Today we had an early start as we needed to be at Glacier Country Helicopters for our 8.15am helicopter flight. We allowed way more time than we needed, so ended up hanging around for about 40 minutes but it’s better than being late!
We were driven from the centre to the helicopter takeoff pad in a minibus.
We were driven from the Glacier Country Helicopters to the helicopter in a minibus
There were six of us in the helicopter, 2 in the front with the pilot and 4 in the back. Pete and I took it in turns to have a window seat, with Pete by the window on the way to the glacier, and me by it on the way back.
I’ve never been in a helicopter before, and it was a truly incredible experience to fly over the glaciers. The scenery was just breathtaking.
Flying over the glaciers was incredible, with breathtaking scenery
After a short flight, we landed on the glacier and had about 10-15 minutes to walk around and take photos. The ground was much more compact and slippery than regular snow. I’m so glad we went for the slightly more expensive trip which involved the glacier landing, as it was an amazing experience.
Landing on the glacier was truly spectacular
As we flew back, the cloud started descending and the pilot said they may have to cancel the flights after the next one. We were extremely lucky with our timing, as the visibility on the way back was definitely deteriorating.
I’m glad we got the first flight of the day, as the clouds were coming in towards the end of the flight
After our helicopter flight, we drove to Hokitika, passing by beautiful scenery on the way. The weather had also brightened up on the way, which made it look all the more lovely.
We passed by beautiful scenery on the way to Hokitika
In Hokikita, we visited the National Kiwi Centre. I thought this was a way better experience than the Otorohanga Kiwi House on the North Island, where you could barely make out the kiwis. Here you could see them so much more clearly, even though they were in a darkened environment.
The National Kiwi Centre also has some aquatic life including turtles with ridiculously long necks, crayfish (which you can have a go at fishing), and giant eels. You can feed the giant eels, which was particularly fun!
At The National Kiwi Centre you can see kiwis close up and hand feed eels
We then had a 30 minutes drive to Hokitika Gorge, which has an hour long circular walking track. It was well worth doing, as the water is a gorgeous shade of turquoise.
The water at Hokitika Gorge is a beautiful turquoise colour
The walking route also has a couple of long swing bridges across the gorge, which were fun to cross.
The Hokitika Gorge walking route includes a couple of long swing bridges
We drove back through Hokitika and soon had to fill up with petrol. There was a small food truck, PON’s Thai Food Takeaway, next to the petrol station and we were feeling peckish so got a portion of dumplings to share. They were very good dumplings!
We shared a portion of dumplings at PON’s Thai Food Takeaway
We then continued the drive to Tophouse Historical Inn, where we were staying overnight. As the name suggests, it’s quite a historic building with an interesting history (including a 19th century double murder suicide!)
We’d preordered dinner at the hotel and just about had enough time to check in, drop our bags in our room and buy a drink before dinner was served. The drinks were from the very small onsite bar (apparently the smallest in New Zealand) and it was lovely sitting outside overlooking the fields.
Dinner was from a set menu of smoked salmon, pork belly, and apple and ginger crumble and was served on one long communal table. The food was excellent, and it was quite nice chatting to the other guests.
The food at the Tophouse Historical Inn was superb
After dinner, we went for a walk around the grounds to get a closer look at the ducks and llamas. It was a very relaxing end to a quite long day.
I woke up at 5.30am to Pete ordering room service. We’d been given a $30 per person credit, as a result of our flight being diverted because of a plane fault. However, we were unable to buy anything yesterday as the restaurant was closed and room service was unavailable as they were overwhelmed with people. So rather than waste this, Pete ordered a couple of mini bottles of wine (they didn’t do full size ones) and a few chocolate bars to take to Queenstown with us.
We needed to be at the airport by 7am, but the flight itself was short and uneventful and we arrived in Queenstown around 9.30am. We were picking up our hire car at 12 noon, but as we were already at the airport decided to go and see if we could collect it earlier. The Europcar queue was huge, but we eventually got to the front only to be told we’d need to come back around 11am. We had about an hour to kill and the airports not huge so our only sensible option seemed to be to buy a sausage roll. We didn’t have high expectations so were very pleasantly surprised by how delicious the sausage roll was!
