The🇳🇿🇫🇯🇨🇰UpsideDownReport🇦🇺🇭🇰🇹🇭🇱🇦🇻🇳
UPDATE: After touring New Zealand via camper van, we’ve settled on Waiheke Island! Our adventures will continue on holiday breaks, but for now we’re staying put and enjoying everything this amazing island (and neighboring Auckland) has to offer! Below are all the adventures that led us to this corner of the North Island:
🦙 Akaroa
🇨🇰 New Zealand
Jan 7th - 9th, 2023
🥇 2nd Place!
75 / 100
80 / 100
85 / 100 ⭐
90 / 100 ⭐
90 / 100 ⭐
75 / 100
75 / 100
80 / 100
100 / 100 🤯
750 / 900
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Penny’s Recommendation: “When you go to Akaroa the dolphin tour is amazing! There are dogs on the boat that bark when they see a dolphin - they can actually *hear* them when human ears can’t! We saw mommy dolphins with babies! They gave you a drink at the beginning - I love that - and the views in the harbor were amazing! There was an “elephant rock” (if Nunie hears this I hope she loves it). It was a landmark for kayaks and boats. Oh! And the harbor is actually a volcano that blew itself in two pieces and water rushed in!”
Clover’s Recommendation: “When you go to Akaroa you should go to the farm! There’s a pack of girl alpaca and boy alpaca and you get to feed them - which is the best part. The guy told us how to get their attention. Don’t walk fast or run or skip - get down and have your hand flat up and it might lick. My favorite was named “tornado,” you think it’s *tomato* (the thing you eat) but no… it’s *tornado.* Also check out The Giant’s House. Why did they call it that? A giant is big, so a giant’s house is very big. It is a big house… but there’s no giant!”
🏕️ Lake Tekapo
🇨🇰 New Zealand
Jan 6th - 7th, 2023
🥈 13th Place
75 / 100
60 / 100
70 / 100
75 / 100
65 / 100
70 / 100
40 / 100
70 / 100
95 / 100 🌈
620 / 900
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Penny’s Recommendation: “You have to stop at Tekapo Springs! There are six different pools: a cold pool and then a warm pool and a warmer pool, and on and on. We pretended to be dolphins: GAK! GAK! There’s a water slide where they have to spray your back before you go down because it’ll rip your skin off if you don’t! And there’s also this huge bouncy house! This one was bigger and better because it had new stuff like huge, blue balloons you jump on - just like that show, Floor Is Lava!”
Clover’s Recommendation: “At Lake Tekapo there’s an awesome playground with two “llamas” (these were like swings but bumpy and covered in fur). The cool part is that there was a beach next to it. I found pretty pieces of jade! At the beach always look for where somebody put out a fire - which they did - then there’s coal to get! You can take a rock, make it wet and then color the rock to stamp it on your skin to make tattoos. They come off in two showers. If you don’t do any showers, I’m sad for you!”
🚁 Mt. Cook
🇨🇰 New Zealand
Jan 4th, 2023
🙅 n/a
10 / 100
10 / 100
95 / 100 🌈
110 / 100 🔥🔥
10 / 100
30 / 100
10 / 100
10 / 100
115 / 100 🔥🔥🔥
400 / 900
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Penny’s Recommendation: “You should take a helicopter to the top of Mount Cook. Sitting in the front or back does not matter - you get a great view either way. The seatbelts are weird and I was nervous, but it was perfectly fine. You get these things you wear on your ears and you can talk with everyone onboard even though the propeller is so loud. It was really cold though so dress warm. How cool - we walked on the biggest glacier in New Zealand, ate snow and made a tiny snowman!”
Clover’s Recommendation: “It was cool going in a helicopter because not a lot of people can do this. You might get motion sick and your ears might pop but it isn’t very bad. If you’re a baby please don’t do it! You shouldn’t open the doors or wear hats and if you have a jacket don’t take it off cuz it’ll just blow away. Never jump near it and, if you do, you can’t blame the captain. He said do not go in the back because then you would get hit with a blade and you would maybe, like, get a cut.”
