new zealand
Right, so this is just a sweeping summary of the places I’ve been that I’d recommend. You’re going to have a great time.
The thing to know is that the two islands are pretty different. The North Island is where most of the people are, more towns, and it gets way more tropical the further north you go, hotter, beautiful beaches. The South Island is the one for nature. Honestly, the North Island isn’t the best island in terms of nature. The most beautiful stuff is further down south. I’d weight your time accordingly.
The other thing is the Great Walks. These are the big multi-day tracks through the national parks where you walk hut to hut, or camp. They’re incredible. But they really get snapped up, especially in December when you’re coming, so I would look into some Great Walks and book now rather than later.
North Island Don’t spend a lot of time here, but there are a few things worth doing.
Auckland Auckland is pretty average, I wouldn’t recommend spending much time there. The CBD is just standard. The art gallery is alright but nothing compares to London, not specifically inspiring. And a lot of New Zealanders feel like Auckland is a very different vibe, it’s got more of a snooty, materialistic feel to it, but in a very average way. Poor man’s cousin of Sydney.
That said, there are some nice little spots: • K Road, the edgy area • Mount Eden, an old volcanic cone in the middle of the city you can walk up • Devonport, get the ferry over, it’s really easy to do and it’s about 20 minutes. Really lovely to spend a few hours, nice art galleries, cute holiday-town feel.
It’s very spread out, lots of suburbs and things.
West of Auckland The Waitākere Ranges are really lovely, and there’s Piha, this beautiful beach. Absolutely stunning, one of the best beaches I’ve been to in my life, beautiful black sand. I’d really recommend the trip out that way.
North and east If you go up north past Auckland I’ve never been myself, but apparently it’s pretty cool. Way more tropical, hotter, beautiful beaches. There’s Whangārei and further up north. Could be worth a day’s driving.
Coromandel to the east is also meant to be really beautiful, great beaches and stuff, but again I’ve never been there myself.
Heading south • Hamilton, I think you can skip this, I’ve not heard great things • Rotorua, often on the tourist map because of the mud pools. There’s a really nice forest, the Redwoods (Whakarewarewa Forest), with these huge trees. Hey, if you’ve got the time and you’re passing through, that could be worth doing. I went to one of the spas there, it was nice, but I wasn’t really taken with Rotorua. Not high on the list, for me at least. • Lake Taupō, a really big beautiful lake, but I drove through and wasn’t that impressed Wellington
Obviously come down to Wellington and see me 🤪 You could absolutely spend a couple of days here and I could take you around some beautiful nature spots. From a town perspective you’re not going to be very impressed, but the walks are really nice. • Skyline Walkway to Red Rocks, I can take you along this • Ōtari-Wilton’s Bush, native bush • Zealandia, New Zealand’s preserved area of wildlife, where you can see all the native birds. Really nice. The thing about New Zealand is there was a lot of colonisation, and as part of that they brought over a lot of their own plants and animals. So actually finding native trees and things is quite rare.
Getting to the South Island Ferry. Wellington to Picton, about three and a half hours. The ferry is pretty beautiful as well if you time it right. Easier if you’re driving down from the north and want to keep hold of your car. Fly. Flights are pretty cheap. You can get a flight Wellington to Auckland for fifty quid single. Or fly straight down to Queenstown, which is a really good hub.
South Island
Top of the South From Picton you can reach Abel Tasman, which is one of the Great Walks. Loads of golden beaches in that area. It’s amazing. You can spend three or four days doing Abel Tasman, honestly some of the best beaches. You just camp if you’re happy with a tent, or you can book huts as well.
⚠️ Book this now. When you visit these national parks you can book out huts, they’re called DOC huts. For the Great Walks you want to be booking now because they really get snapped up, especially in December. For the ones that aren’t Great Walks you can generally book closer to the time.
I also really love Takaka, which is a drive up from Nelson and that northern part. Very cute town on the side of this big hill mountain thing, really nice community, a very spiritual place basically. And there are some beautiful places up there. Te Waikoropupū Springs is one, big and beautiful, lots of Māori history there. Nelson Lakes I went to as well, really beautiful.
West Coast I drove down the West Coast and it’s really interesting because it’s a very different climate. A bit more rainy, more aggressive seascape, but also beautifully lush and tropical. That was great. I drove all the way down to Aoraki/Mount Cook and across to Christchurch, and that was cool. Christchurch is a really nice modern place. Basically use these towns as hubs.
The far south (the best bit) Queenstown is the key destination, and the reason for that is you can access all these other places from there. Lots of beautiful mountains, some beautiful lakes. Very touristy, I must say, you get a lot of Australians, and only about a quarter of the population is actually local. Milford Sound I’ve not been myself but I’ve had people recommend it. Absolutely stunning, like a giant sheer rock face.
Dunedin is meant to be really lovely too.
Honestly, just driving through the South Island you see so much beautiful landscape. I really, really enjoyed driving down there.
If you’ve got two weeks
- Arrive in Auckland, drive to a few of those places over a few days
- Drive or fly down to Wellington, see me, a couple of days
- Either fly down to Queenstown or get the ferry over to Picton
- Make your way through the South Island with the bulk of your time
Hope that helps, just a sweeping summary really. Shout if you want more detail on anywhere.