The Kiwi experience is a great way to travel New Zealand without the worry of finding transport along the way. The bus journey covers the whole two islands (depending on which route you purchase) and makes sure you stop at all the best bits New Zealand has to offer. They also give you a really handy guide free of charge, that has a description of every place you visit, and things you can do there. It also has interesting facts and ideas of things you can do if you are on a budget, plus a little calendar which you can use to help organise your trip.
Once on the bus, the driver will send round clipboards for you to fill in about how many nights stays you want in one of the compulsory night stops. These are often large cities, and it is up to you how long you stay there, although the drivers will usually recommend an amount of time.
Here is the map that is in the guide. As you can see, the different passes are all colour coded for you to see which bits you want to add on, and the large green circles are the compulsory overnight stops.
With Kiwi experience, you are guaranteed one nights stay in their chosen hostel, which is good as you don't have to worry about booking anything unless you want to stay elsewhere or stay for a longer amount of time. The hostel they choose is usually a Base hostel, or sometimes a special location that is a bit different. You usually spend $30 a night which was slightly expensive, and some people found rooms for cheaper on websites, but often couldn't stay in the same rooms together so it may be better for lone travelers.
The drivers do need days off, so sometimes you may not be able to leave on the day you want, as it is a day where no busses leave or arrive. You can by all means make your own way to somewhere, and rejoin the bus at a later date, however Kiwi Experience asks that you complete the full journey with them, in order for you to reuse the pass again.
For example, we started our pass at Auckland so we would have to travel back to Auckland with kiwi to use the pass again. Due to lack of time, we flew from Christchurch to Auckland, so if we wanted to use our passes again, we would have to start at Christchurch and complete the rest of the stops back up to Auckland in order to do the whole trip again within a year. This is a nice idea, as it means you can go back and do anything you missed, which is something we would like to do, however after Kaikoura, the places you stop are places you have stopped before.
Adding on locations is possible at all times. Things like the Milford Explorer, the Deep South and The Cape Reinga trip are add ons you can purchase at anytime, should your pass not cover it already. Most of the time the kiwi experience website will have one pass on sale, so it's best to snap it up, and then tailor make your add ons later on in the trip. The process is very easy and the driver will take your payment and explain everything to you.
For example, our pass did not include the day trip to Milford sound, whereas our friend Mark's did, so we just purchased that add on and were able to go the same day as him with no problems.
The final condition of the pass, is that you cannot go back on yourself. Once you have left a location, you cannot go back to the last place with the Kiwi bus, you must make your own way there. After Christchurch, we went to Kaikoura to see the whales, however we had to book a bus back to Christchurch in order to catch a flight, as the kiwi bus was heading back north to Wellington.
As well as a guaranteed night stay with Kiwi, you are also guaranteed the cheapest quotes to do activities, and a guaranteed spot for those as well. This is perfect for people who want to do the exciting yet expensive activities such as sky diving, bungee jumping and white water rafting, which are some of the NZ must dos. Again, the driver will send round a clipboard and you simply pop down your name, and pay the money and that is it, you are officially booked to do it.
As we said earlier, the kiwi experience passes always have at least one on sale so snap it up fast if your thinking of doing this exciting trip. It's such an easy way to travel, book activities as well as meet fellow travellers. The general age range of our bus was 18 years old gap year students to about our age (25) however this could change from bus to bus. Unlike some other bus tours such a contiki, which is known as more of a party bus, the kiwi experience aim is to make sure you see the best New Zealand has to offer.
We woke up in Nadi, Fiji so so so excited because today we would fly to Auckland and meet our friend Mark. We woke up, and got a short journey to the airport, passing a man who was directing traffic, and doing so with so much happiness and rhythm, we were sad to be leaving the happy Fijan spirit . Everything was really smooth, and the short 3 hour flight was filled with Fijan attentiveness that we had had since we landed in Fiji.
