New Zealand: Journey to Middle Earth
It’s a dangerous business, going out your door — JRR Tolkien
New Zealand is stunning!! ❤️ It is a perfect place to immerse yourselves in nature and enjoy every moment.
In December 2022, my husband and I got a chance to visit this spectacular country. I definitely left a part of me in New Zealand. My husband, on the other hand is already dreaming of retiring in New Zealand ;)
New Zealand can totally do that to you!
New Zealand is the Mecca for Lord of the Rings fans who flock here to experience the magic of Middle Earth. My husband is a huge fan of the series, so for him this trip was extra special.
This blog focuses on sharing an overview of planning our New Zealand trip, travel, and accommodation logistics.
New Zealand consists of two main islands — the North Island and the South Island.
The North Island is the smaller of the two main islands of New Zealand. It is a volcanic island, and is still geologically active. The major cities on the North Island are Auckland, which is also the largest city in New Zealand and Wellington, which is also the capital.
The South Island is the larger of the two main islands of New Zealand. It is home to the Southern Alps, which are the largest mountain range in New Zealand. It is also home to many glaciers, including the Franz Josef Glacier and the Fox Glacier. The major cities on the South Island are Christchurch, which is also the second largest city in New Zealand and Queenstown, aka the adventure capital of New Zealand.
North Island vs South Island
Picking which island to travel depends on a lot of factors. If you do not have restrictions on the number of days to travel then definitely do both.
If you are short on time or would rather just do one at a time then you need to decide which activities you want to do.
For example if you want to see the Hobbiton, you should go to the North Island. However, if you want to see Penguins (yes, there are penguins in New Zealand), you should go to the South Island.
We traveled to both of the islands. When I was researching for our trip, I got the impression that the South Island is more beautiful than the North Island. This is definitely one perspective. I personally found both islands are very beautiful in their own unique way.
Trip Duration
You need at least 3 weeks to cover just the major highlights of both the islands. If you have less time than that or you would rather avoid too much traveling at once, then I would recommend picking one island and exploring that properly.
Our trip was 22 days. This was our longest vacation. Since New Zealand has so many amazing places, this still felt short. I guess we have a good reason to visit this beautiful country again.
Travel
For us a road trip throughout the country is the best way to travel. For booking the flights, we had to figure out which island to travel first. We decided to explore the North island first and then see the South island.
Also, since the North Island and South Island are not connected by land. There are multiple ways to travel: fly from one island to another island or take a ferry. We went by the ferry route.
We decided to fly to Auckland in the North Island and fly back from Christchurch in the South island. We flew from the Bay area and had a layover in Fiji.
Tip: Popular experiences to check before booking your flight
Hobbiton in the North Island & Milford Sound Cruise in the South Island get booked way in advance. If you are planning to go to any of them, definitely check the dates. We had to change our flight dates to be able to do the Hobbiton.
Immigration / Travel Visa
The visa process of New Zealand was super straightforward. I do not enjoy this part of the trip planning. My husband thankfully takes care of it. We didn’t even have to send our passports for the visa and we got a three year travel visa 😃
Note: Make sure your hiking shoes are well cleaned before taking them to New Zealand. The customs into New Zealand has a strict security check for this. They want to avoid you taking any unwanted germs into the island.
Cash/Card
We have a VisaCard which works at almost all the places. The only places where we needed cash were at some of the campsites for using laundry or showers sometimes. Apart from that we never needed it. We got the coins from a grocery store.
Campervan
New Zealand is also one of the few countries in the world which is campervan friendly. Not everyone would prefer this style of traveling but we love this! We had already done this in Iceland and we were excited for it.
Campervans in New Zealand cover quite a range of vehicles : SUVs that sleep just two people to large RVs with a lot of amenities. Though there are differences in amenities, all campervans provide the flexibility to stay at campsites and cook your own meals, which helps one save a considerable amount of money on hotels and restaurant food.
Note: Campervans get booked very early, so book in advance.
For our trip we were a bit late to book the campervans. We didn’t get a lot of choice in selecting the campervan. We went with a Jucy Cabana campervan. It was super comfortable and we were happy with it.
Holiday Parks
Having a campervan didn’t mean we could park anywhere. Freedom camping in New Zealand is restricted to certain regions and only self contained campervans can do that.
Self-containment is the certification used to show that a campervan has an on-board toilet.
As we didn’t manage to get a self contained vehicle, it meant we couldn’t park at Freedom campsites however we could still park at other campsites which had a toilet facility available. Most of these campsites are walk-in or even free, however it is tricky to get a spot as it is first come first serve.
We decided to avoid the hassle of finding a place at the end of the day during the trip so we decided to pre-book the places.
Holiday Parks was a fascinating option available in New Zealand. They have a shared kitchen, toilets, showers, laundry rooms etc. For campervans, they have a Tent Site/Non-powered Site option available to book a parking spot.
This was a budget friendly option that gave us the best of both worlds. We had all the necessary amenities like a hot shower, shared kitchen, clean bathrooms and they were available throughout the country even in remote areas.
Top 10 Holiday Park is a chain of Holiday parks. We got a membership for this chain which offered us a significant discount while booking.
Itinerary at a glance
We spent 9 days on the North Island and 13 days on the South Island.
North Island : Day 1 to Day 9
The following were the highlights of the North Island Trip.
- ✈️ Auckland
- Hobbiton
- Waitomo Glow Caves
- Waimangu Geothermal Valley
- Egmont National Park
- Tongariro National Park
- Putangirua Pinnacles
- Wellington ⛴️
South Island : Day 9 to Day 22
The following were the highlights of the South Island Trip.
- Picton ⛴️
- Abel Tasman National Park
- Nelson Lakes National Park
- Wānaka
- Queenstown — Bungee Jumping, Nevis Swing
- Glenorchy
- Fiordland National Park
- Mount Cook National Park
- Dunedin — Penguin Watching
- ✈️ ChristChurch
📸 Photos
- Check out my instagram stories here.
- My husband, Antriksh Saxena, captures amazing photos from his DSLR. Checkout some of his photos of our trip on https://antrromet.com/new-zealand
Enjoy !
For us, travel planning is the most critical piece for making sure we enjoy the trip at the destination and don’t have to worry about things during the trip. The New Zealand trip was no different. I spent hours & hours researching, watching vlogs, reading articles and documenting the details of our vacation. This is just our style of traveling and we enjoy it.
In case you are planning a trip to New Zealand or maybe dreaming of doing it one day, I hope this blog inspires you to plan your trip soon :)
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