The sausage roll at Queenstown Airport was surprisingly good
We went back to the Europcar counter, and again the queue was huge. We eventually picked up the car at around 11.30am. We had no idea what car we were getting as we’d booked a relocation deal. Basically we have 48 hours to drive the car from Queenstown to Picton, the rental is just $1 a day, and we get a free tank of fuel. The car companies have a load of cars they want to relocate from Queenstown to Picton (as most people travel North to South), which is why they offer such fantastic deals. We ended up with a huge, practically new, Mitsubishi Outlander. It was a lovely vehicle!
Our relocation hire car was a huge, almost brand new Mitsubishi Outlander
Our first stop was Lake Wanaka, where we had a brief walk along the lakeside and admired the views. I’d have loved to have spent more time here, but unfortunately we’re on a tight schedule – the one disadvantage of the car relocation offer.
I wished we could have spent longer at Lake Wanaka, it’s a beautiful location
We then drove the short distance Lake Hawea, where again we had a brief stop to stretch our legs and admire the beautiful views.
Our next stop was Lake Hawea, also beautifully stunning
Our final stop off was Fantail falls. It’s quite a short walk from the car park to the waterfall, but definitely worth doing. The water was so lovely and clear, so it was a very attractive waterfall.
It’s definitely worth stopping at Fantail falls, the waterfall is just a few minutes walk from the car park
By the time we reached Fox Glacier, it was around 5.30pm so we went for an early dinner at Betsey Jane eatery & bar. We ordered garlic bread and chorizo and cheese arancini to start, followed by a burger (with mash…. Pete liked the sound of mash so asked to substitute his chips for it!) and 5 spice pork belly noodles. The food was excellent, and we left feeling very full.
The food at Betsey Jane eatery & bar was excellent.
It was then just a short distance to Punga Grove in Franz Josef, where we were staying for the night. It’s been a long day and we’ve got an early start tomorrow, so it was good to get an early night.
We departed our Airbnb, making sure we said goodbye to Steve and Dave the sheep of course! We’re driving to Aukland today to catch a flight to Queenstown, but will have time for a few stops along the way. First of all, we drove to the Village Green Bakery and Cafe in Otorohanga, where we shared a butter chicken pie. In Vietnam we had a mission to find the best Bahn mi, it appears we’re doing the same thing for pies here in New Zealand. This unfortunately wasn’t one of the best, but it was still a decent pie.
The butter chicken pie at Village Green Bakery and Cafe in Otorohanga was good but not exceptional
Being in New Zealand, we felt we had to see a kiwi before we go home, so our next stop was the Otorohanga Kiwi House.
Unfortunately it ended up being very underwhelming. I hadn’t appreciated just how shy and nocturnal kiwis were. The kiwi enclosures were in complete darkness and the kiwis themselves weren’t the most active of birds. So we got the occasional, very dark, shadowy glimpse of a kiwi and that was about it. Photos aren’t allowed in the kiwi enclosure, although I doubt you’d be able to make out any kiwis if I did try to take a picture!
I much preferred the huge walk through aviary. You walk around, and there are loads of parakeets and other birds flying around. They actually get very close to you. One parakeet even landed on a girls head when we were there (she didn’t seem very impressed though!)
I really enjoyed the walk through aviary at Otorohanga Kiwi House
There were also a few other outdoor enclosures with a variety of other birds. These were ok, but I’m generally not a huge fan of looking at birds in small enclosures.
The smaller bird enclosures weren’t so impressive
We then continued our drive to Aukland, stopping at Hamilton gardens on the way. I was extremely impressed with Hamilton Gardens, it’s very cleverly laid out and exceptionally well maintained. Plus it’s free to enter, which is always a bonus! There are loads of small, individually enclosed gardens, each with a different theme. I particularly liked the surrealist garden, with the weird moving tendrils attached to giant sculpted hedges.
The enclosed gardens at Hamilton Gardens were very impressive
We had an early dinner at Szimpla Gastro Bar, which is right by Aukland airport. We shared a flatbread pizza and Bahn mi sliders, and the food was actually pretty good. After eating, we then dropped off our hire car at the airport.
Our flatbread pizza and Bahn mi sliders at Szimpla Gastro Bar, near Aukland airport
When we checked in to our flight online, it came up with a warning to be at the airport at least 2 hours before the flight departs as there are likely to be delays at the airport due to it being very busy. We got there the recommended 2 hours in advance, and I was surprised how quick it was to get through security (maybe international departures are much worse).
