Today’s Friday Travel Photo takes you high into the Southern Alps of New Zealand.
While you have a number of different options for seeing the mountain range of the South Island, a helicopter ride is certainly one of the most epic ways to take them in.
Helicopter in the Southern Alps
Would you like to see more of the Southern Alps? Check out:
Queenstown bills itself as the ‘Adventure Capital of the World.’ You can experience a number of heart-dropping activities here from jet-boating, to bungy jumping, to white water river sledging (yes, really). Needless to say, a trip to Queenstown, New Zealand, can very easily break your budget.
Yet it doesn’t have to. There are many budget friendly activities to keep you busy in Queenstown. While I’m basing myself in Queenstown for the winter season, I’ll run a couple options for the budget conscious traveler in Queesntown. Today, I’m featuring a photo essay from my recent hike to the summit of Queesntown Hill.
It will cost you nothing and the views from the 800 meter summit are superb. The walk leaves from town and is well sign-posted. The path is in excellent condition and takes you through a pine forrest before reaching the summit of Te Tapu-nui (Mountain of Intense Sacredness). If you’re in moderate fitness, you can expect the walk to take about two hours return – yet I’d allow more time at the summit to relax and take in the stunning 360 degree views. Enjoy.
Queenstown Hill Hike (Photo Essay)
Lake WakatipuLake WakatipuNearing the SummitLake WakitipuSnow covered mountainsCairn at the SummitThe RemarkablesSun SettingCoronet Peak Ski FieldLake Wakatipu From the SummitSun SettingPassing AirplaneView of QueenstownThe RemarkablesLake WakatipuSnow Dusted Peak
It’s an excellent hike to the summit, and well worth your time if you’re visiting Queenstown. Best part about the hike? It won’t break your budget like the rest of Queenstown will.
Kia Ora. Thanks heaps for checking out my blog. After you read this post, please head on over to my latest project – Planit NZ. PlanitNZ.com is a New Zealand travel guide and booking website I’m working on full time at the moment. You can research all things travel in New Zealand on the website, and you can also book hop on, hop off backpacker bus passes, small group tours or activities. I’m essentially a web based New Zealand travel agent, and I’d appreciate you letting me help you plan and book your trip. Thanks!
So you’re considering a trip to New Zealand? Why wouldn’t you? It’s a country known for dramatic landscapes, friendly people, succulent lamb, and stunning vistas. There is something here on each island to please the thrill seeking backpacker, the wine sipping connoisseur, or lovers of the outdoors. It’s an excellent place to come to as a backpacker (so long as you’re not on a strict budget). Yet you’re wondering the best way to travel around the country.
Check out the list below for five of the best ways to travel around the land of the long white cloud as a backpacker or budget traveler:
1) Campervans
Creative Commons: darrenkw
New Zealand is a prime spot for backpackers who want to travel around the country in their own vehicle. There are many joys of traveling in your own campervan. You can determine your own schedule, stop when and where you want, and you’ll inevitably see more of both islands if you have your own transportation. While a van will cost you more than a car, you’ll save money on accommodation costs by either staying in campervan parks or freedom camping where it’s allowed. Does spending the night in your van listening to the sound of the surf sound appealing? If so, consider seeing New Zealand from behind the wheel of your campervan.
If you’ll be here for a month or more, consider buying your own campervan. Assuming your van doesn’t blow up (as mine did) this will potentially be a cheaper option than renting. Whether you rent or buy, beware that gas prices in New Zealand are quite expensive.
2) Bus Passes
Creative Commons: devonaire
There are a number of companies in New Zealand that run terrific, budget friendly services around the country. Seeing New Zealand by bus is a budget friendly option and still affords you plenty of flexibility. Intercity or Naked Bus both run frequent services between most towns and cities in New Zealand. As long as you’re willing to put up with longer bus rides, there aren’t many places that you can’t get to in New Zealand with one of these companies.
If you’re considering this option, don’t book your journeys individually. Instead, consider buying one of the backpacker passes each company sells. These will give you a certain number of journeys around New Zealand and will often include a ferry crossing from the North to South Island.
3) Hitchhiking
Creative Commons: Bob Elderberry
Hitchhiking is a very realistic way to travel around New Zealand for the dedicated backpacker or budget traveler. I spent three months touring New Zealand in my campervan and saw very few hitchhikers. Not because they’re not here, rather because they get picked up so quickly. Clearly common sense should be utilized when hitchhiking – you’re better off as a pair, and solo travelers (especially women) may want to think twice before considering the option.
