In January 2025 we, Vroni and Thomi, visited New Zealand for the first time in our lifes. Our plane touched down at Auckland airport on December 31st 2024, 23.50. First time in our lifes, we celebrated new year on board of a plane.

We started our round trip in Auckland, where we did catch our rental car on January 2nd. We spent 2 weeks on the northern island, visiting Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua, Whanganui, New Plymouth and Palmerston North, until we finally reached Wellington.

After spending 2 days in Wellington, where we spent half day in Te Papa museum learnign a lot about New Zealands rich Maori culture, history and geology (earth quakes). A highlight was our visit at the Welsh Dragon Bar, where we made friends with people from England, the Netherlands and, of course, Kiwis.

On the next day, we took the Interislander Ferry heading towards the southern island.

From Picton we went to see the breathtaking Abel Tasman national park. After that, we took the coastal highway #6, one of the most scenic routes I ever cruised, until we arrived at fox glacier two days later. We continued our trip via Wanaka and Dunedin, until we arrived at Christchurch, our final destination in New Zealand, where we met friends.

On our way back home, we had three extra days to discover Singapore.

We were deeply impressed how relaxed and friendly Kiwis are, and of course, by the amazing landscape. We felt that we definitely will come back, whenever we have the opportunity for our next visit to Aotearoa.