New Zealand October-November 2022 Trip report

[sayhello]

I'm not jealous you went to Hobbiton. Nope, not at all!

Sounds enchanting!

Sayhello

 

[couture1]

This is a preview of Kiwi country.

My DW and I are sitting in our hotel suite in Queenstown looking out onto Lake Wakatipu after concluding a fabulous "post day" trip to Milford Sound by bus, boat and air. It was perfect weather and we depart tomorrow. Mathmagicland was also on this tour, and she departed today. As often happens in small group travel, we made some new friends. Provided the Southern Cross guides us home, Mathmagicland and I are going to do a full and complete trip report as a team. Give us a little time to get home and get organized (thousands of pictures to review and yes the colors are real and not retouched). As Mathmagicland and I live on opposite sides of the USA this trip report will also reflect the spirit of unity found in the very diverse people of New Zealand. We agree this ABD trip in its current form is a home run, five stars, all three Michelin stars (if they rated travel generally) with the expert guides of two well known and incomparables - Kira and Victoria.

So travel fans, consider this your first preview...and understand that New Zealand is where the skies kiss and bless the lands. This trip in its current form is like a waterfall - never ceasing, never slowing, beautiful and majestical. ABD for this version of the trip returned to its original roots with total immersion into the New Zealand culture. This includes hearing from very different corners of the nation, breaking bread with some of these proud people, exploring with the kiwis their lands and their traditions, and sharing their joy in the flora and fauna that bless this part of the world.


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Thank you! We arrive early morning in Auckland Dec 25 Christmas Day, and sadly the Hobbitown tour, penguin experience and maritime museum are all closed, and Park Hyatt spa has no availability. Any suggestions for that day? Welcome dinner is that evening. I’d like to get us out during that day to start acclimating to time change.

 

[DjmNash]

Any tips on preventing jet lag? We couldn't get an earlier flight and will arrive the morning of the welcome dinner, ugh. How cold was Franz Joseph; what clothing is needed, I'm trying to pack light. Do we need any 'fancy' clothing? Thanks for sharing your trip. I'm so excited for ours in December.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

That would be number one to do on my list! Looks like a great tour.

 

[Grifdog22]

Thank you! We arrive early morning in Auckland Dec 25 Christmas Day, and sadly the Hobbitown tour, penguin experience and maritime museum are all closed, and Park Hyatt spa has no availability. Any suggestions for that day? Welcome dinner is that evening. I’d like to get us out during that day to start acclimating to time change.

We didn't schedule anything in particular in case there were problems with the flight or we just didn't feel up to it. We walked and walked and walked. There is still a lot open on Christmas day - just Google it - and find something that pleases. Queen street has a number of locations listed as open that day as well, and it's a fun walk uphill, so you'll sleep well that night. There is ALWAYS night life going on in Auckland near the hotel, either north or south. Enjoy and explore. It is a very safe city, per our guide Victoria, who lives there.

 

[Hannah nz]

We didn't schedule anything in particular in case there were problems with the flight or we just didn't feel up to it. We walked and walked and walked. There is still a lot open on Christmas day - just Google it - and find something that pleases. Queen street has a number of locations listed as open that day as well, and it's a fun walk uphill, so you'll sleep well that night. There is ALWAYS night life going on in Auckland near the hotel, either north or south. Enjoy and explore. It is a very safe city, per our guide Victoria, who lives there.

In NZ Christmas day is a Public Holiday and restricted trading day so almost all shops must be closed. Things like dairies, fruit and vege stores, petrol stations can all open but supermarkets are all closed. Cafe's and restaurants an open but may have a public holiday surcharge which is normally 15% (as they have to pay staff 1.5x pay on public holidays). Double check by emailing/phoning places as lots of small businesses are not great at keeping their hours current, especially on Google business listings which are automated.

 

[abdgeek]

Second pre-day

It is time for a Hobbit Adventure!

DW loves movies, especially Lord of The Rings. People said that NZ WAS Middle Earth… and that the movies filmed there were NOT enhanced. NZ is unquestionably the greenest place we have ever been. Once we confirmed our trip DW said to find Hobbiton — that movie set that Peter Jackson built twice. The second time he built it, he made the movie set a permanent place— part of the farm/countryside used for LOTR and later and most recently, the Hobbit trilogy. We booked the trip with Bush & Beach and were delighted that Mathmagicland, also a major LOTR and Hobbit trilogy fan, had done the same!

