North Island New Zealand Explorations

Trip date: December 2023

On Christmas Eve, after a few days in Auckland, we picked up our car rental and started driving south. For the next 10+ days we would be driving throughout the North and then South Islands of New Zealand. We were really excited! 

The North Island is called Te Ika-a-Māui in Māori which means the fish of Maui. This is also where almost 90% of Māori live. 

Our first stop was the Waitomo Caves which was about 2 ½ hours from Auckland. There are a few places to see the famous glow worms that are only found in New Zealand, this one worked best for our timing. 

No photos are allowed in the caves so you'll just have to believe me when I say it was such a cool experience! We followed the guide deep inside a tunnel which brought us to the upper section of the cave. This area has some amazing stalactites and stalagmites! It's very dim and damp and claustrophobia could be an issue for some. 

After listening to the guide explain the history of the cave we walked deeper into almost pitch darkness. In this chamber you could see thousands of tiny glow worms clinging to the ceiling. It was pretty incredible! But not as incredible as when we boarded boats and were pulled through an underground river by ropes attached to the ceiling and lit only by glow worms! Our guide requested silence also which really enhanced the experience. He also let us snap a couple of photos right as we were leaving.

I highly recommend these caves if  you are passing through this area; it's important to make reservations in advance as most of the tours were completely sold out on each of the days we were looking at. We also had a great lunch at Huhu which is right next to the park. 

2 hours later we arrived into Rotorua where we would spend the next 2 nights. It was great to get off the road as it had rained so hard it was difficult to see and I was still getting use to driving on the left! Rotorua is known for its geothermal activity- hot springs- so we had booked rooms at the Regal Palms which has big spa tubs in the rooms and also pipes spa water in the showers (they also have a big swimming pool of spa water but the pool was closed when we were there). 

Rooms were big with kitchenettes and small dining tables; lots of room for drinks, aperos, and game nights.

On Christmas morning we had reservations at the Polynesian Spa where we soaked in different pools fed by 2 different springs right on the banks of Lake Rotorua. I had also booked a massage for after my soak but Forest and Thibault just spent their entire time in the hot pools. It was a super relaxing and chill way to spend the holiday morning! 

Later on Christmas day we went to Te Puia which is a Māori cultural center. This could have very easily been a real gawdy tourist trap but instead it was so great! We all learned a ton about the Māori here; we visited an art school and saw how certain crafts are made, learned about their tattoos, we saw an amazing geyser as the center is also on geothermal land, and even saw a Kiwi bird (no photos allowed)!

We also had a really good dinner, a buffet of so many different regional foods including the famous green lipped mussels, and watched a performance in the beautiful carved meeting house which included the Haka. Again, could have been really Disney-ish but instead was excellent!

While in Rotorua we ate and drank at Atticus Finch & Number8 Wire. Both were fine but nothing to really seek out IMHO.

The next day we were on the road again, stopping in Napier for a lovely lunch outside at the Boat Ramp where we tried whitebait fritters & fried fish burgers. It was a stunning day, the kind we had been expecting from New Zealand, finally!

We spent that night in Wellington, about 4+ hours total drive from Rotorua and pretty easy with Forest and me dividing it up. The Bolton Hotel was a great location, with lots of easy street parking around, very cozy rooms, and a surprisingly good restaurant for both dinner and breakfast! 

Forest and I went to check out a few cocktail bars but unfortunately most were closed since it was Boxing Day. The one that was open was great though- a cute little punch bar called Night Flower- unfortunately they closed just 6 months later. 

Our final day on the North Island was a busy one as we had planned to go wine tasting in Martinborough but the highway was closed because of an accident! We had to pivot plans while on the road so we turned around and went to the Mt Victoria Lookout. Our friend Gail was flying into Wellington that afternoon to join us and it was a great spot to see her plane approach!

Then we drove to Queens Wharf for lunch at Dockside and Gail joined us once she had her luggage. This is a great restaurant, definitely one of the best outside of Auckland, with a lovely menu of local and seasonal dishes. And it's right on the water!

After lunch we wandered around the docks, we were catching a 8:30pm ferry to Picton on the South Island and the ferry boarded not to far from here. We hadn't planned to take this last ferry of the night but they sell out! So if you are planning on doing the boat over, book as soon as you possibly can! 

