Planning a trip to New Zealand? You’ll love my New Zealand “Top Ten” Travel Guide for gorgeous scenery, adventure, and delicious gluten-free dining options!A gorgeous morning by the Avon River in Christchurch, New Zealand
Finally.
My New Zealand post is up!
Sorry it took so long, but it takes a while to go through 750 + photos!
Don’t worry…
I’m only going to share 700 of them with you.
Just kidding 🙂
In all honesty though, it was hard to whittle down my trip to my 10 favorite experiences, but I figured that would be the best way to share at least a glimpse of this gorgeous country with you.
So, here they, are {in no particular order}…
New Zealand Top Ten
ONE. The fabulous people! Without a doubt, Kiwis are some of the nicest people I’ve met. I mean, how can you not help but smile at people who say things like, “That’s cool!” and “Cheers!” My father-in-law was quite taken with how every one referred to things as “cool!”, and SiSi perfected the Kiwi accent down to a T. Really, though, I should have known ahead of time how nice the Kiwi’s were going to be when I asked my Twitter friends for help planning our New Zealand itinerary. I owe a huge shout out and thanks to Emma Galloway at My Darling Lemon Thyme, Fiona Brown at @mrsbrownkiwi , Kiran at Kiran and Tarun, and Jimmy Boswell at The Gluten Free Chef. Kia Ora to all of you, and I would love to cook you all a delicious feast in my home if you ever come to San Diego!
TWO. Farm Stay in Rotorua. It’s official. SiSi and Big Tex want to move to a farm! And, I just might want to also, after staying at the Liz and John’s gorgeous farm house, Lakeview Heights, in Rotorua. Our gracious and lovely hosts, 2 sweet Penny’s {King Charles Cavalier Spaniels}, 1 fluffy cat, appropriately named “Fluff”, 2 coy sheep, plus a handful of cows and horses, all made our stay a most memorable one. If you ever travel to New Zealand, you absolutely MUST stay here. Just check out this view, and the animals…
Gorgeous view from our farm stay at Lakeview Heights, Rotorua
Shy, but sweet cows at Liz and John’s farm.
Could this horse be any happier???
THREE. Rotorua Geyser and Thermal Mudpools and Glowworm Caves in nearby Waitomo. First, the glow worm caves…Pretty cool stuff, although I have no photos to show you because they don’t allow pictures to be taken in the caves. Apparently the worms don’t like it! The glow worms are actually the larval stage of the New Zealand glow flies, but, poor flies only live 4 days after they are born because they have no digestive tract, and are unable to eat. Rough life indeed! Still, it was very cool {there’s that word again} to see the larvae glowing on the ceilings as we travelled through the dark caverns via foot and boat. This link will show you some photos and tell you more about the glow worms. As for the geyser and mud pools, they were a bit on the stinky, but spectacular to see. Check out my photos below…
Pretty, but smelly, thermal pools in Rotorua. Who likes rotten eggs???
Thar’ she blows!!!
FOUR: Playing tag with my kids at our cottage in Martinborough. We arrived in Martinborough late Thursday night after a long and winding drive. Home of 24 wineries at last count, we were really hoping to spend a relaxing Friday sampling some of the local wines. As fate would have it, wine sampling was not in the cards for us, because the wineries, and pretty much everything else were closed for Good Friday, so we headed down South for a short drive to the capital of New Zealand, Wellington, where we ate lunch at a local pub, and toured the spectacular Te Papa Museum of New Zealand. The kids and I got in some exercise playing tag behind our cozy cottage at Brackenridge right before sunset. The surrounding countryside and farmlands were pure eye candy for this suburban gal…
Wellington Harbor
An idyllic place to play tag!
Moss covered fence.
FIVE: Queenstown. Glorious Queenstown. Of all the places we stayed in New Zealand, Queenstown gets my vote for favorite city. Perhaps it was the beautiful house, 45 South, my family and I stayed in, set high above the city…Or maybe it was the pedestrian friendly shopping and eating area downtown…It might even have been the myriad of adrenaline boosting activities available {Not that I sky dived or buggy jumped, mind you, but I did luge down the mountain which was pretty fun}. All-in-all though, my love for Queenstown probably can be attributed to the friendly people, and the gorgeous scenery. Check it out…
Strolling around the Saturday Arts and Crafts Market in Queenstown.