🟪 Mackenzie
🇨🇰 New Zealand
Jan 3rd - 5th, 2023
🥉 26th Place
55 / 100
50 / 100
65 / 100
85 / 100 ⭐
45 / 100
75 / 100
40 / 100
75 / 100
90 / 100 ⭐
580 / 900
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Penny’s Recommendation: “The Clay Cliffs are an amazing stop - just don’t go on a hot day. We were like… are we really going to be able to walk *into* the clay cliffs? (cuz it’s so spikey) But we were able to literally walk right through them! They are quite high up and a very light brown. Kinda like the shade of a garbanzo bean, but smooth like paper. Oh! I forgot! The road in was horrible. Mom and dad were stressed. The ride in was like 20 minutes of dusty bumps. One time our car went airborne!”
Clover’s Recommendation: “When you’re here make sure to visit the lavender farm. It’s really pretty because there’s one hundred flowers and the lavender fields smell like lavender! They all are purple! It is very cool because it have a shop, everything is purple. They make 100 million moneys everyday. The people are mostly paying for ice cream. It’s special because it have lavender in it. You can mix it with other flavors like lavender-mango, lavender-berry or lavender-honey!”
🖼️ Oamaru
🇨🇰 New Zealand
Jan 2nd - 3rd, 2023
🥈 15th Place*
70 / 100
90 / 100 ⭐
65 / 100
70 / 100
65 / 100
55 / 100
55 / 100
80 / 100
60 / 100
610 / 900
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Penny’s Recommendation: “When you go to Oamaru you should 100-billion% stop at the Steampunk Museum. It’s super cool because everything is made out of old metal. They have fake cows. A dentist room that’s really weird. It’s all rusty. They have a piano room where the keys make weird noises. You can go in old trains and vehicles and they have their own machine playground! It’s a one minute walk to the beach where there’s a huge hamster wheel for kids!”
Clover’s Recommendation: “When you go to Oamaru you should see the boulder beach. It have big boulders and you can take pictures on them. Some are on land and some are in water. We played a game where you had to touch the rocks without getting wet. When we were driving to the boulder place daddy got in a crash and his lights in the car made a circle and it died. Then later that day we scraped the car *again* - welp - I guess there was a pole behind us!”
🐧 Dunedin
🇨🇰 New Zealand
Dec 30th - Jan 2nd, 2023
🥈 15th Place*
75 / 100
55 / 100
75 / 100
45 / 100
55 / 100
50 / 100
95 / 100 🌈
75 / 100
85 / 100 ⭐
610 / 900
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Penny’s Recommendation: “Come to Dunedin during New Years and hang out in the Octagon! If you do - they don’t do the ball drop like usual - they count down numbers on a really cool building with lasers. They have a lot of food trucks - it was really good. One of them was real food and three were just candy: churros, waffles and slushies. Eat all the sugar! Oh and do not miss the little blue penguins!”
Clover’s Recommendation: “You might think it’s just a mountain but there’s a hole you might not see. Please go in that! It’s dark so you need a camera. If you don’t have a camera - I’m scared for you. Go through the tunnel in the big mountain. The cave is dark but not too dark. Watch your step! It opens up to a beach! My sister found a rock to climb where you could watch the view of stuff!”
🥾 The Catlins
🇨🇰 New Zealand
Dec 29th - 30th, 2022
🥉 27th Place
55 / 100
60 / 100
65 / 100
95 / 100 🌈
35 / 100
40 / 100
60 / 100
60 / 100
105 / 100 🔥
575 / 900
FOOD:
CULTURE:
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Penny’s Recommendation: “The Catlins were the coolest thing I’ve ever seen because, well, usually you’ll see caves that are like five feet deep, maybe less. This cave was 100 feet through and you could turn and come out the other side and there were dead skeletons in there [wink wink]. And don’t miss the trinket show! It’s all turning knobs, coins making waves and babies’ heads turning around!”
Clover’s Recommendation: “If you think about it, the world is probably a ball, but the map is a square. On both a map and a globe you find New Zealand at the bottom. It’s green. When you go to the Catlins you need to stop at a very special spot. It was cold and windy. The cliffs were as steep as a hill. It’s the place where everything falls into little pieces and then the island is done. There is nothing below this place!”
🚡 Queenstown
🇨🇰 New Zealand
Dec 23rd - 28th, 2022
🥇 1st Place!
95 / 100 🌈
65 / 100
110 / 100 🔥🔥
85 / 100 ⭐
95 / 100 🌈
70 / 100
40 / 100
85 / 100 ⭐
110 / 100 🔥🔥
755 / 900
FOOD:
CULTURE:
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Penny’s Recommendation: “Definitely stay at Driftaway, they take care of everything! Try to get on the gondola because up top there is an Alpine slide. Also you have to stop at Soki Sushi Train! The bottom part is a conveyor belt where you can just pick sushi. The plates are different colors so you know how much it costs. And there is also a real menu, that stuff comes to your stop on a train track and you can grab it!”