If you think it is right for you, it’s a cheap (free) way to get around the country. You’ll have to be flexible and willing to to wait when getting to out of the way places, yet you stand a chance of meeting friendly locals and fellow travelers. Here are some tips for hitchhiking around New Zealand:
Stand on the side of the road with traffic gong in the direction you want to go
Position yourself on the outskirts of town so the traffic that passes is definitely going the direction you want to go
Use more than a thumb – make a sign which says the town you’re hoping to get to
Make sure there is room for your potential ride to pull over allowing you to get in safely
4) Backpacker Buses
One popular way for backpackers to get across New Zealand is by a backpacker bus. This option allows you to hop on and hop off throughout New Zealand. You’ll be guaranteed flexibility, convenience, and have the added bonus of meeting other travelers. If this is your first major trip abroad, one benefit is your travel activities and accommodation can be booked for you – often with a significant discount. There are two major backpacker bus operators in New Zealand: Kiwi Experience and Stray.
Kiwi Experience has a younger demographic that’s most keen on partying their way around New Zealand; Stray has a much more diverse group of travellers and does a better job getting you, ‘off the beaten track.’
Traveling by train isn’t a common way to get around New Zealand. You can’t get to smaller, out of the way destinations. Yet considering the breathtaking scenery which New Zealand is known for, you can imagine there are a couple epic train journeys you might want to fit into your schedule while traveling here.
The Tranz Alpine journey takes you from the West Coast of the South Island in Greymouth to Christchurch over the rugged Southern Alps. It’s ranked as being one of the world’s greatest train journeys and is worth your time. Also, consider leaving Christchurch on the Tranz Coastal route which heads north along the Pacific Coast. You’ll pass beautiful Kaikoura where you can stop to go whale watching. The journey ends in the ferry town of Picton where you can head to the North Island.
New Zealand is a small country by all practical standards and is quite easy to get around. Consider all or some of the above options on your backpacking trip to New Zealand.
Have you been to New Zealand? How did you choose to travel around the country? Leave your comments below.
Found this post useful? Awesome! Don’t leave, check out the posts below:
Just as much of New Zealand is overrun with tourists, much of New Zealand is overrun with sheep. Take for example, the King Country south of Auckland. It’s a rural heartland that raises All Blacks, sheep, and is much greener than my rural home of Iowa. A visit to New Zealand’s King Country on the North Island deserves more than the required stop in Waitomo to view the underground caves. In fact, if you’re there in early April, skip the Waitomo Caves and instead head to the small farming town of Te Kuiti.
New Zealand claims to be famous for many things and while some of these are worthwhile claims to fame (World’s Best Sauvignon Blancs – Marlborough), some of these aren’t (Home of the World’s Biggest Carrot – Ohakune). Te Kuiti is another small New Zealand town that greets you on arrival with a billboard claiming its spot in the world. Te Kuiti is,
The Sheep Shearing Capital of the World
Sheep in Te Kuiti
And rightly so.
I was lucky enough to be passing through Te Kuiti in early April. Late March or Early April is when Te Kuiti holds the Great New Zealand Muster. An end of summer festival that features two must see events:
A Sheep Shearing Competition and the Running of the Sheep
After months of driving around New Zealand, I have become quite accustomed to seeing the forty-odd million sheep that inhabit New Zealand’s countryside. They’re cute wooly beasts that sometimes quite literally stretch as far as the eye can see. The typical New Zealand postcard features a car stopped on a highway while sheep cross the road and says, “New Zealand Traffic Jam.”
It’s a relatively common sight on New Zealand’s roads. As is seeing the old farmer driving along the road on a four-wheeler with two dogs on the back and a stray sheep under one arm. In one way or another, sheep are all over New Zealand: in its fields, on its dinner menus, flavors in its bags of crisps, and they keep you warm in your slippers, boots, or jackets.
So while sheep are everywhere in New Zealand, until April, I had never really stopped to consider how they’re sheared. And let me tell you – it’s a sight to see.
Sheep Shearing Competition
Sheep shearing is a sport in New Zealand. A sport with a regulating committee, detailed rules, and regular competitions. One of these competitions was going on in Te Kuiti during the Great New Zealand Muster and paying the $15 entry fee might have been the best $15 I’ve spent in New Zealand. The men and women in this competition were shearing full sized ewes in under a minute – one right after the other. Sheep shearing looked to be a physically demanding sport that takes skill, serious strength, and endurance.
Sheep Being Sheared
The competitors would pull one sheep after the other out of a pen, flip it up and around, while taking long clean swipes with what appeared to be an oversized, electric beard trimmer. While the poor wee suckers looked shocked as they were flipped, turned, and twisted around, they were treated quite well. Any flesh wounds resulted in a penalty for the sheerer. And it was hot in Te Kuiti, so I trust a shorn sheep was more comfortable than an un-shorn sheep.
Sheep Shearing
The day finished out with an event that would arguably put the yearly festival in Pamplona to shame. Forget the running of the bulls, Te Kuiti has the Running of the Sheep.
Running of the Sheep
The main street in Te Kuiti was blocked off to prepare for the running of over 2,000 sheep. I wrongly expected the sheep to come rushing down the deserted street. As soon as one daring sheep would start running down the road, it would get spooked, turn around, and all 1,999 others would do the same. After ten minutes of coaxing from dogs, men, and horses, the whole flock finally made their way to the end of town – leaving plenty of sheep poop in their wake.