When it was time, we joined the queue to drive our car aboard the ferry Kaitaki, meaning challenger in Māori. It's a huge ship and can carry up to 1,000 passengers. There are restaurants, a movie theater, a bar, a few lounges, private cabins, an atrium, and outside decks to wander.  

We hadn't booked a private cabin but we found a good spot for the 4 of us to hang out and also checked out the bar and restaurant. It was a 4 hour crossing of the Cook Straight, which connects the Tasman Sea to the South Pacific Ocean. We were lucky and had a pretty smooth sailing and also had a gorgeous sunset! South Island, here we come!!

All photos from the North Island here.

Other posts from this trip:

Auckland, Aotearoa (New Zealand)

Auckland, Aotearoa (New Zealand)

Trip date: December 2023

There are no direct flights from Seattle to Aotearoa (the Māori name for New Zealand) and it's an incredible distance of over 7000 miles! So I chose to "reposition" to Honolulu and, after spending a few days there, flew 9 1/2 hours to Auckland on Hawaiian Air Business Class. 

I had transferred 130K points from Amex to Hawaiian and paid $44 in taxes. The cash price was $3514 giving me a $2.66 CPP, definitely one of my best redemptions! The configuration on the A330 was 2-2-2 so in order to not have anyone crawling over me to get to the aisle I chose seat 1G which was bulkhead & aisle. This was a basic biz class with layflat bed, not a posh pod set up with any real frills, but plenty of room, good food, and cute "flip flop" slippers.

Also they offered both Aviation cocktails and pineapple daiquiris during the flight!

I landed around 10pm and it was very quick getting thru customs & passport control. I took an Uber to Ponsonby area where I met up with my friends who had come in earlier in the day. Another friend of mine who lives in Auckland but unfortunately was out of town, had lent us her house! We had 2 days in the city before setting out to explore the rest of the country, and then I would have another 3 days at the end of the trip.

One of Auckland's most impressive sights is the Auckland War Memorial Museum. We spent a few hours here learning about the history of New Zealand, going through the thousands of Maori artifacts, looking at the incredible exhibits of taxidermied animals and birds collected throughout the country, and trying to understand the incredible journeys that were made in small wooden boats in order to discover the 1000+ islands that make up Polynesia!  

This was a perfect first stop and we ended talking about so many of the things we saw here over the next 2 weeks of traveling!

Auckland is a beautiful city and we took in some incredible views at Mount Eden / Maungawhau. We had an Uber drop us off about midway and then walked the rest up to. This dormant volcano is the highest point in the city and if it is clear you can see quite far!

For a completely different type of view, we went to Sky Tower to watch people bungee jump off the top! Tickets up the tower run $47NZD but we made reservations for just the bar and didn't have to pay anything! We ordered a couple of rounds of drinks but there wasn't even a minimum when we were there. 

At the end of my travels around New Zealand I spent another 3 days in the city, this time at the Park Hyatt for 20k points per night, transferred from Chase. The hotel sits right down at the marina, which was a new area for me, and my room was crazy big and modern.

My friend Gail was staying nearby at the Hilton, also right at the marina, which made it super easy for us to meet at the ferry dock for a day trip to Waiheke Island. This little island is just 45 minutes away by boat and is known for its vineyards and beaches. We bought our ferry tickets along with hop on/hop off bus tickets all together and in advance. 

First stop for us was lunch in the town of Oneroa. We decided on VinoVino as their deck looks straight out onto the ocean. The views were fab, the food was fine- not surprising considering the view!

From here we jumped back on the bus and rode out to TeMotu Winery We had a nice walk from the bus stop to the winery and then had a great time sitting outside tasting their Bordeaux style reds near the vineyards.

When we were done, we walked a short way to the neighboring winery, Tantalus. Unfortunately we arrived right before closing but they were very nice to pour us a few tastes before we set out for the bus again. 

It does take a bit of time with the bus to get around so if I were to recommend this I'd say get out their early, like before lunch, and just plan on eating at one of the vineyards so that you can make a whole day of it.

We also went sailing one evening with Explore Group which was awesome! We had a 2 ½ hour sail around Waitematā Harbour which included dinner and drinks! The boat came back in right after sunset so the views were just fantastic! Highly recommend!