Clover’s Recommendation: “We went to a chicken place. It was “only you can eat.” Normally at restaurants you would have to order, right? But at this one they just come around with meat. I know it’s unbelievable but I even ate a chicken’s heart! And in Arrowtown there were lots of fancy stores. It’s rude to kill cows and not eat their bones, right? So they take their fur and make blankets, hats and pillows. They’re so soft!”
🧩 Wanaka
🇨🇰 New Zealand
Dec 21st - 23rd, 2022
🥇 4th Place!
85 / 100 ⭐
60 / 100
85 / 100 ⭐
90 / 100 ⭐
85 / 100 ⭐
75 / 100
60 / 100
75 / 100
105 / 100 🔥
720 / 900
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CULTURE:
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Penny’s Recommendation: “When you go to Wānaka you should go on a river boat tour. The boat’s motor pushes out 200 gallons per second and it’s *inside* the boat so that if it hits rocks it’ll just buzz right by. Oh and you should definitely go to Puzzle World because they have a room that’s slanted. And gravity is so weird! There’s an illusion room and huge maze! We couldn’t finish cuz we got too hungry and had to go.🍕”
Clover’s Recommendation: “In Wānaka there were one thousand… one million - wait, which is bigger? - trees! We took a boat and stopped to pick flowers and make them into bouquets. We stepped in cow poop. There was trees and big mountains and lots of ice. Our driver made the spins! Dad didn’t want to do *too much* cuz eventually he barfs. For me it was good even though I got bumped a couple times.”
💦 West Coast Hwy
🇨🇰 New Zealand
Dec 21st, 2022
🥈 14th Place
40 / 100
50 / 100
95 / 100 🌈
95 / 100 🌈
25 / 100
75 / 100
50 / 100
75 / 100
110 / 100 🔥🔥
615 / 900
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Penny’s Recommendation: “Be sure to stop at the waterfalls along the way [Thunder Creek Falls, Fantail Falls, Wilson Creek Bridge 8116]. It was weird because tourists would take a picture and just leave - and not even cross the river. The water was like shin deep! But we crossed - it was cold - but there was a path up to the top. There were a ton of these stacks of rocks. We added 102 and 103.”
Clover’s Recommendation: “Hi! Listen up! We were at a waterfall and daddy, the awesome super man, decided to jump in! But we weren’t prepared. It was hard to swim across. You know what he did? He didn’t have any bathing suit on. You know what he did? He took everything off but his shoes and underwear! Daddy got across but Penny, my sister, said, ‘I don’t like when daddy’s out there!’”
🐻 Fox Glacier
🇨🇰 New Zealand
Dec 19th - 21st, 2022
🥈 20th Place*
60 / 100
60 / 100
65 / 100
85 / 100 ⭐
60 / 100
75 / 100
45 / 100
70 / 100
95 / 100 🌈
600 / 900
FOOD:
CULTURE:
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Penny’s Recommendation: “When you go to Fox Glacier go to the “Top 10” [campground] cuz they definitely do it right - they have little motor bikes you can sit on and a scavenger hunt (Clover will tell you more). Definitely go to see the big glacier! All the other ones are melting, so see it fast! Oh, and do not stop at Mirror Lake it is such a rip off - it’s not even a mirror!”
Clover’s Recommendation: “This camp have everything! There was a bear hunt! Well… if you don’t want to know, just look away. And don’t read. If you can’t read, go ask your mom. If you don’t have a mom, that’s serious business. So… the treasure hunt! All of these bear stickers were hidden around. In the kitchen, the laundry and in the buildings. Finding them was fun!”
🟩 Hokitika
🇨🇰 New Zealand
Dec 18th - 19th, 2022
🥉 22nd Place*
60 / 100
75 / 100
90 / 100 ⭐
50 / 100 🦟
50 / 100
70 / 100
40 / 100
70 / 100
85 / 100 ⭐
590 / 900
FOOD:
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Penny’s Recommendation: “Don’t miss the big track for ATVs! We loved stopping at, I mean, I don’t want to spoil too much but, you can’t really stick your head out of the ATV because there’s a lot of really spikey things. Even so, I still loved it so much because we got to put on these mud clothes and Dad (codename “Splash”) would rush through deep water!”
