Waikiki

An overnight flight took me from Auckland to Honolulu. It's bizarre leaving at 11:50pm on Thursday and then arriving at 8:20am on Thursday?! Sooooo I got to do Thursday twice, once in NZ and once in Hawaii... I'm glad I planned this 3 night stopover, though it wasn't cheap, it was nice not taking ridiculously long flights and also getting to spend some beach time before going back to the real world. Waikiki was the only place on this trip that I had been to before, so there was less pressure to do all things. Lotsa sleep, beach time, over-priced meals and a few big nights out dictated most of my time (if you don't count trying to collect receipts for free gifts at the ABC Stores!). Some of the folks from my wine tour in NZ live in Honolulu, so I got to have a fun night brewery hopping with a semi-local. I also visited the Honolulu Zoo (0/5 stars). 

Overall, really a great trip! Still trying to process all the places I went and things I did...

Auckland

Along the way I was told, "no need to spend anytime in Auckland," which of course means to me, "I should probably spend a lot of time in Auckland." Auckland reminded me a bit of Denver atm, bc there are a lot of places that tourists might go to that are under construction. I get construction is off-putting, but at the same time I found a lot in Auckland to appreciate, it also was a nice placed to just chill. I stayed right in the center of the city on Queen St and really had the ability to walk most places from there, though it is important to note that Auckland is very hilly. Some of my highlights of Auckland included: visiting their amazing zoo (even had a kiwi sighting), hanging out on K road, a black box production (Chrome Dome & Schizo at the Basement Theatre) roaming around Queen and the harbour area, took a ferry for a day trip at Devonport, the Auckland Art Gallery and of course found a handful of great breweries. On my last day in Auckland I took a day trip (45 min ferry) to Waiheke Island, which is known for its beautiful scenery and vineyards. My last day in NZ was dedicated to vineyard hopping and enjoying Waiheke. Highly recommended!

Patio view from hotel

Baby rhino!

Kiwi!

Zoo brews and views watching the orangutans

Ferry to Devonport

Devonport

Waiting for the ferry brew

Art Gallery

Brothers Brewery

Galbraith's Alehouse

Waiheke Island

Rose all day (well not all day, but at least for breakfast and afternoon snack)

Wellington

I originally planned to take a coastal train and ferry to my next stop Wellington (roughly a 10 hour journey) but opted to fly instead (35 min) after my long bus days... Wellington was a hit for me right away. It's a very small city that feels very big (sorry Reno). Also there was (just a lot of energy, scenery, craft breweries, etc.) My first day I went to Zealandia, which is the only urban wildlife sanctuary (mostly native birds) in the world, took a ride on the cable car, visited the beehive (NZ capitol building) and of course visited some craft breweries. That night I went to a hilarious improv show at the Bats Theater called the House of Ick. 

I ended up spending a few more days in Wellington b/c I enjoyed it so much. On a particularly beautiful day I booked a wine tour to a community about an hour from Welly called Martinborough. We visited 3 different vineyards and enjoyed some tasty food as well. I went with a small group of very nice folks. When I got back I went to another show at the Bat Theater, again another entertaining fringe show about a group of kids at church camp. The next day I hiked up Mt. Victoria and roamed around town some more!

Landing in Wellington

Zealandia

Top of Zealandia

Welly Cable Car

"Beehive" Capitol

Cuba Street Bucket Fountain

Martinborough

Top of Mt. Vic

Christchurch

The next day I hopped on another early bus to Christchurch (8am-5pm), and don't get me wrong the scenery on both bus trips was amazing and we got to stop at some beautiful spots and had very informative guides, but it was 2 very long consecutive days in transit. When I got to Christchurch it was pouring rain, which was the first time on my trip I was happy to have packed an umbrella. After a short walk to my apartment and getting settled I ventured back out in the rain and found an Irish pub with amazing live music. It was more or less just about 10 musicians sitting around a big table and playing for the bar. Since the bar was empty I figured they were up just practicing but later I learned that they do that every Monday, but the rain had kept the crowds away that night.

The next few days in Christchurch were thankfully not rainy. I enjoyed wandering around the city, went to the art gallery, botanical gardens, lingered at breweries and the river market and visited a handful of other museums and galleries. Also had a few amazing meals and met some excellent people. The most depressing part of Christchurch was the museum dedicated to the earthquake that rocked the city about 15 years ago. Because of the earthquake much of the infrastructure of the city was new and actually still being reconstructed. This gave the city a very modern vibe.

Lake Tekapo

Christchurch Botanical Gardens

Trolley!

River Market

Church pub 

 

Turkish eggs

Queenstown

After a few great days in Cairns, I took off super early to get to NZ, which really was an all day affair. I had to connect through Brisbane which was a bit of a process, then it was a 4 hour flight to Queenstown, also NZ was 3 hours ahead of Australia, so despite being up at 4am in Cairns I still didn't arrive in Queenstown until after 4pm. For some reason I thought things might be closer, but not the case!

Queenstown was the first stop on the Southern Island. Not gonna lie it felt like a summer at a ski resort in Colorado. Big mountains but also a lot of water and cooled down at night. I was also there over a long weekend so the party was in full force. My first full day I spent my time exploring all things Queenstown, including a steep hike up Queenstown Hill (with bagpipe serenade), visited a few local breweries, took a boat cruise around Lake Wakatipu and finished off the night with a allegedly famous Fergburger. The next day I spent taking a bus tour to Mildford Sound. This was an incredibly long day on bus (8am to 8pm), then we got on a 2 hour cruise around the Sound before doing the trip in reverse back to Queenstown. Milford Sound was really nice and probably worth the trip, but also made me start to rethink how I was going to traverse around NZ for the next few weeks... 

First craft brew and burg in NZ

Queenstown Hill Trail

Top of Queenstown Hill

Boat tour

Kiwi!

Lake Te Anau

Mirror Lakes

Milford Sound

Milford Sound

Milford Sound