There are so many different activities to do and things to see in New Zealand. Let us know what made your holiday a trip to remember.
During childhood they were always spent at family’s friends baches in Whangaparaoa & Ruakaka. To be honest I normally holday in Australia but now that airfares around NZ can be so cheap I have started holidaying here (remember in the past it was actually cheaper to fly to Oz than it was to alot of NZ destinations, especially if you were looking at going to the South Island).
The last NZ holidays I took were up North to Hokianga Harbour, up to 90 Mile Beach & through to Cape Reinga (also saw Tane Mahuta – unbeleivable that this tree was around before the time of Christ – can’t quite get my head around that!).
Also went to Bay of Islands on that same trip. I loved that holiday, had never even bothered going to any of those places before even though I’ve lived in Auckland all my life. Another time in recent years I did a tiki tour from Auckland to The Coromandel & Tauranga but we took our time about it & made it a 2 week trip. I loved doing this, there are so many unexpected things to do along the way.
Ngatea was a cute little place with the crystal shop & bought some cool things in a second hand store that would be 10 times the price up here in Auckland. And they have that water fountain park thingo there too. Went to the butterfly house at Thames which was awesome & did some bushwalks & the sculpture park walk, etc.
We drove up the Western route to Coromandel Township but to be honest that was a waste of time as nothing to see there & nothing to do in the township (although I’ve since found out we could have gone to some private railway that someone owns there? Doesn’t appear to be very well advertised). Went to Waihi (took a picture of the mine & when I got back I showed it to people & pretended I’d been to the Grand Canyon (& people beleived me!!!).
Love Waihi, cute little town, liked Whangamata & Whitianga also. Favourite beaches are Cooks Beach (mostly because no one goes there!) & of course Hahei & Cathedral Cove (probably the best beaches in the country). Katikati is nice, the bird park on the way out of there is so cute, love the rural charm of things like the kea’s in separate cages with the explanation cards up saying things like Susie doesn’t get along with Benny so they live apart now, etc!
Cute ducks there too & unusual breeds, particularly one that followed us everywhere (he appeared to be an outcast – maybe because he looked so different from the others – he was identical to Daffy duck, not like a mallard or anything). Tauranga & Mt Maunganui are cool too. For day trips I love to travel about 1 & a quarter hours north of Auckland to Pakiri Beach. It’s a long white sand beach with no shells or stones. I like it because I used to live in Oz & it’s the only beach I’ve seen here that’s like an Australian beach. It’s also a large beach so you can get far away from people if that’s what you want.
On a large beach like that, frankly I felt like sunbathing nude but people in NZ are just so weird about that. People really are prudes. Weekends away on Waiheke are great too, our own little paradise on the harbour. And even staying in Auckland for holidays & just going on day trips to Waiheke, the Western Beaches – Bethells, etc (& I love that little caravan cafe at Bethells & the crazy locals who are kind of hippish & very friendly, the cafe is like Ponsonby on the beach! Great food & coffee, not what you’d expect out there). Like the crystal shop, cafe & museum at Swanson also. And of course tramping in the Waitakere’s .
The Cascades are my favourite & it feels safer than the Hunua Ranges out South as there can be riff raff there sometimes. Went to Wrights Watergardens & Waterfall Cafe, 128 Mauku Rd, Patumahoe, Franklin ph 09 236 3036 wrightsgardens.co.nz a few months back, great place, not very well advertised though. They have waterlillies (waterlilly festival is in February each year I think), waterfalls, take a bushwalk through the place, very peaceful, quite a large place. Good for weddings.
Surprisingly great food in the cafe – maybe because they have wedding receptions there that I assume they cater, so they are up to play with good food. If in Auckland on my holidays I also like to hang out at cafe’s in Ponsonby, Parnell (the chocolate boutique there is great) & check out the dealer galleries in Parnell, go shopping at Dressmart & the Hard to Find Bookshop in Onehunga.
Go for long walks around Tamaki Drive (as in all the way from the city to St Heliers if we can be bothered or St Heliers to Okahu Bay & back – this takes about 1 and a half hours there & back). Centennial Park in Birkenhead on the North Shore is a little known about treasure, walk through kauri trees full of fantails & tui’s (you are guaranteed to see & hear tui’s as there are loads of them so great for tourists), go down to Kendalls Bay & walk around the rocks on the left hand side of the bay if the tide is out & at the end you can see a superb view of the city skyline with the Skytower, etc.
Where else can you see kauri trees next to a beach with the city skyline & native birds? And in Auckland! And usually there’s no one there. Also love visiting Wellington (especially in the summer, it’s awesome in the sun). Not a fan of Te Papa (do they ever change their exhibitions? And most of it seems aimed at children) but love shopping, the friendliness of Wellingtonians, the architecture of those awesome old homes in Mt Victoria, etc, the laid back stress free environment, the cafes, nightlife, arts & theatre (especially during their arts festival – much better than Aucklands one), etc.
With the cheap airfares now, I also plan on going to Nelson, Napier, Christchurch, Dunedin & Queenstown. Apart from Christchurch I have never been to any of these places before. So happy that the fares can be down as low as $75 each way these days, particularly if you book a couple of months ahead, but sometimes even booking only a couple of weeks away you can still get these cheap fares. That’s what I find with Air NZ anyway.
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