Exploring New Zealand with Kids: A Vibrant Adventure
Another blog of our holiday in New Zealand with kids. Queenstown is a vibrant, busy city with lots of tourists. There are heaps of activities to explore. We arrived on Wednesday, starting to explore the city straight away.
The Luge Experience in Queenstown
On Thursday we take the gondola up the mountain. After buying our tickets we can make a descent with the luge. The luge looks like a combination of a sled and a kart. Before our luge ride I hadn’t realized how hard the luge could go… OMG! Nevertheless the kids loved it and we went downhill not once, but three times.
Exploring a Touristic Farm
After our luge experience we take the steamer to a farm. A touristic farm so it appeared. The kids can feed the deer and sheep. We also watch a sheep shearing demo, which makes quite some impression on the kids. To end the day in style we treat ourselves to an afternoon tea before we head back to the campground. After our dinner we go to bed early. Tomorrow we have to rise and shine early for our tour to Milford Sounds.
Milford Sounds: A Helicopter Adventure
On Friday we continue our trip to New Zealand with kids… We have pick up at 07:00AM for our transfer to Milford Sounds. Again the view along the road is stunning; beautiful forests all on UNESCO’s World Heritage list. We make a stop at lake Te Anau, again: absolutely beautiful. We even hear the kids say, “wow” several times during the drive.
Booking a Helicopter Flight
Milford Sounds is one of New Zealand’s wettest areas. They have rain 360 days a year. How lucky are we today: clear blue sky and lots of sun. The guide recommends us to book a helicopter flight. We gave it a little thought, as it isn’t cheap, and decided to go for it. After our Milford Sounds cruise we have booked the helicopter tour. The cruise is amazing, we have a little boat, with room for us to really see our surroundings. We see waterfalls and seals, very special.
The Helicopter Tour Experience
After our boat tour we have the transfer to the airport for our heli tour. As it was kind of a last minute decision I didn’t have enough time to tell the kids they needed to wear a headphone and couldn’t really talk during the flight. Wow wow wow, this is by far the most spectacular thing we have seen and done during our trip in New Zealand. The view from the sky is magnificent, the quick rising when taking off and oblique flying make the experience complete. Absolute highlight of this tour was the landing on top of the mountains in the snow. There we were in the snow with our flip flops on. Thije en Hidde absolutely loved the helicopter flight. On our way back to the campground they were asleep within 5 minutes.
Exploring Haast and Greymouth
Saturdays we left on time to Haast. When driving alongside Wanaka Lake the water looked so tempting we made a stop. We had a lovely day at the lake, swimming, playing and relaxing. We decided to stay and skip Haast. Which turned out to be a good choice, as we saw Haast wasn’t nearly as much fun as we drove past it the next day.
On Monday we left early for our drive to Greymouth. As the drive is long we make several pit stops along the way. We arrived at the campground around 05:00PM. Our pitch was right next to the playground and very close to the sea. The next day we drove to Nelson. Next blog more on our family RV road trip in New Zealand with kids!
Tips & Tricks for New Zealand with Kids
- Enjoy the luge near Queenstown
- Make a trip with the steamer at Lake Wakatipu
- If you have the possibility book a helicopter flight at Milford Sounds
This guest blog is written by Lonneke, she is living in the Netherlands with her husband Marcel and two sons Thije and Hidde. Lonneke tells us about the amazing trip she made with her family to New Zealand when the boys were 2,5 and 4 years old.