We recently had our longest family trip to-date and first time doing self-driving too in New Zealand North Island.
Highlights of our trip include:
- Saw glow worms illuminating complete darkness of a limestone cave.
- Marvelled at Earth’s geothermal phenomena such as geysers, mud-pools and hot springs.
- Walked on and exploring NZ’s most active marine volcano on White Island and tasted water running in its streams.
- Held a wobbly jellyfish in our hands before it was released back into the sea.
- Visited a kiwifruit farm, saw the blossoms and baby fruits on vines.
- Saw new-hatched Kiwi birds in a Hatchery and adult ones as well.
- Stayed in a 95 years old farm cottage and woke up early in the morning to feed farm animals in the rain.
- Experienced living in Auckland suburbs.
- Attended a Western-style wedding reception for the first time.
- Ate real fruit ice cream and feasted on fish and chips from freshly caught fishes.
Here’s our trip itinerary:
Day 0 Singapore
Went to airport early for the kids to have their first airport lounge experience at T3 Ambassador Transit Lounge. Since I had 2 unused Priority Pass entitlement, it made sense to just pay for the other 2 for all 4 of us to enter. The food choices, though, were quite limited and mostly spicy dishes so the kids did not eat much.
Boarded plane to Wellington via Melbourne. An overnight flight that started from 8.05pm in Singapore with a 1hr 20mins stopover.
Day 1 Wellington
Landed in Wellington International Airport at past 1pm. Had a short nap in hotel to catch up on sleep and a trip to nearby Countdown supermarket for some snacks. Dinner with family and friends at a local Chinese restaurant.
Overnight at Ibis Hotel Wellington
Day 2 Wellington
While the rest were recovering from jet lag, I headed out to Wellington wharf and Wellington museum for some me-time.
After a MacD lunch, we took the famous Wellington cable car up to Wellington station at the highest point and visited Wellington Botanic Gardens.
From the cable car station, we walked to along the Waterfront to Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. The museum is rated by Lonely Planet as one of their top 500 places on earth and certainly a must-visit for museum enthusiasts. Due to time constraints, we spent only 2 hours there. Started off with Gallipoli: The scale of our war exhibition followed by Te Taio: Nature. Despite the limited time, the well-curated exhibitions and comprehensive collections made the trip really fruitful.
Dinner at PaPa Rich restaurant with their Malaysian cuisine.
Overnight at Ibis Hotel Wellington
Day 3 Wellington – Taihape
Again a late morning, walked to Countdown to get bread for breakfast. The rainy, gloomy weather made it difficult to do much. We had a short walk along the bank, a coffee break and then picked up our rental car from Apex car rental city center pick-up center.
It was then a 3 hour plus journey up to Taihape, a stop along the highway from Wellington up north. We then spent time enjoying the atmosphere of the small town and cooking pasta for dinner with sheep almost in our backyard.
Overnight at Aspen Court Motel, Taihape
Day 4 Taihape – Taupo
We headed up to Taupo on Day 4. After an hour plus drive, we reached Taupo and visited Orakei Korako, a geothermal attraction. A persistent rain, at times a downpour, in the middle of our visit cut it short. We missed out on a small section of the place, Ruatapu Cave. Read more about our Geothermal Experience at Orakei Korako.
We then checked in to our motel but when parking our car, realised the headlights not working. Called the car rental company, they told us to get them fixed and they will reimburse us, also gave us name of a car parts store. We rushed there just before the closing time. To our disappointment, they told us they cannot fix the car and advised us to look for a repairs shop instead.
It’s the summer months and darkness falls much later. All of us went for a long stroll along Lake Taupo, mainly because DL was hoping to catch some regional exclusive Pokemons for his collection.
Dinner was a home-cooked meal; this time we had chicken porridge.
Overnight at 52 on Rifle Motel, Taupo
Day 5 Taupo – Waitomo
We headed out early to get the headlights repaired. The first repair shop we went to told us to go back again in late afternoon. Thankfully at the 2nd one, Lake Engines & Auto Repairs, we had the good fortune to have Brandon, their Service Manger’s assistance to investigate the problem. Turned out to be the bulbs on both sides had fused. He promptly helped us to solve the problem with a change of bulbs solved our headache. He also indicated the rental vehicle number in our invoice of NZ$40.99 for ease of our claim from Apex later.
Bought pies from nearby Paetiki Bakery for breakfast. Taupo has some good pie shops and Paetiki Bakery is among the highly-rated ones on TripAdvisor. They have a good variety and we chose bacon & egg, musssels, seafood, chicken & vegetables as well as roast pork, cashew nut, creamy vegetables & cheese with chips.
After check-out, we made a quick turn to Huka Falls look-out for a brief stop.
Then we headed to Waitomo for the glow worm caves, one of CL’s must-visits during this trip even since she heard of it from her tutor. At Waitomo glow worm cave, there are 3 caves we can visit. Due to time constraints, we took their most popular combo of Ruakuri Cave and Glow Worm Cave. Read more on our Magical Experience at Waitomo Glowworm Cave.
We had a great stay at Waitimo Farmstay. Once we had checked-in, we took a stroll around the farm to get to know the animals. We saw the farm’s cows, sheeps, pigs, and horses, each with a cute name. They offer horse-riding too at two designated time slots but do inform them early for their preparation. We left it too late so they were unable to accommodate. Otherwise it cost NZ$10/child or NZ$20/adult for horse-riding. Again more on this in a separate post (coming soon).
