Visit New Zealand (& Dubai): Desert Fun, Kiwi Adrenalin Adventures & Awesome Hikes

The Long Haul: Heathrow → Dubai → Sydney → Auckland

Having fell in love with New Zealand on my backpacking trip there in the year 2000, I had been pining to head back.

With my older brother now backpacking out there, it was the excuse I needed to give it another crack – heading out with a mate who was visiting family out there.

The flight to NZ from the UK is a monster. There’s no easy way to do it – on this trip, we flew with Emirates and the experience was mostly incredible. The only slight blip was our transit in Sydney, where the pilot “couldn’t get the engine started”. Slightly concerning.

But eventually after 27 hours, we arrived bleary eyed in Auckland not really knowing what day it was or even who we were.

We stayed with my friend’s family in the beautiful city of Tauranga, 3-hours from Auckland, on the coast.

The weather was stunning and we quickly slipped into the easy-going kiwi lifestyle – taking in the beautiful beach at Mt Maunganui, and the adjacent hot pools. Just what we needed to get over the jetlag.

We swung by Rotorua where I tried zorbing for the first time. If you’re not familiar with zorbing, it’s where you climb inside a giant plastic ball – have some water squirted in and roll down a hill. Brilliant fun.

The thermal Maori village of Whakawerawera had slipped my budget back in 2000, so it was great to go along this time and learn a lot more about the culture, the history and way of life. We got to eat corn on the cob cooked in one of the hot pools and also see Pohutu Geyser doing its thing. A great cultural experience.

Leaving Tauranga - Onto Christchurch

The next day, I left Tauranga to go meet my brother in the South Island.

After a day of cancelled flights and re-bookings, I finally made it to Christchurch to meet my brother, staying with friends of ours.

My brother had a car so it gave us the flexibility to make up the rest of our time together as we pleased.

First stop was the Port Hills and Lyttelton, just outside of Christchurch, for stunning scenery. The first of many views.

We carried on and drove down the Bank Peninsula to Akaroa via Kaitorete Spit and Te Oka Bay – deserted pebble beaches, scenic bays, and dirt roads into the clouds.

We had the obligatory Fish and chips in Akaroa, New Zealand’s French settlement tucked far down the peninsula.

We headed back to Christchurch for one more night before hitting the road.

The drive to Wanaka with a Mount Cook stop

We kicked off with a whopping 550km drive to Wanaka.

It rained all the way to Lake Tekapo but had just about cleared by the time we arrived at Mt Cook – New Zealand’s highest mountain at 3,724 metres. Although the mountain itself was invisible behind cloud and fog.

But we didn’t want to waste the detour, so we hiked to Red Tarns (1143m) in poor visibility, but still great to be out in the New Zealand fresh air and get my legs working. Running down the steep scree like men on the moon made the detour slightly more worthless.

Rob Roy Glacier: Sunshine & Waterfalls

Once in Wanaka, after a night out, the next day, we drove 50km to Mt Aspiring National Park. The Rob Roy Glacier track was stunning – forest, rivers, waterfalls, snow‑capped peaks. A reminder that in NZ, it’s just so easy to quickly find a quiet spot in nature.

The cloud lifted as we climbed, revealing perfect blue skies.

We chilled at the top for an hour, soaking up the scenery – the snow-capped peals towering above us.

On the way down we practically ran, taking just 30 minutes. With legs like jelly, we chilled for the afternoon and relaxed at Lake Wanaka watching jet skis and paragliders.

Canyoning in NZ: Waterfalls, Tubing and Abseils

New Zealand is full of every adventure activity you can think of.

One of those is Canyoning – for which we had booked a half day excursion.

We put our wetsuits on, hiked 600m uphill, then spent hours jumping off 9m cliffs, sliding natural water chutes, abseiling waterfalls and swinging across the canyon. At times, it was freezing cold, but it was an incredible experience, like nothing I had done before.

Once we had thawed out, we took the scenic short drive down to Queenstown.

Queenstown: River Surfing, Luge, Hikes & Backpacker Life

First thing – more adventure stuff. We went river surfing.

River surfing goes something like this.

You jump in a freezing cold river – no wetsuit, with a small foam flat to keep you alive and you swim down grade 3 and 4 white water rapids on the river, listening intently to the instructor screaming at you through the noisy surf, which direction to take to catch the current and avoid getting wiped out or sucked downstream.