This was a very early morning departure for Hobbiton. As we had to leave before the hotel restaurant even opened, we each picked up breakfast items from the convenience market across the street the night before. There was a marathon scheduled to start that morning, and many streets in the CBD were closed for the race. Our hotel pickup was instead about a 15 minute walk in a light rain for a 6:45 am pickup. However, we had no way to cross some streets or work around the barriers. It was a fun maze to work through, and we arrived just as the bus was filled and they were looking around for us. Off to Hobbiton! There were 11 other LOTR fans along for the journey.

Our driver and guide was a firehose of information as we drove. He pointed out and erupted in great deal historical sights, trivia, and details of Auckland, New Zealand, the European, Asian and Tāmaki Makaurau people. He regaled us with stories of history, economics, sports and the Kiwi love of this land. It was like listening to a LeVar Burton podcast! I think that the van driver/tour guide you get can make or break a side trip— and certainly, this guy MADE this one an excellent introduction to NZ.

He stopped halfway through for a bathroom break and…second breakfast. Pippin and Merry would be proud. Terrific offerings, and the grifdog was introduced to a NZ sausage roll and may never be the same. Flat whites and wonderful breads and biscuits, filled and unfilled. Heavenly smells as we reboarded the bus.

As a side note – our driver’s skills were remarkable…and a note on NZ roads that applies throughout this trip. Outside of large cities, their roads are quite small and narrow. Going up or down steep mountains, there are “pull offs” where slower movers are to step aside for a moment to allow others to pass. Otherwise, the roads are very narrow and often with no shoulders. There are few if any guard rails. Looking out the bus window, you’ll see the tires about a foot from the edge of the road, and another foot away is the cliff down. (Thank goodness @Mathmagicand had not noticed this during our drive!) Bridges are metal, often suspension, and a single lane. It set the stage for entering middle earth. Welcome to the shire - we are here!

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Thanks for sharing information on the Hobbiton tour but not giving away any spoilers. I booked this tour for one of my pre-days and I’m super excited about seeing the movie set! Glad to know it’s worth the early morning start and that I can buy something to eat for breakfast the night before close to the Park Hyatt. I hadn’t gotten around to figuring out if I would go without breakfast or do room service that morning.

 

[Mathmagicland]

Thank you! We arrive early morning in Auckland Dec 25 Christmas Day, and sadly the Hobbitown tour, penguin experience and maritime museum are all closed, and Park Hyatt spa has no availability. Any suggestions for that day? Welcome dinner is that evening. I’d like to get us out during that day to start acclimating to time change.

Our next trip report post will have some of what we did before the AbD dinner that Day1, but we were not on a Public holiday. @Hannah nz has given some great suggestions in her response in the NZ AbD Meets thread (Thank you!) along with the info in her post above. We have to defer to her expertise on this one as a Christmas Day arrival/Day 1 is so different from other days. It seems to be very similar to here in the US - aside from theme parks and a few restaurants, most everything else is closed here too and options are limited.

You could maybe check with some private tour operators, but they may want to be home with family and friends, rather than touring & thus not taking bookings.

 

[Mathmagicland]

Thanks for sharing information on the Hobbiton tour but not giving away any spoilers. I booked this tour for one of my pre-days and I’m super excited about seeing the movie set! Glad to know it’s worth the early morning start and that I can buy something to eat for breakfast the night before close to the Park Hyatt. I hadn’t gotten around to figuring out if I would go without breakfast or do room service that morning.

You will love it! If you need a refresher on the film trilogies, they are included on Amazon Prime Video and are also on board the Air New Zealand film library.

 

[Mathmagicland]

Any tips on preventing jet lag? We couldn't get an earlier flight and will arrive the morning of the welcome dinner, ugh. How cold was Franz Joseph; what clothing is needed, I'm trying to pack light. Do we need any 'fancy' clothing? Thanks for sharing your trip. I'm so excited for ours in December.

