Tiffany Does New Zealand — Part 1

Travel and Day 1 in NZ

A city view of Auckland, New Zealand
Photo: Tiffany Langston

Last year, Delta ran an incredible Skymiles redemption sale (twice!) that gave huge discounts on certain flight itineraries during certain times of the year — if you paid with Skymiles (not cash). Roundtrip flights from NYC to New Zealand were as low as the equivalent of $500. That’s less than we ultimately ended up paying, but just know that we got one heck of a deal. And that is why I’m currently spending two weeks in New Zealand and writing this blog post from Dunedin on the South Island.

I really meant this to be a day-by-day blog with new entries every day of the trip, but jet lag, busyness, and general laziness have precluded me from actually making that happen. So, whatever. You’ll get what I give, when I give it to you :)

Travel to New Zealand from anywhere in the continental United States is a trek. We flew from JFK to LAX (5 hours) and LAX to AKL (13 hours). I was a little concerned because my previous longest flight was Atlanta to Tokyo, which was a similar length as the LAX to AKL, but it was only preceded by a quick one-hour hop from Memphis, not a five-hour jaunt across the country.

Travel

For the most part, travel went very smoothly. We did have a 90-minute delay in LAX (which was a bit of a struggle since I was trying my best to stay awake to increase my chances of sleeping on the long leg and the original 10:55 pm PT flight was already past my bedtime). But by 12:30 am, we were underway. We were landing at 10 a.m., and I wanted to be ready to go.

Tom grabbing some sleep on the floor of LAX
Photo: Tiffany Langston

With the help of an over-the-counter sleep aid (rhymes with be still) I actually managed to sleep about seven hours on the flight (which did include snoozing right through dinner service), and by the time we hit the tarmac in Auckland, I was refreshed and looking forward to my first full day in New Zealand.

Only to find that the sunset kayak trip and barbecue tour that I had planned for my very outdoorsy husband was cancelled because it was scheduled to storm heavily later that evening (it did). That was probably a blessing in disguise because Tom was not lucky enough to sleep on the plane. The person behind him, who seemed to have significant physical and neurological complications, continually kicked the back of his seat through the entire 13-hour flight.

We spent most of the day resting in the hotel. Snagged room service and went to sleep.

(Tiffany Tangent: Flying from the US to New Zealand means you will likely lose an entire day. We left New York on Saturday and landed on Monday. This did mean that I had to use a streak freeze for Duolingo because it said I didn’t do any lessons on Sunday. Duo, I literally did not experience Sunday. It didn’t exist to me, but I had done lessons within the last 24hours. I was irrationally irritated. Okay, rant over :P)

New Zealand Day 1 — Auckland:

On our first full day in Auckland, I scheduled a city tour in the morning with a winery tour in the afternoon. Our schedule was pretty packed and we actually weren’t going to get a ton of time in Auckland proper, so I wanted to be able to get a crash course in the history and highlights of the area.

This was a pretty fun drive-by tour that explained a lot of the history of Auckland and some of the current challenges. (e.g., they’re currently building a subway which some had been trying for since the 1960s). Now, it’s causing significant disruptions throughout the area, and for a city that’s as advanced and cosmopolitan as Auckland, it seems really silly that they don’t already have one.

The outside of the Auckland War Memorial Museum
Photo: Tiffany Langston

They took us by the Auckland War Memorial Museum. We didn’t actually get to go inside. If I ever do make it back to New Zealand, this museum would be something I’d definitely prioritize. It looks really cool, and Tom loves a good museum. We also took a snack and bathroom break at Narrow Neck Beach. We finished up the morning by going to Takarunga / Mount Victoria, the highest volcano on Auckland’s North Shore. A great place for a photo op, but I definitely stepped in some sort of ant hill. But these were flying ants…harmless, but still annoying. I had to get some help brushing them all off.

Holding a glass of white wine from Soljans Estate Winery
Photo: Tiffany Langston

In the afternoon, we visited three Auckland wineries: Soljans Estate Winery, Westbrook Winery, and Coopers Creek Vineyard. We learned that there are a lot of Croatian families that came to New Zealand and started wineries (Soljans and Westbrook are part of this group, but Coopers Creek is not). Soljans has a lot of sparkling wines (and you know Tiffy loves some bubbly). We ordered a Soljans case that should arrive in NYC in 3–4 weeks. Our tour included lunch at Westbrook, and Coopers Creek had a dessert wine that was so good that I have a bottle in a Jetbag that I’ll be bringing back with us in my suitcase.

In between wineries, we took a quick side quest to Muriwai Beach (which has black sand…that’s very, very hot :P)

A selfie on the shore of the black sand-covered Muriwai Beach (right after I burnt the bottom of my feet while foolishly attempting to walk across it barefoot.)
Photo: Tiffany Langston

At the conclusion of the tour, they dropped us back off at our hotel. Tom and I walked down to the waterfront and grabbed dinner at The Good Luck Coconut. But I was still a little tipsy from the events of the day (any wine that Tom didn’t want to drink, I drank for him — instead of letting him pour it in the spittoon. A poor life decision). So I ate fries and drank my only non-alcoholic beverage of the day (besides coffee).

I realized that I was going to have to be smarter and more strategic the next time, because there was definitely going to be more wine during the rest of the trip. And for those instances, I wasn’t going to be able to tap out at the end like I was doing now.

But that’s a story for another day.