New Zealand, 2 Week, North and South Island Itinerary: Part 1

May is around the corner, so I can’t help but remanence on our 2-week trip to New Zealand we took in May 2018. New Zealand was always top on Zach’s bucket list because he loved the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films, so we decided to go for it. This would only be our second big International trip. We took a 10-day trip to Italy right after we got married, but we had a travel agent book the entire trip. This time around, I wanted to do all of the research and booking for myself. Having a travel agent was great, but by planning and booking our NZ trip myself, I was able to fully customize it to meet our needs. We spent a total of 14 days in-country, and by booking this trip on my own, I was able to spend $3k less than our 10-day trip in Italy without sacrificing any experiences or comforts.

Before our trip, I knew nothing about New Zealand other than it was a beautiful country where they filmed The Hobbit and LOTR. However, I was supposed to plan a 14-day trip to this mystery country somehow. One thing about me is that I love to research anything travel related, and I love to save money.

I spent hours online researching New Zealand, printing out maps, learning about towns and things to do in each town, and reading multiple threads on TripAdvisor. TripAdvisor was my best friend when planning our trip, and I still use it today when planning any trip. I should also note that it was late Fall/early Winter in New Zealand when we visited. So, here’s our two-week New Zealand itinerary.

Day 1: Arrival in Auckland, NZ

After 17+ hours of travel, we finally arrived in New Zealand’s North Island in Auckland. Thankfully, I splurged for the exit row seats on our long flight from the States. We had so much leg room which made the flight SO much more bearable! We arrived at 5:45am, although we were so jet-lagged and didn’t know what day/time it was. As soon as we arrived and made it through customs, we picked up our rental car that I booked through rentalcars.com and headed to a grocery store. We picked up some snacks and drinks before heading to the Zoo. Now, if you do what we did and get a rental car as soon as you arrive in country, limit your driving! We were exhausted, plus the car was right hand drive, and they drive on the left side of the road. So, don’t plan on taking off and driving around. We parked at the Zoo so we could get on a hop-on-hop-off bus. This was perfect for us because we could see most of the city without having to drive. In fact, we sat on the top floor of the bust most of the time (again, we were exhausted), and talked to our bus driver in between stops. We tried to make it as long in the day as we could before crashing, but around 2:00pm, we checked in to our AirBnb, showered, and passed out by 3:30pm.

Day 2: Hobbiton!

After 12+ hours of rest, we were eager to begin exploring the country. We drove 2 hours to Hobbiton-where the movies were filmed. I wasn’t super familiar with the Hobbit and LOTR movies, but Zach was. Regardless, it was such an amazing experience. I felt like I had just stepped into the movies. It was a gorgeous day, the rolling green hills were jaw dropping, and seeing the small Hobbit homes and getting to get up close to them was amazing.

It was incredible to see how much detail went into creating the perfect Hobbiton. We were given a tour and then taken to The Green Dragon for drinks and snacks. We had lunch at the Shires Rest and it was wonderful. After browsing the gift shop, we began our drive to our next destination: Turangi. We arrived at our 2nd AirBnb later that night which was an adorable tiny-house up on a hill with a view of the lake. We settled in, built a warm fire in the fireplace, and prepared for Day 3.

Day 3: Tongariro Alpine Crossing “Mt Doom”

When you go to New Zealand, you have to hike the famous trek to Mt. Doom…As I mentioned earlier, we visited NZ in late Fall/early Winter. We originally had a shuttle to take us to the beginning of the “Mt Doom” hike, but due to weather conditions, it was cancelled. Well, I didn’t travel to NZ to not see Mt. Doom, so we decided to drive to the trail and do as much as possible. Well, let’s make a long story short and say that I took us to the end of the trail rather than the beginning. So, we hiked and hiked and hiked until we couldn’t hike anymore due to the wind, and I couldn’t figure out why we couldn’t see Mt. Doom..Facepalm..It was not until the next day I realized what I had done. If you book a shuttle to take you to the start of the trail, you park at the end of the trail, but don’t forget to look up the address to the beginning of the trail if your shuttle cancels and you want to hike some of the trail anyways and see the mountain. Regardless, we were able to see the mountain from afar after driving to go find it.

Day 4: Wellington

We considered trying the Tongariro Alpine Crossing on Day 4, but we decided against it and drove down to Wellington which is the Capital city on the south of the North Island. We visited the Weta Caves where we were able to see statues and other items from famous movies filmed in New Zealand. We also checked into our AirBnb on Mt. Victoria which overlooked the bay and the ocean. It was a beautiful place with great views! We hiked some of Mt. Victoria before returning for a rainy evening in.

Day 5: Flight to South Island and on to Hokitika.

Day 5 was a long day. We returned our rental car and caught a short flight from Wellington on the North Island to Christchurch on the South Island. Once in Christchurch, we picked up another rental car and headed West towards the mountains via Arthur’s Pass. This was our first encounter with the snow-capped mountains, and they did not disappoint! We stopped at Castle Rock which was a very cool place with rocks in the side of a mountain that looked just like a castle. We also stopped many times just to enjoy the sights. After a long, beautiful drive, we arrived at our stop for the night in Hokitika. It was a small, coastal town. We checked into our AirBnb and walked to a nearby cave to see the glowworms.

Day 6: Franz Josef

We departed Hokitika and headed towards the Hokitika Gorge. It was beautiful. The water was a milky blue color. However, most all of the water in New Zealand is just absolutely gorgeous. Next, we made our way to the small-town Franz Josef, home of the Franz Josef glacier. We stopped for lunch at a place called “Full of Beans,” and it was delicious! This was the first night we had booked a typical hotel, so we checked in, and headed to the trail to the glacier. The glacier was massive and really a sight to see. We opted out of the heli-hike, but we still felt like we got to see the glacier enough to make it worthwhile.

Day 7: Lake Matheson, Blue Pools, Wanaka

We enjoyed our lunch so much the day prior, we decided to go back to Full of Beans for breakfast. We checked out of our hotel and headed to Lake Matheson. It was a lake that was so still, the mountains behind it reflected perfectly onto the lake. It looked like a mirrored image. About 2.5 hours later, we arrived at the Blue Pools. It was another beautiful body of water that was crystal clear. I wanted to jump in despite the freezing temperatures. After more driving and passing through Haast pass, we arrived at our destination: Wanaka. This ended up being Zach’s favorite town. It was a town by a lake and surrounded by mountains. We spent the evening exploring the town before checking into our hotel.

By this time, it was hard to believe a week of our trip had already passed! We were having the time of our life and couldn’t wait to keep exploring! Stay tuned for Part 2 of our trip!