We ended up being the first people to board the plane (as our seats were right at the back), and it was quite cool getting on a completely empty plane. The boarding process was very smooth and efficient, and shortly after take off the pilot announced we’d land in Queenstown early. The flight was pretty uneventful, until it came to land that is!
As we were approaching the airport, the plane suddenly changed direction and started rapidly gaining height. Apparently there was a fault with the plane. After about 10 minutes, there was another announcement. They couldn’t resolve the issue and the flight would be diverted to Christchurch, where engineers on the ground would attempt to fix the aircraft. We therefore had to remain on the plane whilst they worked.
Around 9pm we were eventually told to disembark and go to the Jetstar check-in desk to await further instructions. Being at the back of the plane, we were one of the last to disembark and therefore at the back of the queue. We waited for about 30 minutes then were told we’d stay overnight in a hotel and then fly to Queenstown at 8.30am tomorrow morning.
The queue was pretty slow moving, but we eventually reached the front where we told to walk over the road to the Novotel. We did so, only to find another huge queue at the hotel!
We eventually checked in shortly after 11pm and were told we had $30 credit per person to spend on food and drink. The restaurant was closed, but we could order room service. Annoyingly that didn’t seem to be possible, which I assume was due to the huge number of unexpected guests they now had (you had to order room service online, and it just kept saying unavailable). On the plus we had a huge, very luxurious suite. If only we had more time to enjoy it – as it was so late, we went straight to bed after the failed room service attempts, and it’ll be an early start tomorrow as we need to be at the airport by 7am.
We started the day by going to Mount Victoria summit, for stunning panoramic views over Wellington.
The summit of Mount Victoria has stunning, panoramic views over Wellington
Today we’re making the long drive to New Plymouth, so we’ll need to have a couple of stops along the way. When we saw a sign for Lewis Farm, a strawberry and raspberry farm that does fresh fruit ice cream, it felt like the ideal opportunity. The fruit is all grown in multilayered polythene tunnels, which appeared to be an interesting yet effective way of growing them (there were informational signs explaining a bit about how and why they do this). We were a bit disappointed that the advertised raspberry ice cream was not available (we’ve already had fresh fruit strawberry ice cream in Aukland so were eager to give the raspberry a go), but the strawberry ice cream we shared was delicious and a very generous portion.
Fresh fruit strawberry ice cream at Lewis Farm
We got back on the road and drove through beautiful countryside and rolling hills. I love all the purple flowers at the side of the road. I’ve no idea what they’re called but have come to associate them with the North Island of New Zealand.
After a couple more hours, we stopped again, this time in Hāwera. We were parked near the water tower, where there’s a free car park and public toilets. We had a short walk then picked up a steak pie at Andersons Pie Shop & Caterers. It’s got a 4.7 star rating on google maps and we weren’t disappointed. I can safely say it’s the best pie we’ve had this trip (closely followed by the steak and mushroom pie we had in
The steak pie at Andersons Pie Shop & Caterers was excellent
We sat outside on a park bench to eat, then it was back to the car to resume our journey to New Plymouth. We drove past Mount Taranaki, which looked quite spectacular with its peak rising above the clouds.
Mount Taranaki looked quite cool, with its peak just jutting out from the clouds
Once we reached New Plymouth. we checked into our hotel (ASURE Abode On Courtenay Motor Inn) and dropped off our bags. It’s another quite basic motel, but with huge rooms and very clean and comfortable. After dropping our bags, we headed out to The Hour Glass for an early dinner. We ordered the tapas platter, prawn skewers, and beef skewers. The platter was good value at $35, but was pretty typical fried food. The skewers however were exceptional (though a bit pricey).
Tapas dinner at The Hour Glass
There were still a few hours of daylight remaining, so we picked up a bottle of wine from the supermarket then walked to Pukekura Park. It’s quite a large and impressive park, so we had a slow amble around before relaxing on the Hatchery Lawn (one of the only areas where alcohol consumption was allowed) to enjoy our wine. We were surprised by how few people were on the Hatchery Lawn, we had it pretty much to ourselves for most of the time.
Pukekura Park is a large and beautiful park, with fountains, a lake, and a waterfall
When darkness fell, the Festival of lights began so we had another walk around the park. It looked very different at night, but quite magical with all the light installations. I’m very glad we visited New Plymouth, as it was definitely a worthwhile trip.
The park looked very different at night, but quite magical
By the time we’d walked around the park and seen all the light installations it was getting quite light, so we retired back to our hotel.
