Craig Jones
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South Island ▷ Queenstown Region ▷ Glenorchy ▷
Earnslaw Burn Track
3.5/5
Stupendous scenery--after a lot of pain.
Only attempt this as a day hike if you are experienced in hiking and in decent shape (otherwise take a helicopter trip in). DOC claims an 8-12 hours return--this for a ~12 mile (19 km) return. Yes, it really is likely to take that long; the net elevation of gain of ~1600' (from 380m to 880m) requires you to ascend a total of 2500' (760m)--after the first 200-250m gain, you literally are taking two steps up and one down. The trail sidehills through southern beech forest, in places being very narrow on a steep slope. We lost count of the number of downed trees we had to go over, under, or around. The trail crosses numerous landslide (slip) scarps, making for quick steep up-and-down sections of trail. Other than some large trees, views in the forest are rare. Eventually the trail descends to near the stream, indicating you are getting close. After crossing a tributary which descends in an open area you have about 500m to the bivouac as shown on the map; this is where you emerge from the forest. A walk of ~1.5km brings you in view of the glacier and falls at the head of the valley (this is the 6 mile point); you can go farther to see more. The trail saw a total of 11 hikers on a February weekday; several had spent the night in the valley. That might be the best way to visit--you don't immediately face the daunting prospect of the descent through the trees to the trailhead. My ranking of 7 is balancing the great scenery at the top against the miserable trail up to it. Note on trailhead: the DOC trail starts on the far side of a farmer's pasture off the Lovers Leap road on the east side of Earnslaw Burn; we and several others parked on the side of the road in the grass there, but I don't know if this is permitted. A local claimed you could bushwhack up the west (right) side of the stream from the end of the road in the national park just right after crossing the Burn, but I suspect this would be very difficult
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North Island ▷ Waikato ▷ Matamata ▷
Rings Scenic Tours
4.5/5
Arguably New Zealand's only 'backstage' tour.
This has MUCH changed over the past few years; we dropped by in early 2009 and it was still pretty quiet with more sheep stuff than movie stuff. Now, the sheep stuff is nearly gone (unless you do the farm stay) and the place is crazy busy. This is basically a tour of one of the largest movie sets ever built and arguably the only one truly built permanently (some of the backstage stuff at Universal in Hollywood might be equally long term). As such, if you don't like movies, forget it, and if you didn't like LOTR or Hobbit, pass. If you do like those, it is a fun tour as the collaboration with Peter Jackson now means they are keeping the look up and the guides can remind you of different shots or how the place was used in filming. Green Dragon Pub is a pleasant stop. Probably book ahead as a backup--some tours fill and some don't and it wasn't obvious which were more likely (earliest morning safest, it seems, but around 10 several buses arrived and chaos ensued). It was clear in the last few months that the deluge of visitors was taxing the staff (watching how the number of tours grew on the website was interesting), but they've actually managed pretty well. The main area faces east, so best photos in the morning into midday, I'd say.
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South Island ▷ West Coast ▷ Haast ▷
Haast River Motels and Holiday Park
4.5/5
One of the smaller Top 10 parks we visited, but quite clean and modern.
No real privacy to the sites. The kitchen being open to the outside was a rather odd choice. One key plus: they have satellite wireless internet, which was a great thing when all the land communications went down with a bridge washout well up the coast.
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North Island ▷ Auckland Region ▷ Auckland ▷
United Campervans
4.0/5
FYI: United is merging with THL (aka Maui, Britz and Mighty) and Kea, so things might change.
Nice equipment, helpful staff but it seems a few things get overlooked.
Our 4 berth motorhome was spotless, cleverly designed and very functional. Because we were arriving close to closing, they had obtained the bikes we rented (usually you pick them up elsewhere). There were snafus, though: e.g., the bikes were locked with a combination nobody knew, so they had to cut off the lock. The walk-through of the motorhome was a bit scattershot and so a few things slid past us--if you are a novice motorhome driver, make sure to ask about things you don't understand. The tourism radio was not provided as scheduled. The front table proved to be broken when we pulled it out--fortunately our travels took us back past the depot and they repaired it (and got the tourism radio) fairly quickly. The staff neglected to tell us that we were expected to return the bikes to a separate address in Auckland than the motorhome depot--while the Auckland staff were at first baffled, they took on the task of returning the bikes. The company might want to review their customer briefings to make sure all the needed information is provided before correcting problems. I would advise renters to examine the relevant pages about their campervan in the United guidebook (which is mostly AA material but has United info kind of towards the rear) and the various manuals in the glovebox (the radio was a mystery for quite awhile for us because we just tried to use it and it was very different from ones we knew).
The 0800 phone service was very good, listening to our problem enough to not just put us off to the repair service. On some other questions they were helpful and polite.
Our one big gripe? Put something up over the side door to keep the rain from pouring onto hapless campervaners as they enter or exit (we got drenched a few times).