The hilly walk to and from our house. Definitely needed after all the food we ate!
I could wake up to this view every morning!
SIX: Jet Boating on the Shotover River, Queenstown. 360 degree spins…speeding past tall canyon walls with the teensiest sliver of space between the boat and the canyon wall…more gorgeous scenery…Jet boating on the Shotover River was a blast!
Getting ready for our adventure on the Shotover River.
Gorgeous scenery, and adrenaline pumping adventure!
SEVEN: The Food. Glorious Gluten-Free Food. Let me just say this, the gluten-free food options available in New Zealand put the US to shame. I would venture to say that 90 % of the restaurants had specialty gluten-free food items available on their menu, and sometimes, there was no extra charge. And, even if there weren’t any specialty items on the menu, almost all menus had gluten-free {and vegetarian or vegan options} clearly labeled on the menus. Of course, you still need to check with the wait staff and kitchen to make sure the food is gluten-free, and to ask about potential cross contamination. And, even though I have gotten to prefer ordering a burger wrapped in lettuce “protein style” over one on a bun, I couldn’t resist trying one of the 100 % New Zealand Grass Fed Beef burgers on a gluten-free bun at Burger Fuel in Lake Taupo. It was pretty darn good!
I enjoyed a delicious gluten-free pizza in Queenstown.
When in Arrowtown, have “Devonshire” tea at The Pannikin.
More gluten-free options in Arrowtown.
EIGHT: Horseback Riding, Queenstown. SiSi’s big request on our trip was that we go horseback riding. We chose Ben Lomond Station near Queenstown and ventured out for a ride through lovely country side, finishing up near Moke Lake. Even though we only rode for 1 1/2 hours, our sore R.E.A.R.E.N.D.S., wobbly thighs, and stiff knees suggested we had ridden more. All, in all it was a fun afternoon, and my buddy Tigger treated me well!
My sweet buddy Tigger.
Stopping for a bite to eat in front of Moke Lake.
NINE. Touching an iceberg near the Tasman Glacier in Aorkoai/Mt Cook. We were lucky to experience fabulous weather on our trip. The only exception was at Aroaki Mt Cook, the tallest mountain in New Zealand. Grey, foggy, and drizzly for most of our stay. Nonetheless, we managed to have a great time touring the Tasman Glacier Terminal Lake by boat, and checking out the Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Center, Theatre, and Planetarium at our hotel, The Hermitage. As the birthday God’s would have it, we were treated to a {brief} glimpse of Mt Cook as we were eating breakfast the morning of Big Tex’s birthday.
Brr…..Cold and foggy near the Tasman Glacier, Mt Cook
The clouds are starting to part…
Aoraki/Mt Cook~There she is in all her glory!
TEN: Celebrating Big Tex’s Birthday in Christchurch. Unless you count our last night In Auckland where we stayed at the airport near the airport, and woke up at 3 am to catch our flight back home, our last “real” night was in Christchurch, where we celebrated BigTex’s 9th birthday {Wow!} with a celebratory dinner and a flourless strawberry cheesecake courtesy of Divine Cakes and Desserts. The next morning, we walked around the downtown area that was rocked by 2 almost back-to-back large scale earthquakes in fall 2010 and winter 2011. It was sad and almost eerie to see the heart of downtown Christchurch vacant and surrounded by chain link fences, but, it was also heartening to see the resilience of the Christchurch community with the revitalization efforts going on like Re:START, a new retail area built out of shipping containers, and to see the beautiful park still open and vibrant with people strolling along the lovely Avon river…
Happy Birthday, Big Tex!
Shopping at the Re:START Shipping Container Mall
Run away birds, before SiSi and Big Tex catch you!!!
Thanks so much for allowing me to share my travel adventures with you. I hope you’ve gotten at least a little bit of an idea of what this gorgeous country, in both adventure, scenery and spirit has to offer!
Have you ever been to New Zealand? What’s a favorite city or country you have visited? Where have you found the friendliest people to be? If you could take a trip anywhere in the world, where would it be???