We landed in Auckland pretty much unable to contain our excitement. As we left the arrivals lounge, there we spotted our buddy Mark, and we were so excited to give him a big hug!
From here, we got a beer in a bar and caught up for an hour or so. After a quick Mc Donalds and a nod to Gimley from Lord of the Rings, we flagged down a taxi, and got him to take us Auckland's CBD.
There were two mistakes we made with our arrival to New Zealand, and the first one we were informed by the taxi driver. There was a huge Rugby game in Auckland that evening, so all of the hostels were booked up for the evening, meaning cheap places to stay were going to be impossible to find. When we got to the main city, we found the nearest I centre, something Lauren and Steve had told us were really helpful (these things are all over New Zealand and SO helpful). Through them we booked the only room we could find, which was in quite a posh hotel, so we spent more than we would have wanted, however Mark was incredibly jet lagged so he needed a bit of a pamper.
We checked into the Park Regis hotel, right on the main high street of Auckland, and Mark fell asleep almost instantly. Tom and steph stayed up and tried to phone the Kiwi Experience to book ourselves onto the bus the next day. This was when we found out the second mistake we had made. Ideally, we would have booked onto the bus the next day, however due to lack of spaces, we would have to spend the next 4 days in Auckland, where it was expensive to live, before 3 spaces were available. That said, we didn't want to waste our time in Auckland, so we decided to book up some day trips the following day.
That night our posh hotel suddenly turned into hell, when the club literally next door to our room started music at 10pm, and did so until about 3am. The music was so loud, it was like we were in there! We knew in the morning it would be our mission to move to somewhere cheaper and less noisy!
Day 2
The next morning we did just that, and with poor Mark still feeling very jet lagged, we had to lug our bags uphill to a cheaper hotel. It still wasn't as cheap as we had wanted, but it had to be quieter than the one we had stayed in the night before. Thankfully on the way up the hill, we got a good view of the famous sky tower, and there was also a Starbucks so we stopped in for a drink and to use the free WiFi (you have to pay for your Wifi everywhere in New Zealand!)
That afternoon, the hugely anticipated Flloyd Mayweather VS Manny Pacquiou boxing match was on, and we decided we would find a nice pub to sit in and watch the match. Down at the bottom of Auckland highstreet was the harbour, and here was home to plenty of pubs and restauraunt, all playing the match. We found a nice one and had some drinks, and watched the match
After the match, we headed back to our hotel and had a bit of a pamper session, face masks included. Who would have thought the day spent watching boxing would end that way!?
Day 3
The next day we moved accomodation AGAIN! This time we went to a much more back packer friendly place called Base, which we would become very familiar with over our month trip of New Zealand. At the reception, Base had a wheel of fortune style game that cost $2 to play. You could win drink deals or discounts on day trips , and there was one skinny segment that gave you a weeks free accomoadtion. We all had a go, Mark and Steph winning free drinks, but Tom the jammy bugger managed to land on the weeks free accomodaton, which would prove to be handy for our time away, as you could use them in any Base hostels in New Zealand or Australia.
After checking in to our room, we went to STA travel to enquire about day trips. The nice lady advised us that wine tasting on Waheke Island was an Auckland must do, so we decided to do that that afternoon, and we also booked up the Rangitoto volcanic island tour the following day.
We walked down to the harbour and got onto the frequent boat that took you to the islands. Waheke was a winery island, and was very pictureesque and pretty. We were advised to buy the bus ticket that would take us to the wineries which we did, but as it was a nice day, we decided to walk to the winieries rather than catch a bus, so we started our walk around the hilly island to find some vineyards, with Auckland city a distant memory behind us.
We walked up the hills passing lots of grape vines and vineyards.
The first winery we went to was called 'Cable Bay' and had been recommended to us by a few people. We walked up and went inside for a wine tasting. The tasting was $10.00 each, and we all felt very sophisticated swigging on the posh wine. We were shown the machines where the wine was made, as well as being given a brief history.
