Sally477
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South Island ▷ Coastal Otago ▷ Dunedin ▷
Cadbury World
Interesting finding out how the chocolate making process in NZ differs to the UK.
Loads of free samples and good prices in the shop! The tour was OK - we didn't really see a lot of the production though as a lot of the information was provided via DVD.
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South Island ▷ Canterbury ▷ Christchurch ▷
The Antarctic Attraction
Very expensive for what it is.
The really cold room is good fun but the highlight for me was the little blue penguins! They were so cute and seeing them at feeding time was especially good. This place was a good time-filler before going to the airport.
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South Island ▷ Canterbury ▷ Christchurch ▷
Punting on the Avon
Nice, relaxing punt up the river and back.
It was quite short but good all the same.
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North Island ▷ Wellington Region ▷ Wellington ▷
Bluebridge Cook Strait Ferry
Good price, great views - especially on the approach to Picton, we saw some dolphins too!
The vehicle specifications on the website are overly complicated and it was a bit of a nightmare trying to find the terminal building in Wellington.
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South Island ▷ Queenstown Region ▷ Queenstown Township ▷
Skyline Luge Queenstown
Brilliant fun!
Really easy to control and they are so right when they say one ride isn't enough. The photos are a bargain too.
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South Island ▷ Queenstown Region ▷ Queenstown Township ▷
Skyline Gondola Queenstown
Good views but not worth going if you have already flown over Queenstown in a plane!
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South Island ▷ Fiordland ▷ Te Anau ▷
Air Fiordland
We went by coach down to Milford Sound and then flew back.
The flight was awesome! The scenery was so stunning - fjords, mountains, lakes and towns. Our pilot was really nice and the commentary was good too. The scenery really spoke for itself so he didn't say much except to explain what we were flying over! They also provided us with a free shuttle back into Queenstown when we got back.
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South Island ▷ Fiordland ▷ Milford Sound - Fiordland National Park ▷
Mitre Peak Cruises
Combined the boat trip with coach ride down to Milford Sound.
Really good boat trip - not at all crowded, good commentary, amazing views of the fjord, Mitre peak and the Tasman sea. We also saw some seals!
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North Island ▷ Ruapehu ▷ Tongariro / National Park Village ▷
Tongariro Expeditions
Picked us up on time and were there for us at the end.
Good efficient system to ensure everyone is accounted for. Friendly driver. The Tongariro Crossing was amazing and we were so lucky with the weather!
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South Island ▷ Queenstown Region ▷ Queenstown Township ▷
Dart River Jet Safaris
Jet boating - amazing scenery, excellent guide, the bush walk was a bit short and a few more 360 turns would have been good.
Also the photo package was very expensive and it was a shame that you couldn't buy individual photos - only the pack for $42!
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South Island ▷ Wanaka Region ▷ Wanaka Township ▷
Stuart Landsborough's Puzzling World Wanaka
Claims to be the only puzzling world - but we went to one on the way to Taupo.
This one was much bigger and probably the original one though. We thought it was expensive so didn't actually enter the 'world' but we were still able to look around some of the exhibits, go to the shop and cafe. Probably a good place to go if it was raining.
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North Island ▷ Taupo Region ▷ Taupo ▷
Taupo Tandem Skydiving
Jump was amazing - the best thing I have ever done!
I agree with Paul - they were quite pushy to get you to jump from 15,000ft rather than 12,000 but the argument was sound and I'm glad that I did. The DVD is hilarious and shows some good footage of the ground action - before and after as well as the jump itself. I paid in GBP but was asked first.
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North Island ▷ Rotorua Region ▷ Waiotapu ▷
Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland
Lovely walk, well organised park, amazing thermal pools and views.
The champagne pool was stunning as was the bright green lake. Better value for money than other thermal attractions in the area. Look out for the free bubbling mud pools on the way to Wai-o-tapu!
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North Island ▷ Rotorua Region ▷ Rotorua ▷
Te Puia Guided Tour
The geothermal parts of this park are really good and worth seeing but I wasn't that impressed with the 'cultural' part and generally Te Puia is expensive and very commercial.
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South Island ▷ West Coast ▷ Cron street ▷
Franz Josef Glacier Guides
Full day tour was amazing - especially the blue cave / slide and the crevasse!!
The kit was good quality, the size of the group and the pace were perfect for us and our guide (Bryce) was really friendly and knowledgeable. My crampon broke but fortunately Bryce had a spare!
Thanks Sally - glad to hear you had a great trip - the blue ice is AMAZING!
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North Island ▷ Waikato ▷ Raglan ▷
Raglan Surfing School
We did a beginners lesson for 3 hours.
It was really good value for money. The instructor was friendly, encouraging and helpful. I have surfed before so was able to improve my technique and start learning how to turn. My friend was a complete beginner and she was standing on the board by the end of the lesson! We were the only two people in the lesson so we had heaps of attention and help. It was brilliant!
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North Island ▷ Auckland Region ▷ Auckland ▷
Spaceships
We drove one of the newer (2004) 2 berth spaceships round NZ for three weeks.
It was brilliant and much easier to drive than I was expecting. 'Rongo' was our spaceship and he didn't let us down! There is loads of useful information on the website and they answered other specific queries quickly, the staff at the depots were OK but they didn't tell us that the central locking runs off the second battery. The DVD player was great when it rained and the lockable boot was a really good feature. We took backpacks so they both fitted into this fine - I don't think suitcases would fit in so well. We loved the friendliness of other spaceship drivers - waving / beeping when we passed them and the DVD swapping was a good excuse for a chat. The so called 'space stations' are a not exactly as described - the one we used in Franz Josef was just a box of DVDs at a hostel!
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North Island ▷ Waikato ▷ Waitomo ▷
Black Water Rafting Labyrinth Tour
Black Labyrinth Tour - awesome fun!
Hilarious outfits, great guides - Brad and Vashil, amazing glow worms, it was cold but there were hot showers, soup and bagels on offer afterwards. I amazed myself by jumping off the waterfalls backwards and in the dark! The only bad thing was that we bought a CD of photos but there was a mix up so we have ended up with photos from a different trip - very disappointing. I emailed the company and they have promised to send me the correct photo CD by post. Update: The correct photo CD arrived yesterday as promised!