New Zealand trip postmortem
I’m finishing up a two week trip to New Zealand. It’s my first time visiting so my itinerary (and packing list) has all the highlights for a typical NZ trip.
Rather than writing yet another post of the same advice covered on a bazillion Pinterest travel boards, I thought I’d try and capture the non-obvious ways I could have made the NZ trip better if I’d known them in advance. A trip postmortem if you will. (If you’re not familiar, a postmortem is an analysis of an event after the fact to capture ways to improve while they’re still fresh in everyone’s mind)
Travel
I had been planning a NZ trip over NYE for a while. I lucked out and TheFlightDeal dropped some cheap tickets to Auckland on Qantas three weeks before my intended travel date. This was my first time flying Qantas and I wasn’t very impressed (lots of issues with their website/app, checkin process, and luggage handling). I flew Air New Zealand within NZ and had a better experience. Ideally, I’d find a similarly cheap flight and just stick with Air New Zealand the entire way.
Everything else about flights to and within New Zealand was straight forward. Auckland and Queenstown airports have great coffee and good lounges. Uber works in Auckland as well so you can skip the expensive taxi or the slow airport bus.
Important heads up if you’re hiking and flying with outdoor gear: NZ has tight restrictions on things you’re bringing into the country to prevent introduction of invasive species. Make sure you clean your gear thoroughly. You’ll have to declare all the stuff entering the country and show them to customs officials who will be looking for dirt. If they find some, you’ll have to give it up which can ruin a trip.
Logistics
As soon as I landed, I picked up a Vodafone NZ Travel SIM with 3 GB of data for $49 NZD. It lasted me the entire trip and took all of 5 min to get set up. It was awesome.
I pulled out a few hundred NZD but found very little use for cash in the country. Almost every store/activity accepts Visa and a surprising number take American Express (better coverage than Canada). You can also use “Paywave” with Apple Pay and skip the annoying signature part.
Peak season for all of New Zealand is the holidays at the end of the year because it’s also their summer. I ran into a number of situations where hotels/Airbnbs/tours were booked up because of the influx of travelers. It’s not so bad that you should avoid traveling at that time, but don’t put off booking things.
North island
I flew into Auckland. Based on feedback from others, I didn’t plan much time in Auckland. I found it to be a really pleasant and easily walkable city but didn’t regret limiting my time budget there.
I did a day trip to Waitomo glowworm caves and Rotorua through a bus tour company and booked through Bookme for a 30% discount (worth checking out the site even if only for ideas on tours).
The glow worms were spectacular and Rotorua geothermal very cool for a nerd like me, but both are wrapped up in tourist attractions and feel more like Disneyland at times than spectacular examples of nature. The bus tour also included a bunch of other touristy stuff I wasn’t interested in.
If I had to do it again, I’d have rented a car immediately from the airport and drove down to see the geothermal park and glow worm caves myself. Apparently there’s some glow worm caves on the South Island so I’d consider axing the North Island excursion completely.
South island road trip
Then I flew to Christchurch to start the road trip portion. I planned to drive through Arthur’s Pass to the west coast so I could do the Copland track and Franz Josef Glacier before heading to Wanaka, Oamaru, and finally Queenstown.
All in all, driving was straightforward but I shouldn’t have done so much of it. The left hand driving wasn’t an issue after I got used to it and the South Island roads are wide, sparsely populated, and well maintained. The only issue was that it took me a little while to get the hang of single lane bridges which are the majority of bridges you’ll cross on the west coast.
Next time around, I’d fly direct to Queenstown and use that as the base of operations. It’d be easy to do a day trip to Wanaka or an over night to see Franz Josef and get an early start on Copland.
I also ended up cutting the Copland track for a few reasons:
- It was stressing me out
- The off the grid cabin I booked for the night before the hike was beautiful though not practical. I loved stoking the old pot belly stove to heat water, but the bugs were horrible and the hotsprings a wash out.
