New Zealand with Lisa and Manya

April 10th, 2024 - Vancouver to Auckland

Air New Zealand- Wow, what a great airline! From check-in to arrival at the destination, the warm friendly service provided by Air New Zealand was refreshing. At the Vancouver Airport, Premium Economy passengers have a separate check-in area.  We were provided lounge passes to the Sky Team lounge, a nice treat to have a relaxing place before the flight. (minor detail - the lounge could use a refresh, the chairs were a little worn and some were damaged)

Premium Economy passengers are among the first to board our 787 Dreamliner aircraft. On the seats were the following items for our comfort: plush pillows in crisp white cotton pillowcases, a nice blanket, an amenity kit in a recyclable cardboard case and a menu for our dining options. The amenity kit includes a wooden toothbrush, toothpaste in recyclable packaging, ear plugs and a locally made beautifully scented cream, as well as colourful socks. If you have forgotten your eyeshades, you can have the flight attendant bring some. The flight entertainment with new and old releases, music, games can be enjoyed with noise-canceling headphones. The wide seats with leg rest, pillows and a large size blanket made for a very comfortable flight. Before take-off, bottled water was provided, and once the aircraft reached the required altitude, drinks were offered, ranging from cocktails to local New Zealand wines and bubblies. The printed dinner menu listed choices of beef, chicken, and fish along with appetizer, salad, warm bread with local olive oil and a dessert. Dinner was served in china, with nice cutlery with your choice of beverage including your choice of some nice New Zealand wines or a cocktail. After dinner the lights dimmed for those who wanted to get some sleep. During the flight, you can order snacks and drinks from your entertainment screen or walk to the galley and help yourself to chips, chocolate cookies, water, tea or coffee.

Another notable and appreciated feature of the Premium Economy Cabin are the private bathrooms! The cabin is dimmed for the night flight, and lights slowly came back up  before for the breakfast service that featured omelet or blueberry pancakes.Suitcases were dispensed within minutes of arrival!

Going through customs and immigration requires filling out a personal travel form to be filled out on line 24 hours prior to flying, or by filling out the forms on board or at the landing. New Zealand has very strict rules about what to bring into the country and are listed in the form. Failing to declare any of the forbidden items could result in a $400 fine. Suitcases and every carry-on go through bio security scanners, before leaving the airport security area.

One of the first things we noticed exiting the airport was the tropical feel of the island's weather. It has the feel of Hawaiian weather, along with heavy rain to welcome us to Auckland.

Travelers Hint - I purchased an e-sim for New Zealand with Airalo, the cost for 5GB in a 30-day period was $16.00 USD. This is a great saving from using my own cell plan in another country at around $15.00 per day. This was my first time using it, so I went online and watched a couple of YouTube videos to figure out how to activate it. Once I figured it out, we were able to use apps to navigate our journey, including maps, Uber and phone calls.  

April 12th to 14th - Thames

A friend met us and drove us to Thames, a little over an hour's drive east of Auckland. The drive time would normally take 1 hour and 15 minutes, but there was an accident on the motorway, so it took us around 30 minutes longer. 

On the drive you are awed by the beauty of this country, from the rolling hills to the palm trees, the lush tropical forests to the farmland, you also notice how many cows there are!  We were told that the cow population is about the same as the human population in New Zealand.

The Town of Thames has a population of about 7200 people. This town is located at the southwestern end of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand’s North Island. We stayed two nights at our friend’s lovely home located up on a hill about 1.5 kms from the main center of town. The main center of town is pretty much located on one long street with shops and services on both sides. For a small town they have a great selection of hip coffee shops, restaurants, and organic stores.  

Suggestion of accommodation in Thames: 

- Avalon Motel Thames - this is a 12-room motel located close to town with basic rooms, air conditioning, free parking, Wi-Fi, private balconies or patios, daily continental breakfast and a small outdoor pool. 

Other popular accommodation, and in fact, most people would likely use VRBO and Airbnb in this area. 

