Blog posts from north-island-nz-2015
New Zealand: planning and flights

New Zealand: planning and flights

New Zealand has been a travel goal for years with good reason - wine, mountains, waterfalls, craft beer... it definitely seemed like our kind of destination. In 2014 we finally managed to book a...

Auckland: where we stayed

Auckland: where we stayed

For our four nights in the Auckland area we stayed at the Abaco on Jervois, and we quite enjoyed our stay. We had an executive studio room on the second floor with lots of space, including a...

Auckland: Waitakere Ranges and Hunua Ranges

Auckland: Waitakere Ranges and Hunua Ranges

The weather around Auckland was quite unsettled when we visited in March, with rain and sun trading places intermittently and causing us to skip a few of our planned hikes. However, we did get to...

New Zealand: Hamilton Gardens

New Zealand: Hamilton Gardens

After stopping for a few waterfalls, we continued on to the famous Hamilton Gardens. We were pleasantly surprised at the free parking and free entry to the gardens. Once inside we found a garden map...

Auckland: restaurants

Auckland: restaurants

Wednesday Didas Wine Lounge - Located across the street from our hotel, this wine bar made an easy spot for our first dinner in Auckland. For round 1 we couldn't skip the Spanish classics of patatas...

Auckland wineries: Henderson and Kumeu regions

Auckland wineries: Henderson and Kumeu regions

Wednesday After landing in Auckland and checking into our hotel, we took a 30 minute drive up to Babich Wines. Being a Wednesday afternoon it was not busy; in fact, the tasting room was empty! Once...

Our Itinerary

2024 Trips

San Diego, CA (Jan)
Sarasota, FL (Feb)
Valencia, Spain (Mar)
Mallorca (Apr)
Croatia (May)
Faroe Islands (Aug)
London, UK (Sept)
Bari, Italy (Sept)
Rome, Italy (Oct)
Frankfurt, Germany (Oct)

2022 Trips

Florida (Feb)
NC Mountains (Apr)
Washington DC (Apr)
Valencia, Spain (May)
Hilton Head, SC (May)
Pacific NW (Jun)
Long Island (Jul)
Florida (Sept)
Chicago (Sept)
Poland (Sept)
NC Mountains (Nov)
Euro Xmas Markets (Dec)