Australia & New Zealand Part II - The North Island

December 8-23, 2018

After three days in Australia, we were excited to begin exploring New Zealand!

Our first full day in New Zealand, we had a two and a half-hour drive to Cathedral Cove, where we had booked a Hahei Explorer boat tour and a Cathedral Cove Classic kayak tour. We would highly recommend both! The Hahei Explorer boat tour was an hour-long, allowed all 8 of us to go together, and was safe for cameras. Seeing as 6 out of 8 of us had DSLR cameras, this was a bonus since we didn't want to risk taking them kayaking.

I was a little nervous about kayaking in the ocean for the first time, but it was a great family-friendly experience, and our tour guide Andy was excellent! The classic tour is about 2-3 hours long and includes a stop at Cathedral Cove with your choice of hot chocolate or a cappuccino and the most delicious cookies! (Do not forget to wear sunscreen even if you think you don’t need it! We were running late to our scheduled departure times, so I skipped the sunscreen and got the worst sunburn I’ve ever had. Oops!)

After a fun-filled day on the water, we had a late lunch at the Pour House, which was a crowd-pleaser.

Our car made a stop at Hot Water Beach before heading back to Auckland. Chad was reluctant to make the extra stop, not believing the water would be hot. It wasn't hard to find the small stretch of beach, which can only be accessed two hours either side of low tide. From a distance, we could see crowds of people sitting in pools and playing in the sand. When we finally reached the water where everyone else was, the water was so hot in some spots we could barley stand there long enough to snap a picture. We didn’t stay long since we had a two-hour drive ahead of us.

The next day we had a glow-worm tour and a Hobbiton tour! We enjoyed the glow worm experience, but it's not necessarily a must-do since it is not an exclusive experience to New Zealand. Hobbiton, however, did live up to everyone's expectations, and I would say even exceeded most! (Everyone was excited to visit Hobbiton except for my dad of all people! He was under the impression that Hobbiton would be a tourist trap, and that we would only get to see one or two hobbit houses. To his surprise, he ended up thoroughly enjoying the experience and would even go back.) While there were a lot of tourists, you get a guided tour through the set, getting to see plenty of hobbit houses, with time to take pictures. At the end of the tour, you even get to go into the Green Dragon for a drink!

Australia & New Zealand Itinerary:

Day 1 & 2 -Flew RDU - Atlanta - Los Angeles - Sydney

Day 3 - Arrived in Sydney / Criniti's Darling Harbour / Walked around and saw the Sydney Opera House from the Botanical Gardens

Day 4 - Featherdale Wildlife Park / The Rocks Cafe / Sydney Opera House / Ferry to Manly / Manly to Spit Bridge coastal walk / 4 Pines / Ferry back

Day 5 - Blue Mountains National Park / The Gingerbread House / Bondi Beach to Coogee Walk / Wishbone

Day 6 - Flight to New Zealand

Day 7 - McDonalds / Cathedral Cove Hahei Explorer Boat Tour / Cathedral Cove Classic Kayak Tour / The Pour House / Hot Water Beach

Day 8 - Spellbound Glowworm and Cave Tour / Shires Rest Cafe / Hobbit Tour

Day 9 - Flight to Christchurch / Lake Tekapo / Church of the Good Shepard

Day 10 - The Greedy Cow / Mount Cook Hooker Valley Hike / Tasman Glacier / Drive to Wanaka

Day 11 - Roys Peak Hike / Kai Whakapai / The lone willow tree of Wanaka / Patagonia

Day 12 - Relishes / Drive to Queenstown / Fergburger

Day 13 - Over the Top Helicopter & Cruise Milford Sound / Taco Medic / Cookie Bar / Queenstown Gondola / Madam Woo

Day 14 - Vudu Cafe / Drive to Glenorchy / Fergburger

Day 15 - Vudu Cafe / Fly Back to Sydney / The Pie Tin / Walk the Sydney Harbor Bridge / Bondi Beach

Day 16 - Local Mbassy / Flight Home

Food Recommendations:

Criniti's Darling Harbour (Sydney, AUS)

The Rocks Cafe (Sydney, AUS)

4 Pines (Manly, AUS)

The Gingerbread House* (Katoomba, AUS)

Wishbone (Newtown, AUS)

The Pour House (Hahei, NZ)

Shires Rest Cafe (Matamata, NZ)

The Greedy Cow (Lake Tekapo, NZ)

Kai Whakapa​ (Wanaka, NZ)

Patagonia (Wanaka, NZ)

Relishes (Wanaka, NZ)

Fergburger* (Queenstown, NZ)

Taco Medic (Queenstown, NZ)

Cookie Bar (Queenstown, NZ)

Madam Woo (Queenstown, NZ)

Vudu Cafe* (Queenstown, NZ)

The Pie Tin (Newtown, AUS)

Local Mbassy (Sydney, AUS)

Accommodations:

Glebe Airbnb (AUS) 

Auckland Airbnb (NZ) - no longer available

Peppers Bluewater Resort Lake Tekapo (NZ)

Wanaka Airbnb (NZ)

Queenstown Airbnb (NZ)

Rydges Sydney Airport Hotel (AUS)

Things to Know:

- A visa is required to go to Australia.

- Wear sunscreen if you are going to be in the sun for any length of time.

- Early into our planning, we learned that Australia is as big as the US and that we needed to be selective in choosing destinations, so we didn't use all of our days traveling. For this reason, we were unable to make it to the Great Barrier Reef on this trip.   

- New Zealand is very strict about what comes into the country.

- A lot of Airbnbs in New Zealand do not have air conditioning. The evenings were cool, but we still found it too warm even with the windows open at Airbnbs without AC.