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blackwater rafting: the glowworms of waitomo
In between Rotorua and Taupo, we decided to drive just slightly out of the way and hit up Waitomo. Why? Because of these guys: Photo Credit Yeah, glowworms are real. They exist and they light up caves all over New Zealand—most famously, in Waitomo. Though you can go and see the glowworms on your own, we decided to spend the day with The Legendary Black Water Rafting Co. As soon as we arrived, they gathered our motley crew together and handed us all wet suits. Once we were ready, this happened: Yeah, this was going to be one of those days.…
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flashpackers in nz: hotel splurging on the north island
With less than one month left of our RTW, I can safely say that we’ve learned a lot about ourselves on this trip. I’ll probably share more once we’ve had more time to reflect, but one of the earliest and biggest realizations? We are not really budget travelers. We all knew this in advance. We set a budget for our RTW, but with an average of $200/day, it is significantly higher than actual money-saving pros in the travel world. As always, we knew our usual high-low mix would be coming into play. On the North Island of New Zealand, we had…
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vines & velos & views over napier
When in New Zealand, there is no question: you have to include a few wine regions in your itinerary. It’s, like, Kiwi Law. Which is why, when we were assessing our itinerary, Napier in Hawke’s Bay was an easy addition. From the moment we touched down in Auckland to our departure flight from Christchurch, everyone asked us two things. What was 1.) our biggest adventure thrill and 2.) our favorite glass of wine? Luckily, we had already confirmed that vineyard tours and wine tastings would be a big part of our RTW, so we did some recon regarding which areas…
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road warriors: driving new zealand’s north island
Pre-RTW, my head exploded about a hundred different times trying to figure out our New Zealand itinerary. With only two weeks on each island, it felt like we were going to be cramming in far more than would be possible in just 30 days. After lots of hemming and excessive hawing, we decided to throw in the towel and rent a car on New Zealand’s North Island. We did a lot of research, because renting a car can be pretty rough on your budget. Luckily, Go Rentals to the rescue. We were jonesing for a grand roadtrip adventure, and our two…
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hostel hopping in new zealand
As you may recall, when the hubs and I first started planning our RTW, Hostelbookers graciously agreed to host us at a few properties in New Zealand and Singapore. Though we’re no strangers to hostels around here, we are getting a little pickier as we get older. We can’t help it! We’ve had more good experiences than bad, but there are some sketchy hostels, and we’ve had the misfortune of experiencing them (cough, Geneva, cough). Fortunately, Hostelbookers makes it seriously easy to narrow your focus and pick a place that best suits your needs—especially if you know how to read the…
