Spring Break (from US) Trip to NZ - Requesting Feedback
Mar 7, 2024, 12:19 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2007
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Spring Break (from US) Trip to NZ - Requesting Feedback
I had booked round trip tickets on a recent DL sale for 80K round trip not knowing if we would actually take the trip. Well we are so now scrambling to put a trip together. We are 2 adults and a 14 year old.
Day 1 - Arriving into AKL at 8 am local time after connecting through LAX. No actual plans for today other than check in to hotel, see a bit of Auckland and get our bearings.
Day 2 - Waikehe Island. I think I can do the family ticket that clubs the ferry tickets with the hop-on-hop-off bus tickets to see the island and some wine tasting. Any must-do things here, wines to take home, places to avoid..?
Day 3 - Checkout from hotel and pick up car from Enterprise City location. Drive to Tongariro National Park. Was thinking of stopping by the Waitomo Caves to do the underground river and glow-worm tour. Seems there are a couple of caves here all charged separately. Which ones are the most interesting? Instead of the caves, is there a better place to stop? Open to suggestions. After Waitomo, drive to National Park Village and stay somewhere there. Havent booked anything yet but hotels seem reasonable.
Day 4 - We are NOT doing the full Alpine Crossing hike. Neither my spouse nor I are in shape and my teen would rather be on her device so plan to maybe walk a part of the trail and turn back or evaluate some of the other more interesting options if they are like 3-4 mile hikes. Staying an additional night here.
Day 5 - Driving to Taupo. Still researching stuff to do around here but plan to check out a couple things. Suggestions welcome. Spending night here.
Day 6 - Leaving Taupo to check out the Waitapu Geothermal Park. Hoping to catch the geyser that goes off at 10 am like Old Faithful. Spend half day here and then continue to Rotorua. No plans yet on rest of day in Rotorua. Sugestions welcome. Spending night here.
Day 7 - I'm trying to figure out if I should spend more time in Rotorua or move on to Caromandel. If we leave early we may stop in Hobbitown. Or spend more time in Rotorua and then leave later. Night in Coromandel.
Day 8 - Explore Coromandel area, probably no more than couple of places and then head back to Auckland. Overnight in Auckland. This is the only hotel I have booked so far.
Day 9 - Return rental car, check out of hotel and head to airport. Back to US.
I am concerned this may be too much, especially with changing hotels almost daily in the last 4 days and so looking for suggestions on what I could take out. Or are the places small enough that spending a short amount of time at each is good enough. I had initially tried to squeeze Northland in there instead of Waikehe as well but then just looking at the map gave me pause.
Day 1 - Arriving into AKL at 8 am local time after connecting through LAX. No actual plans for today other than check in to hotel, see a bit of Auckland and get our bearings.
Day 2 - Waikehe Island. I think I can do the family ticket that clubs the ferry tickets with the hop-on-hop-off bus tickets to see the island and some wine tasting. Any must-do things here, wines to take home, places to avoid..?
Day 3 - Checkout from hotel and pick up car from Enterprise City location. Drive to Tongariro National Park. Was thinking of stopping by the Waitomo Caves to do the underground river and glow-worm tour. Seems there are a couple of caves here all charged separately. Which ones are the most interesting? Instead of the caves, is there a better place to stop? Open to suggestions. After Waitomo, drive to National Park Village and stay somewhere there. Havent booked anything yet but hotels seem reasonable.
Day 4 - We are NOT doing the full Alpine Crossing hike. Neither my spouse nor I are in shape and my teen would rather be on her device so plan to maybe walk a part of the trail and turn back or evaluate some of the other more interesting options if they are like 3-4 mile hikes. Staying an additional night here.
Day 5 - Driving to Taupo. Still researching stuff to do around here but plan to check out a couple things. Suggestions welcome. Spending night here.
Day 6 - Leaving Taupo to check out the Waitapu Geothermal Park. Hoping to catch the geyser that goes off at 10 am like Old Faithful. Spend half day here and then continue to Rotorua. No plans yet on rest of day in Rotorua. Sugestions welcome. Spending night here.
Day 7 - I'm trying to figure out if I should spend more time in Rotorua or move on to Caromandel. If we leave early we may stop in Hobbitown. Or spend more time in Rotorua and then leave later. Night in Coromandel.
Day 8 - Explore Coromandel area, probably no more than couple of places and then head back to Auckland. Overnight in Auckland. This is the only hotel I have booked so far.
Day 9 - Return rental car, check out of hotel and head to airport. Back to US.
I am concerned this may be too much, especially with changing hotels almost daily in the last 4 days and so looking for suggestions on what I could take out. Or are the places small enough that spending a short amount of time at each is good enough. I had initially tried to squeeze Northland in there instead of Waikehe as well but then just looking at the map gave me pause.
