New Zealand is such a beautiful country! There are two parts to it: the North Island and the South Island. We were only in the North Island, more so around Auckland area. Our trip to New Zealand was really short. We were only there for 4 days, so we didn’t have too much tie to explore around. I have heard many times that the South Island (Queenstown) is really beautiful. Although we didn’t get to visit it, We do plan on going back to check it out. However, I must say that the North Island was quite breath taking itself. We did so much there in the short amount of time and had so much fun. We stayed at the Hilton down by the harbor. It was a really hotel in the heart of the town. The water view from the balcony was amazing. Of course, they are many different hotels there, but Hilton has always treated us very well so we continue to be loyal members.

Things to do…

1. Hobitton

This place was just amazing. I would say this was my favorite place visiting the north island. Whether you’ve watched The Lord of the Ring or The Hobbit or not, this is a must see. It’s just beautiful here. I’m a huge fan of the two trilogy’s but Dan have not seen even one. So of course it was my idea to come here, but he even said that this was one of his favorite places in New Zealand. The drive here from Auckland was about 1.5 hours, but it was well worth it.

It took them 3 years to build this town for the movie only to film on site for 12 days. That’s crazy! However is it still well maintained here. There tons of tourist visiting this place, but it wasn’t dragging but most tourist attraction. There were 39 hobbit holes, each unique in it’s own way. Each home had it’s own design. Some hobbit holes were ‘big’ and some were extremely tiny! On the route here, you pass a sheep farm, tons of sheep everywhere.

Of the 39 hobbit holes, we got to see the biggest, richest home- Bilbo’s home (The first picture below). We also got to see Frodo and Sam’s home which was shown in the movie. Towards the end of the tour, they served us with a beer of our choice out of four different types. We choose the non-alcoholic one which was the ginger beer and it was really good.

Bilbo’s home

Cheers to Ginger beer!

2. Waiheke Island

Waiheke Island is home to 30 vineyards. Dan and I are not big drinkers. Although he does enjoy a nice glass of wine, he probably only drinks once or twice a year. However, we did enjoy our time here. This island was amazing. To get here you have to take a ferry from the harbor, which takes about 30 minutes. There are trails that you can hike on, which was what we did when we first got there while waiting for the hop-on hop-off bus to start. It was such a beautiful hike because your hiking along the edge of the mountain observing the beautiful beach. The hop-on hop-off bus takes you to all the different vineyards, which is really nice cause you don’t have to drink and drive! There are so many vineyards there so we did not get to go to all off them. That’s probably was a good thing, consider how tipsy I was after the first wine tasting! We visited the Batch Winery before they even opened, but the view there was amazing. The second vineyard we visited, Mudbrick Vineyard & Restaurant, was my favorite. We did the wine tasting and had some lunch there. The wine was great and so was the food. To top it off, the view was just breath taking. We sat outside on the top of the mountain looking over the vineyard onto the beach. The last vineyard we visited, Stonyridge Vineyard, was really good but the scenery wasn’t quite as nice.

Batch Vineyard

Mudbrick Vineyard

Mudbrick Vineyard

Stonyridge Vineyard

3. Waitomo Glowworm Caves

The cave was about a 1.5 hour drive from Hobbiton, so we decided to check it out since it seem pretty cool. The tour consisted of a walking tour to give you the history of the caves and the glowworm followed be a short, quiet boat tour through the caves. It was really cool to see these glowworm glow in the dark caves. Unfortunately, they did not permit and camera usage, so we were not able to capture any pictures until we got out of the caves. Anyhow, I definitely enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone visiting the area.

4. Auckland Zoo

Auckland Zoo is a huge zoo. Plan on being here for a while if you plan on visiting. You can get lost in this zoo and see lots of animals here. My favorite part of this was seeing the wallabies. They are so cute and one of them actually approach me and allowed me pet him from awhile. Now that was an experience!

Like most zoos, there were lots of different animals but much much more to offer. They able to set it up as different countries, such as Australia, South America, South East Asia, New Zealand and Africa. Don’t forget to visit the Kiwis, their native birds!

5. Sky Tower

The Sky Tower is New Zealand’s tallest man-made structure. At the top of this tower is three observation decks with a stunning 360º views over the city. You can watch the sunset from here which is amazing. This was neat experience and I would say a must do if you are in Auckland. Try the restaurant at the top as well. The food is actually really good.

Satiate your Palate in Auckland…

New Zealand has a lot of ‘known for’ as far as food.  Most of their land is occupied by cattle farms and vineyards. So of course you must try their wine when visiting here and also try their steak.

1. Wine and Cheese

As mentioned earlier, Waiheke island is a great place to go for wine tasting, but it is not the only place. There are vineyards throughout Auckland. The cheese here is amazing as well. It pairs up really well with the wine but still taste great on its own.

2. Steak

The steak here is really good. We tried it and different restaurants and they were all pretty good. My favorite was on the Sky Tower restaurant. I’m not sure if it was the food itself, or the food with the amazing scenery that made it so good, but I ate every last bit. the dessert was really good well with great presentation.

3. Seafood

The seafood here is great! They were so fresh and tasty! Oysters are a big deal in New Zealand and I can understand why. They were really good. Oysters were serve at many restaurants there. Another one of my favorite dishes in Auckland was this clam dish in pasta. This was sooo good. It was served at The Depot Eatery. This restaurant was really packed so make sure you make reservations.

4. Gelato

Of course you must try the gelato here. It is sooo good! There’s quite a few gelato stand around the city. There’s also some places that offers a macaroon ice cream sandwich, which was quite unique but really good.

Well this wraps up our amazing trip to Auckland. In just 4 days, we were able to see so much. I hope you find this helpful!

“Better to see something once than hear about it a thousand times.”