Eat at Pedro’s House of Lamb

This Queenstown eatery does just one dish: slow roasted lamb shoulder with rosemary potatoes. But by God is it good. You can’t actually eat in, it’s take-away only. Pedro and the team start up the slow-roasters in the morning and come dinner time simply walking past is enough to have you keel over in a mouth-watering stupor. Which is why you should never walk past but instead go directly inside and pay $40 (£20) for a box of lamb and tatties that will keep you and a friend happy for… oh at LEAST twenty minutes. And if you’re lucky you might even have leftovers. Our next-day cold lamb was easily the highlight of our Milford Sound trip and I am NOT EVEN KIDDING.

Find it at: 17b Papanui Road, Merivale, Christchurch and 47 Gorge Road, Queenstown

Drive Arthur’s Pass

One of the on-the-road highlights of our New Zealand trip, this winding pass takes you through yellowed Canterbury fields, past the mysterious boulders at Castle Hill, across the gorge of the Waimakariri River, past the Alpine peaks, and down again through the now-verdant hillsides of the West Coast.

Instagram some art deco

I raved about Napier’s architecture in our last post on campervanning in New Zealand but it’s worth a second mention, not least because it appears to be somewhat off the beaten track. Tourists, desperate to get to the South Island often seem to bypass the East Coast of the North Island, heading straight from Rotorua and Taupo to Wellington. Don’t make the same mistake. Even if you can’t get there for the annual Art Deco vintage festival, it’s still well worth a visit to see the jaw-dropping 1930s facades.

Visit a brewery

You’d have to be an idiot to come to New Zealand and not visit the wineries but what about the beer? There are tons of great craft beer breweries (see below for details on Nelson’s “beer trail”) which offer tours and tastings. We liked Monteith’s in Greymouth which provided some much-needed cheer after a long drive in relentless drizzle.

Find it at: 60 Herbert St, Greymouth

Hang out in Nelson

The geographical centre of New Zealand, this small town on the northern edge of the South Island is often used as a base from which to explore the stunning Abel Tasman National Park or the equally attractive gastronomic delights of the nearby wine regions. However a combination of crappy weather and time constraints put paid to our plans to do either and we ended up simply hanging out in the town, hopping between cafes, bars, and coffee shops.

As it turns out, we couldn’t have found a better place to do it. Nelson has long been a magnet for arty types and as a result it has a quietly hip, creative vibe. Plus, as the self-styled New Zealand “capital of craft beer” it has at least a dozen breweries to tour and try. We spent less than 24 hours there and even with the dismal weather, we really wish we’d had longer.

Spend a penny in a (designer) public loo

I can honestly say we’ve never recommended a public toilet to anyone before but New Zealand is nothing if not surprising. For those visiting the Northland, be sure to swing by Kawakawa for a toilet stop at the colourful public bogs, designed by Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser.

Oh and there’s a good coffee shop opposite.

Take a dip in the natural volcanic hot springs – for FREE

I wrote about all the free things to do in Rotorua at length in our last post but of these, our favourite was definitely Kerosene Creek, a natural hot spring complete with steaming waterfall, that you can paddle, swim and bask in for the grand total of zero dollars. Find it by heading south down SH5 from Rotorua towards Taupo for about 30km. Turn left at the sign for Old Waiotapu Rd then follow the gravel track down to the car park.

NB: Don’t put your head under the water in any thermal hot springs. The warm temperatures provide an ideal breeding ground for all sorts of amoebic nasties that absolutely want to get into your brain via your ears and nose and wreak havoc there. Not cool.

Party on Cuba Street

We loved New Zealand but as city-dwelling, chaos-thriving, grit-loving Europeans we have to admit we found it, at times, a little on the quiet side. So upon arriving in Wellington we were delighted to discover Cuba Street. With its vibrant cafes and bars, vintage shops, tattoo studios and possibly the only street art we saw in the whole of NZ, it provided a welcome hit of urban cool and a much-needed antidote to all that clean air and laid-back charm.