Some lists from our 12/04 December trip to New Zealand

Candy
I always like to try new candy when we visit other countries.  Here are the ones we tried:

Candy
Comments
Kiwifruit hard candy We got some of these at the candy store at the Agrodome in Rotorua, though they seemed to be plentiful.  They were sweet & tasty.
Feijoa & honey hard candy Similar to the kiwifruit candy, but made with honey and feijoa, also known as pineapple guava
Caramel Kit Kat The problem with these is that I bought them the first day but didn't eat them until several days later, at which point they had melted.  So they didn't taste very good by that point.
Mars bar This is Chris's favorite candy bar.  It tastes like an American Milky Way.  Enh.
Cadbury Energy Bar Matt and Clare brought one of these for our stay by the beach.  Labeled "Dark and powerful chocolate," very tasty.
Dutch juju fruits Some Dutch travelers gave us a sample of these on the shuttle back from the first (failed) attempt at parasailing.  They tasted like juju fruits (which I like).
Wine gums I've had these before; chewy fruit candy.
Cadbury Jaffa Small chocolate-covered orange bites; not as good as I'd hoped they'd be.
Kit Kat bites Pretty tasty; you can get these in the US as well
Pinkie By Cadbury, this is pink marshmallow and caramel wrapped in milk chocolate.  It was ok.
Butter fudge Imported from Scotland.  Enh.


Soda
Drink
Comments
Orange Fanta
Orange soda, always a favorite.
Raspberry Fanta
It was ok
Sprite Tropical Remix
What is the point?
Various lemonades, such as Phoenix lemonade
Some were good (Phoenix) some not so good
Hot chocolate
Tasted fine
Raspberry "milk shake"
Chris ordered this; milkshakes in NZ/UK do not have ice cream, so again, what is the point?
Local beers
I didn't have any of these so can't comment but Chris enjoyed them
Weird Shirley Temples
The Shirley Temple I'm used to has ginger ale (or 7 UP) and grenadine.  I had two Shirley Temples in NZ and they were both pretty odd.  At one bar, the guy spent a while looking in his drink book before finally settling on some kind of raspberry mixture.  It was interesting.
Apple/Lemon/Lime soda
Had this at a cafe in Whitianga; pretty good


Restaurants
Overall the food on our trip was quite good.  Here's a list of restaurants we went to.

Restaurant
Location
Comments
Umu Cafe
Coromandel Town
Our first meal in New Zealand.  This was a very nice cafe with lots of vegetarian options.  Tried our first kumera, a delicious sweet potato.
Cafe Nina
Whitianga
Another tasty cafe.  We sat outside and I had vegetable fitters.
Fat Dog
Rotorua
Had a pretty good meal here of a vegetable tower & kumera chips
Pohutu Fountain Cafe
Rotorua
The cafe at Whakarewarewa (the Maori cultural center).  Had a good toasty and kumera chips (seeing a theme here?)
Amazing Thai
Rotorua
This was probably our worst meal of the trip.  The food was ok, but the service was abysmal--took about 1 hour just to get our appetizer.  Our table seemed to be in the Invisible Zone.
Flight Deck Cafe
Rotorua
Had a "tropical" muffin at the airport before our flight.  Pretty good.
The Bakery
Queenstown
Not bad.  Had some spinach and feta rolls and chips of course.
Dux de Lux
Queenstown
This was my best meal of the trip.  I had crepes with mushrooms, blue cheese and feta
Glenroydon Lodge
Glenorchy
Had an ok tomato-and-cheese toasty and more kumera chips
Avanti
Queenstown
So-so pizza
Cafe at the top of  the gondola
Queenstown
Ok, food-wise, THIS was the worst meal of the trip.  Pasta drenched in cream sauce. But we had a tasty chocolate eclair to make up for it.
Little India
Queenstown
Not bad.
Cafe Mondo
Arrowtown
A very tasty breakfast stop.  I had fruit & yogurt, and bread with homemade jam.
Kai Whakapai
Wanaka
I insisted we go here for lunch because the guide book said "the best place for daytime eating".   What a disappointment!
Hunter's Cafe
Twizel
This was Chris's favorite meal:  fresh salmon & sticky date pudding.  My dinner was good as well; foccaia with avocado and brie.
The Old Mountaineer's Cafe
Mount Cook
Huge veggie burger (too much to eat!) before our hike, and a hot chocolate after.  Mmm.
Somerset Tavern
Ashburton
Spinach and ricotta pasta; it was ok
The Paddock
Cheviot
Outstanding toasty and lemonade.  And of course, kumera wedges.
Hislops
Kaikoura
Tasty food with a vegetarian/organic bent. 
Hapuku Cafe
Kaikoura
Chris had a venison burger, and I had a veggie burger.  This was a beautiful relaxing spot for lunch.
Dux de Lux
Christchurch
Although the restaurant was similar to the one in Christchurch, it wasn't quite the same.  Still had good food; I had veggie fritters.
Antarctic Centre Cafe
Christchurch
A respectable toasty on a croissant
Orbit
Auckland
On top of the Sky Tower.  Had fairly good ravioli with goat cheese, but the reason to go here is the view as you slowly rotate.
Vertigo at the Mercure Hotel
Auckland
Our last meal of the trip.  I had an ok veggie tart.  Chris ordered sticky date pudding for dessert again and declared it even better than the one he'd had in Twizel.


Places we stayed
Hotel/Motel
Location
Comments
Rental house
Kuaotunu
This was our best accommodation of the trip by far.  It was a beautiful, modern house close to the beach.  Chris's friends Matt & Clare rented it.
Millennium Hotel
Rotorua
Spent two nights here.  Convenient location, nice lobby, the room was fine.  Clean, functional, not very big.
Copthorne Hotel
Queenstown
Spent three nights here.  Good location--again, the room was fine, nothing special. 
Aspen Court
Twizel
A motel.  Very big room, clean, pleasant.  Free old "women's magazines" which were amusing to read.  When you stay at a motel they give you a bottle of milk.
Taylors Lodge Motel
Ashburton
The only not very good place we stayed at.  Not sure why, but neither Chris or I got a very good night's sleep here.
Seaview Motel
Kaikoura
Funny little motel.  We had a "suite" with a front room and a bedroom, and a tiny kitchen/bathroom wedged in.  Thankfully we had a space heater because it was chilly at night.
Copthorne Hotel
Christchurch
The nicest hotel room we stayed at.  Certainly the best water pressure.  There was even a sign warning travelers the water pressure might be better than they were used to.  Ha!
New President Hotel
Auckland
Another "suite", with a bedroom/front room.  Up a tall building.  The room was ok.  We could hear the screams of people doing the bungee chair across the street.  Good location.


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Last updated:  4/24/05