New Zealand - Part 1

A real home away from home.

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I have been two New Zealand four times during my life and every time it gets better and better. Over Christmas I went for three weeks to visit family and celebrate Christmas with everyone (this year was the first time I have spent Christmas with everyone on my mums side of the family). We also visited for my cousin Jayden's wedding. It was a real eventful three weeks ...

We flew out of London Heathrow using All Nippon Air, a questionable name but actually turned out to be a pretty good airline. This stopped In Tokyo and from that point we traveled with Air New Zealand to Auckland and then we had to take another flight from Auckland to Wellington. With an overall travel time of 30 hours it was a very exhausting journey indeed. To stop and have Gyoza and a beer inside Tokyo airport just made the trip a little easier. (See mouth watering photo to the left).

My nan lives in Masterson which is a large town in the Wairarapa region of New Zealand. The countryside surrounding Masterson is beautiful; rivers, Mountains and more sheep than you could shake a stick at, didn't see Sean though!

I stayed in Masterson for a total of a week and a half. Staying in a Motel for most of my time. Lets just say it was a new experience for me - considering my girlfriend usually takes me to eye boggling interior designed hotels when we go away.

My Top 5 things to do in and around the Wairarapa.

5. Greytown Ice cream

Lets keep it simple to start. Established in 1854 Greytown is a small town filled with interiors, fashion and bakery shops. FUN FACT TIME: My great great Uncle Ray Gallon used to own the butchers in Greytown from about 1970 to 1982. (see picture of the plaque below)

Anyway the ice cream... on the side of the road almost on the way out of Greytown is a shop called Pinehaven Orchards. From the outside it just looks like an average farm shop but on the inside I promise there will be a queue for their famous ice cream. Any two fruits + normal whipped ice cream = food baby. I always went with banana and a form of berry which was always good stuff. On my last day they recommend banana and blueberry once I already had my ice cream, I promise I will go back and indulge in the two flavours of heaven.

4. Wellington Speedway.

Love the smell of burning rubber and car fuel? I sure do. I went to wellington speedway on Boxing day 2019. It is not on everyday but I would recommend checking the online calendar to see if there is an event during your stay. Best boxing Day ever!! Full of funky mens mullets, burning rubber and hotdogs on a stick. The cars looked amazing and the races were even better, cars crashing and burning every single race. The skill behind it all was the best bit, with drivers as young as 14 taking part (much cooler than I was at 14). The best part it was cheap and one of the best boxing days I have ever had.

3. Martinborough Vineyards.

A quick tip before we start this section. In new Zealand they do not accept International driving licenses as a form of ID. Don't be a sucker like me, take your passport. Anyway now I am over that the vineyards are beautiful and there is over 30 wineries in Martinborough. FUN FACT TIME: Martinboroughs main square is laid out in a union jack pattern. So if you google map the town square its actually a union jack. During my stay in New Zealand I went to a recommended vineyard called Poppies. Even though I didn't actually try any wine -_- the place was beautiful and served some great food. I got told by my aunty that loads of people have proposed there. I can see why, the scenery was incredible.

2. Castlepoint beach

So I have been to castle point twice in my life and I am yet to go on a clear day with no wind. I am not even sure if it really exists. Well I will find out one day I am sure of it. Castlepoint is a very small town that can be found on a large beach with fishing boats and a beautiful light house. Even with what felt like 100 mile per hour winds its an adventure. Climbing up to the lighthouse, playing in the sand dunes and having a little snacky snack in the cafe. It seemed from pictures around the cafe that Castlepoint had a cool surfing side. As a wakeboarder and one time surfer I would love to go back and see what the water sports scene is like in this area.

1. Pukaha Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre

Have you ever seen a real Kiwi? Yes? Well what about a white Kiwi? This is something that is very rare to see even in New Zealand. You may be thinking really? a wildlife centre is number 1! But I promise this wildlife centre will not disappoint. The wild life in New Zealand is so different from the UK. Even their common birds are cooler than ours. The wild life centre has so many different types of birds, insects and eels. Thats right eels. If you go at the right time of day you can even feeds the eels. I was lucky (not sure lucky is the right word) enough to have a go at feeding them. They are huge and obviously know when they will be fed. The centre also has Weta feeding pods. I have never seen a Weta before and I am glad they don't exist in the UK. They are gross.

Extra Place Alert:

Patuna chasm walk.

If you like adventure this is definitely a walk for you. You start by going on a narrow woodland walk with ropes to climb and rocks to jump off of. After about 30 minutes you end up walking down a river past waterfalls, more eels and just more epic wildlife. It is seasonal though and does need to be booked due its up and coming popularity. P.S. Take a camera or a GoPro as there is so much to capture. Check out my youtube video it features some of the walk.

Thanks for checking my page out. For more pictures check out my Instagram . You wont be disappointed.

By Abbie Weaver