Reviewed By:
Emily and Matthew
Travel Date:
October 2006
Matthew (age 9) and I (Emily age 11) traveled to New Zealand on a fly drive holiday, we had to take our parents along to drive us around. My parents booked a flight on the internet into Auckland and two weeks later out of Christchurch. Dad had pre booked a car hire through AVIS and motel/hotel accommodation after shopping around on the internet (wotif.com.au & aatravel.co.nz).
We arrived in Auckland late in the afternoon and headed south to Hamilton, dad said Auckland was like any other big city. Hamilton was a good starting point the next day to go to the Waitomo Caves, we stopped at Otorohanga (Kiwi Town) a nice little town (1hr drive). The Glowworm caves were great and it included a boat ride. We then had a 2 hour drive to Rotorua, we stayed at the Park Heritage and attended their Maori performance and Hangi. The next day we went to Hells Gate geothermal field, Polynesian Spa and Rotorua museum. Matt and dad went to the pitch and putt golf whilst mum and I went to Xtreme Body Flying, mum thought I might fly away.
We got up early the next day for our 4-5hr drive to Wellington stopping at the Haka falls and a little town just after to see the North Island skiing mountains. In Wellington we went to The National Museum (Te Papa) and up the cable car to the museum. The next morning we again up early to catch the interislander to Picton, it was a 3 hour trip, we played in timezone, went outside, ate and before we knew it we were there. We then had a long trip 4–5 hours to Greymouth.
From Greymouth we drove to Franz Josef Glacier, stopping at a little town called Hokitka. We got to Franz Josef about 11.30 and booked to do a half day Glacier walk. This was hard work in our boots and jackets, all the walking, climbing and holding on to ropes. The best bit was climbing up the “ice block” when we reached the top we could look back at how high we had climbed. We checked out the souvenir shops in town then went to our cottage 2.5km from town that had views looking at the glacier. We had dinner at Alice May Hotel and ate lots after such an exhausting day. The next morning we got up early for our drive to Queenstown which took about 6 hours, Dad said he should have filled up on petrol in Greymouth as he was paying up 40% more on the way to Queenstown.
In Queenstown we stayed at the Heritage again and the next day we went to Kiwi Birdlife Park, up the gondola, luge, and Arrowtown. Matt and Dad went to Caddyshack indoor putt putt whilst mum and I went bike riding. The next morning we were off to Milford Sound 4+ hours. At Milford Sound we went on the Nature Trip that lasted for 2 hours, we saw lots of waterfalls but it rained a lot of the time. We then drove back to Te Anua for the night having dinner at “The Ranch”.
The next day we drove to Dunedin getting there about 12.30, we went to the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame this didn’t take long to see, then we drove to Larnach castle and looked around the gardens. The next day we went to Cadbury Chocolate Factory, Baldwin St (Steepest Street in the world), Matt and dad went to the footy and mum and I went shopping and to the museum.
Today was our last drive to Christchurch, we stopped at Omerou and looked at the markets and penguins. In Christchurch was stayed at “The Chateau” which was a short drive from the centre of town. We went bike riding and you could have played golf across the road. Near the airport was “Antarctic centre”, we spent over 3 hours including going on the Hagglund ride. Then it was off to the airport and home. What a great holiday and thanks to mum and dad for bringing the portable DVD player for the back of the car.
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family travel in Australia and the Pacific
