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Question for anyone who's visited NZ. Is there a place that really stood out for you?
So much to choose from.
I loved Akaroa just south of Christchurch. Went just at the end of peak season so it was still all open but not busy. Good to note that a a lot of the little towns like that are pretty seasonal so I wouldn't go at the depths of winter (dead and closed) or height of summer (feral with tourists).
For cities I love Wellington. The waterfront is 👌
The young Seagoons have been in NZ for about a year now and they love Akoroa tho with them it seems it's all just a base to visit LOTR sites. Last week they were in Edoras.
Queenstown / Wanaka which I visited a couple months ago - just spectacular, so naturally beautiful. I went mainly for skiing but it would just be as good in summer I reckon. Can do all the hikes and trails without worrying about snow and the views would be even better with clearer weather. Otago wineries, heaps of adventure type activities, you can make a great family holiday. The one downfall is that this area is pretty expensive because it’s very touristy, it’s like holidaying in AU prices.
I also enjoyed Auckland and visiting Rotorua.
Coromandel stood out for me. Beautiful beaches.
I lived 2h north of there for a few months in grade 3.
Just driving around is beautiful, much spectacular scenery, especially the mountains. We don’t really have anything like it in Aus. Visiting the Franz Joseph glacier was a highlight. You can see it by booking a guided walk. The ice formations and blue ice colour is very interesting and beautiful. I saw it about 15 years so I don’t know how it is now, because warming and glacier retreating etc, but if it’s still available to see it I would highly recommend it. (Who knows how long it will be there for?) Edit: just looked it up, wow it has got expensive. You need to do a helicopter flight to get to it, but still I’d say if you can afford it in your holiday budget it’s a very unique experience.
Queenstown - in summer! Have been three times in summer, never winter, it's one of my favourite places on earth.
Go for: hiking, wineries, epic scenery, bungie jumping or skydiving if you're into that
UV and Sun is really strong in summer. Was quite shocked at how easily you can get burnt and it was worse than Australia.
We went for the snowfields , using Queenstown as a base. I’m not sure if you guys are into that but I can definitely recommend it.
We are but we're going in December for a couple of weeks.
Arrowtown