This morning we walked to the quay and had a wander along. It’s a beautiful area.
Wellington quay is very picturesque
We continued to the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, which is free to enter. It’s an excellent museum with very engaging and well thought out exhibits, most of which are very kid friendly. The museum is mostly concerned with the history (both cultural and natural) of New Zealand, with exhibits on the first settlers, Māori culture, wildlife, and volcanoes.
The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is an excellent museum
Upstairs is an art gallery, although I can’t say I found the art as impressive as the rest of the museum.
I wasn’t quite so impressed with the upstairs art gallery
After the museum, we went for lunch at The Garden, a Korean restaurant in the foodcourt of the James Cook arcade. We ordered a beef bulgogi bimibap and 6 boiled dumplings to share. They were both delicious, with a lovely chilli kick.
Lunch at The Garden
When we’d eaten, we walked the short distance to Wellington Cable Car. It’s $6 (about £3) for a one way trip, which is what we decided to do. The journey is surprisingly short, at just over 3 minutes.
Wellington cable car
At the top of the hill is the Cable Car Museum, a small museum that’s free to enter and tells the story of the history of the cable car and how it works. There are also a couple of old cars in the museum and you can see the old winding equipment.
The Cable Car Museum is small but interesting, and free to enter
There are some beautiful views over Wellington from the top of Cable Car. It’s worth getting a ride up just to see them.
The views over Wellington from the top of the Cable Car are stunning
You can walk through the Botanic Gardens which is what we did. It’s a very pleasant downhill walk, and a relaxing way to spend a sunny afternoon.
The Botanic Gardens are very pleasant to walk through, especially on a sunny afternoon
It was now late afternoon, so we went back to the hotel to relax for an hour before heading out for dinner. On the way, we walked down the bustling Cuba Street where there’s a cool looking, slightly randomly operating fountain.
I loved the water fountain on Cuba Street
We had dinner at Pho Viet Street Food. As it’s Tuesday they had 2 for 1 on selected cocktails, so we gave the pina colada a go. Both the food and cocktails were good, but not exceptional.
Dinner and cocktails at Pho Viet Street Food
After eating, we headed back to our hotel, Sojourn Apartment Hotel – Ghuznee.
After checking out of our hotel, the Quality Inn Napier, we went to explore the town of Napier. We started by wandering along Marine Parade, a wide, leafy street with gardens between the road and the seafront.
Marine Parade is by the sea and a very pleasant road to walk down
We walked back along the beach front. The beach itself isn’t sandy, but is made up of black pebbles. It’s still pretty picturesque.
Napier isn’t a sandy beach, but is made up of black pebbles
We next went into the town centre, and had a wander around the streets. There are loads of lovely art deco buildings, mainly because the whole town was rebuilt in the 1930s following a major earthquake in 1931 which destroyed most of the town.
Napier is known for its art deco buildings and vintage cars
It was quite nice to walk around the town and admire the many art deco buildings, I took some photos of a few of my favourites.
I quite enjoyed photographing the art deco buildings in Napier
On the way back to our hotel we passed by Lick this. They have many flavours of ice cream, and today one of these included banana so we obviously had to give it a try. We bought a cup with 3 flavours (banana, maple walnut, and Ferraro Rocher) and it was absolutely huge! Good job we only bought one to share!
Our massive ice cream at Lick this
We walked back to our hotel to pick up the car, then drove to Greenwich cafe for a sausage roll to share. The filling was exceptional, though the pastry wasn’t that crisp or flaky.
The sausage roll at Greenwich cafe was good, but the pastry wasn’t as crisp as I’d have liked
The drive to Palmerston North took a couple of hours, and passed through the most beautiful scenery. Once we reached Palmerston North, we went straight to the Te Manawa Museum. It’s a lovely little museum, which is free to enter and mainly focuses on history and nature in the local area, with a bit of art thrown in. A lot of the exhibits are interactive, so it would also be pretty good for kids.
Te Manawa Museum is a lovely little museum, mainly about the local area, and is free to enter
We next went to The Victoria Esplanade to see the rose garden. The garden was absolutely beautiful, and a very relaxing way to spend the rest of the afternoon.
The rose garden in The Victoria Esplanade was beautiful
It’s a couple of hours drive from New Palmerston to our final destination of Wellington, so we stopped off along the way at the Salt and Wood Collective for dinner. We ordered jalapeño poppers, pork ribs, and fries with pulled pork to share. Not the healthiest food, but tasty!
