Space is precious in summer: Beachside camping at Mount Maunganui. Photo / Supplied
If you left your planning too late and missed out on stuff you really wanted to do this summer, Ewan McDonald reckons you should be googling and booking now for NY2023.
There are two types of travellers. Type A packs and weighs their luggage six months before departure to make sure it's within the airline allowance. Type B wings everything: "It's only 8pm, of course there'll be a bed and a restaurant open in this Tuscan village, so what if they're celebrating their saint's day."
Type A should never travel with Type B, even if they've been together for 25 years. Especially if they've been together for 25 years.
Type A knows planning and booking is crucial for getaway hotspots – think Bay of Plenty, Hawke's Bay, Queenstown and the like.
Northland, for example, hosts some of our most stunning luxury properties. Many have limited capacity and book out well in advance for dates like New Year's Eve. So, too, Urupukapuka, the only island in the Bay of Those where you can stay. DoC's three campsites there and the 23-bunk hut on Cape Brett Track, the crazy popular overnight hike, fill quickly for the summer break. Keep an eye on the department's website to see when bookings open.
Bay of Plenty's beach-lovers know it's crucial to lock in accommodation early, especially over Christmas-New Year and long weekends (One Love Weekend = 20,000 attendees) when multiple events are on.
Bear in mind local celebrations. Napier books out for its Art Deco Festival, so check your options now if you're considering heading along in 2023 (you read that right). After Covid-19 put a damper on the 2021 and 2022 events, 2023 will be greater than Gatsby.
Marlborough is another mecca where beds are snapped up early, certainly at must-stay spots like Bay of Many Coves and other luxury water's-edge resorts. Here it's a smart idea to reserve not only the bed and restaurant. If you're planning a fishing, hunting or diving trip in and around the Sounds, head for operators like Local Knowledge Charters and slap down the plastic asap.
In the past couple of years it's not Venice and Barcelona that have been overrun with tourists, it's Rakiura and Rēkohu. Now Stewart and Chatham Islands are favourite "overseas" trips, Great South tourism points out: "Many Kiwis underestimate how busy Stewart Island is and how few accommodation/food options there are. Do not think you can book accommodation on the day. We have had a lot of sad travellers have to catch the ferry home as there is nowhere to stay." Same for the Chathams.
"CYCLING is the new golf" – more popular than swinging a club ever was, probably - so get in early for Ngā Haerenga Great Rides.
The Timber Trail is an 85km, 2-day, 4-season blast on purpose-built tracks through Pureora Forest Park. But this is the deepest Central North Island and you'll want to nail your one-of-a-kind accommodation, bike hire and shuttle operators to make it a breeze.
The big kahuna is the Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail, 315km and 4-7 days from Aoraki Mt Cook to the Pacific (day excursions are available). Along this snapshot of New Zealand's landscapes and waterways you can stay in bespoke accommodation, eat at historic pubs or boho cafes, admire arts and crafts and architecture, see penguins, vineyards and much more. Get in early for the best deals with operators providing pedal and e-cycle hire, luggage transport, shuttles and guided tours.
Central Otago has a fair claim to be the home of cycle holidays. The original Great Ride, the Otago Central Rail Trail, has been going around for 22 years, followed by Roxburgh Gorge, Clutha Gold and the exciting Lake Dunstan Trail.
Popularity has never been higher. Tourism Central Otago suggests anyone wanting to pedal in the next year should book now. "Already we hear some businesses have received strong bookings for 2023. We recommend booking with a Central Otago-based operator – they have invested in knowing about each trail and will best match them to a client's ability and wishes.
"And don't just stick to cycling – there are plenty of off-trail experiences. Talk to your trail company to find out what can be added into your itinerary." Good advice for wherever your rubber meets the road. Or mud.
KIWIS are rightly proud of access to their wilderness and many will take any chance to escape into it. Witness the northern Coromandel DoC campsites at Fantail, Fletcher and Stony Bays, Port Jackson. They might sound remote: even so, you'd best have forefinger poised over the mouse in early October to get a bunk.
