I'm not 100% sure what provoked me to end up in landscape/lush green New Zealand (outside of the fact that it was so close to Australia) but I'm thankful my intuition kicks in when my brain doesn't. We started our adventure in Auckland which was about as Chicago-like as it gets BUT be warned..finding food after 8pm is tough. I swear this place just totally shuts down when it comes to dinner which is so opposite from Europe but maybe that's why it's deemed one of the safest places in the world. My mom and I found ourselves in some shady back-ally noodle/asian fusion place that ended up tasting pretty good. Our hotel (Members Only Content) was in the heart of the city and luckily right next to Louis Vuitton and all the places that were relevant to the girly girl shopping side of me. I was able to get my shopping fix fairly quickly and easily and again had all the feels of a downtown Chicago but the real adventure lied within a 3 hr Drive to the scenic side of Rotorua & Tauranga. I am a huge lover of nature and visually stunning works of nature (mountains, trees, greenery...ALL OF IT). Rot & Tau were my absolute favorite parts of New Zealand..particularly Rotorua. The food there was my favorite and had one of my favorite little breakfast spots (Members Only Content). Honestly there was a rolodex of good food spots and you can find that here > (Members Only Content). The hot springs in Waiotapu was interesting to see in person and the Lord of the Rings Hobbitown nature/movie set walk was visually stunning to experience. One of my other favorite visual wonders was in Te Papa (Mount Maunganui) and here you can get all your jewels and souvenirs as it's close to the cruise-ship port. A nice quick place to grab a bite to eat was (Members Only Content) and the service and food was lovely.
General Consensus: If you love nature, nature walks/strolls, visual scenic beauty but also want a bit of a remote Island feel I would say absolutely visit New Zealand. Get the city feel of Auckland first for a few days but more importantly make sure you end up in Rotorua & Tauranga because these two locations are the highlights of NZ.
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