New Zealand with Kids
December 2nd - 22nd, 2014
Our Story
Though we knew from the beginning we'd be spending Christmas in Australia, we weren't always sure what else we'd be doing while on the far side of the Pacific Ocean. New Zealand was often discussed, but we just couldn't decide if we wanted to go there or not. One of my friends who is also a big traveler spent a long time in New Zealand and always would rave about it, and we knew if we went we would have to do it the right way, which means touring the country in a motor home. It came down to deciding if we wanted to spend our extra time relaxing on a beach in Thailand or camping in New Zealand. We even polled our Facebook followers what we should do. It should come as no surprise that both we and our followers agreed, we were New Zealand bound!
South Island
We received lots of advice on New Zealand, and everyone assured us that the South Island is far and away the more beautiful of the two main islands of New Zealand. Though our flight from Thailand landed in Auckland in the North Island, we immediately hopped on a connecting flight to Christchurch in the South Island. From Christchurch, we picked up our motorhome, our car and home for the next two weeks. We were slightly apprehensive at first about whether or not we'd like living and traveling in a motorhome, but we ended up finding it to be the most rewarding and enjoyable time of our whole journey. What made the whole experience so amazing was not just the beauty of New Zealand, although it definitely was absolutely gorgeous, but we all really enjoyed the simple lifestyle that comes with living in a motorhome. We've all become very close on this whole trip, and spending the whole day together in a moving box took that to a new level. Every day was a new adventure, one that took us around almost the entire perimeter of the island over two weeks. We saw amazing landscapes, rare animals, not many people, lots of sheep, went to the top of a glacier in a helicopter, and had countless other great experiences while traveling around the South Island.
Read more about New Zealand's South Island on our blog
North Island
After making our circuit of the South Island, we hopped on a short flight to Auckland and spent less than a week touring New Zealand's North Island. As much as we would have loved to have kept our motorhome for longer, as Christmas neared the rental agencies began charging higher holiday rates, which made it much less affordable. Instead, we rented a tiny little car for very cheap and stayed in whatever cheapest place we could find for the night. While not as beautiful as the South Island, the North Island does have some really nice towns and amazing sights of its own. From glow worm caves to thermal spring to Lord of the Ring's Hobbiton, there's something for everyone. If we only had to pick one island to visit, we would pick the South Island, but we're really glad we had the opportunity to visit both.
Read more about the North Island on our blog
More coming soon!
All New Zealand Blog Posts
Sorry, we're a bit behind on these posts. We promise more are coming soon!
New Zealand Photo Gallery
Coming soon!
Today, we had to say goodbye to Wendekreisen as our trip in the South Island comes to a conclusion. Traveling around in an RV has been an amazing experience. Not only have we enjoyed the comforts of traveling with our home on our back, we also learned about living small and leaving tiny footprints since we had to really watch our water and gas usage. An eye opening experience for sure. We will miss you Wendekreisen. South Island, you are gorgeous!