New Zealand North Island- Travel Ideas

Summary: If I have just a week to spend on the north island, for example, I would do these following things: Tongariro Crossing, Hobbiton & Glow Worms, Coromandel Peninsula (hot water beach and cathedral cove). You probably can fit more than that in a week, but those are the places that even as a returning tourist, I would go see again. Overall the North Island is more about beaches and lush forest, the south island is more about mountains and lakes. So, if you have a preference for one (for me that is mountains), plan out your time according to that preference!

1. Auckland

I spent two weeks on the north Island. I flew into Auckland on a red eye flight. Wasting no time I left my bags at the low end southside motel I had booked and used Uber to get to One Tree Hill, and  Mount Eden. Neither of these were sights you need to see. I felt they were pretty overrated. It was a stormy day and so my view wasn’t pristine. Perhaps with a clear day they would be good view points of the city.

From Mount Eden I did a self-guided walking tour of downtown Auckland, the Botanical gardens, the University, the Sky tower, the harbour, the maritime museum. I pretty well hit it all in one afternoon on serious jet lag. It was too much walking, I don’t recommend walking all that territory. The stretch from Mount Eden to downtown is pretty long. The Sky Tower, again, because it was stormy, not much to see, but perhaps on a clear day if you want a view of the city, choose either the sky tower or mount Eden to get it. The difference would be Mount Eden would be free!

At the end of the day, in my opinion, Auckland is just a city, not much unlike Calgary, but smaller. A city is as a city does, and so don’t waste too much time. It can serve as a place to get over some jet lag at the beginning of your trip, but there are no “must sees” there.

2.       Northlands: Drive to Paihia via Whangarei (“W” is pronounced as  “F”)

From Auckland I drove up to Paihia, with a stop at Whangarei, as it is on the way. Worth a stop, do the short hike to the Whangarei waterfall. I also went to a kiwi house there. You will not see Kiwis in the wild on your trip, so I suggest paying once to see a Kiwi. If you decide to go up north to Paihia, go to the kiwi house in Whangarei. It is the least busy, we had the best kiwi viewing, at your admission supports a good cause, the kiwis!

Pahia I stayed in for three days. It was my main beach area stop on the trip. I went parasailing, took a tour bus up to 90 mile beach and Cape Reinga (the north most tip of New Zealand). You can drive up there,  I took a tour bus just for a day off from driving. Also, it is cool because the tour bus drives right up along the 90 mile beach. I would say a drive up to the most North Point is not necessary, just depends on the time you have. I also went on a dolphin sight- seeing boat ride that took you out to what is called “hole in the rock”. If you are prone to see sickness, you will get sick most likely. I certainly did! It’s a very rocky ride that far out into the ocean. Seeing the dolphins was a highlight of the area for me. If you have seen dolphins in the wild before then don’t bother, but if not, look into it as there are numerous places in New Zealand, north and south Island, where you can take a dolphin tour I think.

3.       Coromandel Peninsula

If I had to pick Northlands (as described above) or Coromandel Peninsula, due to time constraints,  I would pick Coromandel Peninsula. The scenery is rugged brown cliffs to ocean, and there are a couple eclectic things to see/do there. I went to Hot Water Beach, which is really neat. You go about two hours before or after low tide, I think we chose two hours before low tide. You can rent a spade at the Top 10 Holiday Park located nearby, and possibly even park in the grass lot outside their facility (at least they let us do that). It’s a short walk down to the beach. You will see masses of people on the beach digging holes. The holes fill with geothermal water. This water can get even uncomfortably hot, in which case you just keep digging your hole out wider to let some cooler ocean water in. We didn’t even have to dig our hole as some people had come and go already and abandoned their hole. The idea is basically a natural hot tub on the beach, pretty cool. If you aren’t able to hit up this particular hot water beach, google if there are any other similar places where you are going, because I know this is not the only “hot water beach” area in New Zealand, perhaps just the most popular one.

The other thing I enjoyed on the Coromandel peninsula was Cathedral Cove. You can hike down to a series of coves one after the other. It was sunset so I only had time to hike down to Cathedral cove, but it’s the one you will see in all the tourist pictures and also in Narnia. It really is beautiful. I have heard you can do a kayak trip where you kayak from each cove to the next, look into it if you are into Kayaking.

4.       Tauranga and Mount Manganui

I don’t think these are must see areas. However, if you are driving a loop of the island and are going through the area, Mount Manganui has beautiful beach area right by the mountain itself. If you hike the short hike up the mountain you will get ocean and beach views. In Tauranga I went to a place called Pori Pori Waterfalls. On a hot day these would make an amazing swimming hole. Ask me for details if you decide you are staying over in the area, as they are a local swim hole and hard to find.