I loved the attention to details in the cottage. There are a total of 3 bedrooms, each with its own decor and bedsheets. More homely feel. In case guests gets bored, they thoughtfully placed books on the tabletop. There are board games and children toys in one of the bedroom wardrobe.
Again a home-cooked meal, this time we cooked chicken porridge.
Overnight at Waitomo Farmstay.
Day 6 Waitomo – Auckland
We woke up early at 7am to await for our friendly hostess, Narita, to bring us to the farm for animal feeding. She graciously brought us along even in the rain. Though she told us she has to do it everyday in the early morning, I still believe she could have delayed it by a couple of hours.
During the feeding session, we were officially introduced to Peanut. The little calf that CL fed the day is pet of the hostess’s daughter. She even brought the 3-month old to school during Pet’s Day.
A family wedding was why we were in New Zealand. So after checking out, we made our way to Auckland for this big occasion and preparations.
Overnight at Airbnb Residence, Auckland
Day 7 Auckland
Family wedding at Markovina Vineyard.
Overnight at Airbnb Residence, Auckland
Day 8 Auckland – Whatakane
After saying our goodbyes to family, we headed off to Whatakane. Initially wanted to stop by Auckland Otara Flea Market, a popular flea market that happens every Saturday. But parking was a headache with a long queue of cars waiting to get into the car park.
So we continue our journey south-east. Kiwifruits is a key export of New Zealand. It is still months away from fruit harvesting but we managed to see baby kiwifruits on vines. That was at Kiwifruit Country Farm, Paengaroa, between Tauranga and Whakatane. Due to bio-security reasons, the fruit farm can only be visited on guided tours. Read about our visit in A Visit to Kiwifruit Country
Made another pit stop at Blue Corner, Whakatane, before heading to our motel. They served real good ice cream and we bought animal feeds for the chickens.
Overnight at Alton Lodge Motel, Whakatane. This is the only blemish in our otherwise perfect trip but not of any fault on the motel’s part. The service was good, the rooms were clean and they even upgraded one of the rooms for us. What bugged us was the lodge is right next to a Domain Road Cemetery and we were to stay for 2 days! Many Chinese I believe will feel uneasy with this. We too felt kind of uncomfortable initially but went on for an uneventful stay. Not that we will want to go through it again. Note to self: To check Google maps on accommodation locations prior to booking. Don’t just trust guests reviews because other guests may not mind what bugs me.
Day 9 Whatakane – White Island – Whatakane
The much awaited visit to White Island. The marine volcano is around 50km from Whatakane and takes around an hour to reach by boat.
Read about our incredible visit in New Zealand White Island Volcano.
Loved the fish & chips at Gibbo’s on the Wharf. Super fresh seafood direct from the boats. DL enjoyed it so much he requested for a return trip during dinner time, which we did.
The rest of the day was spent catching up on deserved rest and walking around the town. On hindsight, we should have driven up to Rotorua since we still had lots of time.
Overnight at Alton Lodge Motel, Whakatane.
Day 10 Whatakane – Rotorua
Kiwi Bird’s the highlight for Day 10 of our trip. The kids have been asking to see Kiwis so we headed to Rainbow Spring upon reaching Rotorua.
Rotorua National Kiwi Hatchery is part of Rainbow Springs, Rotorua’s Wildlife and Nature Park. We learnt many interesting facts about this nocturnal, flightless birds native to New Zealand and saw recently hatched baby birds.
Overnight at Thermal Ambassador Motel, Rotorua.
Day 11 Rotorua – Auckland
We started off the day visiting a plant nursery and Government Gardens near our motel. Lovely roses in different colours are in bloom and they have fancy names too!
Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand, making up 14% of the country’s population. Their history, culture and tradition are integral to NZ’s identity. It is thus unimaginable to have visited NZ without getting to know the Maori people and culture. We chose to visit Te Puia like many tourists do. The entire set-up though is more commercialised than, say, the nearby Whakarewarewa, otherwise known as The Living Village.
We saw erupting geysers, mudpools and other geothermal phenomena.
And also opted for the tickets with cultural show so the kids saw a haka for the first time too. More on Te Puia (coming soon).
After Te Puia, we headed back up to Auckland.
Overnight Aberco on Jervois, Auckland
Day 12 Auckland – Singapore
Woke up early to pack our stuff and checked out an hour earlier to do one last bit of shopping and sight-seeing. We spent half an hour doing last bit of shopping at New World supermarket before heading to Auckland Botanic Gardens, chosen due to its close proximity to airport.
If you like sculptures and travelling to Auckland from now till 1 March 2020, consider visiting the gardens as they are having a Sculpture in the Gardens event.
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Total expenditure
Air Ticket: S$4,512
NZ Electronic Travel Authority (NZeTA): S$155 (NZ$176)
Accommodation: S$1,900
Car Rental & Related Expenses: S$755 (NZ$858)
Admission: S$570
White Island Tour: S$625 (NZ$710)
Meals and Miscellaneous: S$420
Travel Insurance: S$66
Total: $9,003 for 2 adults, 2 children
By staying in self-catering motels, cooking some meals and having shared expenses during the 2 wedding days, we happily managed to trim off quite a bit from our travel budget.
Note: Exchange rate used is NZ$1 = S$0.88.
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