Running Sheep
Finding Te Kuiti and the Great New Zealand Muster was definitely not in my travel plans, yet it is one of those events you mistakenly stumble on to and love. I often find the best destinations you find in travel aren’t places you read about in a book, but rather places you find by random chance. This was one of them. Check it out if you can. It’s a great day out for a budget traveler and an iconic New Zealand experience.
Today’s Monday Escape takes you to New Zealand’s North Island on the Coromandel Peninsula. I visited Coromandel after spending a couple weeks in the Northland near the Bay of Islands – I didn’t think this area of New Zealand could be topped, until I made it to Coromandel.
It’s a beautiful area filled with mountains, sandy beaches, green rolling hills, and picturesque bays. While it’s a stones throw away from Auckland (about two hours by car), you’ll feel miles away from the characterless city of New Zealand’s North. With the mountainous spine running down the middle of the Penninsula, the west side of Coromandel is home to fishing villages and mining towns. While the east side has many of the white sand beaches and the snorkeling and diving that come with them. Cormandel is also an area filled with hippy communes, organic farms, and Buddahist retreats. Many of the locals don’t hide their contempt for the Aucklanders which make Coromandel their weekend playground.
Travel Tips for Coromandel
I’ve heard the ferry ride from Auckland is an excellent way to get to Coromandel Town. However, if you’re brining a vehicle along, driving will be your only option. Yet it’s an excellent one. The drive from Thames to Coromandel is one of the nicest drives I’ve been on in New Zealand (And I’ve essentially circled both islands. Twice.). The road going north hugs the seaside with many of the corners essentially only allowing room for one vehicle. Consider stopping for a wee picnic on one of the many pull outs.
Thames to Coromandel Road
Coromandel Town is an undeniably quaint little village that almost feels as if it belongs in the Old West of the US. Its history is rooted in the gold that used to be mined just outside of town. Today, much of the town circles around the fishing which is done off Coromandel’s coast. You can’t miss out on sampling some local smoked mussels. They’re delicious and come in a variety of smoked flavors like garlic and chile lime. Try some at the Coromandel Smoking Company as you come into town. Stay at the Lion’s Den hostel which definitely has the hippy vibe that Coromandel is known for. Don’t forget to take off your shoes when you go inside.
Smoked Mussels (Creative Commons: daniel.krook)
You’ll inevitably pass a number of beaches while driving around the Peninsula, but there is one you can’t miss. Between Coromandel Town and Whitianga on the SH25, you’ll pass a road which would be easy to miss if you weren’t looking for it. Actually, it’s easy to miss even if you are. Ask a local where the Black Jack Road is and prepare yourself for an epic, unpaved, windy road which will drop you off at a beach which may become your favorite in New Zealand: Otama Beach. It’s about 30 minutes off the state highway and was deserted when I was there – less a couple locals trying to catch their dinner.
Coromandel: Otama Beach
Whitianga itself isn’t overly exciting – though it would be an okay place to base yourself for a couple nights if you wanted to go sea fishing, diving, or windsurfing. If you can, plan your departure from Whitianga on a Sunday and check out the Coroglen Farmers Market. This small town might be no different than many of New Zealand’s blink and miss settlements if it wasn’t for the weekly market. The locals from the area come to sell anything and everything. I recommend the 10 minute back massage, the mussel fritters, the persimmons (delicious local fruit), the homemade ginger beer, and the local deer jerky.
Coromandel: Coroglen Farmers Market
A visit to Coromandel wouldn’t be complete without checking out two the most visited tourist attractions in New Zealand: Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach. Both of these are about an hours drive away from Whitianga as you’re heading south. Cathedral Cove is accessed via an hours walk from the carpark. It’s a massive limestone archway set amongst beautiful blue waters and white sand beaches. We went at sunset to avoid the crowds. Hot Water Beach is another area of New Zealand where you can soak in natural hot springs. Go two hours on either side of low tide, bring a spade, and dig yourself your own sandy spa bath.
Coromandel: Cathedral Cove
Coromandel was undoubtedly one of my favorite areas of New Zealand’s North Island. It is an area I’d head back to if I had a week to spare. Make it a must on your North Island trip and allow an extra couple days as once you get there – you may not want to leave.
Have you been to Coromandel? Add your travel tips in the comments section below.
Found this post useful? Awesome! Don’t leave, check out the posts below:
Kia Ora - I'm Matt. Adventurer, Instagrammer and New Zealand travel planning expert living in Queenstown, NZ. Founder of Planit NZ - New Zealand's largest travel planning & booking website.
Hello! I’m Matt. Thanks for checking out my blog. Be sure to follow me on Instagram for loads more New Zealand travel inspiration. Comment on one of my photos so I know you came from here!
This error message is only visible to WordPress admins
Error: There is no connected account for the user 1660330 Feed will not update.
Backpacking Matt 