Our very meaty dinner at Salt and Wood Collective
We then continued to Wellington, and went straight to the Sojourn Apartment Hotel – Ghuznee, where we were staying. It’s a very new hotel so all the rooms were clean and shiny. The rooms are all studio apartments, although they’re pretty tiny (smaller than most of the regular hotel rooms we’ve stayed in). We’re not planning on cooking here, so don’t especially need the space, and it’s centrally located so we were happy with our choice of accommodation.
Last night we were staying at an Airbnb just outside Taupo. It’s pretty much in the middle of nowhere but in an idyllic setting, and as we’ve got a car being out in the sticks wasn’t an issue. The owner had supplied us with bread and fresh eggs from her chickens so we made ourselves some scrambled eggs on toast before setting out for the day.
Our Airbnb outside Taupo was quite idyllic
Our first destination was Craters of the Moon, a geothermal park. It’s an incredibly interesting landscape of steaming craters and mud pools. However, I didn’t find it quite as impressive as the one in Rotorua (which had many bubbling water pools as well as steam coming out of the earth), but the entry fee of $10 (about £5) was a lot more reasonable.
Craters of the Moon, a geothermal park with steaming craters and mud pools
We then drove into Taupo, where we did a boat tour on Lake Taupo with Ernest Kemp. The boat was relatively small, but very full.
We took a boat trip on Lake Taupo with Ernest Kemp
The boat ride was absolutely beautiful and very relaxing. There was a drinks service on the boat, with a full bar and snacks available. The drinks were surprisingly reasonably priced, with a glass of wine just $6 (about £3).
The boat ride over Lake Taupo was beautiful and so relaxing
At the far end of the lake are some Māori carvings, which were impressive to see (although they weren’t as old as I was expecting, dating from just 1976).
The Māori carvings were probably the highlight of the Lake Taupo boat trip
After the boat ride, we went into Taupo, and enjoyed the views overlooking the lake with plenty of ducks waddling along.
There are fantastic views over the lake in Taupo
We then set off on our drive towards Napier, stopping off at a couple of wineries along the way. The first one was Linden Estate, a very artsy little vineyard. The tasting fee of $10 was waived if you made a purchase, which we did as the wines were excellent and very reasonably priced.
Linden Estate, a very artsy little vineyard with excellent and reasonably priced wines
We next visited Crab Farm Winery, and it there shortly before closing time. The lady behind the bar was very friendly and was happy for us to a tasting. It was quite informal, with her just asking which wines I wanted to taste (most other vineyards have set wines you taste, or at least limit the number). The most surprising thing was the Chardonnay which was served room temperature. Apparently she always drinks it this way! We agreed that it tasted less sharp than the chilled Chardonnay we had as comparison, but I still wasn’t totally convinced! We weren’t charged for the tasting, but that could be because we purchased a bottle to takeaway.
I very much enjoyed the tasting at Crab Farm Winery
As we drive past the vineyards, we noticed what looked liked apples growing. It was very odd, as they looked very much like vineyards (small plants all planted in rows). Maybe they were just baby apple trees.
Apples growing in (what looked liked) vineyards, not quite sure what they actually were!
We backtracked to Cone & Flower for dinner, where we shared a hanger steak with chimichurri and a whole grilled fish with beurre blanc sauce and some freshly baked focaccia. The food was great, and the focaccia was great for mopping up the buttery sauce from the fish.
The food at Cone & Flower was excellent
On the way into Napier we stopped off at Westshore Beach, a beautiful black pebble beach which looked quite stunning as the sun was setting.
Westshore Beach is quite an interesting looking black pebble beach
From there, it was only a short distance to the Quality Inn Napier where we were staying. It’s quite a basic motel, but the rooms were comfortable and very spacious. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing with the bottle of wine we’d purchased from Linden Estate earlier this afternoon.
This morning we thought we’d visit the Sky Tower. On the way, we passed by Top Rolls Vietnamese Street Food so decided to share a Bahn mi for breakfast. The roast pork Bahn mi was amazing, probably the best we’ve tasted since leaving Vietnam.
The pork Bahn mi at Top Rolls Vietnamese Street Food was exceptional
We continued to the Sky Tower, and were surprised by how quiet it was. Apparently it gets much busier in the afternoon.