Easy? – no.

Safe? – debatable.

Fun? – absolutely.

Cold? – damn cold, yes. My body was uncontrollably shaking when we got out, and I needed about ten hot chocolates to warm back up.

No trip to Queenstown is complete without a trip up the gondola and a go on the luge.

The views from the top of The Remarkables mountain range are beyond stunning.

We had a six-course meal in the restaurant at the top and didn’t want to leave – it was a picture postcard moment.

But we had two luge rides to race. The luge never fails to disappoint, and we screamed and laughed our heads off down the fastest of the tracks.

But we weren’t done yet -we still had more activities to do – this time a hike.

While my brother headed off to higher climes, hiking the Ben Lomond trail, I settled for the Queenstown Hill trail, up behind the town, with more great views over the lake and city.

Hang Gliding in NZ

Still not satisfied with the adrenalin sports that NZ throws up, I booked to go hand-gliding. The launch point was from the stunning Coronet Park at 2,700 feet.

I met my pilot, Alex, from Buenos Aires and he set about strapping all kind of straps, chains, loopholes all around me.

After a short briefing, we were throwing ourselves off a cliff into the abyss.

It was an incredible feeling – the closest I think a human can get to feeling like a bird.

It was a perfect sunny day, the wind blew through my hair as the ground below was a blur as Alex twisted and turned our wings, this way and that. The views were out of this world and the adrenalin was pumping.

After ten minutes we slid back down to earth.

An unforgettable experience.

Shortly after, I had to head off, flying back up to Auckland to meet my mate and catch a flight together to Dubai, where we had a short stopover to break up the journey.

Dubai: Incredible But a Fake Feeling

We landed in Dubai at 5am, where it was 21 degrees already.

To get the most out of a short 3-day stopover, we took the Big Bus Tour – which felt very touristy but given the size of Dubai and the difficulty getting around easily, was the best choice.

We saw Sheikh Zayed Road, Emirates Towers, Jumeirah Beach Park, Burj Al Arab, Madinat Jumeirah, Mina A’Salam, Media City, Knowledge City, Jumeirah Mosque.

All of which I have to say were very impressive. However, I couldn’t help but feel that it all felt a little fake. Very Vegas-like. Especially after all of the natural beauty that NZ is blessed with – it felt very concrete jungle.

The amount of development going on was insane. The whole skyline a sea of cranes and scaffolding.

I could only imagine what the place would be like in 10-20 years’ time.

Desert Safari: Dune Bashing, Camels & Belly Dancing

The next day, we explored by ourselves taking in in Wafi City, Dubai Museum, and the Old Souq.

And then we went on an overnight desert safari.

The first part was “dune bashing” – where we were dumped into a 4×4, seatbelts tightly strapped up and driven across the huge sand dunes of the desert.

It was great fun. We had a young Japanese couple in the car with us, who literally screamed the whole time – like, non-stop, even over the small bumps. Which was quite funny but also a little annoying by the end.

We visited a camel farm, before moving on to the evening camp in the middle of the desert, where dozens of other tour groups joined.

We tried shisha, got a henna tattoo, watched a stunning desert sunset, had an incredible BBQ, and watched some belly dancer.

Then it was time to camp out under the stars -to our total surprise, out of 100 people, we were the only ones staying overnight.

The camp generator switched off at 10pm and we were left alone in the pitch black and silence of the desert. At first, a little eerie but we were too tried to care and soon crashed out.

Sunrise, Camel Racing & heading home

We were up at 5am the next morning for a stunning sunrise. Breakfast was great. Before we left, we got to watch camel racing practice, more dune bashing, learned a bit more about Dubai’s insane development plans, and then got a ride back to the airport.

We arrived early and paid to use the airports pool, jacuzzi and showers, which felt like heaven after the sandy desert. And a great way to freshen up before the final 7-hour leg back to London.

Dubai had been a fun 3 days – some new experiences – but it wasn’t a place I felt I wanted to return to – it felt too fake and man-made.

New Zealand, on the other hand, was the complete opposite.

The natural beauty, the empty spaces, the fun activities, the lifestyle – it has so much, and I still have so much more to see.

Like 6 years earlier, it had once more blown me away and I was convinced that one day, I would call it home.