New Zealand In a Nutshell

Prior to 2019, if you asked me what my favorite country in the world was, I would’ve responded, ‘Switzerland” without much hesitation. It held the top place in my heart for nearly 10 years. But in 2019, I visited 12 new countries and one of these toppled Switzerland from its pedestal. So let’s meet the new reigning champ, New Zealand.

The People

As your typical monolingual American, New Zealand had the immediate appeal of an English-speaking population (though unless you’re familiar with the accent, you might have a tough time calling it English). Being used to the accent, I had no trouble understanding locals and was so thankful for this because they are some of the nicest people on the planet. Fair warning: they are very direct as well and this can come off as rude. However, it’s just the way they are and I personally found it refreshing and just embraced it.

New Zealand is also one of the only places I’ve been to that seems to have a good relationship with its aboriginal inhabitants. From what I could discover, they treated them much more fairly than their neighbor, Australia did, and better than we treated Native Americans in the US by far. The Maori and Kiwis seem to live together in a nice harmony without as much resentment and neglect as I’ve witnessed in other places.

The Landscape

As more of an adventure traveler than a cultural or foodie one, I love a country that can take my breath away. New Zealand not only did this again and again, but it also gave me a moment where I was literally just stumbling around for an hour saying, “Holy effing crap. How is this real? This is so pretty,” while wiping the metaphorical drool from my mouth. Lake Tekapo in full lupin bloom—there is nothing like it.

Hiking in New Zealand was the highlight of my trip. You can read about my four favorite hikes here. They were all incredible journeys and shouldn’t be missed if (when) you make it to New Zealand.

Getting Around

One thing that Switzerland has on New Zealand is its train system. But there are plenty of ways to get around in New Zealand—you can rent a car or camper, hitchhike, and take the busses quite easily. Hitchhiking is a primary form of transportation for travelers and from all stories I heard, very safe. I only rode the bus a couple of times but once I was on the wrong side of the road and missed it and the driver called the company’s owner and he came in person and picked me up to take me to the next stop for free. I was astounded at how nice this was. If you can afford it though, I’d highly recommend a camper van or renting a car. The freedom this gives you is just unparalleled.

They drive on the left side of the road in New Zealand so it’s a bit to get used to if you’re not from the UK or Japan, but I highly recommend trying it because the roads are some of the most fun driving I’ve ever experienced. Narrow, winding, and with more one-way bridges than seems possible—driving here isn’t for the faint of heart, and if you get car sick, pack that Dramamine and barf bag. But, the views are incredible and if you love to practice cornering, this is your chance.

I rented my camper van as a one-way relocation and got the van for $110 USD for 7 days and drove from Auckland to Queenstown. That price included a full tank of gas and the ferry fees for the vehicle. You can check out the Jucy one-way rentals here. Going from Queenstown to Auckland is typically cheaper and there are shorter routes you can do as well.

Food and Coffee

Like I mentioned earlier, I’m not a huge foodie. However, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone more experienced at eating ice cream than me and I used to own a coffee shop, so I’ll weigh in on these two things here.

After 2 months of eating ice cream and gelato basically every day, I still couldn’t decide which I enjoyed more. I had to keep getting more, for science, obviously. One day I even ate both side by side to compare in real-time. I have to say, I prefer the fluffiness of ice cream but the rich flavor of gelato. The best two places I found were Ferg Gelato and Patagonia Ice Cream in Queenstown. The most interesting ice cream experience is at a shop in Auckland called Giapo where you can have a full chocolate squid topping your cone but ice cream starts at $12 NZD so I don’t count it as a feasible daily option. I would say it’s worth a one-time experience though.

I’ve never been somewhere that even the smallest coffee shop in the middle of nowhere had the best coffee of my life. Whether you get a flat white or and long black (Americano), you literally can’t go wrong drinking coffee in New Zealand. I didn’t have a single bad cup of coffee and I drank it daily for two months. So smooth, so rich, so perfect. If you drink an Americano like I do, order a long black. You won’t be drinking 16-20 oz beverages here so just appreciate the smaller sizes. I tried to order an Americano in a tiny town on the West Coast of the South Island and the old woman behind the counter said (and I quote), “We don’t have any of that American shit here.” Then she proceeded to lecture me on traveling alone when the world is such a dangerous place. As I said, Kiwis are very direct and hilarious.

