dinner.
Dimitri and Natalie had told us about a restaurant that was supposed to have the best hamburgers in New Zealand so of course we had to go and check it out! Kaysi got a cheeses burger with bacon and a fried egg on it! I got the Big Al which had 1/2lb of hamburger meat, bacon, lots of cheese, two fried eggs, beetroot, lettuce, tomato, red onion, relish and a big wad of aioli (which is a provencal sauces made of garlic, olive oil, eggs yolks and seasoning). The hamburgers were as big as our faces and they were soooo good!!! We ended the night in a food coma!
Day ten was our last full day in New Zealand. We started the morning off with another amazing breakfast looking out over the Shotover! We then headed out to the Shotover Jet headquarters to get ready for our jet boat ride! We got suited up with life jackets and a rain coat and waited for the rest of the people from our boat to arrive. Our boat drive for the day was named Rob. The jet boats are quite amazing machines! They are powered by two Chevy 350 motors each powering their own turbo jet! The ride was outstanding!! We went about eight miles down the river getting up to 55mph in as little as 10cm of water!! The ride went through several canyons where you would come within about a foot from rocks and the canyon walls and the craziest parts were the 360° spins! The driver would let you know he was about to do one and then you held on for dear life! We had such a blast even though our faces were quite frozen by the end of the ride!
Once we finished the jet boating we went back to the hotel to pack our final things and then head to the airport to fly back to Auckland for our last night in New Zealand. We arrived back in Auckland and made our way to our hotel. We stayed back at the Rendezvous hotel with its nice location we figured it would be a great place to end our time in New Zealand. After checking in to our hotel we ventured out to grab some lunch and then finish up our last of souvenir shopping. I had found a place on the internet called Mexicali Fresh which is like a Freebirds or Chipotle. We both got a nice big burrito and I had another Jaritos Toronja!! (I love those!). We finished our burritos off and then set out to find a shop that I had seen the first day we were in Auckland… I was certain I knew where it was at… as we neared our hotel I realized that I was certainly wrong about remembering where it was. So my amazing wife reminded me that I had a phone that had google maps on it.. so we looked it up and we had definitely walked right by it earlier! We made it to the store and then trekked back to our hotel. I imagine we walked a couple extra miles because of my certainty! (oops…) We ended the night relaxing and getting ready for a trip back to New Delhi the following day.
Day eleven was an early morning as we had to catch our flight back to New Delhi. Our trip to New Zealand was definitely a once in a lifetime vacation!! We feel truly blessed to have been able to take this trip! It was such an amazing time!! Thanks for sticking with us through this crazy long blog! Kaysi and I would highly recommend going to New Zealand if you ever get the chance you will not regret it!