We went up to the main observation deck on the 60th floor. This deck has a glass floor, which is pretty cool as you look directly down onto the street below.
The main observation deck has a glass floor with
We then went up to the sky deck on the 68th floor. I preferred this deck, there were much fewer people and so you had great unobstructed views over the whole of Aukland.
Views from the Sky Deck on the 68th floor of the Aukland Sky Tower
We next went to Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, which is free to enter. There’s a wide variety of art on display, from both New Zealand and international artists. I really enjoyed this gallery, it’s well worth visiting if you’re in Aukland.
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki has a wide variety of artwork and is free to enter
On the balcony of the upper floor of the gallery was a Mexican arts and food market, which was interesting to wander around. We also got to taste some free food and drink samples which was a nice bonus.
There was a Mexican market on the balcony of the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
The art museum is right next to Albert Park, so we walked through it. It’s a lovely park with some beautiful displays of flowers and some huge ancient trees. At the far end of the park is the impressive looking University Of Auckland Clock Tower.
Albert Park is beautiful to walk through
We next went to Emily Place Reserve, which is right by our hotel. It’s a very small reserve, but is worth visiting to see the trees that loop over the walkways.
Emily Place Reserve and its incredible arching trees
We need to drop off the hire car and then we’re picking up another hire car from the airport. It’s a very inefficient way if doing it, but we found hiring a car for more than 6 days made the price shoot up. So having two separate hire car agreements (with different companies) saved us a few hundred dollars.
We’ve got just enough time to get an early dinner before the hire car is due back, so we go to Firewood Pizza Haven and share a pizza and a cheesy garlic bread. It’s basically a takeaway shop, but they’ve got a couple of tables where you can sit and eat in. The food was excellent, it definitely deserves its 4.9 star google rating.
The pizza and cheesy garlic bread at
Right by the hire car place is The Strawberry Farm, which we’d noticed when we first arrived in Aukland. The so fresh fruit strawberry ice cream, which would obviously make a perfect dessert! The queue was huge, but we took this as a good sign and weren’t disappointed. It was lovely ice cream!
Fresh fruit ice cream at The Strawberry Farm
We dropped off the car, the got a shuttle to the airport. We went to the Hertz desk to pick up our new hire car, a Toyota Yaris Cross. It was much bigger than any Yaris I’ve ever seen but was a lovely car and when we got inside thought it had a new car smell. Turned on the ignition to find only 25km on the clock, so it literally was a brand new car! Not bad for $45 (about £25) a day.
Our brand new Toyota Yaris hire car
We’re driving down to Taupo this evening, and stopped off at Huka falls on the way. It was evening by the time we got there (but still very light as it doesn’t get dark until around 9pm) and the car park was already closed so we were literally the only ones there. It’s a stunning waterfall, not particularly high but the sheer volume and velocity of the water was impressive.
Huka Falls was very impressive
Our accommodation for the night was an Airbnb just outside Taupo. It was in the middle of nowhere but was such an idyllic setting and had a huge comfortable room with a separate sitting area. I’m very glad we chose it over somewhere in central Taupo, where we would’ve paid more for a much smaller, more basic room. It was nice to sit on the sofa with a glass of wine before bed, something we’ve not been able to do very often!
Today we took a trip to Waiheke Island, which is a 40 minute ferry ride from Aukland. We’d read horror stories of people queuing for several hours over the Christmas period so we decided to get the 8.15am ferry and arrive nice and early. When we got to the pier at 7.50am there were only a handful of people already waiting. However, after about 15 minutes a huge crowd of people seemed to suddenly show up, so we were near the front of what ended up being a fairly long queue. Even so, everyone got on and the ferry was far from full.
The 8.15am ferry to Waiheke Island wasn’t at all full
The ferry ended up departing 10 minutes and used its “speed exemption” to catch up the time. We arrived at Waiheke Island a couple of minutes after 9am, so had caught up most of the lost time. The sailing itself was very smooth and pleasant.
When we arrived we realised the hop on hop off bus (which we’d booked in combination with our ferry ticket) didn’t start until 10am. So we walked the 2km up to Oneroa, the nearest town to the ferry terminal. We were hoping we’d find a decent sausage roll at the Humble Pie Company Village Butchery & Deli. Unfortunately they didn’t have any, but they did have some delicious looking pies. Although it’s not really a breakfast food, we decided to be rebels and share a steak and mushroom pie between us. It was an excellent choice, the pie was so good – crisp, flaky, buttery pastry and a beautiful steak and mushroom filling.
