Ten Years Later, We’re Back in New Zealand

Ten years ago, my wife and I travelled to New Zealand for a holiday. This time, we went back to that beautiful country as a family of three, with our 8-year-old daughter along for the adventure😊.

The last time my wife and I was there, we absolutely loved the place. We spent most of our time in the South Island and, like most people visiting New Zealand for the first time, we were completely blown away by how beautiful it was.

Mountains, lakes, little towns, endless stretches of countryside. Everywhere we looked, there seemed to be another postcard waiting to be photographed.

There was just one problem.

We tried to see too much.

We only had about a week, but we somehow managed to squeeze far too many places into that week. Which meant a lot of driving.

And I mean a LOT of driving.

It was beautiful, but by the end of the trip, I was exhausted.

Looking back, I think we made the mistake of thinking that because New Zealand isn't a huge country (when compared to Australia😅), we could simply drive from one beautiful place to another and fit everything in.

And we learnt the hard way that there's a difference between seeing a place and actually experiencing it.

What we should have done was to spend more time in fewer places.

And honestly, although we thought New Zealand was an amazingly beautiful country, that first trip wasn't one of those holidays where I came home thinking, “Wow, I really enjoyed that.”

I remember the beautiful scenery.

I remember the long drives.

But more than anything, I remember being tired.

And somehow, that's what I remember most about that trip.

Ten years later

A lot has happened since that first trip.

About a year after we returned from New Zealand, we found out that we were expecting our daughter.

And suddenly, life changed.

We didn't really travel for a holiday for a good five years after our little girl was born, apart from travelling back to Singapore to see our families.

For the last two years, we had also been taking our daughter to Western Australia for our holidays. We really enjoyed those trips, and this year we decided it was time to do something different.

So we decided:

Let's go to New Zealand ... again!

But this time, we were going to do it differently.

Instead of trying to squeeze both Islands into the trip, we decided to explore the North Island exclusively.

And, more importantly, we deliberately put fewer places into our itinerary.

Less rushing.

Less driving.

More time in each place.

We weren't going to make the same mistake twice.

My daughter's first long flight

This trip was also a big deal for my daughter.

It was her first really long flight, about ten hours each way from Singapore to New Zealand, and she was incredibly excited about it.

For her, the flight itself was part of the adventure.

For me, there was something else going on in my head.

Ten years ago, I had visited New Zealand with my wife.

One year later, we found out we were going to have a little girl.

And now, ten years later, we were bringing that little girl to New Zealand.

And there was something quite special about that.

Besides that though, there was another first, for both my daughter and myself.

Something I never thought of or expected would be a big deal until we started planning for the trip.

That 'first' was:

Snow.

Neither my daughter nor I had ever seen real snow.

Yes, I had never actually stood in snow before. So this would be the first time my daughter and I would see real snow. Sharing this moment with her makes it extra special 🥰 for both of us.

I've seen it in movies. I've seen photographs. I've seen plenty of videos of people playing in it.

But I've never actually been there.

Holding snow in my hands for the first time felt surreal and funnily it just reminded me of the shaved ice that is used for dessert drinks in Singapore.

So, what did I learn about New Zealand this time?

Quite a lot, actually.

And perhaps the biggest thing I learnt is that New Zealand isn't necessarily a country you need to rush through.

It's a country you should slow down and enjoy.

1. The scenery is almost unfairly good

New Zealand is almost ridiculous when it comes to scenery.

The North Island alone packs an incredible variety of landscapes into a relatively small area.

You can go from snow-capped mountains to lush forests, huge lakes, volcanic landscapes, geothermal areas, rolling farmland and beautiful little towns.

And you don't necessarily have to spend half a day travelling between them.

The Blue Springs is one of those places that almost didn't look real.

The water was incredibly clear, so clear that you could see the plants growing underneath the surface, swaying gently with the current. The long strands of greenery looked almost like they had been deliberately arranged, the way you might decorate an ornamental fish tank.

Except this wasn't a fish tank. This was mother nature at work. This is a natural spring, surrounded by lush New Zealand vegetation, and the whole thing was just sitting there looking ridiculously beautiful.

Besides the greenery in the water, another thing that caught my attention was the colour of the water itself. In some places it was almost turquoise, while in others it reflected the blue sky above. With the underwater plants moving in the current and the reflections of the trees on the surface, it felt like I was looking at two completely different worlds at the same time, above and below the water.

For someone who enjoys photography, this is a very dangerous country for your camera roll. 😂

I found myself constantly looking around thinking:

"That's a photo."

Then five minutes later:

"That's another photo."

Then another five minutes:

"Okay... I need to stop taking photos."

I didn't.

It was the second day of our trip, and it was a cold, overcast day. While walking around Auckland I found myself looking at the city through a web of bare branches. The Sky Tower stood tall in the middle of it all, surrounded by the buildings of the Auckland skyline.

I decided to shoot this one in black and white, to give it an artistic feel, a moment in time frozen in one picture, with the leafless branches creating a natural frame around the Sky Tower.

Sometimes, I think the more interesting photographs are the ones you don't plan to take. You just happen to look up, see something, and think, "That's a photograph."

2. New Zealand is made for road trips

This is probably one of the things I enjoyed most about this trip.

New Zealand is almost made for self-driving.

Although, I have to say, I found it more challenging to drive than Australia.

The roads can be winding, with plenty of steep climbs and descents, and in winter, some can get pretty slippery with ice. You may even need to fit snow chains to your tyres. So while driving around New Zealand is an amazing experience, you definitely need to pay attention to the road and the conditions. It's beautiful out there, but you don't want to get so distracted by the scenery that you forget you're driving! 😄

Once you settle into it though, driving around New Zealand becomes part of the experience.

