Around New Zealand in 61 days

It’s over! New Zealand is a distant memory from now on. 

Here we are, in Christchurch airport, sipping on a pint. While sat here, it’s been fun reminiscing about my time in New Zealand.

I can’t quite believe that I landed in Auckland in January! It feels like an awful long time ago. People had told me what to expect with Auckland, it’s good for a couple of days but that’s all you need. I did stay for a couple of days, and it was good, but it was just the right amount of time.

The hostel in Auckland was a bit dull, which I have ironically found with hostels in the bigger cities. People aren’t really there to make friends, they are either local or are working and staying there.

Then chaos ensued as the floods swept across the top of the North Island. I got lucky and escaped, but the next week was rather wet. Paihia saw a couple of relaxed days, with a few boat journeys around the bay of islands. Looking back, the hostel here was one of the worst. It was incredibly dated, and everything was just a little odd. Fortunately, there were a couple of Scottish girls in my room, so we hung out together and explored. A drunken karaoke night made the bus journey to Rotorua a bit painful!

Next up, the smelliest place in New Zealand, Rotorua, the place full of sulphur stuff coming out of the ground. Rotorua itself isn’t the most exciting of places, but there’s stuff to do around there, like Hobbiton. Hostel was good, but for some reason, expensive!

Things got a bit more exotic as we then headed to Taupo. The main attraction here was the Tongariro Crossing, which looking back was probably my favourite hike in New Zealand. The fact that you were walking over a volcano was just insane really. I’ll also never forget this place for all of the oldies ascending on the hostel for their festival. A very strange experience.

Onto Wellington, still the best city I have ever been to (but not the best place in New Zealand, more on that later). I stayed in the fanciest hostel throughout my trip. I won’t forget the luxurious showers in a hurry. Lots of beer was drunk, and rugby was watched at the very early hours.

Nelson marked the start of the South Island, and we were only really there to go to the Abel Tasman national park. Since going here, I have gotten into debates with people about how good it is. Yes, it’s beautiful, but it’s just loads of beaches and trees. Many people I have met have said it was the best place they have been in New Zealand, but I disagree.

Then a lovely little pit stop in Greymouth, where the most exciting thing was having my own room (remember the cats!) and going to the brewery.

Then things got proper exciting, as we headed to one of my top three places in New Zealand, Franz Josef. I loved the small town mentality of this place. The hostel was my favourite of the entire country, everyone really made an effort to socialise. I also did something I never thought I would ever do, get in a helicopter and hike up a glacier.

We left Franz Josef slightly disappointed at the failed skydive attempt, but no matter, it was time for Wanaka. Another one of my top three places in New Zealand. Hostels were a bit strange here as everyone seemed to be working there. But no matter, I had come down with a few people from Franz Josef, where we did the skydive and climbed up Roy’s Peak in the dark.

The adventure capital of New Zealand was next, also known as the place that rinsed my wallet, Queenstown. People really bigged this place up to me before I went, so I had high expectations. It surpassed those expectations, what a place! It’s the final place in my top three. The hostel I stayed in was incredible, there was never a dull moment (but sometimes you wished there was to catch your breath). Highlights include Ben Lomond, the Luge, mountain biking, jet boating and of course, bungee jumping.

Te Anau was next with a trip to the Milford Sound (I still maintain this was a disappointing trip, only saved by the fact I went back there when hiking the Milford Track a few days later), and do some hiking on the Kepler Track. I also got left a love note on my bed here, lucky me!

The Milford Track was a bit of revelation. People say it’s one of the best hikes in the world, and while I’m not sure that’s true, it wasn’t the hike itself that won it for me, it was just the whole experience of spending four days with the same people with no interactions from the outside world.

Next up was Tekapo. The most boring place on my journey. It was such a come down after the greatness of Franz Josef, Wanaka, Queenstown and Te Anau. I was there four nights and spent a lot of time trying to figure out the best way of escaping early without hurting my wallet too much. I stuck it out, but I was quite grumpy about it. Although I did get some good weather here. 

Finally to Christchurch and Kaikoura. Again, not the most exciting end to the country after the big three, but it wasn’t bad. Although we had to dodge some weather, the last couple of days in Christchurch were great fun going to the rugby and the festival.

So, should you come to New Zealand, absolutely yes! I have spent a long time here and overall it’s been a fantastic experience. I would describe it as the UK on steroids. The North Island is a bit like England, then the South Island is like Scotland and rural Wales, but all just bigger and better. But the vibe is very UK like. While that makes things easier to slot in, it’s maybe not the best place to come to experience a different culture (well Asia is coming up soon anyway). I’ve done so many amazing activities here that I wouldn’t really dream of doing in the UK (probably because they would be crap there).

Highlight - Skydiving. 

Lowlight - Spending too many nights in Tekapo (I had a minor meltdown).

I haven’t really talked about how I have been getting around. I have been living the InterCity life. Think New Zealand’s answer to National Express (definitely not a Megabus anyway).

I bought a flexi bus pass (which it turns out isn’t too flexible). You get a certain number of hours to use while you are travelling around, and you just book buses that are available. Some places only have one bus a day, while others are only every other day. As long as you kind of have a plan, it’s fine and also very cheap. The drivers have been great bar from one who had a go at me for eating my lunch OUTSIDE of the coach (their policy is to not eat on the bus which I of course obeyed).

Other travellers swear by travelling via car or camper van. While I agree this is the best way to do it (particularly the lower part of the South Island), there’s just not enough rentals available at a good price. I’m content with how I did it and it just means I’ll have to come back in a camper van and do it again! The cheapest rental company makes you drive around in these, so it could be worse…

And if you don’t have a bus or a car, you just sponge off others. Hitchhiking is a massive thing in New Zealand which lots of travellers do. I wasn’t necessarily brave enough to do it, but I have huge respect for those that do. I did have a minor experience where I kind of hitchhiked a bus. The bus I needed to get out of Te Anau was full, so I headed to the bus stop where loads of buses from Milford Sound have their toilet break. I asked one of the drivers if he had any space on his bus and if I could buy a seat, but he just told me to hop on and keep quiet about it, amazing.

If I did come back, I’d personally just focus on the lower part of the South Island, which incidentally also contained my top three places that I visited. The scenery down there is just incredible, and you could spend months just hiking around the area. 

There’s also another thing to think about. Previously, if you were under 30, you could come and live here on a working holiday visa for a year. This didn’t work for an old man like me this time, but the government are extending this to 35 years old soon, so you never know…

Finally, I must bid a fond farewell to my New Zealand supermarket beer of choice. Monteith’s West Coastin’ Hazy. I don’t care to recall how many of these I have drunk. My beer out in the pubs and bars has varied, however it’s usually a hazy pale ale. Prices are equivalent to London I’d say across New Zealand (I won’t talk about groceries as they are disgustingly expensive). Now I need to find a new beer for Australia, but I suspect it’ll be goon instead.

See you in Melbourne! I am really hoping I don’t get eaten. I’d make a tasty meal sadly.