We enjoyed our breakfast steak and mushroom pie from the Humble Pie Company Village Butchery & Deli
We had a little wander around Oneroa before making our way to the bus stop to catch the first hop on hop off bus of the day. We’d also not realised that most of the wineries don’t open until late, so we ended up getting the bus to the very far end of the bus route and getting off at Batch winery. The hop on hop off bus has commentary, and the Norwegian guy we had was very entertaining as well as interesting.
Batch winery is on the top of the hill, with great views. We still had a little time before the winery opened at 11am, so had a little wander around, admiring the views. The wine tasting room itself was quite cool. You stood around barrels to do the tastings, with all the big metal equipment in background. There was a choice of two tastings – the standard for $15 or the premium for $25. We did one of each, and shared them. I enjoyed the wines but felt they were slightly overpriced (much more expensive than some of the other wineries we visited in the Hunter Valley, but the wines were no better in my opinion)
The atmospheric tasting room at Batch winery
We hopped back on the hop on hop off bus to go to Goldie Estate, the oldest vineyard on the island. We disembarked and walked the short distance to the vineyard, only to find a big sign outside saying bookings were required until after 1pm. So we crossed the road to get bus back the way we came.
As we were waiting for the bus a car pulled up, wound down it’s window, and the driver asked us if we were waiting for the hop on hop off bus, to which we replied yes. She said it looked really busy and there were loads of people waiting at the bus stop before us, so to hop in. We were reluctant as we didn’t want to inconvenience her, but she was quite persistent. The driver was a lovely, very chatty Irish lady (we didn’t catch her name), who had been visiting Waiheke Island for about 30 years and had now chosen it as a retirement location. She asked if we mind walking (we don’t) and then suggested she take us to Casita Miro. It’s not on the bus route, so there’d be a bit of a walk back but luckily we quite enjoy walking. We love getting recommendations from locals, so jumped at the chance.
At Casita Miro we ordered a wine tasting between us and a grazing platter with focaccia. The focaccia was amazing, clearly homemade and we were surprised how big the portion was! The pork rillets were also excellent, and we were please y surprised to get a huge slab of cheese still in its packaging!
After sampling the wines, we then ordered a glass of our favourite wine each, as we still had loads of food still to eat. I was surprised Pete went for rose, he’s clearly a convert! I had the red, and we also bought a bottle to take home with us.
Casita Miro has some cool mosaics, and some lovely wine and tapas
Unfortunately the vineyard walk has been closed since covid, so instead we had to walk to Onetangi Beach. It was a lovely walk, and the views over the bay were absolutely beautiful.
The views over Onetangi Beach were beautiful
We made our way back to the bus stop, We got off in the valley, where there a cluster of vineyards. There was a private function going on at Stonyridge Vineyard, so instead we went to nearby Postage stamp. Here, the tasting fee was $15 for four wines. They’ve got nine in total so we said we’d get two tastings and disregard one of the roses. However we were told we could just try all nine, which was very nice of them. We really enjoyed the wines here, and the servers were very friendly and chatty (and also from England).
We enjoyed our tasting at Postage Stamp
We then walked the short distance to Heke for a whiskey tasting. Heke are also big on their beers, and the whiskey tasting came with a lager as a palate cleanser – not something I’ve come across before, but it worked well. They’re not actually allowed to call the first whiskey in the tasting a whiskey (it’s completely clear and has had no contact with oak barrels), but it was very peaty and you’d never know it wasn’t a “real” whiskey.
Our whiskey tasting at Heke came with a lager palate cleanser
We got back on the hop on hop off bus and went to Mudbrick, another recommendation from the Irish woman who we’d accidentally hitchhiked with. She remembered it when it was just starting out and the tasting room was a tiny hut. It’s far from that now, but we still really enjoyed the wine tasting. And being on the top of the hill, there were some amazing views over the bay with the city of Aukland in the distance.
Mudbrick is on the top of the hill and has great views back to Aukland – which is why it’s a popular wedding venue
Our final stop of the day was the nearby Cable Bay Vineyards. I felt the tasting here was a bit overpriced compared with the other vineyards, the pours were very small and the tasting felt very rushed. On the plus, we had a nice chat with the couple on the table next to us, who are also living in England (the husband was from New Zealand, but he married an English girl).
