New Zealand

For our honeymoon the trip criteria was as follows: somewhere far away that neither of us had been to before, national parks for hiking, great food, luxurious hotels (for Janey), and great photography opportunities (for me).

As we considered New Zealand, it quickly checked all the boxes and we narrowed in on the island nation as our final choice. In the end, it was a no brainer and turned out to be the perfect destination for us.

We rented a camper van and made our way around both the North and South islands. We alternated between nights in the van at campgrounds and nice hotels. This made it possible to get way out into some remote areas for some hiking while at the same time, allowed us to experience some of the countries best hotels and restaurants.

Each day we explored a new part of the country. Starting in Auckland, which sits on the northern part of the north island, we made our way south with stops in Rotarua, Tongariro National Park, Hawkes Bay, and Wellington. After hoping the ferry to the south island we made drove through the beautiful wine region of Marlborough, took the coastal highway down the west coast, stopped in the national parks of Arthur’s Pass, Mt. Cook, Mt. Aspiring, and Milford Sound.

In between all that, we found time to enjoy wine tastings at Craggy Range (our new favorite vineyard), hike Roy’s Peak at Lake Wanaka, hit the slopes at Cardrona, and treat ourselves to some fine dining in Queenstown.

Personally, my favorite part of the trip was the time we spent in the Mt. Cook region. We did a couple of great hikes and saw a magnificent sunset over the countries most iconic peak. We stayed at Lakestone Lodge which sits at the bottom of Lake Pukaki and offers perhaps the best views of any hotel in the entire world. With only six guestrooms, it provides a rare level of peace and tranquility.

We couldn’t have been happier with how our trip turned out. By the end, Janey was lobbying to move there and I was researching how to export bulk quantities of their wine back to our house in Texas. The Kiwi nation definitely holds a special place in our hearts now and we plan to return hopefully in the not too distant future.