5.       Waitomo Caves and Hobbiton (based out of Hamilton)

I stayed in Hamilton and did a half day trip to Hobbiton and half day trip to Waitomo Caves. There is no need to go to Hamilton, I went there purely to see the LDS Temple there, as I am Mormon, so if that isn’t your thing, no reason to go there. Hobbiton on the other hand, is a must see!! Unless you hate Lord of the Rings….But if you are even just a band wagon fan, or neutral on it, you need to go to Hobbiton. You will want to stay and live there after you see it. Go on the earliest tour of the day so that there won’t be a bunch of people ahead of you. The tours run every 15 minutes, so it will get crowded.

Waitomo Caves are the place to see your glow worms and get inside some caves. If you are not headed that way for whatever reason, you can google other places to see Glow Worms. There are  some areas on the South Island as well that you can see Glow Worms. Waitomo is perhaps the most built up for tourists and therefore very accessible. You really should see glow worms somewhere when in New Zealand though.

6.       Rotorua

I am going to say up front, if you have been to Yellowstone National Park, then Rotorua will not impress, and I would be tempted to say you don’t even need to go there. However, it is a pretty popular stop. It is a good place to catch a Maori cultural show and dinner. I would splurge and to one of these sometime on the trip.  I went to the show at Te Puia. We bought a ticket that got us into the park Te Puia and included the dinner and show. The park has a bunch of geothermal stuff to check out and kiwis, but a very busy place to try and view kiwis. Basically to see any of the major geysers, hot water falls etc. you have to pay to get entrance into a park. There are a few there. If you just meander around their park in town, there are hot foot pools you can dip your feet in. In conclusion, I’m on the fence when it comes to Rotorua. If geysers, hot pools and bubbling mud is something you have never seen and are not likely to see elsewhere, then pick one of their parks there and pay the entrance fee to go in.

7.       Tongariro Crossing (in the National Park)

The Tongariro Crossing is an amazing “day walk”, meaning day hike. It is located in what they call The National Park. The trick with it is the weather. It is known for bad weather, and if it’s all clouded in you really won’t be able to hike it, or if you do hike it, you won’t see any views so there won’t be much point. If you have flexibility in your schedule, check the forecasts and play it by ear. If you just have to schedule it like I had to, I scheduled two days in the area and hoped for the best. It is Lord of The Rings scenery. Not just that, it’s also just great scenery. Turquoise lakes set in volcanic wasteland. I scrambled up “Mount Doom”. You definitely need to do that! It’s a side trip on the trail, but it is signed. It is actually called Mount Ngauruhoe. I recommend hiking poles for that hike as it’s a pile of ash and like a “down-scelator”, if you know what I mean. I also recommend going up the areas of hardened ash that is more like solid rock, and then descend on the loose ash and rock that you can shale ski down.

8.       Wellington

I drove back up to Auckland and flew down to Wellington, to save driving time. Wellington is on the very south end of the North Island. The main attraction there is for Lord of The Rings fans. It is known as “Welly-wood” as lots of movies have production in the studios there. So I guess if you are a lord of the rings movie fan and just a movie fan in general, there’s an appeal. I liked checking it out, but it is way out of the way, so with limited time, don’t worry about it. However, if you do end up down there, check out the Weta Museum, and pay to take a tour of the workshop, definitely worth it. I also drove out to see the “paths of the dead” from Lord of the rings but it’s not a convenient drive, it’s up over a mountain pass on winding roads. You can take one of a few different move tours in Wellington or look up the Lord of The Rings filming locations yourself and drive to them. I suppose if you are planning to rent just one car and drive all the way down and take the ferry to the south Island, then you will probably have a stop in Wellington. So if that is the case, the number one thing to check out is The Weta Cave Workshop. The next best thing is the Te Papa museum, which is free and very excellent.

New Zealand South Island: Itinerary and tips- for people planning a trip

1.       Christchurch and Banks Peninsula

I spent two weeks on the South Island.  If you want to splurge, look up little river cabin on air bnb. It’s on the banks peninsula outside of Christchurch. It’s a cabin in the bush, and you get a delicious breakfast and hear the birds like crazy and can hike around their property. I loved it!! It cost around 100 dollars for the night.  I went at the end of my trip when I just needed some rest, peace and quiet.  Then I took a day trip out to the French Village there called Akaroa and went on a little blue penguin tour. They are so cute! But if you have seen little penguins elsewhere, then don’t bother with a penguin tour. Bottom line if you want a kind of out in the bush, romantic/pamper yourself experience, book the little river cabin on the banks peninsula. Going out onto the peninsula is not a must see, as you will see plenty of ocean elsewhere on your trip. You can also do penguin tours out of Dunedin or other coastal areas.