Jet lag - i slept a few hours on the plane, and went right out walking and exploring the city after getting to the hotel & dropping luggage. I didn’t sit much until after 4pm, forcing myself to be active and moving around. It helped me stay awake until the evening & I was on NZ time by the next day.

Franz Josef - while we were there, It wasn’t really cold to me but it will be cooler than the other stops on the tour. Most people had layers, and their warmer layers were peeled off as it was a nice day plus you are hiking not sitting around. December is summer there, so will be even warmer than we had. I’d look at the NZ weather service starting a couple of weeks prior to departure, to see how temps are trending.

Fancy clothes not needed at all. People wore polos & khakis or similar for the women, ie business causal or one step below that such as black jeans, when we neeeed to be more than blue jeans & a t-shirt. A couple of guys had jackets but most did not for our group dinner in Rotorua at a nicer restaurant, and most of the other patrons were also business casual type dress there.

Of course, if you are booking a fancy restaurant on your own, you’ll need to research their dress codes.

 

[Travel junkie]

Jet lag - i slept a few hours on the plane, and went right out walking and exploring the city after getting to the hotel & dropping luggage. I didn’t sit much until after 4pm, forcing myself to be active and moving around. It helped me stay awake until the evening & I was on NZ time by the next day.

Franz Josef - while we were there, It wasn’t really cold to me but it will be cooler than the other stops on the tour. Most people had layers, and their warmer layers were peeled off as it was a nice day plus you are hiking not sitting around. December is summer there, so will be even warmer than we had. I’d look at the NZ weather service starting a couple of weeks prior to departure, to see how temps are trending.

Fancy clothes not needed at all. People wore polos & khakis or similar for the women, ie business causal or one step below that such as black jeans, when we neeeed to be more than blue jeans & a t-shirt. A couple of guys had jackets but most did not for our group dinner in Rotorua at a nicer restaurant, and most of the other patrons were also business casual type dress there.

Of course, if you are booking a fancy restaurant on your own, you’ll need to research their dress codes.

I was also trying to figure out how formal the adult dinners are. We always do carryon only with laundry during the trip, so this is very helpful.

 

[Mathmagicland]

Thank you! We arrive early morning in Auckland Dec 25 Christmas Day, and sadly the Hobbitown tour, penguin experience and maritime museum are all closed, and Park Hyatt spa has no availability. Any suggestions for that day? Welcome dinner is that evening. I’d like to get us out during that day to start acclimating to time change.

Any tips on preventing jet lag? We couldn't get an earlier flight and will arrive the morning of the welcome dinner, ugh. How cold was Franz Joseph; what clothing is needed, I'm trying to pack light. Do we need any 'fancy' clothing? Thanks for sharing your trip. I'm so excited for ours in December.

Here’s another idea (I think better when I’m not tired after a full day walking Disneyland!) -

Self-guided walking tours. I know nothing about this app, just found it via a Google search. They say their app has several different Auckland tours, or you can create your own, and it can be used offline so no internet access needed. There might be other similar options or apps if you search around a bit more.

https://www.gpsmycity.com/gps-tour-guides/auckland-3638.html

 

[DjmNash]

Jet lag - i slept a few hours on the plane, and went right out walking and exploring the city after getting to the hotel & dropping luggage. I didn’t sit much until after 4pm, forcing myself to be active and moving around. It helped me stay awake until the evening & I was on NZ time by the next day.

Franz Josef - while we were there, It wasn’t really cold to me but it will be cooler than the other stops on the tour. Most people had layers, and their warmer layers were peeled off as it was a nice day plus you are hiking not sitting around. December is summer there, so will be even warmer than we had. I’d look at the NZ weather service starting a couple of weeks prior to departure, to see how temps are trending.

Fancy clothes not needed at all. People wore polos & khakis or similar for the women, ie business causal or one step below that such as black jeans, when we neeeed to be more than blue jeans & a t-shirt. A couple of guys had jackets but most did not for our group dinner in Rotorua at a nicer restaurant, and most of the other patrons were also business casual type dress there.

Of course, if you are booking a fancy restaurant on your own, you’ll need to research their dress codes.

