Category: New Zealand

Eating in New Zealand

One of the best parts of visiting a new place is trying the food, and in New Zealand it ended up being one of the highlights. Our experiences eating in New Zealand were overwhelmingly positive. Over six months, we sampled delicious food, local craft beer, and wonderful wine. Here’s some tips if you find yourself in this beautiful country looking for something good to eat.

You Won’t Go Hungry in New Zealand

After years cruising in barren habitats from The Bahamas to Tonga, I will never forget our gleeful first visit to a New Zealand supermarket. We felt like celebrating when we spotted the range of produce and the selection of foods we wouldn’t even eat! Our first visits to grocery stores, farmers markets, and specialty shops in New Zealand were much the same, impressing us with the variety of fresh, high quality food of all groups. We saw more fruit, veggies, bread, cheese, etc.etc. than anywhere we’d sailed the boat in a long time. From produce to dairy to meat and seafood, eating in New Zealand includes the widest choice of the best ingredients.

produce aisle supermarket, eating in New Zealand
Produce aisle in a New Zealand supermarket

Popular New Zealand Foods

New Zealand food covers a wide range of cuisines, with a mixture of influences, especially British and Asian. It’s truly global, with lots of Indian and Thai restaurants, which is good for vegetarians.

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New Zealand Quirky Attractions

One thing you learn after spending just a short time in New Zealand is that Kiwis have a sense of humor. And, if you do a New Zealand road trip, you’ll notice countless oddball sculptures, and lots of BIG things. They’re everywhere in New Zealand, alongside roads and in towns. These New Zealand quirky attractions make for great stops on a road trip or even a day trip, and we took advantage and stopped at a lot.

Favorite Quirky Attractions

While not as famous as the big sites and museums, these New Zealand quirky attractions are part of the fun of visiting. Plus, there are so many scattered around the country, you don’t have to plan anything. You’re bound to run into a kiwi sculpture or something!

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Our Favorite New Zealand Hikes

New Zealand is an amazing place for hiking, and Kiwis are hard core trampers. We spent six months between the North and South Islands and did a lot of hiking, along beaches, up volcanoes, and to wineries and glaciers. Here are some of our favorite New Zealand hikes.

Hiking Volcanoes in New Zealand

Since New Zealand is known for its volcanoes, we had to walk some of them! It means a lot of vertical walking, but there’s usually a payoff of a good view. The North Island has nine active volcanoes, and much of the land features like in Rotorua, are results of volcanic activity.

Here are some of the volcanoes we hiked in New Zealand’s North Island:

Maungawhau/mount eden, auckland

Mount Eden is a great hike to do when you spend a couple of days in Auckland. It’s conveniently located to downtown, and an easy walk to do without any hiking gear. As a result, it’s popular and can be mobbed with tourists on a nice day. Still, it offers nice views and there’s good restaurants and bars to reward yourself after the volcano hike!

hiking Mount Eden NZ
Lots of people on the footpath at Mount Eden
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New Zealand’s Top Attractions

After six months exploring one of our favorite countries on earth, we have some recommendations. This is our list of New Zealand’s top attractions, so you know where to go when you visit.

New Zealand is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. The country has world class museums and historic sites, but there’s also a lot of hype, and you can’t do everything! Hopefully this list of what we loved helps.

Best Museums

We couldn’t talk about New Zealand’s top tourist attractions without mentioning museums. On a rainy or cold day, or the day after a long hike or bike ride, a museum is a good option. Some of New Zealand’s museums are among the best we’ve ever visited.

auckland war museum

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The Sail from New Zealand to Australia

I am still recovering from the sail from New Zealand to Australia. It was one of our longest passages and a challenging trip. The good news is we made it, and are now basking in the warm sun in Australia!

The Route from New Zealand to Australia

Our sail from New Zealand to Australia covered over 1200 nautical miles. We departed from Bay of Islands Marina in Opua, New Zealand aiming for Southport Yacht Club in Gold Coast, Australia.

Map sailing from New Zealand to Australia
Our route across the Tasman from New Zealand to Australia

Our route took us from the Pacific Ocean north up the east coast of New Zealand and then west along the north of New Zealand into the Tasman Sea to Australia. The Tasman Sea, known as “The Ditch” in sailing circles, is infamously rough due to the currents of the Southern Ocean colliding with those of the Pacific. So yes, we expected rough wind and waves and that’s what we got.

Rough Seas

From the first day until near the end of our passage, the waves were like a washing machine. Also known as confused seas, the waves came from every direction. To make it even more uncomfortable, there was no break between waves. The incessant confused waves made me sick a few times the first night and next morning, and I continued to feel sick for a couple more days. It wasn’t until late on the third day that I felt human enough to spend time inside the boat and to eat anything besides crackers.

A rainbow on the sail from New Zealand to Australia
We saw a few rainbows on the passage.
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