For a day trip we would highly recommend driving to Whangamata, on the southeast coast of the Coromandel Peninsula in the north island of New Zealand, it was about a 55-minute drive from Thames. Whangamata is a popular holiday destination for Kiwis during the summer months and is a surfers’ paradise all year round Whangamata Beach is one of New Zealand’s most famous surf beaches and “the left-hand break” brings surfers from all over the world. Main Street offers plenty of restaurants and shopping for everyone. We chose to try Port Road Project, a delightful restaurant with an amazing brunch menu, since we were on holiday we decided to order some rose wine from a selective wine list. Or settle for a range of coffees and home-made pastries and baked goods. 

April 14th to 15th - Auckland

Next Stop Auckland - Auckland is based around two large harbours and is located close to the northern end of New Zealand’s North Island. We stayed at the JW Marriott, on Albert Street, a very centrally located hotel within walking distance of most of the sights to see. The rooms are large with views of the city or harbour, the bathroom is well appointed with a separate toilet area, double sinks, a large soaker tub and a separate shower. 

We only had one night in Auckland, and did our best to see what we could including the harbourfront including the old Ferry Building, The Auckland Gallery, St Albert’s Park, Commercial Bay, the main shopping area on Queen’s street, and the Sky Tower. 

The domestic airport is nondescript, and about 30 min drive from the city center.

April 15th to April 18th - Wellington, Capital City of New Zealand

The mid-day domestic flight took 50 minutes, during which the service was excellent for such a short flight. Water, tea, and coffee with snacks were served, and trivia questions from the overhead screens for entertainment. 

A beautiful clear day allowed for stunning views of the land, lakes, and the sea as we approached the landing. Again, the bags were delivered quickly, and we made our way to the Uber pick up area for our short drive to the Novotel Hotel. Unfortunately, both the location and the overall amenities of the hotel did not satisfy, and after one night there, we booked The Intrepid Hotel in the Cuba Street area. A funky neighborhood full of shops, restaurants and galleries was definitely better to explore the Capital City.

The first night we walked down to the waterfront and met Di from Wellington tourism for dinner at Master Kongs, an Asian fusion restaurant. Fun night with great food and company. The waterfront area is full of different restaurants to choose from.  

2nd day

After we woke up, we packed up to get ready to move after our escorted tour of Zealandia. Zealandia is a protected natural area in Wellington, it is the first urban completely rented ecosanctuary, with 225 hectares of forest. 

To get to Zealandia you take a cable car located in the main shopping area of downtown, the cable car costs about $20.00 round trip. It is about a 15 minute ride to the top of the hill, once up you can explore the botanical garden kit palekaka, the treehouse visitor and gift shop, the begonia house (a house containing tropical plants), the lady Norwood rose garden (contains over 300 different varieties), a cable car museum, and space place (a planetarium) before heading to Zealandia to see their protected birds. Once we explored the area, we went to the shuttle stop to wait for our transfer to Zealandia. We learned that Zealandia has two at-threat birds, the HiHi or Stitchbird and the Takahe (Orbell), and they have eight at-risk birds that they are working to repopulate. The Takahe was almost extinct; there are now over 400 in New Zealand because of the hard work by organizations in this country. The walking tour takes around two hours, your guide is informative and helpful in locating as many birds as possible. The park itself is beautiful, you walk along forested trails, a dam, a suspension bridge with no worries about running into predators. They have no snakes on the islands here! Approx cost $60.00 New Zealand dollars per person for a two-hour tour.

After a lovely meeting with Orbell, the Takahe, we were ready to take the shuttle to the cable car and head back to our hotel to check out.  

The Intrepid Hotel - we arrived early so they were able to store our bags so we could get a bite to eat before our appointment at the Te Papa Museum tour. We wandered up Cuba Street and settled on a place called Floridita's, a restaurant serving updated New Zealand fare in a 1930’s style space. It was fantastic, we both loved our meals and would highly recommend going here. The service was outstanding.

Te Papa Museum - we had a fantastic tour guide named Norrie, a wealth of knowledge. For an hour, he took us around to different parts of the museum showing us the history of the country. Te Papa is huge so he could not show us everything, but he explained the areas we did not see with him, and we were able to explore after the tour. Approx cost $100 New Zealand dollars per person for a one-hour private tour.

