CasaKosa

In the Land of the Long White Cloud

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by

Mia
in , , ,

Go well traveler, on your journeys into the south, take memories with you and unpack them fondly remembering this place.

We found this quote on a bus stop when waiting for a bus from Picton to Kaikoura and thought it was epic enough to write it down. Because it really was epic, the journey through New Zealand we undertook in April 2019. Even though sometimes we had the impression we’re in a German speaking country, due to the fact that you won’t find one hostel without at least one young German realizing their work and travel gap year dream here. But we didn’t mind, it’s a good dream, go for it Hans! And you don’t even need to be a die hard Lord of the Rings fan to enjoy the country (even though it helps)!

As you may know, New Zealand

  • is located in the southwestern Pacific as part of Oceania
  • lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire (Warning: this deal contains volcanoes and earthquakes)
  • consists of two main islands – North & South Island – and a lot of their smaller cousins

Apart from hairy hobbits and kiwis, it is the country of Maori people, the greatest navigators in the history who sailed in the Polynesian triangle of New Zealand – Hawaii – Easter Island. The Maori call the country is Aotearoa meaning “Land of the long white cloud”. And it’s a totally appropriate name. We must have seen the long white cloud every single day we were around.

Welcome and Kia ora, as they say here. We hope you will enjoy our kiwi adventures and something you find here may help you with your own journey :)

Our itinerary

We spent 30 days in New Zealand – one third on the North Island and two thirds on the South Island. After our arrival at the Auckland Airport we jumped on a second plane and rushed to the capital Wellington, where we kicked off our journey with a bachelor party of our friend living there. Then we crossed the Cook Strait and made a clockwise circle in the South Island. With another short stop in the capital (party again) we zigzagged all the way up north to Auckland. It looked almost like that:

We’ve decided to split our backpacking journey into seven parts. In the following posts you can read a bit about these places, see what we did when we were there and enjoy the photos we took.

1. Wellington

Our first stop – Wellington. The capital of New Zealand is a very cool and cozy city, a good place to learn something about the country, its history and culture. Shoutout to their Library!

You can read about our time in the city here: One small but cool capital.

2. East Coast of the South Island

Crossing the Cook Strait to the South Island and exploring the East Coast. Picton & Marlborough, Kaikoura and Christchurch – one week full of wine tasting, hiking, animal encounters, fulfilled dreams and colorful city walks.

If you are interested in our first adventures on the South Island, click here: Our first destinations in the South.

3. Mackenzie Country

Famous lake Tekapo & Aoraki Mount Cook National Park – several days characterized by breathtaking sceneries, stunning and unbelievably blue lakes and majestic mountains.

Do you want to find out and see more of these famous places? Click here: Autumn postcards from Mackenzie Country.

4. Central Otago & Southland

Queenstown and Wanaka – outdoor hotspots and popular wine destinations – and the Fiordland National park with its main star Milford Sound in the south. An epic autumn trip to misty mountains, lakes and wineries, all in an attractive color palette.

What did we do and how it looked like in autumn, you can find out here: Colorful Central Otago & Southland.

5. West Coast of the South Island

All the way up from Fox Glacier to Nelson with stops in Hokitika and Punakaiki. Days full of constantly changing sceneries and amazing surprises such as ancient glow worm forest, eel feeding and hard to chew pancakes.

Read about our adventures in the wild west here: West Coast, baby!

6. Taupo & Tongariro National Park

Beginning of our expedition to the North Island. Craters of the Moon, Huka Falls and Tongariro National park. A bit of cycling, quite a lot of hiking but most of all wondering about these amazing creations of mother nature.

You can find and see more of these wonders here: Among the volcanoes, lakes and waterfalls.

7. North Island classic

Intense four days in the company of our new friends. Our Aussie/Slovak road trip from Taupo to Rotorua, Hobbiton, Waitomo and Auckland. A lot of adventure, a bit of adrenaline, tons of fun and our farewell to the Land of the Long White Cloud.

For our road trip stories and pictures shot on the way have a look here: Road trip in the North.

How we traveled around

Neither of us two is an experienced driver and thus we’re big proponents of public transportation whenever possible. Before our trip, almost everybody we had talked to had told us that there’s just no way we can be adventurous in New Zealand without having a car. Challenge accepted!

After some online research we found several possibilities how to plan our journey using only our beloved public transport. The option we liked the most were InterCity buses offering flexible time credit passes usable on both of the main islands. We opted for the longest pass with 60-hours each. The buses were modern, mostly on time and bus drivers usually wanted to share their stories with their passengers, so we could learn something while moving between places. They even made stops at all the interesting places and picturesque sceneries.

So if you have a similar relationship to driving as we do, don’t worry, this is a great alternative. Furthermore, there are trains connecting several hub cities and ferries between the North and South Island which will come in handy when you are visiting both. And of course, you can save time and fly.

Where did we sleep

Even though our 20-something years are long gone, when backpacking, we enjoy calling ourselves poor students and thus staying in hostels. But in a private double room, if at all possible.

The hostels we slept in in New Zealand were cool. Almost all of these places had well equipped kitchens, usable laundry rooms and nice common rooms. Also, they were full of friendly people – sometimes, when luck was on our side, we even got a cake or pudding in the evening! Other times we were treated to a common dinner or we just had a chat and drinks. ‌‌

What did we eat

When travelling for a longer time we don’t like eating out too much. Pepe gets bored of the restaurant food and talking to waiters quite soon and Mia likes cooking a lot. Since we had kitchens in our hostels, we used to prepare our breakkies and either to-go lunches and/or dinners ourselves. However, we also used to have one meal a day outside to try some local gastronomy and a coffee here and there.

As every savvy traveler knows, when in a new country, supermarkets are one of the first places to go. Not only will they give you an idea about what’s going to be your diet for the foreseeable future, but usually you also get a feeling of an appropriate price level for the country. The supermarkets in New Zealand were quite expensive (this was expected, it’s at the end of the map :), but stocked with all kinds of delicious and fresh food to choose from. And plenty of local chocolate, beers and wine. Not bad, not bad!

But what we were most thrilled about when sampling the kiwi food were their fresh fruits and veg, especially the apples and carrots. We’ve never encountered apple cultivars called Ambrosia, but these are seriously the best apples we’ve ever had and probably will have in our lives. We ate them every day. Also the super sweet carrots. Together with nuts sold by weight, eggs and canned tuna, these were our go-to snacks. Yummy and healthy.

Our bucket list for future visits

New Zealand is beautiful! We saw a lot and enjoyed it to the fullest, but we were still quite sad that these 30 days were over so quickly. We reckon we won’t ever have enough time to explore ALL the gorgeous places this country has to offer, but once we’re back this is what we would love to try:

  • Kepler Track in Fiordland National Park during summer
  • Kayaking and hiking in Abel Tasman National Park
  • Travelling through Arthur Pass
  • Skiing in Mt Aspiring National Park
  • Hiking around Mount Taranaki in Egmont National Park
  • Skiing in Mount Ruapehu
  • Visiting Coromandel Peninsula
  • Spending some time in Bay of Islands
  • Wine tasting in Hawke’s Bay

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