Clover’s Recommendation: “In Hokitika there are big rocks, and there are big bugs. Make sure you wear long pants. They bite you a lot. *BUT* everything else is pretty cool - I mean amazing. So yeah, enjoy! Hokitika have really blue water, like it’s way bluer than the sky. Oh, and mom bought a necklace made of Jade that she loves! Ok, can I have a banana?”
🥞 Punakaiki
🇨🇰 New Zealand
Dec 17th - 18th, 2022
🥉 22nd Place*
60 / 100
55 / 100
65 / 100
80 / 100
55 / 100
75 / 100
40 / 100
60 / 100
100 / 100 🤯
590 / 900
FOOD:
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Penny’s Recommendation: “In Punakaiki the mountain views are beautiful, the restaurants are really good (at the end we got a candy cane). I just like this place because it was like you weren’t stuck in a forest with no food. There’s also a rock tour! It has pancake layered rocks and when it’s high tide (at like 6:20pm) there will be blow holes that spray up.”
Clover’s Recommendation: “When you go to Punakaiki you should go to the beach because it have - what’s the thing we saw yesterday? - it have jade. Real jade! The mountains here are higher than a building. The trees have red and green and pink. You should see the pancake rocks because they’re cool. They’re kinda like one, two, three, four… all the way to 500!”
🪨 Arthur’s Pass
🇨🇰 New Zealand
Dec 16th - 17th, 2022
🥉 29th Place
10 / 100
10 / 100
10 / 100
95 / 100 🌈
20 / 100
80 / 100
60 / 100
85 / 100 ⭐
105 / 100 🔥
475 / 900
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Penny’s Recommendation: “Trust me any time New Zealanders have a sign (on the side of the highway) you should always stop! Cuz if you miss an amazing stop, like hiking up this huge mountain and having a picnic, then… man. We almost missed it, but then we went picnicking there and it was one of the best memories we ever had.”
Clover’s Recommendation: “Don’t miss Arthur’s Pass! Look for the huge rocks the shape of a circle. Climb all the way to the top. There’s a rock that looks like a bathtub. Make sure you don’t fall and get hurt and remember: it’s harder to get down than up! Oh and on the side of the road we saw these beautiful flowers. Daddy was allergic, which was a huge, big deal.”
🛝 Christchurch
🇨🇰 New Zealand
Dec 14 - 16, ‘22 & Jan 9 - 10, ‘23
🥇 3rd Place!
90 / 100 ⭐
95 / 100 🌈
90 / 100 ⭐
65 / 100
100 / 100 🤯
75 / 100
25 / 100
95 / 100 🌈
90 / 100 ⭐
725 / 900
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Penny’s Recommendation: “In Christchurch there’s this huge playground! They have a windy slide that’s probably, maybe 13 meters high. You have to put your hands down or you’ll flip. It happened to me and I landed on my buns. We also watched Avatar 2 at a fancy movie theater where people wore hats with bows. It made me feel like I was in the 1890’s.”
Clover’s Recommendation: “You will love Christchurch. You know why? They have a special museum with lots of penguins and a girl - I forgot her name - she was taking us on a tour. She said Jack is the new manager! He knows all about penguins. It’s hard to be a manager. First thing, it smells bad. You need to get used to that. And the penguins bite!”
🐬 Kaikoura
🇨🇰 New Zealand
Dec 12th - 14th, 2022
🥇 5th Place!
70 / 100
70 / 100
70 / 100
90 / 100 ⭐
60 / 100
85 / 100
95 / 100 🌈
70 / 100
95 / 100 🌈
705 / 900
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Penny’s Recommendation: “You should swim with dolphins here, they’re so fast - they dart right past you. They’re wild (literally)! It might be uncomfortable in the beginning because of the so-tight wet suits, but it’s worth it. Oh and to get their attention you scream through your mask. GAK GAK GAK GAK GAK!”
Clover’s Recommendation: “When you go to Kaikoura you should work. No! Go on the dolphin trip instead! And try to see penguins [NOTE: There are no penguins here]. Try to see “sting fishes” and try to see other things. You know. The beaches here are great because, well, they have dolphins in them!”
