It almost seems like a dream that last year we spent 6 weeks out of our life traveling and adventuring in Australia and New Zealand with our kids. We have busy lives in Seattle and it was difficult to think about just packing up and leaving but we didn’t want to wait until the kids were too much older and being able to pause our lives for 6 weeks to adventure seemed like an opportunity we could not pass up. It feels like the hubby and I have been pushing forward nonstop with careers and life since college and I am so grateful that my husband’s work allowed us to take this time to recenter, refocus, travel and fulfill our dreams. We had talked about going to Australia forever and I almost didn’t believe we would actually ever get there and then we had the bonus of getting to visit New Zealand too. New Zealand wasn’t even on our original travel plan but our cheapest flight option to Australia on Air New Zealand included a stopover and suddenly 7 nights of our Australia trip became devoted to this new adventure. When we booked the trip, I planned on 7 nights in Auckland as it was the last leg of our trip and I thought we would be exhausted after five weeks of flying all over Australia. We were. But we are not a family who likes to stay put and a few days before we arrived, we turned all of our Auckland days into just a few and then we ended up driving and staying in Rotorua and Hawke’s Bay-two places not on our original list and two places that we will remember for a lifetime. Aren’t there so many unexpected treasures like this in life? The more I live, the more I realize that if you open yourself up to adventures and to going off your planned course, your journey becomes umpteen times more incredible than the adventure you originally dreamed up.
Auckland is a great place to Start a New Zealand Vacation with your family
I don’t remember where we stayed that first night in Auckland. All I know is that we drove past a beautiful restaurant called Little and Friday in a cute neighborhood on the way and suddenly we had to stop and eat. The walls were covered in beautiful hanging plants like a jungle and the food tasted homey and gourmet at the same time. We later learned this restaurant was part of a small New Zealand 4-restaurant chain and we visited again before heading back to Seattle. Our family really enjoyed all of the food we ate in New Zealand-I’m not sure how to describe it except for that we ate food that tastes like a family member might have made it. It wasn’t fancy or contrived but just beautiful, tasty, foods. We also found a phenomenal net playground and family friendly spot near Auckland that I would love to visit again.
Arista of Rotorua for 3 nights
And then we headed to Rotorua. You know you are in Rotorua when you can smell it. It smells like being in the Flinstones. There are steam vents in every imaginable crevice you see-in backyards, in parks and in teeny holes in the sidewalk. The earth in Rotorua feels ethereal and alive. It is one of the most fascinating places I have ever visited but my sons do not think they enjoyed it as much as we did. They are both quite terrified of volcanoes because of a Pompeii exhibit I brought them to at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle when they were small, so seeing all the bubbling tar pits and geysers totally freaked them out. We found our accommodations at Arista of Rotorua to be a really comfortable family space and we discovered them through Expedia.
Skyline, Rotorua
We took the kids to Skyline to get their minds on adventure and away from anything geothermal or volcanic. And this is where they terrified me. The hubby and kids decided they would do something called the “Sky Swing” which is pretty much a human sized yo-yo that slings you far into the sky. I could barely watch them but they felt so proud of themselves when they finished. We also really enjoyed the luges that we could ride down the mountain. We tried something similar at a place called Big Banana in Australia and these luges were much faster and we all really enjoyed our adventure at Skyline.
Waitomo Caves
As someone who is terrified of the dark and being in small confined spaces this was not something I really wanted to do at all. Let me clarify: I wanted to see what the glowworms looked like in real life because you can’t take pictures inside and I’ve seen a few stock photos floating around the internet and I thought there was no way it could look like there were stars underground and I just wanted to peek at them and get out ASAP. The tour doesn’t work like that. The day we wanted to visit though there was flooding in the area and part of me hoped our tour would be cancelled. It wasn’t and we were good to go. After wandering through a darkened cave with a group of other tourists we ended up at an underground river where boats were set to launch into even deeper darkness. I am thankful we were in the first boat in our group because I did not want to wait and have the anticipation get the best of me-seconds before we got into the boats I actually thought I wouldn’t be able to do this and I nearly got out. My husband held my hand and we had about 10 minutes in the darkness and just before I felt like I would die of terror the ceiling above us began to magically glow. I forgot about my fears and I was lulled into serene calmness by the lapping of the boat paddle and the beauty of the sparkling cavern above my head. I’m really glad I did this but it was a bit of a tough adventure for someone who is claustrophobic and scared of the dark.
Lady Knox Geyser And Wai-O-Tapu
I googled this place just before we arrived and decided we needed to visit. This is the type of instagrammable geothermal park you imagine when you think of visiting geysers and mud pools. The Lady Knox Geyser erupts every day at 10:15am and it was incredible to see how high the geyser could erupt. We were also a little startled by how many other tourists at the geothermal park crossed clearly marked visible barriers to try and get closer to acid pools for pictures. I was very happy with the pictures I could get from the safety of the barriers without endangering myself and others-and the fact that we could get up close to such a cool geographical feature was something I think my kids will remember for a long time.
Te Puia
I wanted to visit this place because I read they cooked food with the geothermal heat and I thought it would be neat to try. The food was definitely something I’m glad we tried and the kids really enjoyed learning about Maori culture.
Hawke’s Bay
After Rotorua, we kept driving until Hawke’s Bay and this is the type of place that makes you dream about coming back to New Zealand and exploring all of the rest of its glorious beauty. We rented bikes from Takaro Trails and set out on a huge bike ride-maybe 20ish miles or so through the farmlands and hills and valleys. We saw sheep in their pastures and cycled past cows and birds and marsh. One evening we drove to Te Mata Peak and our pictures from this area are some of my favorites of our whole Australia and New Zealand trip.
I am so glad New Zealand ended up on our itinerary and I can’t believe how long it’s taken for me to write about it. We were able to book our accommodations easily and quickly through Expedia. I’m a big fan of this site for finding apartment style accommodations in other countries that are easy to book and easily cancellable if we end up changing our plans last minute. Have you ever traveled somewhere not on your bucket list? Have you ever been to New Zealand?
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)
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