New Zealand Travel Diaries #9 | My Top 9

To round off my New Zealand travel posts (see them all here!) and as it's my 9th post, I thought I'd put together my top 9 because I like to be unconventional. There is SO much more of New Zealand that I didn't see and the Kiwi Experience pass I was on only scratched the surface. I would whole-heartedly recommend Kiwi Experience if you're heading to New Zealand for the first time and want to see the highlights. It was a great base for my first trip to New Zealand and I can't wait to get back there one day and see more - next on the agenda is to hire a camper van to explore it, maybe with a working holiday visa!

New Zealand Travel Diaries #8 | Lake Tekapo & Christchurch

We've finally reached the end of my Kiwi Experience. My final post includes the beautiful Lake Tekapo and my last destination, Christchurch. 

New Zealand Travel Diaries #7 | Queenstown & Milford Sound

Onto, the next part of our trip. Are you bored of it yet? It's hard to say which bit of my New Zealand was my favourite as it was all bloody amazing but this next week was pretty high up the list.

Queenstown
Leaving Wanaka, we stopped at the Puzzling World. Don't worry if you don't want to pay to go inside as they have loads of free puzzles in the cafe/shop area which will confuse the heck out of you. Before reaching Queenstown, the adrenaline capital of New Zealand we stopped at the infamous first commercial bungy, the Kawarua Bridge where you can watch people do it or take part yourself.

New Zealand Travel Diaries #6 | Franz Josef & Wanaka

Franz Josef
After a breakfast of bacon, pancakes and maple syrup at Lake Mahinapua we drove to Franz Josef. We spent the afternoon recharging at the hostel.The next day I was booked onto the Glacier hike. 

New Zealand Travel Diaries #5 | Kaiteriteri, Westport & Lake Mahinapua

Kaiteriteri
After an early morning wakeup call (queue me trying not to wake everyone else up in my room as I was the only one leaving at 6.30am) we got the Interislander ferry from Wellington to Picton. My highlight of the ferry, bar the many ridiculous card games we played, was seeing dolphins just outside the ferry. Once off the ferry we travelled through Malborough Sounds, stopping at Nelson for the essentials (wine) and then made our way to Kaiteriteri. Kaiteriteri is on the edge of Abel Tasman National Park and there are loads of opportunities for kayaking, paddle boarding and free walks.

New Zealand Travel Diaries #4 | River Valley & Wellington

River Valley
After leaving Taupo we stopped for a 2 hour return hike to stretch our sore muscles from the Tongariro Crossing the day before. We then had quite a long drive ahead of us before reaching our next destination, River Valley Adventure Lodge. This is best known for it's grade five white water rafting which you could take part in the next morning if you so desired. There was no wifi or phone reception at the lodge and accommodation was a 32 bed dorm room so naturally we all made good use of the bar that evening. There was also a roast dinner available which I've heard is fantastic but a group of us clubbed together to make a risotto accompanied by a lot of wine (obviously).

New Zealand Travel Diaries #3 | Rotorua & Taupo

Our North Island adventures continued to Rotorua & Taupo.
Rotorua
This was one of my favourite days/nights on the trip! After leaving Waitomo we were dropped at the Hobbiton Movie Set which was so much fun. The village has been preserved since they rebuilt it for the Hobbit movies and you get to go round all the hobbit holes and even get to drink a pint at the Green Dragon Inn.

New Zealand Travel Diaries #2 | Cathedral Cove, Hot Water Beach & Waitomo

This is where my Kiwi Experience begins. For reference, I had the Funky Chicken pass as that was what was on offer when I was looking for the best deal. TOP TIP - Kiwi Exp always has some of the passes on offer so never pay full price! My pass covered both the North and South Island starting and finishing in Auckland allowing you to hop on and hop off whenever and for however long you like.

New Zealand Travel Diaries #1 | Auckland

Well, blogging certainly took a back seat after finishing my degree, getting a full time temp job to pay for travels, setting off on numerous travels and somehow nearly 12 months have passed since my last post. I still exist on all my social medias, although Twitter also took a back seat and I could only really be found on Instagram. I really wanted to make sure I had documented my travels somewhere other than my pictures over on Instagram and I'm also in the process of making a travel scrapbook but I thought I'd come back to blogging with a series of posts about my trip to New Zealand even if it's just for my benefit.