New Zealand in a Month

New Zealand in a Month

NZ definitely needs to be on your list. If it isn’t I hope after you read this it will be. It’s a country that’s so often forgot about but it’s my FAVOURITE country I’ve been to so far in my life.

This was my first time doing a ‘bus tour’ – the Kiwi Experience! I would 100000% recommend this company if you’re looking for more of a guided trip through NZ. When I say guided it’s not really guided at all – let me explain: The way the company works is its essentially a ‘hop on hop off’ bus, but along the way they book you your hostels and your activities for the next few days! This is soo awesome because you don’t have to worry about booking your own accommodations  – which is way less stressful! The bus drivers are amazing – they explain the areas along the way and give you advice for every place!

They have a bunch of different tours (that take you to different cities)- the tour that I chose was called the Sheepdog. It starts on the North Island and ends on the South Island (MY FAVE). Here are the stops I did along the way:

  • Auckland
  • Hot Water Beach
  • Waitomo
  • Rotorua
  • Taupo
  • River Valley
  • Wellington
  • Abel Tasman
  • Westport
  • Lake Mahinapua
  • Franz Josef
  • Wanaka
  • Queenstown
  • Lake Tekapo
  • Christchurch

If you’re looking at booking a bus pass – wait a bit because these passes go on sale all the time! I only paid $500 NZD for mine! It can go up to as high as $1100 so keep an eye out!

Here’s a ‘quick’ overview of my amazing trip!

We started our trip in Auckland – we stayed for 2 nights to adjust to the time change before the bus tour started! (The total trip time from Canada was 26 hours so recovery time was essential!) We stayed at Base Backpackers which was perfect because the Kiwi bus picked us right up from our door the first day of our bus trip!

Auckland is a huge city – lots of shopping, restaurants, bars, you name it! There’s lots of islands nearby that you can do day trips to! Two day trips that we did were to Waiheke Island and Rangitoto Island. Waiheke is a HUGE island full of beaches and wineries! We didn’t realize how big it was so we didn’t buy a bus pass, but hindsight we should have! There’s lots of little villages and beach towns on the island with boutiques and restaurants and icecream shops!

The next day we took a ferry to Rangitoto Island – this is a volcanic island where you can hike up to its peak and view Auckland from a distance! This was my favourite thing we did while we were in Auckland 🙂

Before heading to our next location, the bus stopped at a place called Cathedral Cove. It’s on the Coromandel peninsula and it was my favourite place on the North Island! The bus stopped at the top and you had to walk about 30 mins down a path to get to the hidden beach!

The next stop was Hot Water Beach! This beach is extremely unique – when you go at low tide there’s hot water bubbling through the sand! Everyone is digging holes and creating a man man hot tub on the beach! Some spots are boiling so you have to be really careful!

On the way to our next stop we made a detour to Hobbiton! (the set for the Shrine in the Lord of the Rings!) Here you could walk into the hobbit holes, take tons of pictures infront of the doors, and go for a beer in the Green Dragon!

Waitomo was the next location! Here you could sign up for the glow-worm caves from the bus – I chose the one where you go through the caves on a rubber tube. While in the caves you have to crawl and jump off cliffs- so crazy bus so much fun! At the top of the caves are all the glowworms – look at the picture below!

Rotorua was the next spot! This town is full of geysers – so it reeks of rotten eggs just FYI! While we were here we ran into the sweetest lady who invited us over for dinner and brought us to a few tourist spots around the town! Such a nice gesture, and so great to eat a home cooked meal after being on the road for a few days! There’s lots to do here – experience the Maori culture at Whakawerawera, hike through the Redwood Forest, visit the geothermal baths at Kuirau park, or swim in Lake Rotorua (pictured below)!

Next stop – Lake Taupo! It rained like our wholeeeee stay here (classic NZ weather)..but we still managed to enjoy our time! The bar beside our hostel was the highlight haha. The most popular thing to do here is skydiving! (unfortunately we couldn’t do that during our stay due to the weather)

After Taupo they brought us to the super remote area (with no phone service…) called the River Valley. White water rafting is huge here, but due to the rain the past few days the water level was too high for us to do it! Instead it just turned into a massive drunk fest with our fellow travelers!

We then made our way to Wellington! I loved this city – although it’s CRAZY WINDY! My favourite thing to do here is take the cable car up to the top to get a view of the whole city! The shopping and nightlife here is also amazing, so definitely save a night to go out! From here we caught the ferry to the South Island where we got this view!!

The South Island has a COMPLETELY different feel than the North Island. It’s way more outdoorsy and rustic. If you don’t have time to do both islands I would 100% recommend to just go to the south.

