New Zealand 'Family Trip of a lifetime'

Donna Bidwell on 29 January 2019
At the beginning of last year, I had the pleasure of helping bring to life Katy’s family holiday of a lifetime to New Zealand. Working on this dream holiday was amazing and I got so much pleasure helping to arrange this, knowing how much this meant to them.

Katy had a clear vision of what she wanted to do whilst in New Zealand. She had thoroughly researched everything, and it was important to me that I made sure I could arrange it all to plan as much as possible. Katy could have written pages about how amazing their trip was and has kindly written this to help others who are thinking of arranging their holiday to New Zealand.

A month in New Zealand really was our ‘family trip of a lifetime!’ My husband told me off every time I called it a holiday, as in all honesty it was unlike any ‘holiday’ we’d previously been on - which usually entailed us lazing by the pool and eating too much! Every day was an adventure!

We were travelling with our 10-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son, so when we were in the planning stages I was very conscious that I wanted it to be exciting and memorable for the kids too, so we planned in lots of activities. If it was just my husband and I, we would have been happy just driving around enjoying the scenery. Every corner you turn there’s stunning views that take your breath away. The 3000+ photos we returned home with were living proof!

I’m not going to lie, the plane journey there is a looooonnng one, but we managed it. Donna was fantastic at helping us find the right flights, advising us on airlines to go with in terms of comfort, suitable flight times and avoiding long waits at the stopovers and booking airport lounges for us (something I’d definitely recommend! The shower at Hong Kong really helped to perk us all up in preparation for the next 12-hour stint). The in-flight entertainment was fair, and the kids managed it a lot better than I’d braced myself for! Donna had made us all up little packages with sweets, chocolates, books and games to entertain us which was such a perfect and thoughtful touch. The kids were so excited when they saw them!

Travelling around New Zealand is easy! The hardest bit was narrowing down where to visit! I’d have needed six months to see all the places initially on my list!

We went for the car hire option, travelling from place to place in a mixture of hotels and apartments which was perfect for us as a family of four wanting a bit more space. The roads in New Zealand are easy to navigate. Driving on the same side of the road, they range between long and straight while not seeing another car in sight to winding and bendy and driving through the clouds. I think all the cars are automatic so it makes driving on these kinds of roads easy rather than constantly changing gear to contend with the hills and can free you up a bit to concentrate on the views! The roads are well sign-posted with viewing areas regularly to stop and take photos and green and yellow conservation signs showing sights of interest. There are regular passing bays too which you just pull over into if you don’t want to drive too fast and enjoy the view and to let others by. Lots of people do the camper van thing which is incredibly popular, but we felt we wanted a bit more space as we were spending a whole month there.

One of my favourite places we visited must be Queenstown! It is a bit of a tourist trap but don’t let that put you off, it is a must visit location. Firstly, and if nothing else it’s stunning! The area around the lake is beautiful. Secondly, it’s buzzing with activity and has a great vibe! Plenty of bars, restaurants and activities! While we were there, we did the Skyline Gondola (a cable car that takes you to the top of Bob’s peak) the views from the top over Queenstown were spectacular! Once at the top we did the ‘Luge’ which is basically like being on your very own Mario Kart! After a quick lesson you whizz down the mountain on a racetrack under bridges and bends! This was definitely one of the kids’ highlights!

We also did the Ecotours Zip trek which is at the top. A series of zip wires that take you through the trees on the mountain. Great fun! Getting to dangle upside down in a Spiderman pose was our son’s favourite!

While in Queenstown we also did ‘Shotover Jet’, a jet boat that travels at around 90kmh through canyons, whizzing past rocks and thrilling 360 manoeuvres. A great one for the thrill seeker! There are also plenty of places here to bungee jump but that’s never been on my bucket list, so I manged to successfully swerve that despite my brother’s best efforts to convince me!

Lake Tepako and the Mount Cook area was another one of our favourites just down to the sheer beauty of it! You can see why New Zealand is often used by the film makers as a back drop! The snow topped mountains, turquoise lakes and pinks and purples of the Lupins are mesmerising.

The weather in New Zealand can be quite changeable due to its isolated location in the South Pacific. You need to pack a little of everything! Short sleeves, long sleeves, jumpers, rain jackets and comfortable shoes to walk in! Just because the day starts sunny doesn’t mean it will end that way! Half an hour down the road may be completely different as we found! Due to the changeable weather we were a little unfortunate and a couple of the activities we had booked ended up being cancelled for safety reasons. If you are desperate to do certain activities such as helicopter, plane or boat trips, my advice is to spend a couple of days in this location. You can’t control the weather! Again, Donna arranged our refunds for us with ease while we were still away, and the money was pretty much with us when we got home!

New Zealand is a location that should definitely be on everyone’s destination list. It’s got something for everyone! It’s incredibly diverse, from the mountain ranges to the rainforests, golden sandy beaches and rugged shorelines.

Now to start saving again for our next trip out there and to see the bits we didn’t quite reach!

If you would like me to help arrange your trip of a life time to New Zealand. It would be a pleasure to help create your dream so please do contact me on 01502 558910 or donna.bidwell@travelcounsellors.com