Hints and Tips - New Zealand

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Here are a few hints and tips regarding NZ

Here is my list of places to visit in New Zealand, obviously biased towards those travelling with young children and in a motorhome:

Be patient with them, even if you feel like you want to commit suicide

1) Tauranga (Mount Maunganui) - Has everything, sun, sand, sea, shops, food, nice people

On the road
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2) Nelson and Abel Tasman Park - You could mistake Abel Tasman for Thailand, it is so exotic.  An absolute must to visit - you'd be surprised how many people we met who had bypassed it

3) Milford Sound - Scenery is spectacular. Or Doubtful Sound.

4) Wanaka/Queenstown - Both are great and offer lots of interesting activities.  Has to be done

5) Akaroa - A lovely little town, very quaint and relaxing.  Great safe beach for the little ones

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6) Doubtless Bay - This area of the Northland is lovely, especially if you fish.  Great beaches, great fish shops.  Just make sure you stock up on food supplies and nappies beforehand

I would like to have added the Coromandel to this, but dont feel I can as we havent visited this time round.  It is lovely though, as are the Bay of Islands, which we also missed out on this trip.  Rotorura is great for visting the steaming pools and geo-thermal stuff - we missed these out as looked last time, and have seen a lot at Yellowstone in the US.  There have been loads of other great places that I havent put down, like Napier, Mount Aspiring National Park, and Waihi.

All of New Zealand is lovely, but here is a list of places that we didnt find so interesting:

1) Ninety Mile Beach/Cape Reigna - Has to be done via a tour bus really, no good with kids.  Dont drive it unless you are very very bored

2) Fox Glacier - Apparantly it always rains here.  None of the activities are good for kids, and the motorhome wont go up the roads to look at the glaciers. Be prepared for a lot of hiking, and it isnt pram friendly.  Better to catch a helicopter or plane from another town rather than drive all the way there.

3) Gisbourne - Was a long drive for very little.  Im sure this is a great town, but we didnt really enjoy it

4) Greymouth - Not much going on. Pancake Rocks is good, not sure it was worth the big diversion mind you

5) Christchurch - I really wasnt over keen on this place, cant explain why - you have to see it.  Sorry Christchurch

Top activites to get up to (in no particular order):

1) Flying over Mount Cook/Glaciers - This was an awesome experience

2) A visit to Goat Island - If the kids were slightly bigger would have been great to go out on the boat.  As it was nice to visit, and lots to do in vicinity

3) Water taxi to Abel Tasman - Great, enough said

4) Climbing up Mount Maunganui - Leave the kids with Dad, the best 90 minutes ever

5) Canyon Swinging in Queenstown - Im sure the hubby will be talking about this for a very long time

6) The luge in Queenstown (I think Rotorua has similar) - great with children, I reckon this was Matthew's best activity

7) Kingston Flyer - We all love a steam engine

Again I'm sure this is much different with no kids - for example Poor Knights Island must be great to dive, the wineries if I were a little older, and some people we spoke to just played golf around the country.  Steve would have liked to have just fished I think.

Some tips for travelling with a new born:

1) Bring a travel cot - Samsonite pop-up is great

2) Babygros - they dont look great but are so much more convenient than clothes.  Also protect the whole of the body from the sun (within reason of course)

3) Go to bed early, try to get a nap in the afternoon if possible (oh I wish!)

4) Don't rush - some days you wont get anywhere, just accept it

And some tips for travelling with a toddler (some of the above also apply to these):

1) Be patient with them, even if you feel like you want to commit suicide

2) Establish a bed-time routine early on.  Make them goto bed when it gets dark

3) Try to do activities every day - its much harder to sit around the campsite, unless you can find a child they can play with

4) Dont expect them to enjoy everything you enjoy - sometimes you need to have fun too, just take them along for the ride

5) Try to eat outside of the motorhome - wooden benches are great.  Start preparing dinner early. Eat out at restaurants regularly to take the pressure off

6) Laugh and enjoy.  We met lots of people that just seemed to moan at their kids permanently about muddy feet or spilling food, etc.  Crazy, just let it go over your head, it really doesnt matter.  They arent kids for long, enjoy them, and enjoy your journey

Thats it, I could go on and give top lists for things like playground, campsites, supermarkets, etc, but I wont bore you.  My final tip is to hire a motorhome as big as you cant get - our 4 berth is really too small for the 4 of us, but we were restricted due to the car seats.  Pacific Horizon motorhomes are also pretty crap in my opinion, try to get a Maui, Apollo, or Kea I would say.  And time length - well I would say 6 weeks is enough, unless you have some hobby you will be doing out here.