Picton to Queenstown Road Tripping

Trip date: December 2023

Our ferry landed at Picton on the South Island at 12:30am, then we had a 3 minute drive to the Sequoia Backpackers Lodge from the ferry dock. It definitely took us longer to find parking that to actually arrive at the lodge. 

Gail and I shared a tiny room with 2 twin beds and a bathroom. But we were only staying because it was so close and we knew we would want to go straight to bed after arriving.

The next morning we were up and out and on our way to Blenheim in the Marlborough wine region. Marlborough is actually the largest of the 10 wine regions in the country, and Sauvignon Blanc from here is the biggest exported wine of NZ, making up over 85%!

We had a lovely tasting at Nautilus Winery under a gorgeous canopy of trees. We were all in agreement that their Marlborough Cuvée Brut NV was our favorite, which the winery has been making since 1989 so obviously we aren't the only ones!

At Framingham there were around 13 wines you could taste from. We didn't have time for that so we picked a Sauv Blanc and then a few of the Rieslings, which is what they have been planting since 1981. We sat out in the garden to take advantage of the gorgeous day, but there is an inside tasting room also.

And then we were back on the road, our next destination Christchurch was about a 5 hours away mainly driving south along the coast on State Hwy 1. We decided to stop for lunch at Karaka, a lobster shack right on the beach easily spotted by the large crustacean on the roof!

This area is known for its abundance of seafood, with lobster, or crayfish as the locals call it, being a specialty. This is a super fun location and you can stroll along the boardwalk while waiting for your order.

Karaka also has fish and chips, which is another reason we chose it as one of our travellers doesn't eat lobster. For the 3 of us who do however, we just had to decide which size lobster for each and if we wanted fries with that. The split crays were perfectly cooked and served with toasted garlic bread and some seafood sauce. A delicious lunch at a picnic table looking out at the ocean!

 The coastline all along here is just gorgeous, very rough and wild! We decided to drive out to the Kaikōura Peninsula Walkway. It's a 3-hour walk, which we didn't have time for, but we did scramble along the exposed tide platforms and cliffs for a while. Stunning!

In Christchurch we had an Airbnb townhouse that was perfect for the 4 of us. We walked almost all over town and found Christchurch to be very pretty. And very small at a population of under 500k! In fact, I hadn't realized that the entire South Island has a smaller population that the city of Auckland alone! 

We had a great brunch at Delilah, shopped around the downtown area, had a lovely afternoon at the Botanical Gardens, went for cocktails at The Last Word (only ok IMHO), and had a stellar dinner at 27 Steps . 

I'm not generally a fan of only 1 full day in a city but I felt that we saw a lot of Christchurch, we all really liked it, and it was a good stop on the way to Queenstown.

From here the drive to Queenstown was about 6 hours, again made easier with Forest and I splitting it up. She took the first bit, the road now moving a bit more inland. Our plan was to stop in Fairlie for the famous meat pies but the line was out the door and down the block so we continued on.

Next stop, Lake Tekapo. WOW! Just incredibly stunning scenery that photos can't do justice to! We walked around taking in the views of the turquoise lake and snow capped peaks behind; an excellent place to stretch your legs. We grabbed lunch at one of the casual restaurants near the park, it was fine but the views of the lake more than made up for the 'meh' meal.

My turn to drive, as we were just about 3 hours away now, and as the driver you get more say in where you want to stop. I chose High Country Salmon. New Zealand farms over ½ the world's King salmon and is famous for being the only farmed salmon to be on Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch list. High Country is a place you can see the fish pens, buy from their deli, eat at the floating restaurant, and even fish if you want!

We just picked up some salmon, cheese, crackers, etc for apero hour and continued on our way. The road started to climb and I found myself driving over another stunning sight, 3185 feet high Lindis Pass. Really dramatic views of the grassy mountains on either side! 

And then right before getting into Queenstown we stopped for views at the very pretty Roaring Meg Canyon. Just 40 more minutes to our next destination!

All photos from Picton to Queenstown here.

Other posts from this trip:

Auckland, Aotearoa (New Zealand)

North Island New Zealand Explorations

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