We chose our favourite wines and went outside to have a glass on the bean bags and look over the stunning view. The boys went for a nice red, and Steph a crisp Sauvignon blanc.
Whilst admiring the view we were bothered by a small duck who seemed to take a liking to mark!
After this winery, we decided to move on to the next place called 'Mud Brick', so we walked another half and hour or so to get there. We arrived at a pretty garden and walked up to the deck. The boys indulged in some more red and Steph a rose this time.
The sun started to set over Auckland, and it looked really pretty. We went to go to another winery but realised the distance wouldn't be worth going as the last boat back was in an hour. We decided to go back to cable bay, and have some more glasses of wine there which we did until dark. If you want to do a day trip to Waheke, we would recommend going early in the morning, as we didn't get to visit half the amount of wineries we wanted to.
Suddenly realising the time, we ran back down to the port and got back on the boat. Now feeling quite drunk, we decided to head out for a few drinks in the bar underneath our hostel 'Habana Joes', where they did free small meals for backpackers.
We ended up using our free drink vouchers we had won, and partied with the staff until the early hours of the morning, dancing and singing badly to the music they had going.
We headed back up to our rooms, making a bit of noise on the way and annoying a few neighbours. One guy came out of his room and told us to shut up so we swiftly went to bed. Steph needed the loo at some point in the night leaving her key in the room, and managed to get locked out of the room causing a huge drama as the boys were dead to the world in their drunken States.
Day 4
The next day we felt pretty rough, and we slightly regretted pre paying to do our rangitoto volcano trip as all we wanted to do was stay in bed and eat McDonalds. We begrudgingly got out of bed, and walked back over to the same port we left from to get to Waheke island. From here we went on the journey to Rangitoto Island. On the other side, we were greeted by a man on a tractor and a cart attached. We all jumped into the cart whilst he drove around the island and gave us a tour. At one point we stopped so we could climb to the highest point of the island, and take in the views. It wasn't a very nice day so there wasn't much to see, but we could look over the whole of Auckland like we had done the day before.
#douchesoutdoors
We got back into the tractor whilst the man told us more about the island. There were traps everywhere to catch things like possums because they once riddled the island and were eating all the rare native birds. He also told us about the Tui bird, and how it would get high on the tout plant, flying in somersaults and in circles. We passed some old abandoned bachs which are what the kiwis call holiday homes. We then stopped at the volcanic rock bit, where he said we could get out and play with the rocks.
Steph overwhelmed about playing with rocks
We also went to a black sand beach which was probably the prettiest part of the trip.
To be honest when we booked the trip, we were expecting to be jumping over lava and running for our lives, but the volcano hasn't erupted in thousands of years so it is literally just a giant rock. We were slightly underwhelmed by the trip, and think if you have time to spend in Auckland, then maybe look at some of the other attractions to do before rangitoto.
That evening we met rebecca, a childhood friend of Toms who has emigrated to Auckland with her boyfriend Brad. We met her for some dinner and she said on our way back through we could spend a night at hers. We talked about the exciting trip around New Zealand we had ahead of us and she told us her favourite spots. The following day we were finally getting onto the kiwi bus to embark on our journey to Paihia and the bay of islands.
Armed with Steve, Lauren and Seb, we got onto the last speedboat that would take us from the Yasawa flyer to a paradise island. We were all eagerly anticipating the Bare foot manta resort, as it was the island everybody was talking about, and everyone had said they had been lucky enough to see the Manta Rays.
The bonus to the Drawaqa island, was the channel that went straight past the resort, that was teaming with plankton, and therefore became the feeding haven for manta rays during the months of May through to October. We were a little early for the season, but people were saying sightings of the Manta ray were daily, so we were praying we would be lucky enough to see them.