The other food in New Zealand is also quite good, if on the expensive side. I would mostly stay away from Mexican food as I didn’t have any luck with that and embrace Indian food as well. There is a fish and chips food truck in Queenstown called Erik’s Fish and Chips where everything is delicious and automatically gluten-free.

Wildlife

If you’re as terrified of snakes as my mom is, New Zealand is the place for you. There are no snakes and literally no animals that can kill you. You can hike anywhere alone and not be afraid of bears, cougars, snakes, spiders, etc… It is such a peaceful experience if you’ve grown up in Florida like me where you’re constantly on snake and spider watch.

The birds are what people come to see mostly. It’s like I told the woman at the coffee shop that was warning me of danger, “It is so safe in New Zealand that your birds don’t even know how to fly.” So instead of watching the sky for birds, you’ll find a lot of them on the ground. The Kea is one of the more fascinating species. It is ultra-intelligent and spends its time being destructive out of boredom. They will literally rip the windshield wipers off your car for giggles.

Important notes: don’t feed any of the wildlife but especially, don’t give Keas sugar, it is the equivalent of giving chocolate to a dog. And, if you see a possum crossing the road, swerve to hit it. I hate advising murder, but they are an invasive species and since a lot of the birds here can’t fly, they are destroying the native populations which can only be found in New Zealand so if they go extinct, that’s it.

Lodging

If you’ve followed me for any time at all, you know that I stick primarily to hostels, New Zealand was no different. I didn’t like the hostels I stayed at in Auckland so I can’t recommend them but here are my recommendations for Queenstown.

In Queenstown, there are two hostels that became home to me (I lived there for nearly two months). Both hostels are owned by the same guy who started them and lived there for a while. They do everything exactly right and are so thoughtful with every aspect of design, layout, features, staff, etc… You cannot go wrong here. Just look up Adventure Hostel and Adventure Q2. Book a bit in advance if possible as they can sell out during busy times like Chinese New Year (I learned this the hard way). Booking on their direct site instead of Hostelworld or Booking.com gives them more money, so I highly recommend doing so. And did I mention the beds are sooooo comfy?

Whatever you do, do not stay at Base or Nomads. I know that the low price is tempting but both are absolutely awful and you’ll get no sleep as they’re above the two biggest nightclubs. I’d personally avoid these chains anywhere in Australia or New Zealand as they are almost all terrible.

Middle Earth

If you’re like me, part of the reason you want to go to New Zealand is that you love Lord of the Rings and want to see where it was filmed. I love to retrace movies when I travel so this was a big part of my New Zealand experience. Some of my favorite highlights were Hobbiton and hiking Mount Doom (Tongariro Alpine Crossing).

In Hobbiton, everything is perfectly preserved. You can see the wee hobbit clothes hanging on the clotheslines, knock at Bilbo’s door, and have a drink in the Green Dragon. My recommendation is to go first thing in the morning when the lighting is nice or late in the afternoon. If you drive yourself to the movie set, you save a lot of money on the tour versus catching a bus from Auckland or Rotorua.

The Tongariro Alpine Crossing is a 12-mile (19-km) hike that has a lot of going up. I was worried I wouldn’t be in shape to do it but honestly, the scenery was so incredible and forever changing that I didn’t find it tough at all. You walk through Mordor, past Mount Doom to a lookout where you can see lakes of emerald green and vivid blue. It’s the perfect spot to have lunch before continuing down the backside of the track which is mostly downhill. It’s a through hike so you have to have a shuttle to the trailhead and leave your car at the end of the trail. Any hostel or campground can organize this for you and give you tips on the cheapest way to do it. Or just shoot me an email or leave a comment and I can explain it to you.

I could have happily stayed in New Zealand for a year (or the rest of my life) if I didn’t have a dog to get home to. Two months was too short a time but you can see a lot in just 10 days. When you’re planning your trip, be mindful that you will lose an entire day or two traveling to New Zealand because of the length of the flight and the time difference (they are a day ahead of most of the world). Also, be aware that drive times on Google Maps are not completely accurate since the roads are so curvy and if you get stuck behind someone it is hard to pass.

As always, if you have any questions, just comment below or send me a message on Instagram and I’ll do my best to answer you.