Mar 7, 2024, 12:53 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: MEL CHC
Posts: 21,051
Spring break is unknown in NZ. Is this Spring Break holiday between 11 March and 1 April ?
Easter weekend can be busy. NZ school holidays are 12 April to 29 April.
Rotorua and surrounding area is very touristy.
Agree with "this may be too much, especially with changing hotels almost daily in the last 4 days". I will take longer to drive between the destinations than you first think.
Easter weekend can be busy. NZ school holidays are 12 April to 29 April.
Rotorua and surrounding area is very touristy.
Agree with "this may be too much, especially with changing hotels almost daily in the last 4 days". I will take longer to drive between the destinations than you first think.
Mar 7, 2024, 1:03 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: MSP
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Titanium, UA Silver, Hertz 5*
Posts: 913
Spring break is unknown in NZ. Is this Spring Break holiday between 11 March and 1 April ?
Easter weekend can be busy. NZ school holidays are 12 April to 29 April.
Rotorua and surrounding area is very touristy.
Agree with "this may be too much, especially with changing hotels almost daily in the last 4 days". I will take longer to drive between the destinations than you first think.
Easter weekend can be busy. NZ school holidays are 12 April to 29 April.
Rotorua and surrounding area is very touristy.
Agree with "this may be too much, especially with changing hotels almost daily in the last 4 days". I will take longer to drive between the destinations than you first think.
Mar 7, 2024, 2:21 pm
#4
Join Date: Jun 2006
Programs: Various
Posts: 6,526
Are you definitely committed to staying on the North Island? I would think that the South Island (especially Milford/Queenstown/Wanaka/etc.) would be much more aligned with what a 14 yo would find interesting. ANZ has cheap flights from AKL to ZQN or CHC.
Mar 8, 2024, 9:57 am
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2007
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Posts: 913
Given that its just a week long trip, I'd prefer to minimize the travel and make the most of our time in NZ. Spending time at airports doesn't add much value. We'll definitely do a longer trip sometime in the future when its not constrained by school schedules.
Mar 8, 2024, 7:32 pm
#7
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Frensham, Lincolnshire
Programs: RFC
Posts: 5,112
I always suggest people watch out for the local info/sights/history signs (Brown background signs in NZ) and stop for anything that looks interesting or evokes a "what's that?" response as those two often end up being surprisingly fun. No guarantees, obviously, but the whole point is to have a holiday and not rush, so stopping randomly for unknown things is half the fun.
Mar 13, 2024, 10:44 am
#8
Join Date: Mar 2024
Posts: 7
I see that you are about to depart so likely have now made all your arrangements. So I will just provide a couple of observations.
Waiheke is a nice place to visit, in part because the ferry trip makes for some good views, as are the wineries. The wineries there are, however, relatively expensive by New Zealand standards and none really stand out as wines to take home (in my view--each to their own).
There is not a whole lot at National Park Village.
As another poster noted, Rotorua is very touristy. It's good if you want to do organized tourist activities (like see a Maori cultural show, farm animal display at the Agrodome, luge rides etc). Coromandel is better for scenery and beaches (especially Hot Water Beach).
If it fits your schedule you could stop at Kerosene Creek just off the road between Taupo and Rotorua near Waiotapu, for a swim. It is a pretty creek in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by bush, with hot springs that bubble up through the gravel in the bottom, making it a natural hot tub, and with a small waterfall. Free but can get very busy in the afternoon, especially if a tour bus has decided to stop (much more frequent these days as it has gotten on peoples' radar-used to be almost no-one there). Best to go very early.
Waiheke is a nice place to visit, in part because the ferry trip makes for some good views, as are the wineries. The wineries there are, however, relatively expensive by New Zealand standards and none really stand out as wines to take home (in my view--each to their own).
There is not a whole lot at National Park Village.
As another poster noted, Rotorua is very touristy. It's good if you want to do organized tourist activities (like see a Maori cultural show, farm animal display at the Agrodome, luge rides etc). Coromandel is better for scenery and beaches (especially Hot Water Beach).
If it fits your schedule you could stop at Kerosene Creek just off the road between Taupo and Rotorua near Waiotapu, for a swim. It is a pretty creek in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by bush, with hot springs that bubble up through the gravel in the bottom, making it a natural hot tub, and with a small waterfall. Free but can get very busy in the afternoon, especially if a tour bus has decided to stop (much more frequent these days as it has gotten on peoples' radar-used to be almost no-one there). Best to go very early.
Mar 13, 2024, 11:42 am
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: MEL CHC
Posts: 21,051
<snip>
If it fits your schedule you could stop at Kerosene Creek just off the road between Taupo and Rotorua near Waiotapu, for a swim. It is a pretty creek in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by bush, with hot springs that bubble up through the gravel in the bottom, making it a natural hot tub, and with a small waterfall. Free but can get very busy in the afternoon, especially if a tour bus has decided to stop (much more frequent these days as it has gotten on peoples' radar-used to be almost no-one there). Best to go very early.