Our first stop on the South Island was at a little town called Kaiteriteri. It’s just outside of Abel Tasman National Park. The first thing we did was SKYDIVING! We did it at a place called Skydive Abel Tasman. To me this was the perfect spot to do it! Since it’s at the top of the South Island, you get amazing views of the mountains, the beaches, the Cook Strait, and the North Island! It was such an amazing experience (even though I was scared shitless the entire time). I would definitely recommend to do it here if you’re looking for a place!

My favourite experience of the entire trip was our 2 day overnight hike in Abel Tasman National Park. I was super skeptical of doing this at first because all we had was 1 tent and 2 sleeping bags between 4 of us! No pillows, no phone service, no blow up air mattresses, no cooking equipment! It was extremely uncomfortable sleeping arrangements, but none of us even cared in the moment because the views we had were so BEAUTIFUL! So to do the trip we took a ferry to the top of the park and hiked all the way back to our place in Kaiteriteri. If you’re not up to do overnight camping, just take a ferry to one point, hike a little for the day, and take a ferry back at night!

The next stop was Westport. Here we did a coastal walk along Cape Foulwind. We got amazing views of the rugged NZ coastline!

Our next stop was Lake Mahinapua! The hostel that we stayed at was literally in the middle of nowhere. A few years ago one of the Kiwi buses had to stop here cause of bad weather, and ever since then they’ve stopped here with every bus because the crew at the hostel is so amazing! It’s basically just a crazy party night with your bus buddies!

After that night we made our way to Franz Josef! The main things to do here are skydiving, taking a helicopter up to the top of the glacier, or just hiking the path to the glacier front! We chose the hike which was absolutely breathtaking!

After Franz Josef we made a pitstop at Lake Matheson! It’s a beautiful lake that is known for it’s picture-perfect mountainous reflection on the lake. It was super cloudy when we were here though, so my pictures aren’t ideal!

Our next stop was WANAKA! Here’s where the insane beauty of the South Island begins. The mountain ranges here are surrounded by water so the views here are unbelievable. Here you have to go see the infamous Wanaka Tree! While you’re here you also have to try a burger at Red Burger Bar (they have an unspoken competition with Fergburger in Queenstown). I personally like Fergburger better, but you be the judge!

Wanaka is beautiful – the best thing to do while you’re here is honestly to walk/hike around as much as possible and take in the beautiful views! If you get a chance you HAVE to do Roy’s Peak! We didn’t have time but that hike looks incredible! While we were there we did a little hike up Mount Iron – not too long of a trek and you get views like this!

Next stop QUEENSTOWN!!!!! My absolute favourite.  I would live here if I could – travellers everywhere, it’s such a cool vibe! It’s such an adventure/adrenaline seeking town! Skydiving, bungee jumping (Queenstown is where it was created!), canyon swinging, you name it! I chose to do the Shotover Canyon Swing. I almost shit my pants but it was worth it!

The town itself has a lot to do too! The waterfront is gorgeous, there’s lots of parks to sit and relax, tons of shopping, and the nightlife is like no other! You HAVE to eat at Fergburger while you’re here (and compare it to Red’s in Wanaka!) – the line is ridiculous but so worth it!

The #1 thing we did was we took the gondola up to the top of Queenstown (there’s a racetrack here also if you like go karts!). From the top here you can catch a path that takes you on a hike to the Ben Lomond Summit. At the top you get views of the whole town/lake/mountain ranges! Unbelievable. It’s a 4-5 hour straight uphill super strenuous hike but JUST DO IT. You can thank me later.

While we were in Queenstown, we did a short little 2 day trip to Milford Sound! We were incredibly lucky and had sunny weather, but apparently it rains here at least 300 days of the year. We took a beautiful boat tour through the picturesque fiords! I wouldn’t necessarily recommend staying here overnight.. it’s extremely remote (no cell service) and we got so lost and couldn’t find anyone around to ask questions! Unless you have your own car or camper van I would recommend only coming here for the day!

After Queenstown we made a short stop in Lake Tekapo. The water here is super turquoise- a coastal walk along the lake is the best thing to do here!

After Lake Tekapo we made our way to our last stop- Christchurch. As I’m sure you know there was a huge earthquake here a few years back.. unfortunately since then the city isn’t doing so well. It’s super deserted – we were there on a Saturday night and didn’t see anyone on the streets at all! I’m sure over the next few years once it’s built back up a little bit this city will be bumpin’ again!

The botanical gardens here are gorgeous if you’re looking for something simple to do! There’s also lots of shopping to do in the area 🙂 There’s also a cable car you can take to the top to get views of the city!

That’s my NZ trip in a nutshell! Keep an eye out for more detailed posts of the places I stayed while here!

xo steens