Profile
Ryan J
-
South Island ▷ West Coast ▷ Fox Glacier ▷
Fox Glacier / Te Ara o Tuawe Walk
One hour easy walk, great for the kids.
Really nice place to go and take photos both in the forest and at the Glacier itself. It wasnt on our list of things to do but really glad we took the time and went and saw this.
-
South Island ▷ West Coast ▷ Franz Josef ▷
Franz Josef TOP 10 Holiday Park
Another great top10 campsite.
We stayed in one of the small cabins which was perfect, spotless and very well priced. The facilities were outstanding and there was even a TV room with SKY and a games room with pool table, air hockey, arcade games, you name it. The staff at reception were also very informative and helpful with ideas for the rest of our holiday.
-
South Island ▷ West Coast ▷ Greymouth ▷
Jacksons Retreat Campervan Holiday Park
I'm lucky enough to have stayed in literally hundreds of camp sites all over New Zealand and Jackson's Retreat hands down is the best I have ever experienced.
The service was perfect, the shower and toilet facilities would give most hotels a run for their money and the kitchen and lounge areas were as good if not better than as at home. We were travelling with a 1 year old and offered a baby bath to use the second we got there and there was even a fully stocked toy box in the lounge. The undercover camper-van parking is something unique and actually works really well. Next time I'm camping in the South Island I would go out of my way to go and stay at Jackson's Retreat again. Great job guys, you have set the new standard as far as I'm concerned and its easy to see where that 5 star qualmark rating came from.
-
South Island ▷ Queenstown Region ▷ Queenstown Township ▷
Skyline Gondola Queenstown
All good, great place to take photos, but not much to do once up top and its priced at top of the tourist dollar and everything is an up-sell.
But if you want some amazing magazine quality photos of Queenstown, this is the place to take them from. If it wasn't for the price I would rate this much higher.
-
South Island ▷ Queenstown Region ▷ Queenstown Township ▷
Queenstown TOP 10 Holiday Park
I have stayed in Top10s all around the country on numerous occasions and this one is one of the best I have been to, after an average experience at the Mercure in Queenstown we checked out and stayed here
for 3 nights instead, it cost half the price and the room was actually better and plus there wasn't the constant stream of tour buses 24 hours a day! The small cabins are excellent value and kitchen and lounge areas were huge, they had a great playground for our 1 year old to explore and the housekeeping and maintenance was outstanding. I wont even bother looking at other options in Queenstown now I know about this place.
-
South Island ▷ Queenstown Region ▷ Queenstown Township ▷
KJet Queenstown
Fantastic experience.
Its one of the longest jet boat rides on offer and you get a full hour of jet boating as opposed to the 20 minutes you get on some of the other similar priced operators. The captain was very informative and stopped every so often to point things out and the scenery you get to experience is amazing, I wished I had taken my camera. Highly recommended and I would do this again in a heart beat plus the girls running the operation and answering the phone provided outstanding customer service and fully looked after my wife and one year old who were waiting there for me to get back.
-
South Island ▷ Wanaka Region ▷ Wanaka Township ▷
Have A Shot Shooting Complex
Highly recommended.
Had a great time here, really casual atmosphere, was left alone to have a good time which is what I wanted. Aside from Skydive Wanaka this has to be one of the best activities you can do in Wanaka. I'm in Queenstown next week for a meeting and planning to drive an hour each way out of my way to go back here again.
-
South Island ▷ Wanaka Region ▷ Wanaka Township ▷
Wanaka Transport and Toy Museum
Has to be one of Wanakas hidden secrets.
I had never heard of this place but so glad we stopped in. The collections they have are absolutely amazing. Its all self guided so you can take as long as you want exploring all the different buildings they have on offer. There are literally thousands of toys, cars, models and antiques to look at. Make sure you bring an empty memory stick in your camera for the hundreds of photos you are going to want to take and be warned that all your childhood memories will come flooding back looking at all the old toys! Look forward to going back again!
-
South Island ▷ Coastal Otago ▷ Dunedin ▷
Speights Brewery Heritage Centre
If your a beer or home brew enthusiast you will love this tour.
You go right into a working brew house and see how it all works, some people in our group were home brewers and looked like they got some really good value looking at the process and asking questions. As the brewing process here is quite simple with no bottling plant or anything some of the tour is a little bit padded out with history and nick-nacks to look at, its really a 20 minute tour of the plant followed by an hour of padding. At the end you get to sample as much free beer as you can handle in their bar!
-
South Island ▷ Wanaka Region ▷ Wanaka Township ▷
Mt / Mount Aspiring Holiday Park
Stayed in one of the units which was well priced.
The facilities are good with a great playground for the kids, good swimming pool etc for summer. But the room we had was very dated and the underside of the bunk bed was covered in some pretty disgusting graffiti and chewing gum plus unlike all the other top 10s we stayed in the room wasn't made up, we were just handed a sack of linen and charged an extra $10 for the privilege, a little bit of work and ongoing maintenence needed here to come up to the Top10 standard found elsewhere around NZ.
-
South Island ▷ Central Otago ▷ Cromwell ▷
Goldfields Mining Centre
Had a great 2 hours here.
They warned us when we got there because we had an infant to take the short track and don't take your stroller, we ignored them, went back for our stroller and missed the turn off and took the long track by mistake, had to stop at the top for 30 minutes to resuscitate each other. But so glad it worked out like that, had an awesome time exploring the place, came away with some of the best photos of our holiday. Plus you can do a self guided tour by yourself which is excellent if you want a nice peaceful time wandering around at your own pace. Customer service was outstanding but was a little pricey at $20 each to do a self guided tour which is the only reason I haven't rated higher.
-
South Island ▷ Coastal Otago ▷ Dunedin ▷
Cadbury World
We had a great time here.
It appears to matter which day you visit as to how much of the plant is in operation but we got to see all sorts of really interesting things taking place. Some of the websites say its not suitable for under 5's but that is not true you just have to carry them in one of the supplied carriers which was actually quite fun. Half the ticket price we must have left with in free chocolate. And they were REALLY good and nice to our 1 year old. Highly Recommended.
-
South Island ▷ Coastal Otago ▷ Dunedin ▷
Aaron Lodge Holiday Park
We stayed in one of the small units up the hill which was perfect, very clean and well priced.
They have a indoor heated pool, spa and even a private baby / family room which was ideal as we were traveling with a 1 year old. We were initially just going to stay one night but ended up staying an extra night as it was perfect and there was heaps to see and do in Dunedin. The owner on reception was fantastic value also and gave us a good laugh.