June 11, 2005

Kiwi’s Big Adventure

DailyCandy Goes to New Zealand

Sydney was just the beginning. We’re off to New Zealand.

“But a week’s vacation isn’t enough time!” First things first: Quit whining. Kiwis don’t. A week is chocka (Kiwi slang for “plenty”) to see the highlights: Auckland (the party lady) and Wellington (the classy capital) on the North Island and Queenstown, the South Island belle.

Auckland
Jolt the jet lag with a flat white and lamington (a latte and fatty but delicious sponge cake) and hit the town. Local faves along High Street include Zambesi (Vulcan Lane; +64-9-303-1701) for clothes and Karen Walker (15 O’Connell Street; +64-9-309-6299) for jewels. Score a custom piece at Bijoux Gallery (170 Ponsonby Road; +64-9-360-1332) on posh Ponsonby Road.

SPQR (150 Ponsonby Road; +64-9-360-1710) serves excellent pizza and fine NZ wines in a former red-light district garage. If you’re sloshed enough, you won’t mind the prices in Newmarket, where culinary respite awaits at Poppadom (471 Khyber Pass Road; +64-9-529-1897), a down-home Indian diner.

Stay at the Hilton on Princes Wharf (147 Quay Street; +64-9-978-2000), which is as sleek as the ships in nearby America’s Cup Village. Aachen House (39 Market Road; +64-9-520-2329) is the old-fashioned choice. Or take the ferry to Tangaroa, a private oasis on Waiheke Island.

For more of that famous Kiwi nature, splurge on a night at Huka Lodge on the way south to Wellington. (Yes, that’s Russell Crowe fishing next to you.) And visit Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand’s top wine region. On Yer Bike Winery Tours will arrange an excursion and even give you a cell phone so you can drunk-dial your favorite bottles back to the hotel.

Wellington
The hobbits may have turned the capital into Wellywood, but it’s still bloody adorable — a charming mix of politico sophistikos, cafe culture, and an eclectic downtown gourmand scene.

How to make like you belong: Check in to the delightfully Victorian Gardens Homestay (11 St. Mary Street; +64-4-499-1212). Root for the All Blacks (and admire the quads) at a rugby game. Stock up on Kiwi designers Doris de Pont, Fix, and Sabatini at Starfish (128 Willis Street; +64-4-385-3722).

The locals love the Chocolate Fish Cafe & Cones in Scorching Bay (497 Karaka Bay Road; +64-4-388-2808). Find a local to love at The Last Supper Club (21 Blair Street; +64-4-801-5212). And visit Te Papa, if not for the Maori-to-modern exhibits, then for dinner at Icon, its award-winning restaurant.

Queenstown
The Kiwi version of Aspen: gorgeous, outdoorsy, and fun. Seasons are reversed down here, which makes July the best time to soak up antipodean snow and the Lindauer Queenstown Winter Festival.

Bardeaux (Eureka Arcade; +64-3-442-8284) draws the schmoozy, international crowd. Red Rock Bar & Cafe (48 Camp St; +64-3-442-6850), a classic Kiwi dive, draws the locals. Live like a queen at the Blanket Bay resort (Glenorchy Road; +64-3-442-9442), even if the price knocks your tiara off. Eichardt’s Private Hotel (Marine Parade; +64-3-441-0450) is a mountain gem on Lake Wakatipu.

Top off your adventure with an afternoon of parabungy (54 Shotover Street; +64-3-409-0712), a devil-may-care combination of parasailing and bungee jumping. It’s the ultimate Kiwi high.

Though just one of many.