One of our ABSOLUTE FAVORITE things about traveling is when we happen upon major celebrations or cultural events. Napier’s “Art Deco Festival” was one such event that we found out about simply by accident. When discussing our upcoming travel options with a landlord of one of our rentals in Central North Island, we mentioned that we’d likely head to the West Coast, rather than the East Coast next. He mentioned that...

One of the fun things about travel is comparing all of the differences between your home country and your destination of travel. When recently spending New Zealand rail holidays, we compiled a list of some of some of the New Zealand idiosyncrasies that stood out to our American family. Enjoy! 1. New Zealanders shorten names for everything With names like the above (officially the longest place name), who can...

While spending time in Rotorua, we determined that we’d bite the bullet and purchase tickets for our family of 7 to visit the Tamaki Maori Village. With prices for adults at $120 and kids ranging from $25-$99, it was a spendy treat for our family to commit to this tour at full price! The tour price includes pickup downtown and transportation to the village outside of town (about 20+ minutes), however, since we had our transportation...

Rotorua is a hotspot for tourists exploring New Zealand. While there’s no shortage of high adventure activities for young 20-somethings, it’s sometimes hard to know what to do with the younger crowd. On our recent visit in February 2016, we found the activities for children to be plentiful! Here are some of our favorites:: 1. Kuirau Park  Kuirau Park is an eclectic public park in the middle of town—featuring both a...

About 15-20 minutes North of Rotorua Central is a stunning walk along the crystal-clear water of Hamurana Springs and the Redwoods Memorial Grove. The easy loop trail takes about a 1/2 hour to walk, or in our case it can be much longer (especially if you likewise want to stop and admire the stunning colors and take a lot of photos)! We entered the stroller-friendly trail by first heading into the Redwood Grove. The...

When we departed Waitomo, New Zealand, we set out on Highway 30 for our next stop–Rotorua (2 hrs 15 minutes away). We chose this Southern Route because we thought it was would be more scenic than tracking back up North from the way we had come. Going along Highway 30 also allowed us to swing right past Pureora Forest Park–offering a beautiful spot to take a lunch break and get out and hike! We found a great online brochure on...

On Te Anga Road, beyond Waitomo Village, you will run into an easy walk to “Marakopa Falls”. The trail is well-marked, and has a sign indicating that it is a 10 minute hike. Between our two-family traveling crew (with a total of 8 kids from 7 months to 12 years), a “10 min” walk means 30-60 minutes. Sooo…the perfect trail length!! The easy trail is beautiful and green beyond...

Waitomo, New Zealand, has no lack of activities for kids. Of course, there are some excellent paid activities, such as the Spellbound Glowworm Caves tour that we absolutely loved, but there are also many fantastic hikes that are not only free, but of reasonable lengths to hike with children! We had already done the Ruakuri Hike, so this time we decided to check out the trails to the Mangapohue Natural Bridge and Marokopa Falls(about 25...

When you drive away from the Auckland/New Zealand Airport, chances are you’re going to drive right past the eye-catching entrances to  Rocket Ropes and Butterfly Creek! Our interest was piqued in January, and the kids were thrilled when we surprised them with a visit here (in April) our last day in New Zealand before our outgoing flight! Rocket Ropes is a fun Ropes Course with various challenges for children and adults (ages 2...

If you’re looking for free activities for kids around Waitomo, New Zealand, you won’t want to miss the Ruakuri Scenice Reserve! Within a 5 minute drive of the Waitomo Glowworm Caves is the Ruakuri Walk, with parking shared by the neighboring Aranui Cave (a dry cave with guided tours available). The Ruakuri Track is 1 km loop that takes about 45 minutes with easy walking, and is a great place to go hunt for glowworms at night...

Two weeks into our visit to New Zealand, we finally felt well enough to make it out to visit Russell. Formerly known as Kororāreka, it was the first permanent European settlement and sea port in New Zealand. It is situated in the Bay of Islands, in the far north of the North Island.  To get to Russell, you can take a long round-about drive up a peninsula to get there, or you can take a ferry. There are car ferries from Opua, or...

It was a fresh, crisp morning in early February when we embarked on a walk through Wai-o-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. Known as one of the most colorful and diverse geothermal attractions in New Zealand, it was our top pick when selecting where to take our children to appreciate the unique volcanic features in the Rotorua region. Since we happened to be in Rotorua during the Chinese New Year (along with thousands upon thousands of vacationing...