When we were done at the Te Papa we walked back to our hotel, they had delivered our bags to our rooms, and we got our keys. The Intrepid Hotel is located in the Te Aro neighborhood on Ghuznee street, 1/2 block to Cuba Street. This hotel was formerly an office and warehouse for Cadbury Chocolates built in 1909. This hotel only has 18 contemporary rooms on three floors. The rooms are carefully designed to incorporate the heritage and highlight the architectural features. The beds are amazingly comfortable with high quality linens, the bathrooms have a separate toilet and shower areas with local products to use while staying and are tiled beautifully. You have a mini bar included in your price that has juice, pop, chips, popcorn, nuts and candy. You also have stations on each floor that offer coffee, tea, sparkling and still water that are available all day. In your room you have a pitcher and cups for water refills, coffee mugs and plates. On the third floor they have guest laundry. On the main floor there is a curated gift shop, a lounge area and a bar that opens at 4pm till late called Puffins. Puffins has an amazing wine selection along with light bites. If you prefer, they also have a very good cocktail menu.

Traveller’s hint - there is no tipping in New Zealand, for all shops, restaurants and services.  

The airport in Wellington is very nice with a lot of shops and restaurants to occupy your time while waiting for your flight. Pretty much all the shops and services are located in the main terminal before you go through security. Once through security there is a small shop for coffee and lite bites.  

Air New Zealand domestic service - the flights we flew were on time departing and arriving, they load and unload the planes from the front and back of the aircraft.  Air New Zealand domestic flights have only one class of service and the flight attendants offer a quick snack (popcorn, chips or a cookie using all local companies) and drink (coffee, tea or water) on the flights

April 18th to 21st - Queenstown

Final stop Queenstown - the flight to Queenstown from Wellington was just over one hour, and you notice the difference between the two islands right away. The southern island is more mountainous, and you can see a lot more large lakes from the plane. The Queenstown airport is located between two mountain ranges and the flight into it is spectacular. The airport is small and well laid out, easy to navigate your way. Once we collected our bags and found our Uber driver, we headed to The Rees Hotel.

The Rees Hotel Queenstown is a 5-star hotel located on the shoreline of Lake Wakatipu, located about 15 minutes from the airport and 15 minutes from the main town centre. This property offers your standard hotel rooms up to 3-bedroom villas with your own hot tub. We stayed in a 2-bedroom Lakeview apartment with 1 bathroom and a full kitchen, living and dining areas. We had a very large balcony with a table and chair for 6 people. Our bedrooms were at opposite sides with large king beds in each. 

The property offers a pillow menu with 6 different choices to improve your sleep comfort. Our unit had a Nespresso maker, a French press with local ground coffee, all the different teas, hot chocolate, and fresh milk in the fridge. They also had a mini bar in the room with wine and snacks at reasonable prices. The hotel has a gym, bike rentals and is located on a lakefront path that you can walk to town on, it takes about 50 minutes and is very scenic. They also offer a free shuttle from the hotel to town and return on the hour from the hotel returning 1/4 past the hour. You need to make reservations with the front desk for this shuttle from 8am leaving the hotel until the last pick up in town at 10:15pm. If you miss the shuttle, Uber is available and easy to use in New Zealand.

First night, we ordered room service, which was disappointing, due to the lack of choices. Thankfully the nice bottle of Sauvignon Blanc in the fridge softened the blow.

Day 2: Cloudy and sunny until the rain arrived late in the day 

I Walked through the city centre and loved all the shops and food options. We settled for The Bespoke Kitchen that offered the best breakfast options, with local produce served in a lovely setting. We highly recommend eating here!

After breakfast, we wandered around Kiwi Park. We were very happy as we really wanted to see this elusive nocturnal bird. This bird sanctuary is family owned and operated with the main focus on saving endangered bird species native to New Zealand. The main attraction, Kiwis, are housed in a special area of the park in their own natural environments, this unit is set to simulate night during the day so that we are able to view them. At night the light switches on so that they think it is day and can sleep. This way they can be viewed safely by visitors. 