And this time, because we had deliberately planned fewer places, I wasn't constantly looking at the clock thinking about how many more kilometres I had to drive.

That made a huge difference.

You drive around a bend and suddenly there's a mountain.

Another bend and there's a lake.

Then you see sheep everywhere.

Then you pass a tiny town.

And then you realise you've spent 20 minutes taking photographs of something that wasn't even on your itinerary.

That's the kind of travelling I enjoy.

Sometimes the journey itself becomes the attraction.

And when you're travelling with your family, there's something nice about being able to go at your own pace.

No tour bus.

No rushing.

No "We have to leave in ten minutes."

Just:

"Let's stop here."

And sometimes:

"Actually, let's stay a little longer."

3. Nature feels genuinely accessible

Another thing I really like about New Zealand is that you don't always have to work incredibly hard to see something beautiful.

We also visited a place called 'Craters of the moon', a geothermal walk in Taupo.

Sometimes you can park the car, walk for a relatively short distance and suddenly find yourself surrounded by something spectacular.

That's particularly nice when you're travelling with a child.

You don't necessarily need to organise a massive expedition just to experience nature.

You can simply go for a walk.

Look around.

Take some photographs.

Let your daughter explore.

And then get back into the car and continue the journey.

It's simple.

And I think that's part of the appeal.

4. It feels peaceful

There's something about New Zealand that I think people from Singapore and Macau notice particularly strongly.

Singapore is dense, efficient and busy.

Macau is dense, energetic and busy.

New Zealand can feel like the complete opposite.

You can drive for quite a while and realise you've seen more sheep than people.

There is space.

There is quiet.

There is countryside.

And there is that wonderful feeling of:

"Nobody is rushing me."

That's a pretty good holiday feeling.

5. The little things are good too

It's not just about the major tourist attractions.

A big part of enjoying New Zealand is the little things.

Coffee.

A little café.

A small town.

A beautiful view.

Getting back into the car.

Stopping at a supermarket and discovering things you don't normally see at home.

Finding a random bakery and thinking:

"Okay... let's try that."

Those ordinary moments are often the ones you remember after a trip.

And speaking of ordinary things...

There is something wonderful about having a fireplace

One of the things I genuinely enjoy about New Zealand, and Australia too, is something that probably sounds completely ordinary to people who live there.

A wood stove.

More specifically, finding one in your Airbnb with a pile of firewood provided.

You can actually start your own fireplace.

How cool is that?

This is something you simply don't get to experience in Macau.

Or Hong Kong.

And Singapore?

Well... Singapore is hot all year round, so there is really no need to talk about fireplaces 😂.

But there is something strangely satisfying about coming back from the cold, putting some wood into the stove, lighting a fire and sitting there with your family.

It's not a major tourist attraction.

Nobody flies to New Zealand specifically to light a fireplace.

But those are the kinds of moments that make a holiday feel like a holiday.

6. It's ridiculously photogenic

Being a photographer, this is probably one of the first things I notice whenever I travel.

And I noticed it almost immediately as we descended towards New Zealand.

Even from the plane, I was looking out of the window thinking:

"I need to photograph that."

New Zealand gives you the obvious big landscape photographs.

Mountains.

Lakes.

Forests.

Coastlines.

But it also gives you the smaller things.

Old buildings.

Road signs.

People.

Markets.

Cars.

Cafés.

Dogs.

Street scenes.

Farmhouses.

Mountains sitting quietly in the background.

And because I enjoy street and travel photography, I don't have to spend the entire trip chasing famous viewpoints.

I can just walk around with my iPhone, look and snap.

7. It's a very good family destination

I also think New Zealand works really well for a family holiday.

You can have your adventure days.

Driving.

Hiking.

Wildlife.

Exploring.

Then you can have slower days.

Cafés.

Little towns.

Scenic drives.

Maybe just finding somewhere nice to sit and enjoy the view.

There are also plenty of opportunities to learn about Māori culture, nature, geology and the country's history.

And then there are the days where you simply say:

"Let's see where the road takes us."

Those might actually be my favourite days.

You're not forced to make every day an itinerary-packed tourist marathon.

And after our first trip ten years ago, I think I finally understood that.

❤️ And perhaps the biggest reason...

I think New Zealand is one of those countries where the holiday itself can become the memory.

Not just:

"We went to this attraction."

But:

"Remember when we were driving and saw that crazy view?"

"Remember that little café?"

"Remember how cold it was?"

"Remember all those sheep?"

"Remember when we got lost?"

And now, for us:

"Remember the first time we saw snow?"

Those are the stories families keep talking about.

And that's probably what made this trip so different from my first one.

Ten years ago, I visited New Zealand with my wife.

This time, I visited New Zealand with my wife and the little girl we didn't even know we were going to have yet.

We had already learnt our lesson from our first trip.

We didn't need to see everything.

We didn't need to tick every box.

We just needed enough time to actually enjoy where we were.

And I think we finally got it right.

New Zealand gives you so many places to see and things to do, but that doesn't mean you have to overwhelm yourself trying to experience them all.

Instead, you should give yourself space to experience things.

Space to slow down.

Space to look around.

Space to take photographs.

Space to sit beside a fireplace.

Space to spend time with your family.

And sometimes, I think that's what a holiday is really supposed to be about.

Not how many places you managed to visit.

But how many moments you actually remember.

And this time around, I think I'll remember quite a few.

Especially the snow.

Because after so many years of waiting...

I finally got to see real snow.

And I got to see it for the first time with my little girl. 🇳🇿❤️