We pulled up to the island, greeted by a man playing a Ukele. Once again, we were treated like royalty and all of our bags were taken care of for us while we were welcomed in by the manager of the hotel. He told us all about the island, and did a quick tour of everywhere we could go. First stop was the diving school, where we were told about the procedure if Manta Rays were spotted by the on duty look outs. At the sound of drums, you were to run there where you would be geared up and taken out to see the Manta Rays. This instantly caused some confusion as the last few islands we had been too used drums to announce meal times.
After the diving school, he took us to see the two beaches, one faced the sunset the other the sunrise, the volley ball court and the dining area. It was a small island, but very roomy, and we were excited to spend our last days here. As we said, we had to pay a little extra, but we were glad we had not missed the opportunity to come here.
We were even happier when the manager said there had been a mix up with our room, and that we were uprgraded and would be spending the first night in a 3 coconut room!
Steve, Lauren and Seb looked a little gutted as the three of them were staying in a 4 bed dorm, but we promised we would invite them over for a drink on our private deck that evening!
We went and found our luxury room, and were so pleased with what we saw.
It was a canvas lodge nestled in the shade, complete with a deck and hammock, it had a zip up front door so you could look out onto the beach that was just in front of us.
We unzipped the front of our canvas room, and saw a hanging bamboo bed with 'Bula' spelt out in flowers. But the real shock and bonus was when we unzipped the back door, to find our outdoor en suite.
Having an outdoor toilet and shower was a little daunting, but would also be an exhilarating experience!
We spent the day on the beach, and as it started to cool down, the boys went to the volleyball court to have a match with some of the locals. Needless to say the locals were well practiced and thrashed the boys, but they seemed to enjoy having new opponents to beat. That evening, on the way to the dining area, we took a walk along the beach to soak in the absolutely stunning scenery.
this picture has not been enhanced in any way!
We got to the al fresco dining area, and found the tables were numbered for each room. As we were 3 coconut impostors for the evening, we got a table to ourselves and were also served an extra course of food!
Indian was on the menu, so as appetizers we were given poppadoms, and then a chicken satay was delivered for our starter. The main meal was a large lamb curry, and dessert was a kind of rice pudding dish.
We were absolutely stuffed afterwards, but took the time to nestle our bare feet in the sand and take in the burning red sunset.
After dinner, we found Lauren Seb and Steve and had some cocktails while we boasted some more about our extra course of dinner. We were summoned by the activity organiser to play games (Fijians love games!) and everyone in the dining area had to get into a team with everyone else from their country.
We found a group of pretty drunk English guys, and queued to play "throw the ball into the bucket". Needless to say, with the drunk northerners on our team we lost dramatically, as they were probably seeing more than one bucket, but it was a laugh.
Feeling drowsy from our cocktails, we went back to our room and admired the lovely bed with fairy lights on which Steph was exceptionally excited about. We kept the mosquito net down, but left the front of our room open so we could wake up to the sun and hear the lapping waves.
The next morning, we were woken to the sound of drums, and thought it was a little early for breakfast, however we got up and headed towards the food area. We had agreed to meet the others at breakfast, but they were nowhere to be seen so we assumed they slept in.
After breakfast we packed up our stuff from our luxury room, and moved into the basic cabin we should have initially got. It was still nice, but compared to our last accomodation, it was rather dull.
We headed down to the beach where we saw Lauren Seb and Lauren. We joked with them about being lazy and missing breakfast, but to our horror they explained the reason they had missed breakfast, was because they had heard the manta ray drums being banged, so they were out snorkelling with the rays whilst we were oblivious about it munching on our toast.
Gutted wasn't even the word to describe how we felt, and even though the guys had said the visibilty wasn't great, and there had only been one ray, we couldn't believe that we had missed the main attraction to the island!
There a few local Mata Rays to the island, who have been going there every year for a long time to feed. They all have names and distinguishing features, so they are quite famous on the island. There are two males and one large female who have their own individual personalities.
Despite missing them, this is what you can expect to see if you ever decide to head to Barefoot manta.
