This is the 9th and final part of a series of blogs on my 2024 trip to New Zealand.
Click here to see all posts in the series.
Saturday 15th: Auckland Encore
The holiday was coming to a close, and it was time for us to begin our journey back home.
When I originally booked the flights I wanted to leave some buffer time in. Under no circumstances did I want to miss our two flights back to the UK with Singapore Air. If we had travelled from Queenstown and done a ‘self-transfer’ in Auckland, we would not have been protected in the event of a delay, meaning we would have to sort out new flights ourselves.
I had the bright idea that we should travel back up to Auckland, stay overnight, see some extra stuff, and then do the big journey a day later. This had some pros, and some cons, which we will get into later.
Queenstown Gardens
We hadn’t really had any time to wander through Queenstown and see what it looked like when it was light outside. The days were short — as it was winter — and we had spent most of our time going on tours. Today was the first free time we had whilst the sun was up, and we chose to stroll around the Queenstown Gardens.
The gardens are located on a peninsula in the center of Queenstown and as you walk around them, you can see spectacular views of the bay, and in the distance, the mountains.
We managed to pick the time and day when the Queenstown Parkrun was underway, so we spent quite a bit of time standing to the side, letting the runners past. This was a blessing in disguise, as it forced us to take in the scenery.
Our walk around the park turned into a bit of a retrospective of our holiday. It felt like a natural end point, and as we wandered past the different sculptures that can be found in the gardens, we reminisced over the best parts of our holiday.
More Balls and Bangles
Having already been to Balls and Bangles a couple of days earlier, we knew we wanted to try some more of their bagels before we left. Predictably the food was great, and filling.
Set up for the day, we ventured into Aotea Gifts, but despite a 10% off voucher, I couldn’t bring myself to buy anything. There are only so many novelty keyrings, t-shirts, and mugs I can look at before it all washes over me. We had picked up gifts for all of our friends from the many Wētā shops we had been too; we didn’t need a bag of chocolates with ‘Kiwi Poo’ written on it. That’s not to say there were not come cool gifts to be found (like a locally knitted woollen jumper), but most of the things I wanted to buy exceeded my end-of-the-holiday budget.
The time had come however, we had to check out of the hotel and head to the airport.
Flying back to Auckland
Although everyone on our LoTR tour had booked our flights separately, there were only a limited number of flights back to Auckland. This resulted in us bumping into two of the couples from our tour at the airport.
Although it probably makes sense we would bump into someone, it still felt like a ‘what a small world’ moment. We swapped pleasantries, but it was obvious we were all holidayed out, waiting to get on the flight and head towards our respective homes.
Just like the flight from Wellington, the short two-hour flight back to Auckland passed without note. I did not do any better at the in-flight trivia questions.
Unlike our fellow LoTR travellers who were catching connecting flights, we were headed into Auckland for one final night in the voco in Auckland City Centre.
Sushi, at last
The journey back to the city center was a ‘life lesson’ moment for me. We exited the airport and grabbed one of the taxis from the rank in the car park.
As I watched the meter rise rapidly, I decided that I needed to plan ahead more in the future. By the time we reached the hotel the meter read a daunting $110 NZ (£55). The journey was about 26 km (16 mi) which in the UK would have cost about £35. Not a massive difference in the grand scheme of the holiday, but in future I will not just grab the first Taxi I see; I will endeavour to at least investigate how much an Uber or a bus costs first. Next time I could spend that £20 on Kiwi Poo.
We checked into the hotel, getting a room a couple of floors higher than our last, but I was unable to enjoy it. The second the door closed behind us, exhaustion washed over me, and the idea of going out to see the city felt like a Herculean task.
Looking back, this is probably the only thing in the holiday that I regret. I should have pushed through the tiredness to go out and see the city more. Instead, I napped for a couple of hours.
Eventually, energy reserves topped up, we headed out to explore. Walking down Queen Street we remembered our first day here almost two-weeks ago. We had appraised Auckland as a wonderful city, but now having experienced Wellington and Queenstown, we struggled to pick our favourite1 (we knew it wasn’t Auckland).
We popped into a couple of stores, but ultimately just window shopped; passing the time until our final dinner. We were finally going to have some Sushi at a small place called Sushi Train. Before coming to New Zealand, we had heard that the fish in Auckland is especially fresh, so we were very much looking forward to it.
It did not disappoint! A conveyor belt of little plates weaved its way around a central kitchen; allowing us to select what we wanted at a pace that suited us.
Everything was delicious, except some fermented soy beans I tried, which I will not be ordering again (sorry soy bean fans).
★★★★☆ 4/5 - The restaurant was no-frills, but the Sushi was fast, and high quality.
Sunday 16th: Returning to the UK
This was it, the final trip to the airport.
As we sat in the departure lounge, waiting to board the plane, my other half and I both shed a tear that we were having to go home. It would be awfully nice to not have to work and be able to stay, but it was not to be (plus our dogs would wonder where we had gotten to).
The journey back from Auckland to Singapore, then Singapore to Heathrow, was a slog. The flights took the same time — and route — as coming to New Zealand, but without the anticipation of new lands to discover, each hour seemed to drag2.
But, we made it home. Our dogs were happy to see us. Our cats acknowledged our existence. And our house hadn’t burned down.
It was time to sort through the 1,700 photos we had taken, so we could subject our friends to a presentation of our time away.
Fin
If you have read this far, congratulations!
Looking back, I started writing this blog in August 2024, and it is currently March 2025. That’s eight months to write a blog about a three-week holiday.
When I started I wanted to write just one blog, but I quickly realised that I struggle to write short form content. I wrote up until Hobbiton before I realised that no one wanted to read a single blog for an hour or more.
Breaking the content up not only meant that the content was more consumable, but I could ‘commit’ in smaller chunks, instead of everything waiting until the end.
I have since been to Dublin in Ireland, but it’s been six months since I went last September, so I don’t think I will write a blog about it. Partially because it was so long ago, but also because I am not sure if I want to write more travel blogs. I guess we shall see.
Anyway, back to the holiday!
Grabbing a bit of the review of the tour back in part 7:
The tour turned what would have been ten days of me and my other half cramped into a rental car into a fun, relaxing, and educational experience, where every logistical detail was handled for me; I only needed to be present.
We visited places that we might not have thought to visit on our own, like Hairy Feet Waitomo, which was in many ways more enjoyable than Hobbiton.
My view of guided tours has completely flipped after this holiday. I used to think they were a waste of money, but I have been proven wrong. For future getaways I will 100% be looking to book something guided where possible.
How to finish this off?
My other half and I normally do ‘3 best bits and 3 worst bits’ after every holiday, which seems like a good thing to end on. So here are the top and bottom three things from my time in New Zealand:
Worst Bits:
- The wasted final day in Auckland — we should have just flown back the day before.
- Having to leave.
- The fact it is so far away from where we live, so we are unlikely to be able to go back again.
Best Bits:
- The down to earth tour at Hairy Feet.
- The wonder of Hobbiton.
- Dressing up and visiting the filming locations in Wellington, Queenstown (and Hobbiton, again).
Seriously, well done for making it this far. I hope you took at least one thing away; or maybe you were persuaded to go visit yourself.
Regardless, thank you for having me New Zealand. Kia Ora!
