Three Sisters and the Elephant Rock

This is a map of all my favorite spots to explore, eat, and stay in Aotearoa New Zealand after a year and a half of living in the land of the long white cloud with my two kids. Nearly all the pins are child friendly and they are noted if not. I update this periodically as I travel to new places so keep an eye out and enjoy New Zealand's incredible country!

This guide is for both Islands in New Zealand (the north and the south) for first time visitors who are taking their camper van throughout the islands with a few days in Auckland and Queenstown. It's a three week itinerary and includes the arrival and departure flight days (and has some suggestions for these days as well). It will go through (in detail!) every location we visited, the activities we did, the sites we camped up at, the restaurants we ate at (in between our camper van meals), what we learned about New Zealand and the camper van life whilst we were there, and other suggestions of what to do in the areas so you can alter your plans to fit what you want. Note that this itinerary includes two different camper van rental locations on each island, and flying between the two islands. But you could easily do the majority of this itinerary and just switch up a few days to drive between the two islands! This itinerary does have a decent amount of driving but its because we really wanted to PACK our itinerary to see as much of New Zealand and it's beautiful scenery whilst we were here. The main locations touched on are listed here (and we highly recommend all of them): -> Auckland (& Waiheke Island) -> West Coast North Island (Black Sand Beaches / Mt Taranaki) -> Tongariro Alpine Crossing -> Coromandel Peninsula -> Queenstown -> Milford Sound -> Wanaka (& Roys Peak) -> Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park -> Dunedin -> The Catlins If you're looking for a detailed guide that outlines your plan for each and every day, look no further!

This itinerary outlines nine days of continuous adventure on the North Island of New Zealand. Spend a couple days exploring Auckland and the nearby islands, head out west for some black sand beaches and secret coves, hit up some insane hiking trails, and head to the east coast for some stunning beaches that draw the local crowds all summer. This itinerary is partially in hotels, but most of it is geared towards campervanning or rooftop tenting it through the North Island (that's what we did & LOVED it). It also includes a few hours of driving a day, and quite a few hiking opportunities (of course these can be substituted for other activities in the area). If you don't want to drive as much you could always spread the activities over more days, or skip your least favourite part to spend more time in the other areas ... but good luck trying to choose! Each day outlines activities to fill your day, how much driving, what to eat, where to stay, and other suggestions / information. This itinerary covers the following specific places: -> Auckland -> Waiheke Island -> Hobbiton -> Marakopa -> New Plymouth (Mt Taranaki) -> Tongariro National Park -> Lake Taupo -> Coromandel Peninsula -> Coromandel Forest Park & so much more! Note: if you're interested in doing both North and South Island in one trip, you should definitely consider purchasing our 3 week itinerary (found on our thatch home page) as it includes all of this same information & everything on the South Island!