If it fits your schedule you could stop at Kerosene Creek just off the road between Taupo and Rotorua near Waiotapu, for a swim. It is a pretty creek in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by bush, with hot springs that bubble up through the gravel in the bottom, making it a natural hot tub, and with a small waterfall. Free but can get very busy in the afternoon, especially if a tour bus has decided to stop (much more frequent these days as it has gotten on peoples' radar-used to be almost no-one there). Best to go very early.
<snip>
I always suggest people watch out for the local info/sights/history signs (Brown background signs in NZ) and stop for anything that looks interesting or evokes a "what's that?" response as those two often end up being surprisingly fun. No guarantees, obviously, but the whole point is to have a holiday and not rush, so stopping randomly for unknown things is half the fun.
I always suggest people watch out for the local info/sights/history signs (Brown background signs in NZ) and stop for anything that looks interesting or evokes a "what's that?" response as those two often end up being surprisingly fun. No guarantees, obviously, but the whole point is to have a holiday and not rush, so stopping randomly for unknown things is half the fun.
Mar 14, 2024, 8:30 am
#11
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: MSP
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Titanium, UA Silver, Hertz 5*
Posts: 913
I see that you are about to depart so likely have now made all your arrangements. So I will just provide a couple of observations.
Waiheke is a nice place to visit, in part because the ferry trip makes for some good views, as are the wineries. The wineries there are, however, relatively expensive by New Zealand standards and none really stand out as wines to take home (in my view--each to their own).
There is not a whole lot at National Park Village.
As another poster noted, Rotorua is very touristy. It's good if you want to do organized tourist activities (like see a Maori cultural show, farm animal display at the Agrodome, luge rides etc). Coromandel is better for scenery and beaches (especially Hot Water Beach).
If it fits your schedule you could stop at Kerosene Creek just off the road between Taupo and Rotorua near Waiotapu, for a swim. It is a pretty creek in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by bush, with hot springs that bubble up through the gravel in the bottom, making it a natural hot tub, and with a small waterfall. Free but can get very busy in the afternoon, especially if a tour bus has decided to stop (much more frequent these days as it has gotten on peoples' radar-used to be almost no-one there). Best to go very early.
Waiheke is a nice place to visit, in part because the ferry trip makes for some good views, as are the wineries. The wineries there are, however, relatively expensive by New Zealand standards and none really stand out as wines to take home (in my view--each to their own).
There is not a whole lot at National Park Village.
As another poster noted, Rotorua is very touristy. It's good if you want to do organized tourist activities (like see a Maori cultural show, farm animal display at the Agrodome, luge rides etc). Coromandel is better for scenery and beaches (especially Hot Water Beach).
If it fits your schedule you could stop at Kerosene Creek just off the road between Taupo and Rotorua near Waiotapu, for a swim. It is a pretty creek in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by bush, with hot springs that bubble up through the gravel in the bottom, making it a natural hot tub, and with a small waterfall. Free but can get very busy in the afternoon, especially if a tour bus has decided to stop (much more frequent these days as it has gotten on peoples' radar-used to be almost no-one there). Best to go very early.
Good to know that Waiheke is not for purchasing wine. We are VERY fond of wine so any suggestions on where I could pick up some decent wine to take home would be appreciated. Doesnt have to be a winery. A well stocked grocery is good too.
About Rotorua, from everything I read it sounds like a mini Orlando with paid activities every where. I was thinking of booking 2 nights at Rotorua and skipping Coromandel completely. Sounds like maybe I should reconsider. Hotels are quite pricey too for what they are offering.
Mar 14, 2024, 11:14 am
#12
Join Date: Mar 2024
Posts: 7
No worries. I hope I was not too negative about Waiheke wines. The are good but just, in my view, a bit overpriced. But you may well find something you like at a price you like.
There is a ton of good wine in New Zealand. I would suggest trying some things that don't make it to the US, where almost all the NZ wines you see are sauvignon blancs. Caro's is a very good wine shop in Auckland. They will have lots of suggestions at every price point. It's a mile or so from downtown. If I am arriving in Auckland and then driving somewhere, I generally stop there and stock up for the trip. There are also several Glengarry stores in Auckland. Scenic Cellars in Taupo is also very good.
There is a ton of good wine in New Zealand. I would suggest trying some things that don't make it to the US, where almost all the NZ wines you see are sauvignon blancs. Caro's is a very good wine shop in Auckland. They will have lots of suggestions at every price point. It's a mile or so from downtown. If I am arriving in Auckland and then driving somewhere, I generally stop there and stock up for the trip. There are also several Glengarry stores in Auckland. Scenic Cellars in Taupo is also very good.