As far as eating and drinking goes, I had a few very good, casual lunches while running around different parts of town. In Ponsonby, we had lunch at the very historic looking Hotel Ponsonby. And on Federal Street, right downtown, we really enjoyed our oysters and the snapper sliders at The Depot! Also in the central area is Odettes which is not just delicious but also really cute! And at the marina we went to White and Wongs which is a good mix of Chinese, Hong Kong, Vietnamese, Malaysian and Thai style foods. 

And although we all liked our dinner at Metita, it wasn't overly memorable for some reason. Maybe being inside a big hotel was part of it, maybe we were just all tired. YMMV!

Our best night started at Caretaker where we had some really great cocktails. It's a speakeasy style bar with fantastic bartenders and it just happened to be my birthday so they were extra nice!

And just around the corner we had a fantastic 4-course tasting menu dinner at Mr. Morris. We had chosen to sit up at the pass here and were treated to being served directly from the chefs. Dinner was paired with some really interesting wines too. It was a great birthday!

Another great place for cocktails is ACS, a speakeasy that is part of the Broken Lantern tavern group in Ponsonby. I won't say too much, as it is one of the most hidden speakeasies I have been to, but suffice to say it is worth the search! 

Within walking distance of ACS is Deadshot, another great spot with delicious drinks. These make for a fun bar crawl if you have the time.

All Auckland photos here. 

Other posts from this trip:

North Island New Zealand Explorations

Ambergris Caye, Belize

Trip date: November 2024

Last year I thought I was going to Belize for Thanksgiving. I booked the trip for the 3rd Thursday in November and was really surprised at how inexpensive the flight was ($537.30 RT in Premium)! And that's when I realized that Thanksgiving is always the 4th Thursday, not 3rd! 

Well I was still really excited about going to this small Central American country on the Caribbean and having a relaxing and fun girls trip with my friend Gail. I wasn't however excited to be at SeaTac at 6am for our direct flight on AlaskaAir. And I REALLY wasn't excited to hear the announcement while waiting to board that our flight was canceled due to Tropical Storm Sara. Back home we went to wait for updates. Long story short we were re-booked for the next day but BZE ended up closing so we were finally able to fly out 2 days later.

*Pro tip: Lyft/Uber in Seattle are incredibly expensive and I burned about $150 to and from the airport. Luckily I had just purchased yearly travel insurance from Allianz as it was required to travel to Antarctica and I was refunded before even landing in Belize! I'm now buying this insurance yearly.

Because our 6-hour flight arrived in Belize City after the last water taxi to Ambergris Caye left, and I was afraid to fly out to the island in one of the small planes, we spent one quick night at the Harbour View Hotel. They have a restaurant across the street which was fine for a quick dinner and breakfast the next day, and they didn't charge us for having to change our reservation due to the storm. But in general I would recommend heading straight out to the island.

*Another pro-tip: there is a duty free shop at BZE next to baggage claim with much better options than you will find in the local shops.

It was an absolutely gorgeous morning when we took the 1½ hour water taxi to San Pedro on Ambergris Caye. Everyone on the island gets around on golf carts so I had reserved ours in advance with C&S. They met us at the dock, helped us with our luggage, and drove us to their office which was conveniently attached to a grocery store. Golf cart and groceries procured we made our way to the Marriott Alaia where we had an oceanview 2 bedroom suite. I had found an offer called Belize-A-Little-Longer where we got our 6th night free and a cabana for a day.

The pool cabanas were so comfortable and once we found out they were only $100 we reserved another day. Having an entire day just spent at the pool is like heaven for me. And it didn't hurt that the spa was just steps away, so I also had a lovely massage one afternoon. 

The food and drinks at the pool were really great, I'd say my fish tacos were some of the best on the island! And sometimes a bottle of rosé from our kitchen just happened to find itself in an insulated water bottle and in the beach bag, hitching along to the pool.

Of course I did leave the resort and did some super fun stuff over the course of the week via golf cart, plane, and boat!

One of the things I've always had on my bucket list was to see the Great Blue Hole. You can either take a boat, which is 5 hours round trip + time spent snorkeling/diving or you can take a 1 hour flight and look straight down on the mysterious underwater sinkhole. 