Thank you!

 

[Grifdog22]

Any tips on preventing jet lag? We couldn't get an earlier flight and will arrive the morning of the welcome dinner, ugh. How cold was Franz Joseph; what clothing is needed, I'm trying to pack light. Do we need any 'fancy' clothing? Thanks for sharing your trip. I'm so excited for ours in December.

You'll need some warm clothes if you do the helicopter trips at the glacier, as well as if you fly back from Milford sound. If you do any rain forest hiking, I still recommend hiking boots even tho mine disintegrated - long time hiker with good boots/vibram sole - the NZ disinfectant was over done a few times and the soles came right off. For jet lag, we changed our phones to NZ time when we first got to the airport, and took a sleeping pill on the plane and was fine. The return trip was dreadful.

 

[sayhello]

You'll need some warm clothes if you do the helicopter trips at the glacier, as well as if you fly back from Milford sound. If you do any rain forest hiking, I still recommend hiking boots even tho mine disintegrated - long time hiker with good boots/vibram sole - the NZ disinfectant was over done a few times and the soles came right off. For jet lag, we changed our phones to NZ time when we first got to the airport, and took a sleeping pill on the plane and was fine. The return trip was dreadful.

That's a bit scary about the hiking boots disintegrating!! I love my boots, and I'd be pretty upset if that happened! Was that during the ABD or pre/post days?

Can you be more specific about what was dreadful about your return trip? What airline? Or was it just the jetlag? I remember the jetlag returning from Japan was horrific. China, on the other hand, was fine.

Sayhello

 

[distravel]

Thanks for posting such a detailed trip report! We are taking this trip in March. Couldn't get there for any pre days but we are staying for one post day. It looks like there are a lot of options for a Milford Sound trip. I see that you enjoyed your trip from Queenstown to Milford Sound. Which company did you pick for this tour? Thanks!

 

[Grifdog22]

Thanks for posting such a detailed trip report! We are taking this trip in March. Couldn't get there for any pre days but we are staying for one post day. It looks like there are a lot of options for a Milford Sound trip. I see that you enjoyed your trip from Queenstown to Milford Sound. Which company did you pick for this tour? Thanks!

We booked through Trip Advisor for the cancellation benefits and booked Air Milford for the Milford Sound Day Trip by Land, Sea and Air. This will be covered at the end of our trip report. We rate them 10/10, especially the air return.

 

[distravel]

We booked through Trip Advisor for the cancellation benefits and booked Air Milford for the Milford Sound Day Trip by Land, Sea and Air. This will be covered at the end of our trip report. We rate them 10/10, especially the air return.

Thanks for the info. I typically make reservations directly from the vendor but will definitely book through Tripadvisor to take advantage of their cancellation policy.

 

[Mathmagicland]

NZ Day 1 – Kia Ora!

It’s Monday, 10.31, Halloween in New Zealand! No tricks, only treats from this beautiful country. This was our last day for some extended free time in Auckland, as our AbD tour starts this evening. We’ll be splitting Day 1 into two posts, as we have lots of pictures to share.

We’d received notes from AbD in our rooms, that the guides would be in the lobby for check-in for a couple of hours in the morning and again for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Our guides for this trip are Kira, who has guided many an adventure for Disney, and local guide Victoria who lives in Auckland and has guided lots of tours both in NZ and around the world. The AbD time starts with a meet & greet reception at 5pm followed by dinner at approx. 5:45pm, both at the hotel.

@Mathmagicland booked an all-day private tour with Time Unlimited Tours, which she highly recommends. They offer both small group and private tours, each with Maori insights and history which adds so much to the tour content and understanding of New Zealand. Thinking we had to be back by 5pm, the company agreed to shift the tour time by an hour, so rather than 9-5, it was from 8-4. As a nice touch, they also had water & snacks in the vehicle, and the owner wrote a very nice note thanking me for booking with them, along with a gift of a Whittakers Artisan Collection chocolate bar.

Guide Daniel was wonderful and so knowledgeable! For example, while NZ is known for the silver fern, seen on the ANZ airplanes and NZ sports uniforms, the Koru, or curled fern fronds, are considered very important in Maori and NZ culture. The Koru symbolizes new life, growth, strength, and peace. You will find examples everywhere – the ANZ logo, wrought iron fencing at the zoo, signage, t-shirts, etc.