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North Island ▷ Rotorua Region ▷ Reporoa ▷
Orakei Korako Geyserland Resort
4.0/5
Note this is a commercial operation and it isn't cheap to get in ($36 adult).
It is a fairly compact thermal field with some very nice sinter terraces, a few small geysers and many mudpots and steam vents. So you can see most everything in a relatively short walk. Thankfully kept fairly natural (nobody tossing detergent in a geyser to make it erupt, for instance) and fairly well signposted. Staff pleasant and helpful. Free Wi-fi with admission (in the entrance area). Watch where you park--there is some steam coming up there that might not be good for your car. Worth the diversion from the main highways,
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South Island ▷ Nelson Region ▷ Abel Tasman ▷
Abel Tasman Charters
5.0/5
A small operation (2 boats); they generally only take 10 max on a boat (though can take more for a single large group).
Our day we got lucky: just us. Great guide, wonderful lunch, kayaking, snorkel gear, hiking, good stories, some seals, penguins, cormorants. Not nearly as crowded as many of the water taxis or other groups plying the waters in the area.
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North Island ▷ Rotorua Region ▷ Rotorua ▷
Rotorua Tasman Holiday Parks
4.5/5
Smaller than many of the holiday parks we visited, but it felt somewhat more spread out and less crazy (partly, maybe, because holiday crowds were thinning).
Very awkward and narrow entrance (can a vehicle be entering as one leaves?). Facilities in excellent shape, fairly thoughtful dump station. Mineral pool and swimming pool both nice. Free WiFi card with Top10 membership. Staff helpful and not afraid of sharing an opinion. Nearby park with considerable hot springs an interesting sidelight (though we were warned not to go there after dark).
Thank you for the review Craig. Glad you enjoyed your time in Rotorua and stayed at our park, I hope you enjoyed the rest of your travels too.
Thanks
Jared Adams
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South Island ▷ Mount Cook - MacKenzie ▷ Lake Tekapo ▷
Lakes Edge Holiday Park
3.5/5
At Christmas/New Years, the place is packed but the facilities aren't really up to the level of use (lines--sometimes long--for the showers, for instance, and the dump station is a tad awkward).
Unlike other reviewers, staff were helpful for us (helped with a stopped drain, discussed merits of some of the attractions nearby). The gates actually close totally at 11 pm (need a gate card before then), so can be something of a hassle if doing the Earth and Sky program (it is a fair stroll on over, though there is a path--we had somebody who couldn't wank that far due to injury). Maneuvering with a larger motorhome is a tad tight but doable.
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South Island ▷ Mount Cook - MacKenzie ▷ Lake Tekapo ▷
Dark Sky Project
4.5/5
This is not really an observatory tour, as some reviews suggest, but organized star gazing from the hilltop of the Mt.
John Observatory (the research equipment is in unvisited buildings). As others note, they will cancel if the weather might interfere: if this is an important tour for you, allow some extra time in case of cancellation. We were up on a full moon (only window of time we had)--again, if important you might like to aim for a moonless (or crescent moon) night where the darkness of this area will be shown to best advantage. A guide points out some of the key features of the southern sky before all get to see a number of objects through a large domed scope and several smaller telescopes all manned by guides. An astrophotography setup is also available. This setup allows visitors to be looking through a telescope most of the time, so you don't have a lot of down time. For casual visitors and those from the northern hemisphere this is a fun tour. For advanced amateurs from the southern hemisphere this might be a bit thin, though the guides are pretty knowledgeable.
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South Island ▷ Southland ▷ Waikawa ▷
Curio Bay Camping Ground
4.0/5
OK, this is rather different than most holiday parks--for me, this was great, but if you want a traditional holiday camp you might be disappointed.
The location is exceptional with short walks to ocean views and a beach. The camping area itself is rather unusual. Hedges of flax (?) divide the area into smaller zones resulting in an unusual amount of privacy compared to many other camps; this also helps to cut down the rather common winds here. Toilets are scattered about in individual cylindrical structures; while the concrete enclosures have seen better days, the toilets we used all worked and were clean. In some ways it is amazing there are flush toilets in some of these locations. Showers are limited and the hot water can run out when things are really busy.
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South Island ▷ Queenstown Region ▷ Queenstown Township ▷
Queenstown Holiday Park Creeksyde
4.5/5
This is a rather amazing urban holiday park.
This was one of the best landscaped parks we visited, and the facilities were clean and uncrowded and unusually well thought out (ah--the graywater drain that needed no hose, so simple and clever). The sites can be a bit tight and you would want to drive about carefully. The staff, while absolutely deluged with questioning visitors while we were there, were unfailingly polite and helpful and did not put us off.
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South Island ▷ Wanaka Region ▷ Wanaka Township ▷
Mount / Mt Iron Track
4.5/5
A wonderful complement to PuzzleWorld (if you can cross the highway safely), a brisk uphill with nice views (my day was cloudy and drizzly, but better than being in the mobs navigating the maze at PuzzleWorld
).