After a disappointing morning, we decided we wouldn't let it ruin our day, we spent most of the morning hovering by the diving school in hope of hearing the drums bang, but alas, nothing. There had been sightings of the manta rays daily for the last week, and we didn't want to be the unlucky ones who hadn't seen them.
As the day went on, we decided we didn't want to waste our day, and ourselves along with Steve and Seb had challenged ourselves the task of kayaking around the whole island at some point. Lauren had actually set out to do her diving PADI course in Fiji as it is really cheap to do there, so she was getting all the lessons she could get in before her exam that afternoon. This was going to be the day for us all to achieve our goals, and we thought maybe if we went to some open areas, we could catch a glimpse of some other great sea life delights.
We rented the kayaks out, and started the huge workout that would be kayaking against the current and in the midday heat. Lauren had gone off to do her diving exam, so we were determined to get back for when she finished so we could hear the verdict.
As soon as we kayaked round the corner of the island, the coral was bright beneath us, and we all dived in to have a look at what was below. The boys had great fun playing with some life form on the rocks that would hide away whenever you went close.
We came round to the last stretch of water that would take us home, and the water was so clear you could see the edge of the reef that we teetered on the surface of, in case we saw a turtle or god forbid, a shark. As we approached the island, we saw some divers pop up to the surface, only to see it was Lauren, who had just passed her diving course. After a day of achievements, we agreed to book a private table at the dining area that night so we could spent our last night on the Fijian islands together, as our room numbers were different.
That evening we met them once again as the sun was setting, and our table was right at the waters edge.
Once again, these photos have not been tampered with!
We enjoyed a lovely dinner of fresh fish, and a tasty slice of cake for desert, and washed it all down with some fruity cocktails and some card games.
Our final day in Fiji meant it was our last opportunity to see the Manta Rays, so we decided to stick close to the beach next to the diving school in case we heard the drums. The other guys were slightly disappointed with the sighting they had had, so would have liked another go again. Our boat to the Yasawa flyer would be leaving at 3pm, so we had ample time to see the Manta Rays on the off chance they showed up, besides lounging around on a beach all day was hardly a difficult task. Lazing in tubes was something we had both wanted to do when making our travelling bucket list, so this was a great opportunity to take lots of pictures.
The boys played games in the water, making a floating goal post out of tubes and attempting to throw a frisbee through the hole, whilst Steph and Lauren basked in the sun on the beach getting the last bit of tanning in before we left.
Unfortunately lunch time came and went, and there was still no sign of the Manta Rays, and even at 2:30 we were waiting in the dive shack in the hope it would come. At this point we were willing to miss our flight to New Zealand the next day if they came along just as the Yasawa flyer turned up. Unfortunately there was nothing, and it wasn't meant to be this time around, however we were all cheered up by the lovely goodbye ceremony the staff at Bare foot Manta put on for us. One man would start singing, and all the staff all over the island would drop whatever they were doing, and come and join in the songs that wished us goodbye and safe travels.
Although we didn't see the Manta Rays, barefoot manta was our favorite resort, and not seeing the mantas has now given us an excuse to go back at least!
We said goodbye to our buddies as they were spending their last days on the 'Beachcomber Island' the main party island, and after a quick goodbye and Facebook add, (note that there is ABSOLUTELY NO WIFI ANYWHERE in Fiji, you have to use the WiFi on the Yasawa flyer in between islands) we were bouncing along on our way back to Nadi.
We got to the port at night, and got another free transfer to our hotel 'The Nadi Bay' hotel. Here, we had some dinner at the hotel, restaurant, Tom having some pasta, and Steph a very strange spicy pizza and headed to bed. The evening felt very quiet after our last few days, and we may have even been sad after the disappointment of no Manta rays, and to be leaving beautiful Fiji, however the next day we would fly to New Zealand, and we were both buzzing with excitement as we would finally be reunited with our best friend from home, Mark!