There are only 2 local airlines that provide flyover tours, Tropic and Maya, I went with the latter. It was $230 for the hour flight and the schedule was filled solid when I booked. I chose to go on my first day just in case it was canceled because of bad weather, that way I'd have a few more days to try to book in. 

The tiny plane seats just 10 passengers and the pilot. The co-pilot seat is also available at a higher price. I actually have a pretty solid fear of small planes like this and before coming on the trip had been discussing if I would do the flight or not with a two good friends, the answer was OF COURSE so I took ½ a xanax and got on board!

Although Tropical Storm Sara hadn't left much of a trace on the island, there had been a lot of flight cancellations and the airline was still catching up. So our tour left 1 ½ hours later than scheduled. We flew over the Great Barrier Reef, Turneffe Atoll, and a very cool ocean freighter wreck before arriving at the Blue Hole. The pilot then did a full 2 revolutions of the hole on each side of the plane so that everyone had amazing views. 

                                        

The Great Blue Hole is roughly 1000-foot wide and 400-foot deep! It was an incredible site! But all of the scenery we flew over was really incredible! The clarity of the water is stunning!

On the way back we ended up landing in BZE to pick up some folks whose other flight was canceled and then dropped them off at the teeny airport on Caye Caulker before returning to Ambergris. Taking off and landing multiple times in about 5 minutes really was trying my phobia! 

Another day Gail and I drove our golf cart out to Secret Beach. It's about an hour each way and the rough dirt roads are really rough! There were potholes that you could drown in! A few times we waited for another cart to attempt a pothole crossing before forging ahead!

Secret Beach is a big stretch of beach clubs, all with their own vibe. We chose Maruba Beach Klub (yes, with a K) because the music was a decent level and the loungers looked comfy (& they were). We parked the cart and were shown to the beach where a server set up our chosen loungers and got us menus. 

Even though it was a warm blue sky day, winds from the tropical storm were strong! The normal clear water was murky and rough! There would be no swimming or eating at a table in the ocean or playing on any inflatables. But we had a great day with margaritas, and nachos, and a serious match of giant Jenga!

There's no charge to enter the club but there is a food & beverage minimum which gets you your wifi, loungers, games, etc. 

We also did a ½ day snorkel trip from the Alaia dive dock to Mexico Rocks. Belize's barrier reef is the 2nd largest in the world and it lies just 1/2 mile off of Ambergris Caye. Being such a short ride out we were just in a small dive boat and when we got to the site there was a park ranger who met us in his boat to collect the park fees. Because these reefs are protected areas, a divemaster is always with snorkelers and divers, this is great as it makes Belize a place that I would travel solo to as I would still be able to snorkel!   

When we jumped in I was shocked at how warm the water was; it was like 80F! There were tons of rays, conch shells, tropical fish and amazing coral heads- which I had never really seen before. It was fantastic and the divemaster was really good!

Another day we did a full day out on a catamaran with Seaduced by Belize. It was an early start with just 10 others onboard and plenty of room for everyone as they had comfy bean bags on the bow. It's an older boat but in good shape with a great crew. 

We hadn't been sailing for more than 15 minutes when a large pod of dolphins came up beside us to race! Then a big turtle swam on by! Fantastic!

Our first stop was Hol Chan National Reserve; 160 square miles of seagrass beds and coral reefs. This reserve started off as only 3 square miles in 1987 when it was established!! This time the park ranger had their own floating office and we pulled up to pay our fees.

Then it was in the water for one of the most amazing snorkeling excursions I have ever been on! We had beat the other excursion boats and had most of the reserve to ourselves for a while. We followed our divemaster and saw barracuda, trumpet fish, huge schools of snapper, rays, tons of conch, a nurse shark, and an eagle ray!!! Not to even mention all the amazing coral. Wow!!

From here it was on to Shark Alley. This section of the reef use to be where fisherman would clean their catch and toss the scraps into the water, attracting nurse sharks and rays. We got in and tread water a safe distance away while the captain tossed some chum in. Because sharks have been used to this and it isn't changing their behavior, it is allowed in the reserve (vs in places like South Africa where chumming attracts great whites while people cage dive!). It was pretty crazy both in the water and onboard watching!