If you've a hankering to venture into better-known spots like Taranaki Maunga, ditto. Fancy staying overnight at Pouākai Hut, hunkering down with night-sky constellations stretching along the North Island coast and waking to a pristine alpine setting? Or Piwakawaka Hut at Pukeiti, under the regional council's care, opened in late 2020, where you sleep above the treetops? It's been a huge hit with locals and visitors, the perfect way to get off-grid. For both, bookings are essential via the websites.
A Great Walk on water, the Whanganui Journey is among our memorable experiences: stunning scenery, steeped in history and cultural significance, a 5-day, 185km voyage from Taumarunui or 3-day, 88km paddle from Whakahoro. With remote riverside campsites along the way, it's vital to book.
North of Wellington, Kāpiti Island is one of our oldest and most important nature reserves. With only one operator offering overnight accommodation and limited summer opening, places usually sell out early.
We've tipped you the wink about Marlborough's seductions, so if you're attracted to the 70km, 4-5 day Queen Charlotte Track - fern-fringed bays, forest, stunning vistas and small lodges - you know what we're going to tell you.
Just down the coast are a couple of private tracks that should be on a tramper's bucket-list: Kaikōura Coast Track and Island Hills near Hanmer Springs, self-guided, self-catered or guided and catered. Think I know what I'd be doing …
In Aoraki Mt Cook National Park, historic Hooker Hut and its resident ghost is a great option for families with young children, only 950m from well-maintained Hooker Valley Track; not too far away, Mueller Hut has one of our most scenic hut locations. DoC again.
Just 18km from the park, Glentanner Park is the only fully equipped campground/campervan park in the area. On their new heli-hike tour, you fly in a helicopter to meet your guide and begin the tramp through private land, learning about glaciers, high-country farming and how to go "OMG!" while walking. White Horse Hill Camp, beneath Mt Sefton, is a more basic option.
Fiordland's Trips & Tramps, which offers guided walks through parts of three Great Walks in three days, is offering earlybird deals at present while Hollyford Wilderness Experience advises spaces on its on their 4-day, 3-night all-inclusive guided walk through the spectacular valley are filling fast.
Top tip: the Hump Ridge Track near Tūātapere, Southland, is to be proclaimed New Zealand's newest great walk later this year. If you want a spot, type "humpridgetrack.co.nz" into your browser tonight.
BY NOW you should have got the message that any number of go-to sites will have been gone-to unless you get in early. Some to watch:
• At award-winning Ōhakune Top 10 Holiday Park, surrounded by native forest, bush walks and mountain stream, you'll find quirky gypsy cabins, self-contained motel units, tent sites and pet-friendly options. Popular year-round.
• Whakapapa's Top 10 Holiday Park has alpine cabins and other sleeping and park-up options, a shuttle to the skifields in winter and walking trails in summer.
• Mahia Peninsula, between Gisborne and Napier, comes to life over Christmas-New Year. Its holiday park has beds for every budget, surfing, safe swimming, fishing, surfcasting, boogie boarding and golf. No extra charge for Rocket Lab launches.
• In Taranaki, you'll want to book well ahead to secure a spot at Ōakura Beach Holiday Park for the ultimate Kiwi summer. In New Plymouth, Fitzroy Beach Holiday Park's inner-city and Coastal Walkway location makes it an in-demand destination.
• For something more private, bathe outside on the deck in moonlight, listening to the river flowing at the new Mangorei Heights B&B, nestled under the maunga, 700 steps from the gorgeous Pouākai track.
• Wellington keeps its secrets. Here's one: Pipinui Point, a private retreat 30 minutes from the capital in native bush overlooking the ocean; a sell-out over summer.
• We'll wind this up with surely the ultimate, must-book getaway. Ōtamahua Quail Island in Whakaraupō Lyttelton Harbour was an early version of MIQ for animals and people until the 1980s. Between 1906-25 the island was a leper colony; in what is now the 12-bunk DoC hut, caretakers cooked food for the stricken souls. You get there by ferry from Lyttelton or by canoe, kayak or private boat and once there, you may be on your own for as long as you've booked.
For more travel inspiration, go to newzealand.com/nz.
Check traffic light settings and Ministry of Health advice before travel at covid19.govt.nz
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