I flew in and out of Christchurch. I went to the quake city museum and just checked out the botanical gardens and buildinging in their town square, all within walking distance of each other. I spent only a morning in Christchurch. You can skip it altogether if time is an issue.

Then I drove over arthurs pass to Hokitika. It was a scenic drive, you can do short hikes but not any particular hike that was a must see. I would say if you plan to drive that way to get to the west coast, stop at castle hill and get out and explore. It’s between Christchurch and Arthur’s pass. It was used for filming some of Narnia. If you rock climb you can even boulder on the boulders themselves.

2.       West Coast

The only reason I headed over to the west coast was to see the Franz Josef glacier. It wasn’t just any old glacier. The setting is stunning, unlike what you would see in our rockies! It is set on a stark contrast of black rock with multiple waterfalls along your hike in to see it. The other glacier in the area is Fox Glacier, which I did not see due to landslides over the trail.  Check the status of access and trails to the glaciers beforehand.

3.       Queenstown

Then I cut back inland to Queenstown. I love Queenstown!! It is my favourite “city” in New Zealand. I put city in parenthesis because it is a tourist town like Banff, but with a very different vibe from Banff. Its adventure capita. There are lots of trendy shops and place to eat. Buy a Ferberger, seriously the best burger I have ever had. I’m not a big burger person but loved their stuff! I highly recommed a ride on the shotover jet. i think its 90 dollars but its generously long 1/2 ride at high speed in a canyon, with 360 degree spins. Just be careful if u have back problems cause it’s a pretty rough ride. I just made sure to really brace myself against the floor and the hand rail when he did spins. I did souvenir shopping here as well as a few hikes in the area.

The hikes I did were recommended by my air bnb hosts whom are hard core into hiking themselves.

·         As a half day hike, actually I went in the evening for sunset, I hiked up to a ridge on The Remarkables Range. You drive up to the remarkables ski field first. The drive itself gives you awesome views of Queenstown in the valley. Then you hike up to lake Alta, from the lake just scramble up to the ridge until you get a view. To summit the actual remarkables peak you have to have ropes and climb.

·         A full day hike was the McIntosh-McIntyre Huts loop. It is meant as an overnighter to
a hut, but you can turn any of the
overnighters into a long day trip. There is a
river crossing, so be weary of water levels,
as it was plenty high and strong when I
crossed and I questioned crossing it at all.
The views are awesome, you can see into
the dart valley, Glenorchy area to the north.
This trail is not well used, so have an idea
of where you are going before hand

·         Ben Lommond Peak I highly recommend as it is super accessible and not a bad ¾ of a day hike. I took the gondola up to the view point over Queenstown, the trail begins at the top of that. Great views once again, and saw lots of Kea (mountain parrots) on the summit.  This will likely be a very popular one due to greater accessibility, still I did not find it over run.

I would also drive up to Glennorchy when in Queenstown as is just a nice scenic drive along the lake. you end up in dart river country which is where a lot of lord of the rings was filmed. I’m pretty cheesy about lord of the rings so I did a tour and horse ride at dart stables combined with a 4 wheel ride movie tour,  but unnecessary.

If you have a car, when going into Queenstown to check it out, just park at the Man Street Car Park, and you will be in walking distance to everything. If you want to buy a ticket to the Gondola and there is a big line up, then just go into the indoor mall, close to the mcdonalds and there is a place they sell tickets where there will be no line up, then you bring your ticket back to the gondola and skip the line. You cannot bring pre-bought tickets from online, you will still have to stand in line if this is all you have.

4.       Wanaka

Wanaka is the smaller mountain town just an hour from Queenstown. Again, I did some hikes there, Rob Roy Glacier, and Roys peak.

·         Roys peak is killer if its sunny as there is no shade at all. I was just surprised at how long of a slog it was as I thought every tourist was doing it, it must be easy! But again, worth it for a view of the area and to get that classis Roy’s peak Instagram shot.

·          Roby Roy glacier is not bad, just have to drive a gravel road to get there but I just had a car and forded the rivers with it, despite the information center telling me I should not take a rental car on it. That was early spring tho so should be dry now.

Wanaka itself has nothing to do there. A few stores and a few restaurants. The lake is nice, but nothing we don’t have back home.

One thing I will say about their information centers, don’t trust everything you hear there. I would ask a local whenever possible. For example you can ask your hostel host or air bnb host  and they will know a lot about the area.