We continued sailing to Caye Caulker where we had a couple of hours to explore on our own. This little island is just 5 miles long and 1 mile wide so it didn't take long to see most of it! I had conch fritters for lunch at the Rainbow Grill, then Gail and I did a bit of shopping. All the roads here are sand and pretty much everyone was on a bike. There were quite a few oil-drum bbqs with lobster, fish, and shrimp kabobs along the road and picnic tables to eat at- I'd do that for lunch if I was there again.

It's a cute little place but I was very happy that we were staying on Ambergris! 

Our sail back was just stunning, the water is so clear, and so many shades of blue, the reef easily visible below. What an outstanding day!

As Belize borders Mexico to the north, there is an interesting mix of Caribbean and Mexican food. While we didn't have any "oh my gosh amazing" food moments we really liked our lunch at Elvi's Kitchen so much we also had dinner there one night!

At Caramba you pick out your fresh catch of the day and the owner encouraged me to get a whole lionfish which is invasive to the reefs. It was a delicious fish! So juicy and flavorful! I had to get a couple of stone crab claws too as you never get those on the west coast.

As for drinking, ee had late afternoon cocktails on the dock at Wayo's on our way back from Secret Beach. There are quite a few of these palapa bars around the island, this one was very friendly and lively!

And one night we had a spectacular sunset while sipping on some cocktails on the dock at Hula Bar. There were even rays swimming in the water below us!

Ambergris Caye is so relaxing and chill, I really liked it!

All Belize photos here

36 Hours in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi

Trip date: Dec 2023

In travel hacking there is something called repositing. This means that you fly to a different airport in order to take advantage of a great mileage redemption. And that's exactly what I did on my way to New Zealand. I paid $463 for an Alaska Air Premium Economy flight from Seattle to Honolulu. And then I was upgraded to First Class! 

I hadn't been to Honolulu since I was in college so I decided to stay 2-nights and enjoy the stopover.

I had booked the Sheraton Waikiki using Marriott points and got a big King room with a partial ocean view and balcony. Feeling a bit lazy after my day of travel (it's a 6 ½ flight to HNL from SEA) I decided to stay within walking distance for drinks and dinner and go on a little mai tai crawl.

First stop was the Sheraton's beachside bar Rum Fire. My mai tai was pretty basic and just served in a pint glass, but the Christmas lights and decor around the pool were quite fun. 

Next I walked over to the beautiful Royal Hawaiian aka the "Pink Palace". This is such a gorgeous old property! I made my way to the Mai Tai Bar, also located right on the beach, and had a much better drink.

And just next door I had dinner at Duke's, which had the best of the 3 mai tais. Duke's is hardly fine dining, but I've been eating there since I was a kid so it is fun for me.

In the morning before breakfast I took a walk down Waikiki Beach and found it a lot smaller than I had remembered! It was fun to see all the surfers and Diamond Head in the distance.

One of the reasons I chose the Sheraton was that their Edge Infinity Pool is only for 16+ year olds. Don't come at me parents, I just don't want to hear kids screaming while I'm chilling with my book & a cocktail at the pool! 

I was able to reserve a single mini cabana for $60 for the entire day. It wasn't too crowded, the service was great, and this is definitely one of the prettiest pools and views I've been to. That was a very relaxing day!

That evening I took an Uber to the Kaimana Hotel for dinner at their restaurant Hau Tree. First stop was the bar for a lovely martini. The bartender also told me that they had heard Jason Momoa was rumored to be stopping by since they were using his vodka brand. Exciting, but he didn't!

I had a table outside under one of the Hau trees; the setting is so pretty. The restaurant sits on the beach so the sound of the waves adds to the atmosphere. My appetizer of housemade vinegar and dill potato chips served with creme fraiche and caviar was perfect with a glass of champagne. I followed that with their fresh caught fish of the day and a lovely Russian River Valley pinot noir which they poured by Coravin. I really enjoyed this spot.

And that was about it! Mahalo Waikiki for the quick but enjoyable stopover! 

The next morning I headed out to the airport for my flight to New Zealand. I was really surprised that HNL does not have any duty free shopping and also the Plumeria Lounge for Hawaiian Airlines business class passengers was possibly the most basic lounge ever. First world problems...

All Honolulu photos here.