Piersons Trip Around the World
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Piersons Trip Around the World
Our year-long family adventure continued on to New Zealand where we’d spend the month of June, splitting the time between the two islands.New Zealand is an amazing country with a little bit of everything – mountains, beaches, uncrowded outdoor spaces and even a few busy cities. Everywhere we went, people were kind and welcoming. Food and Beverage was always fresh and prepared well, weather we were in a nice resort, or stopping in a roadside cafe passing through a small town.
Even a month wasn’t enough time to see and do all we’d like to. We are sure that we’ll be returning again one day, hopefully, our next stay can be even longer.
New Zealand is a great place. If you’re ever feeling sad or mad, just go to New Zealand and you’ll feel better.
New Zealand was my favorite country so far.It has perfect weather and lots of fun things to do. Being there makes me feel good.
Even after 10 years since our first visit, New Zealand is still at the top of our list of places we’ve visited. Safe, clean, great people, and family friendly with playgrounds everywhere.
New Zealand is probably the only country we’ve ever visited that if an opportunity arose to live there for an extended time, I htink we’d leap at it. Uncrowded outdoor spaces with loads of activity options, friendly people, great food & wine. The list goes on and on..
Our adventure in New Zealand began with a night in a Treehouse. Not an ordinary treehouse, a two story tree house complete with heated bathroom floors, giant soaking bathtub and a working wood fireplace. One that also happened to be one of the luxury lodges of New Zealand.
From Kaikoura, we headed to the mountains and spent a night in the town of Lake Tekapo where we enjoyed some fresh moiuntain air, sunny blue skies and a day of playing in the snow.
From the mountains, we continued south down to Arrowtown, where we’d spend the remainder of our time on the South Island. In addition to enjoying the nature surrounding us, we participated in several activities while under guidance of Southern World and Tourism New Zealand. We enjoyed Jet Boating with Dart Safaris, took a drive deep into Paradise with Nomad Safaris in one of their Tesla SUVs, cruised across lake Waikito to learn about the Merino sheep on the Mt. Nicholas Sheep Station, rode the Skyline Luge and even tried indoor skydiving. We enjoyed an action packed 12-days.
From Arrowtown, we flew North, far up to the Northern end of the Northern Island to see the Northland and Kerikeri. We were greeted with sunny skies and a more temperate climate. The highlight of our time in the Northland was our stayat the Virtuoso property, Kauri Cliffs where we learned about some of the early settlers of New Zealand while exploring the properties 1000+acres.
From the Northland, we drove South, and finished our family trip in New Zealand based in the centrally located, family friendly, small town of Cambridge. When not visiting with our new Cambridge friends, we visited the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves, the Hobbiton Movie set, attended a Maori Cultural performance, soaked in a natural hot spring, and enjoyed two nights at the Treetops lodge.
The Lodge provides luxurious accommodation on Kaikoura’s rugged coastline, a place to relax in its intimate indoor/outdoor setting and a place from which you can explore the larger maritime landscape of Kaikoura.
Spectacularly located on the shores of Lake Wakatipu, Matakauri Lodge looks out to a mesmerizing panorama of the big three; The Remarkables and Cecil and Walter peaks.
Just seven minutes from bustling Queenstown, this is an alpine, lakeside retreat, nestled in one of the world’s most strikingly beautiful landscapes.
Named the number one resort in Australia and New Zealand by Travel + Leisure, Kauri Cliffs is a leisure traveller’s dream. Activities abound with the David Harman-designed golf course, immersive local heritage tours, bountiful fishing, and bush walks, mountain biking, quad biking and spa sanctuary hidden within native forest.
Nestled in 2,500 breathtaking acres of 800-year-old native forest, Treetops Lodge is a uniquely New Zealand experience. This wildlife sanctuary offers outdoor activities centered around seven streams, four lakes and 43 miles of adventure trails.
We’ve arranged for most of our family touring in New Zealand through Southern World. We like exploring new destinations by all methods of travel – cruising, touring, or on our own. The thing we like best about private custom tours is that we can collaborate with and design our experience exactly the way we want, under the expert guidance of a trusted local operator.
Southern World has contacts all over both New Zealand islands. Under their knowledgable guidance, we’ve coordinated several day tours as well as chosen cities to serve as our home base while we explore the amazing country.
There are several options for cruising around the perimeter of New Zealand – Large ship, small ship, expedition. The cruises are a great way to see the sections of the country you may like to return to at a later date. With as long as it takes to get to New Zealand from the States, we recommend also organizing some pre-or post touring to experience the local towns and villages while participating in some of the fun adventure activities available.
Taking a tour with a small group provides the opportunity to experience the sites of New Zealand with other like-minded travelers on popular pre-designed itineraries.