After a few minutes, after our eyes got accustomed to the darkness, we saw three of the four Kiwis running around in their separate habitats, looking for food. It was an amazing site! The fourth one was only 6 months old and just getting used to his new environment so not very many people are lucky enough to see him. There are about 20 other endangered bird species in this sanctuary that can be viewed with a self-directed audio tour, offered in many different languages. They also have a Honeybee Centre that offers a viewing of how a hive works in nature along with active hives on site from which honey is harvested and then sold to help raise money for the park. Daily complimentary honey tasting is offered to help decide which of the many varieties to take home with you at approximately $55.00 New Zealand dollars per person.

We decided to walk back to the Rees on the lake trail, rather than take the shuttle, as it was a lovely autumn day. This walk is mostly flat and is around 3 kms in total. As we got close, the skies opened up and we got quite wet.

For dinner that evening, we chose a light dinner at Sardine restaurant, that serves Asian fusion plates, before meeting our shuttle to take us to the Onsen Hot Pools for a 1-hour soak under the stars, in a cedar tub, while enjoying a glass of wine and some snacks. The Hot pools offer free round trip shuttle service to and from the city centre and takes about 15 minutes to reach at a cost of approximately $80.00 New Zealand Dollars per person.

Day 3: Full of wonders!  

Our day started with amazing weather, sunny and bright on the warmest day in Queenstown so far! We started with a morning helicopter flight with The Helicopter Line of Queenstown, they offered free pick up and drop off from our hotel, so we took advantage of this. After a short safety meeting we were escorted to our helicopter, our pilots name was Zippy, and we were headed out for the pilot’s choice flight along with 4 other people. It was our lucky day as we were seated in the front with Zippy! Once in the air Zippy took us on a 10-minute ride up to an Alpine range with spectacular views of the valleys below. Once he found the perfect spot to land were able to get out of the helicopter to enjoy the views for about 10 minutes. Then we headed down a steep incline into the valley below for another 15 minutes of pure pleasure. This is a must do when in Queenstown! Approx $330.00 New Zealand dollars over person. 

Next stop a steamship called TSS Earnslaw on Lake Wakatipu to a beautiful farm, to enjoy lakeside dining at the Walter Peak High Country Farm. Included was a scenic cruise across the lake along with an amazing gourmet BBQ meal, and at the end of the meal they did a farm demonstration to see the farm dogs at work then a cruise back to the Harbour where we started our journey. This tour takes around four hours and is fantastic. Approx cost $175.00 New Zealand dollars per person. 

Day 4 - time to start the long journey home from Queenstown to Auckland and Auckland to Vancouver. 

We had our domestic and international flights booked on separate tickets, the check in agent was amazing and was able to check out bags all the way through from Queenstown to Vancouver. This saved us time waiting for our bags at the domestic terminal and having to recheck them at the international terminal. There is a lot of construction going on between the terminals, the airport offers a free shuttle that runs every 15 minutes between the 2 terminals. Once you are at the international terminal you see a special area for Business and Premium Economy passengers to check in, they also have an elevator that takes you to an express lane to get through security. 

Once we were past security, we headed to the Air New Zealand Lounge as we had four hours before our flight to Vancouver was to depart. Lucky for us we were on the list to get into this very popular lounge. The lounge itself was large and offered a variety of comfortable areas to relax and enjoy all the lounge had to offer. We enjoyed some cocktails, New Zealand wines, a coffee bar, and food, including fresh grilled lobster, an assortment of cheeses, salads, sandwiches, soup, hot dishes, and desserts. Our time was up in the lounge as our Air New Zealand flight was ready to board! We were seated in Premium Economy on our return with the same great service we experienced on the outbound. It was nice to see a different menu on the return flight to mix things up a bit. I was also happy to see some of the same yummy snacks I ordered on the outbound flight!  

12 hours and 26 minutes later we were landing in Vancouver, always a beautiful sight to see. 5 flights, 9 nights in 4 different accommodations, 10 Uber rides, and over 110,000 steps we only have amazing things to share about our adventure in New Zealand!

Lisa and Manya