- By canceling, I was able to spend more time at Franz Josef Glacier.
In retrospect, I should have done a solo overnight camp first so stress wouldn’t have been an issue. I should have stayed much closer to the Copland trailhead as well (Franz Josef center would be the best bet).
I also did a day trip to Oamaru in order to see an old family friend. It was beautiful country and Oamaru is a great little town. Probably a little too far out of the way for most people, but I’m glad I did it.
Queenstown
Queenstown is a resort town, easy to walk through, and packed to the brim with tons to do (hiking, paragliding, bungee jumping, boating, skydiving). It also has a much to offer in terms of food and beer; lots of little places to try and to call home over a few days in town.
I stayed in a hotel near the center of town, which was great for walking into the place. Airbnb was completely booked solid over the peak season.
I did an overnight trip to Milford Sound and thought it was 100% worth the drive (or bus ride) up there. If you drive, you can stay up there at the Milford Lodge which I’d also recommend. It’s off the grid (extremely expensive satellite internet is available if you’re desperate) but a beautiful location and surprisingly good food.
There’s lots of different boat cruise options but they all provide roughly the same thing. I was totally happy with my two hour cruise so not sure longer trips are better. Kayaking looks like a great way to get a different perspective of Milford sound if the weather and sandflies cooperate.
Back in Queenstown, I also did a half day wine tour by bike. A full day would be better and let me hit more wineries. I’d love to go with someone who really knows the good wineries to see (biking or otherwise).
Hiking (aka Tramping)
New Zealand is known for its tramps. If you’re going to do one on your trip, check out the Great Walks. Milford Great Walk is the gold standard but books up months in advance. We were able to book the Routeburn, which is comparably beautiful, but still had some hut availability only a few weeks out.
Routeburn was amazing (photo album of the tramp). There’s four huts along the middle and they book up in peak season. Because of that, we could only book Routeburn Flats and Lake Howden, giving us a really big day of hiking in the middle. Luckily a spot at Routeburn falls opened up the night before and we were able to shorten the middle day.
There’s a couple of ways to do this tramp:
- Either direction end-to-end over two nights staying at Routeburn Falls and Lake Mackenzie huts ideally as that gives you the best distribution of hiking effort. You can book transit to both start and end points or use a car relocation service to move your car from one end or the other. Or you can hitchhike, which seems to be super common along the Milford sound road.
- Hike out for one night to one of the huts (Falls is more ambitious but worth the nicer hut).
- If you can’t get a reservation, you can day hike parts of the track. Consider starting from The Divide, hiking up to Earland Falls, seeing Key Summit (both not on the map but near Lake Howden hut) and then back, which would give you the easy option of staying the night at Milford Lodge.
Regardless of which hike you do, you can rent typical hiking gear in Queenstown for super cheap (a few dollars a day), or buy things at any one of the outdoor gear stores so you may want to travel light. I would have rented poles at least rather than buying and hauling around.
That said, I should have brought a light backpack for day excursions like glacier and biking and an Aeropress & coffee for the tramps.
Finally, sandflies. These little buggers bite hard and leave welts that itch and stick around for days. The best solution I found was simply to wear clothes that cover most skin. I didn’t have much luck with any of the repellents other than a high DEET solution.
New Zealand next time
Here’s how I’d do New Zealand if I were to do it all over again.
- Fly direct into Queenstown and use that as a base
- Prep for a Great walk or other tramp, renting more gear rather than flying it in
- Check out wineries near Queenstown and visit Wanaka
- Drive through the Haast pass to the West Coast, Franz Josef Glacier, and Copland track
- Check out other places I missed I’d like to get to: Doubtful Sound, Invercargill, and Stuart Island
New Zealand was a blast, particularly for those appreciating the great outdoors. I’m excited to go back soon and next time, I’ll be a lot slower paced and a lot more focused on the good parts. Hopefully this will help you do that too.