5.       Milford Sound

I stayed in Te Anau and did a day trip into milford sound. It’s a few hours drive,  but the drive is the experience.  The scenery is stunning.  I took a milford sound cruise.  This is definitely a must do. There’s not much else u can do there if u don’t get out on the water. If you decide to tour into Milford as Te Anau as a base, just be aware there is nothing in Te Anau, even wifi is come and go. So have your food bought ahead of time for this part of your trip. I was surprised by how isolated it was.

6.       Alpine Lakes Area

The alpine lakes area was my other favourite area on the south island. That includes lake Tekapo
and Lake Pukaki. You just drive by lake Pukaki,
no hiking necessary. It is a light vibrant blue. So amazing!!! Lake Tekapo you also drive to. It is
not as stunning but a close second. You can shop, eat out etc. at lake Tekapo. I went to their hot springs facility. To access all these areas I stayed
in Twizel. It is an hours drive to Tekapo and an hours drive into mount cook national park from Twizel. I found this a manageable drive for day trip to the areas. Twizel itself does not have much as a tourist attraction, but has grocery stores and resturaunts.  I cannot emphasize enough how beautiful these lakes are though. I just drove to them and had a look, but I know there are hikes to view points you can do in those areas as well.

7.       Mount cook National Park

Go into Mount Cook park and definitely go to the Tasman glacier. It’s a ten minute walk and the view blew my mind!  If u run into rainy weather in Mount Cook park, there is an alpine center that shows short films all day, which I enjoyed on a very rainy day. There are a few hikes in the area, due to weather I only did one.

·         Mueller Hut hike. I did this hike as a day trip up to the hut and back down. Even if you hike only to Sealy Tarns, which is on the way up, I think that is worth is as you can see multiple glaciers and lakes from up there. From Sealy Tarns you can even see the whole Hooker Valley track and the lake it ends up at. Hooker Valley track would have been the next hike on my list if I had more rain-free days.  The appeal of Mueller Hut for me was in hopes of doing Mount Olivia, which is the first peak Sir Edmmund Hillary scrambled in the area. Due to a complete white out I was unable to summit. Note that none of the huts I went to had a place to build an indoor fire, so once you are wet and cold you are kind of hooped.

8.       South Eastern Coast

Now that brings me back to the east coast. I drove down to Dunedin then all the way back up to Christchurch.  There is nothing special to see in Dunedin, except the Cadbury Chocolate factory! I went  to the area because i was driving that far south to find an ancestors grave anyways, but if u aren’t driving that far south don’t go out of your way. It is an area rich with immigrant history, specifically of Scottish Heritage, which I am, and so that was the particular appeal to me.

That being said, I did love a town on the east coast called Oamuru. They have stylized it to look Victorian era and steam punk. A few hours is enough time there, so only go If it makes sense as part of the loop you are driving. I went to the steam punk museum and went in this psychedelic light show they have there called the portal. It was strangely awesome, so if you are in the area, pay the 10 dollars to go to the seam punk museum and go into the portal.  I’m not a steam punker but I loved it because it was so quirky. There are lots of local artist shops, fudge, bakery type stores.

Another scenic stop is the Moereki Boulders, is you are diving along the east coast. They are a neat geological formation worth a stop.

Other General Tips and Links:

·         For Car Rentals, from all of my research I found ACE car rentals were the cheapest.

·         For Food: they don’t have a lot of special food to eat there, just buy groceries. I fell in love with anything Hokey Pokey. Hokey Pokey is what they call a honey comb crunch they put in ice cream and chocolate bars.

·         Gas is more expensive on the south island than the north island. It was 1.7 to 2 dollars on average

·         The websites for local trails are: http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/things-to-do/walking-and-tramping/

·         Hiking is called: Tramping or sometimes a Bush Walk

·         The department of Conservation link above, from there you can find all the trails. However, note that condition reports can be months behind and their hour/time estimation on hikes is not accurate. The problem is for some hikes it was, for others it was way off. I was told by a local that funding for the department is so low, and staff numbers so low, that is why things aren’t up to date. Again, try to ask locals and use your own experience and judgement, as the department officials you meet at information centers do not necessarily have any special training of information.

·         I used primarily Lonely Planet’s New Zealand book for my planning, I like it a lot.

·         The other tip I have for planning is, follow some New Zealand travel on Instagram. I literally would just scroll through my Instagram and write down places I saw I thought I would like to see and then googled about them.

·         If you are into bagging peaks, climbing and scrambling, here is a website with a good comprehensive list. I found it hard to find good information on scrambles, no books that I could find. http://peakbagging.co.nz/wp/complete-list/