Introduction

This blog provides an overview of our December 2014 trip to New Zealand. Like most blogs, it is in reversed chronological order, so if you want to follow our route, please start from the bottom. Our travels started in Auckland in the North Island. We then flew to Queenstown in the South Island where we rented a car. We stayed in the cozy nearby town of Arrowtown, then drove to Wanaka, Franz Josef Glacier, Westport, Nelson, and Blenheim. From Blenheim we drove to Picton where we dropped off our rental car to take the Interisland Ferry to Wellington in the North Island. We picked up another rental car at the ferry terminal there. We visited Wellington, Peka Peka, Napier, and Katikati in Matamata near Rotorua and Tauranga. Finally, we drove back to Auckland to have lunch before heading to the airport for our return to the U.S.


We flew to Los Angeles where we spent one night at the Beach House Hotel, right on the Hermosa Beach waterfront.

After one night in LA, we flew to Kauai where we spent 6 days at the spectacular Grand Hyatt Resort in Koloa, which deserves its own blog.

Katikati

Katikati, another town with a very cool name. The road from Napier to Katikati is another beautiful road and a four hour drive, but every moment was enjoyable. We stopped at Rotorua, a town with a lake, geysers, and some beautiful gardens. Next to the lake are some natural sulfur hot springs that are a very interesting natural phenomenon. You see many hot pools with bubbling mud or water with sulfur steam and you can feel the heat. You can take a bath in some places too.

We then went to the Government Garden, a fantastic garden with all kinds of native plants and flowers and an old historic government building that looks like a palace.

We drove around the government building to Sulfur Park where you can see a bay with white water, caused by the sulfur. We then drove to Katikati.



 

Lodging: We stayed at the Kaimai Country Lodge, a boutique bed and breakfast with only three guest rooms and very personalized attention. We had very tasty a New Year's Eve dinner with the owners that included fresh vegetables from their gardens. The place is beautiful and very comfortable, with gorgeous views of the lake, valley and Maunganui mountain, a small mountain by the water that is very popular for hiking.


Food: We only ate at the Lodge and the food was great. And the views were phenomenal.


Back to Auckland tomorrow to fly back to the U.S. One of the most memorable trips ever. Three weeks of New Zealand will make you love this place and never want to go back home.

Napier

From Peka Peka we drove to Napier, but first made a stop in Hastings, a small art deco town about 20 minutes from Napier. There are pretty cool art deco buildings all over the town and there were some fun Christmas decorations. The lamp posts are the coolest.






Our final stop for the day was Napier. This city is known for its art deco architecture and wineries. If you drink a New Zealand wine from Hawkes Bay it comes from this region. The city is pretty lively--full of shops, restaurants, and cafes.



We stumbled across a most beautiful park with statues, artifacts, and and incredible assortment of plants and flowers, all right in front of the ocean.






Lodging:  We stayed at the Shoreline Motel, a nice, modern motel with the beach right across the street. The ocean here, as in most other places in New Zealand, is a deep turquoise color. What a view from our room!!






Food: We ate at the Mission Estate Restaurant, which is located on the grounds of the Mission Estate Winery--New Zealand's oldest winery; their Pinot wines are excellent.

From the restaurant grounds you can see their vast vineyards; we also happened to see a most unusual and amusing thing: a large number of sheep returning to their barn by way of the vineyard--a parade of sheep walking through rows of grape vines (look at the little white sheep in the picture)

For breakfast we ate at the Emporium cafe, which is a popular spot.

Peka Peka

Has to be the coolest name for a town. On our way to Peka Peka we stopped at Titahi Bay beach, a popular local beach. We also drove by Plimmerton and by Pukerua Bay, another very nice beach community. We then continued towards Peka Peka, but made another stop for a bite to eat at the Fisherman's Table, located along Route 1.
 


We went to Peka Peka to visit Helen and Fritz who kindly hosted us one night at their amazing home. They are the parents of our former neighbor Graeme. They, and also Graeme, gave us tons of advice for our trip to New Zealand, which really made a great difference in our experience. Fritz has to be the most brilliant architect, evidenced by their spectacular home Sol E Mer in front of Peka Peka beach.


Food: We ate a very fresh seafood basket at the Fisherman's Table while sitting outside at a table with quite a nice ocean view. Later we had dinner with Helen and Fritz at Waimea at the Waikanae Beach in Waika. Here too we had a view to the ocean, and had a most enjoyable dinner.

Wellington: in the Capital

Wellington is a beautiful city, surrounded by hills, bays and the ocean. The city is very hilly and you are usually driving uphill or downhill, rarely flat; the views are breathtaking. We stopped at the Mount Victoria lookout, which has a gorgeous 360 degree view of the entire city. The neighborhoods are very quaint with plenty of cafes, restaurants, and shops.

We spent some time walking on Cuba Street, which has a pedestrian section full of hotels, restaurants, cafes, bars, shops, and an interesting mix of art deco and modern architecture. We also drove around the Newtown neighborhood.

The city has lots of very interesting historical buildings, modern structures, and beautifully painted murals.





Food: The food in Wellington is quite good. There weren't many places open, so we had some chicken and burgers at the Five Boroughs, a very cool dive. The next day we had brunch at Flordititas Cafe and Restaurant on Cuba Street and the food and service were excellent. We had dinner at The Bresolin in the Te Aro neighborhood. Again, both the food and service were quite good.

Lodging: We stayed at a studio apartment at 10 Orchard Street. We had to climb about 3 stories of steep stairs to get to our room, with luggage.We had only one window with a view, but the view was a nice one--Wellington Harbour.

Picton to Wellington: Interislander Ferry

We drove to Picton to take the Interislander ferry to Wellington. Crossing from one island to another is very expensive so most people drop their rental car off and pick up another when traveling from one island to the next. It is much cheaper and it is quick and easy. Picton is a picturesque port with some art deco buildings and a beautiful harbor.

We boarded the Kaitati, which is the largest ferry in New Zealand waters. The ship is huge an it holds many automobiles and up to 1600 passengers. The ship has game stations,  movies, a food court, an eating area with tables, lounges, reclining seats, a premium lounge, a lounge for commercial drivers, etc. The trip takes 3 hours along the beautiful bays and emerald waters between the two islands. This is most definitely the most beautiful ferry ride we have taken and the largest ferry we have every traveled on.

Blenheim in the Marlborough Wine Region

On December 26 we drove to Blenheim, which is in the Marlborough wine region. There are vineyards and wineries just about everywhere. Unfortunately, many of them where closed in observance of Boxing Day--a day when employers "box" gifts for their employees and servers. But fortunately we found a few wineries open to visit. We went to two: Cloudy Bay and Hunters. At Cloudy Bay we did some red wine tasting for a fee while at Hunters they were pouring wine tastes for free! We also drove around some of the other wineries, which have spectacular views to vast fields of vineyards as far as the eye can see.

Lodging: The Marlborough Vinters Hotel. It's a beautiful, small hotel situated in between vinyards. We have a very nice one bedroom suite with views to the vinyards from all windows.



Food: We ate at the Herzog Restaurant, which is located inside the Hans Herzog Winery--a beautiful farm and vineyard where they make excellent organic wines. We enjoyed two of their red wines with our dinner.






And, of course, adorable sheep everywhere. They look at you as if saying "Do I know you?"