On the way to Piha Beach, there is a tree which has grown over the road. The movie The Piano was filmed at this beach, and the director wanted to cut this tree out as she would not be able to get her camera equipment & trucks past it to get to the filming area. Thankfully, she was not permitted to do that!



We found a silver fern in Waitakere Ranges Forest!



A sculpture with the fern symbol, at the Waitakere Ranges visitor center



And, an example of Koru




This tour went to the West Coast, including Piha Beach with Lion Rock, waterfalls, Waitakere Ranges Regional Forest & short time at the visitor’s center. We also went to see Te Matua Ngahere, “Father of the Forest”, New Zealand’s second largest kauri tree. The pictures cannot do it justice as the trunk girth is estimated at 52 FEET (that is not a typo)!! It is protected – you can’t get close enough to touch it, and we had to disinfect our feet before entering this part of the forest as there is a disease which is attacking many of the Kauri trees; thus far, this tree is still safe. It is over 98 feet tall and estimated to be between 1250 and 2500 years old, or maybe older as they don’t really know. It was jaw-dropping to see in person, such a beautiful tree.

Piha Beach



Lion Rock



Waterfall



Te Matua Ngahere

 

[Mathmagicland]

Day 1 Continued -

Still with the Time Unlimited tour - In addition to Piha and Waitakere areas, we went to Bethell’s Beach, the Gannett colony by Muriwai Beach with thousands of birds currently nesting & where we saw probably the first chick of the season, and had lunch at a Riverfront Tavern which has been there since 1869 and is alongside a river, which made for a quiet peaceful lunch.

Muriwai Beach



Gannet Colony - each one of those white spots is a bird or a bird pair -










@Mathmagicland tour ended the day back in Auckland atop Mount Eden, which overlooks the central areas of the city, such pretty views. In these pictures, you can really see how spread out Auckland is. Note the Sky Tower for reference, it is in the CBD not far from our hotel.








While Halloween is not as big a thing as here in the states, the kids do dress up & do some trick or treating, and a few houses have decorations. In our drive to one beach, we passed a house that was all decorated for Halloween; this had the most of any house we saw. It must have been something as my guide Daniel even took pictures to show his grand-daughter, who had made her own Halloween costume for the evening.





Grifdog22 and his DW report that they chose poorly for the day and should have booked with @Mathmagicland. They booked again with Bush and Beach for an afternoon tour of the western rain forest and Piha beach. The guide/company owner that day was not feeling too well, so many stops were made for a short “break.” There was a very long stop at a visitor’s center with nothing to see, and from here the leader discovered he had left someone behind. It took awhile to get the group back together. This brought us to a short thirty-minute slow walk in the “bush” which turned out to be a conservation area park and then cookies and tea from the van. Next stop - the ride to the beach. This was twisty and narrow, which didn’t help out our guide, so it took quite a while to arrive at the beach. Sadly, when we got to the beach, our time was short. We got out of the bus and went to the beach for 15 minutes. We headed into the water and our pants got drenched by a rogue wave. We put our shoes back on and grifdog’s boots started to detach at the soles, perhaps from the soaking in disinfectant (required in areas with Kauri trees to help spread a disease that is attacking a lot of trees) earlier that afternoon. Nevertheless, they were quite late returning, having insisted that they be brought back early. They rated this as a do not do this tour.

The AbD reception was drinks and hors d’oeuvres, followed by dinner in the adjacent room. Here we learned that we’d only have 15 for our group for the tour. What a nice, small group size! Dinner was served family style, with the servers pointing out specific dishes to avoid for those with any food sensitivities. This was the way for most of our group dinners on the tour, either family style or buffet; I think there were only one or two times where we were asked to choose a specific order for a lunch or dinner ahead of time. The family style worked out very nice, and we always had more than enough food.

In our group, we had both experienced AbD travelers, and a few first-time AbD travelers. We were fortunate as we had a great group of people for our tour.

After a long day, time to get some sleep & prepare for our first full day tomorrow.