The tasting at Cable Bay Vineyards was definitely my least favourite of the day, but the setting was still gorgeous!
We were luckily just in time to get the final hop on hop off bus of the day to the ferry terminal. The ferry back to Aukland was much busier than the morning ferry, but it was still a very calm and pleasant journey.
Bye bye Waiheke, hopefully we’ll be back one day!
By the time we got back to Aukland it was almost 8.30pm so we went back to our hotel for an early night.
We had an early start to the day as we needed to be at the Rotorua Canopy Tours meeting place by 8am for our canopy tour. It was a bit of a wet and miserable day but we were provided with very good waterproof coats so it wasn’t a problem – and actually it ended to being a very good wet weather activity.
After getting kitted up, we boarded a minibus and were driven to the forest. It was then a short walk through the forest to the first zip line platform.
We walked through the forest to the first zip line tower.
The canopy tour consisted of several zip lines and a couple of rope bridges. It was an incredible experience. We had so much fun on this tour and barely even noticed the wet weather.
The Canopy Tour is a series of zip lines and rope bridges through the virgin rainforest
The Canopy tour lasts 3 hours (although the time went super quickly!), so it was getting on towards lunchtime by the time we returned to the car park. We drove to Tirau, and ate lunch at Tucker Tirau, a cute little cafe. We ordered prawn dumplings and fish and chips, and the food was excellent. The dumplings in particular were amazing (just a shame there were only 4 of them). We were so impressed by the food that we bought one of their sausage rolls to take away with us.
The food at Tucker Tirau was excellent
We still had time to kill (as the Hobbiton Tour we’d booked didn’t start until 4pm) so we walked along Tirau high street and grabbed an ice cream at the One Road Ice Cream Company. The ice creams there were looking very tempting so we had 2 scoops each. I chose the salted caramel and the gingernut, and Pete went for the banana (obviously!) and the hokey pokey (which is basically a bit like little bits of broken up crunchy). It was only when we came to pay that we realised they don’t accept cards. This wouldn’t have been a problem, but Pete had put his wallet in the glovebox of the car when we did the Rotorua canopy tour and had forgotten to retrieve it. Luckily the staff were very understanding and let us eat our ice creams before we went back to the car to get the wallet and pay.
We really enjoyed the ice cream at the One Road Ice Cream Company
We returned to the car, stopped off at the ice cream shop to pay, then drove to Hobbiton. The movie set is on private land in the middle of a sheep farm, so you need to get on a coach to take you there.
You have to take a coach to get to Hobbiton
I’ve watched all the Lord of the Rings films but can’t say I’m a huge fan (I found the book extremely hard going and gave up very soon into it!). Pete’s not seen the films or read the books. We both loved Hobbiton though, and luckily the rain had cleared by this time so we remained dry. The tour was very interesting and our guide was super engaging (although I did slightly tire of her constantly referring to us as “friends”). I especially like learning about / seeing the fake tree! It was pretty impressive!
Both Pete and I really enjoyed the Hobbiton tour
After seeing all the hobbit holes, we then made our way towards the The Green Dragon Inn, passing by the Millhouse along the way.
We passed by the Millhouse on our way to The Green Dragon Inn
At The Green Dragon Inn there was a choice of drink (ale, apple cider, or non alcoholic ginger beer) which was included as part of the ticket price. It was very atmospheric and felt a bit like being in an olde English pub.
The Hobbiton tour concluded with a drink at The Green Dragon Inn
After our Hobbiton tour, we shared the sausage roll we’d picked up to takeaway earlier. As we expected, it was an excellent sausage roll, very flavoursome with a great meat to pastry ratio.
We very much enjoyed our sausage roll from Tucker Tirau
We then drove to the Gamma Hotel in Aukland, where we were staying for the night. We checked in, dropped off our bags, then headed out for a light dinner at Ken Yakitori Bar Anzac. We ordered some chicken karaage, prawn dumplings, chicken thigh skewers, pork belly skewers, and pork and prawn skewers. The chicken karaage and dumplings were decent, but nothing special. The skewers though, were amazing! Especially the pork belly (the pork and prawn would also have been perfect if it wasn’t covered in mayonnaise!)
The skewers at Ken Yakitori Bar Anzac were exceptional
After eating, we walked back to the hotel for an early night.
Emma and Pete’s Asian Adventure 