Ode to New Zealand
✒️ Written by: Abbie
We returned to Marlborough after 11 days of backpacking around the south island and were reunited with our suitcases back at our family friend's house. We only had a few short days left in New Zealand before we made our way to Perth. These last days were spent reflecting on our travels so far, and squeezing in a few more activities.
The most important thing for me was to get my kiwi tattoo. After such an incredible trip in this country, and even seeing three kiwis at the hatchery, I knew I needed a tattoo of one. I managed to get booked in at Picture Perfect in Blenheim, and I'm in love with the finished tat:
After my tattoo sesh, James managed to convince me to join him at the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre. I agreed, on the condition that we do one more cheeky wine tasting while still in the famous Marlborough wine region. The aviation centre was great, we both found it incredibly interesting and it was awesome to see so many WWI planes up close. Some of the aircrafts on display were recreations, but others were original and even included donations from Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson's private collection. These were a few of our favourite scenes:
Our final wine tasting in Marlborough was at Saint Clair estate where we sat in the sun and tasted some beautiful whites. This winery also has an art gallery next door, so we had a poke around there and were amazed at some of the pieces.
On a warm but moody day nearing the end of our time on the south island, we went for a walk along Rarangi Beach. The dramatic waves encroached upon our path and driftwood scattered the landscape. I sat on one of these driftwood logs to do some writing while James skimmed pebbles across the surface of the sea.
After an awfully long re-packing session, we said our goodbyes in Marlborough and got the Picton to Wellington ferry back to the north island for a brief night. The ferry trip was way better than it had been going south. We tucked into a nice meal and drank a glass of wine at our table by the window, watching as we sailed away from the Marlborough Sounds while nighttime fell. We had one final hotel stay in Wellington that night, with some Easter choccies the next morning on Good Friday. The bus to Wellington airport was the final time to use our Intercity Flexipasses, leaving them both with just two hours left out of the sixty they started with.
And just like that, our epic month in New Zealand came to an end. In one (seemingly short) month, we travelled from Auckland in the north, right down to Queenstown in the south. And we did 98% of this with public transport—the only time we had access to drive our own vehicle was when we stayed in Marlborough, and we only really used that for short distance trips. As such, we highly recommend other travellers take advantage of New Zealand’s bus and coach network. And on that vein, here are some other tips and tricks we picked up along the way.
New Zealand travel tips
🎃 While pretty much everywhere takes card (confusingly you have to click credit on the machines for debit cards to work), cash is useful for laundry and lockers in hostels
🎃 Bring your own padlock for hostels if you want to secure your belongings
🎃 Intercity flexipass is the absolute best thing if you plan on lots of coach travel, and it’s incredibly easy to use
🎃 Cook Strait ferries are quite unreliable in terms of delays and cancellations, so factor that in when booking onward travel such as flights and buses. Interislander is a better ferry company than Bluebridge, and it’s also included in the flexipass
🎃 Uber can be found in most towns but there are some areas which only use Bolt; always check both apps!
🎃 Leave a bag on your seat during rest breaks on the Intercity bus to stop newcomers from stealing your seat
🎃 Bring a spare, lightweight fold-up backpack
🎃 Always check if a company offers a free/cheap shuttle bus because lots of them do
Thanks to everyone who followed along with these NZ blog posts. Our next adventures took place in Perth, so keep your eyes peeled for Perth posts soon.