New Zealand with kids

[sdlaura]

Hi, I’m new on this board but post regularly on WP and ML and thought I’d try here for advice for a trip my family is taking next December/January over the holidays. We have four kids who will be 12, 10, 7, and 4 at the time. The younger 3 are boys, so we lneed a decent amount of activity on trips and like outdoorsy stuff as opposed to say, museums and fine dining.

We’re flying from LA to Fiji and staying there for 2 nights (mainly to lay on the beach while acclimating to the time change), then I’m planning for us to have 12 nights in New Zealand. We want to do both islands and I think we’ll fly in between Auckland and Queenstown (but please tell me if we’ll really miss out by not taking the ferry in between and spending time in the Wellington and Nelson areas).

I’ve been looking at the beach areas north of Aukland and the Rotorua area. Near Queenstown, Lake Wanaka looks really pretty. Should we go to the Dunedin area? The west coast of the South Island looks really pretty, but I’m afraid of the sandflies.

Then we’ll go to Australia for 3 nights before flying home from Sydney. Haven’t quite decided where exactly to stay or go there.

We are pretty open now on specifics so I’d love any recommendations on great towns, activities that we can’t miss, and places to stay. Thanks in advance to anyone who has advice!

[sakoro]

I don’t have kids but traveled to NZ with my parents in Nov/ Dec 2022. Although NZ is a very friendly country, I got the impression that most of the overseas visitors are either in their 20s and interested in adventure (bungee jumping and mountain climbing) or retired folks who are interested in nice scenery and wine tasting. Of course there are local families who travel around their own country, but the tourism industry isn’t as orientated to family travel as other destinations.

I highly recommend visiting Tiritiri Sanctuary while you’re in the Auckland area. It’s a sanctuary for native species and the docents do a great job in explaining how NZ evolved separately from other continents. They did not have any mammals on the islands until the first Māori arrived about 800 years ago. It’s a quite a large island and your individual party gets a guided tour with a docent. They are used to school groups so they would know how to make it interesting for kids.

In terms of beaches, we didn’t go to the areas north of Auckland but those are supposed to be nice warm sunbathing beaches. The South Island and more southern parts of the North Island were chilly, even in December. I had to buy a warmer jacket halfway through the trip. The water temperatures were closer to what you’d find in Oregon or Northern California— I wasn’t getting in that water!

On the North Island, Rotorua was interesting and the kids might like the cultural activities to learn more about the Māori. I think there are age restrictions on the spas and hot springs. We visited Waimangu Geothermic Park near Rotorua.

For South Island, we visited Kaikoura on the eastern coast, which is known for whale watching. We had a fantastic meal at Hiku. We also went to Abel Tasman National Park on the northwestern side and did some hiking and kayaking. Near Queenstown, we spend the day going to and from Milford Sound and didn’t have much time for the other activities.


We had a very quick trip to Mount Cook on the South Island. This is where Sir Edmund Hillary trained for his Mt Everest climb. Unfortunately it rained so much (even in December) that we couldn’t hike. It’s pretty challenging hiking so you probably wouldn’t want to take kids anyway. We stayed at a gorgeous hotel.

With kids, I’d probably spend time in Wellington, where they have museum exhibits and attractions orientated towards kids. It’s also a beautiful city and one of my favorite areas of NZ. I’d also look for the outdoor activities that kids can do in the Queenstown area. I’d skip the beaches (too cold) except for north of Auckland.

[sdlaura]

Thank you sakoro, that is super helpful info!! Maybe I will add Wellington to our itinerary.

It seems like a relatively kid friendly country in terms of activities, and a lot of the vacations rentals I’ve seen are kid-friendly, so we’ll probably do more of those vs hotels/resorts.

DH and I have been to Fiji and Australia without kids, but we’re excited to check out that part of the world with them.

[sakoro]

To answer your question above, I don’t think you’re missing much if you skip the ferry across the Cook straight (from North Island to South Island). It was scenic, but the whole trip was scenic!

I would rather get my beach time in Australia and Fiji, start the trip in Auckland, go to Rotorua and continue driving south to Wellington and spend a few days, then fly to Queenstown and do day trips and activities around that area.

In Wellington, the kids might enjoy taking the Cable car, Zealandia (educational nature center that has kiwis), National Museum of New Zealand (really world class interactive exhibits).