🌲 Wairau Valley
🇨🇰 New Zealand
Dec 12th, 2022
🥉 22nd Place*
55 / 100
60 / 100
40 / 100
100 / 100 🤯
45 / 100
80 / 100
45 / 100
70 / 100
90 / 100 ⭐
590 / 900
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Penny’s Recommendation: “You should stop at Wairau Valley and eat at a place called “F***, That’s Delicious” [laughter] get the egg sandwich and a smoothie. Be sure to stop at Kowhai Point. There are rivers with such a big current that you get drifted. No one was there at all. We called it Canada, New Zealand. At the end we made up our minds to swim. It was as cold as Antarctica! Mom screamed when she got in.”
Clover’s Recommendation: “If you don’t have motion sickness like my dad and sister you should drive as fast as you can. If you do you’ll see pretty nature in the valley. Lots of streams to get across. But you’ll find your way to a river in the trees. And there’s a couple rocks. You will go far, far, far… Then! You can maybe hike to a spot where you can see the view. Explore!"
🏞️ Abel Tasman
🇨🇰 New Zealand
Dec 8th - 12th, 2022
🥈 20th Place*
75 / 100
60 / 100
60 / 100
85 / 100 ⭐
50 / 100
70 / 100
65 / 100
50 / 100
85 / 100 ⭐
600 / 900
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Penny’s Recommendation: “It’s critical that you go to Abel Tasman when the weather is good (although rain brings epic rainbows). Definitely take a boat charter past Split Apple Rock - a famous rock that has many ways that they think it might be split. Perfectly. Maui was fighting with a guy and cracked it..? A whale jumped out of the water..? The Maori blew a horn so loud it broke..? Either way it’s beautiful.”
Clover’s Recommendation: “When you go to Abel Tasman you should jump on the trampoline. Wait… there wasn’t a trampoline. I love putt putt golf! I even won! Then we went on a boat (see pic) and met two really nice groups of friends. One didn’t like the campervan scene and I don’t know why! She said she was spoiled. I said I’m spoiled, too because I’m going on this awesome trip!”
⛴ Wellington
🇨🇰 New Zealand
Dec 5th - 8th, 2022
🥈 11th Place
80 / 100
90 / 100 ⭐
80 / 100 ⭐
60 / 100
90 / 100 ⭐
60 / 100
15 / 100
85 / 100 ⭐
80 / 100
640 / 900
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Penny’s Recommendation: “You definitely should try going to the museum around town. I think you would enjoy it because it has a very big art gallery with a ton of ancient pictures that are older than 2007! There was an earthquake room that actually shook - it was radical! And there was a kids’ space where you could draw your own thing. We made the Hewitt family crest!”
Clover’s Recommendation: “When you go to Wellington you should go to the museum it was picture-y history. Big people history! With big people and the people were giants. They were fake! The history was about people dying. It really looks realistic. Let’s say Charlie died they would write a picture of Charlie. Charlie would die and they would make a portrait of him dying.”
♨️ Rotorua-Taupo
🇨🇰 New Zealand
Dec 2nd - 5th, 2022
🥉 25th Place
60 / 100
75 / 100
85 / 100 ⭐
60 / 100
35 / 100 👃
70 / 100
45 / 100
75 / 100
80 / 100
585 / 900
FOOD:
CULTURE:
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Penny’s Recommendation: “When you go to Rotorua check out the thermal baths. We rubbed slimy, hot mud on ourselves and jumped in a cold waterfall. There’s a mud volcano that is the biggest in the southern hemisphere. There are huge bubbles and smoke everywhere! It’s very hot and smells horrible to be clear.” 🤢
Clover’s Recommendation: “In New York there isn’t any pools, right? Well here in Taupo there is a water park at our campgrounds! And everything is a hot tub here! There’s a green pool - hot tub! There’s a blue pool - hot tub! There is a kid pool - hot tub! There are water slides that look like a maze and are as tall as a giraffe in a tree!”
🐛 Waikato
🇨🇰 New Zealand
Nov 30th - Dec 2nd, 2022
🥇 10th Place!
80 / 100
65 / 100
95 / 100 🌈
60 / 100
55 / 100
75 / 100
65 / 100
75 / 100
85 / 100 ⭐
655 / 900
FOOD:
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Penny’s Recommendation: “When you go to Waikato, be sure to visit Hobbiton (after you’ve watched all the movies). Take a lot of pictures and be aware that you get a free ginger beer at the Green Dragon Inn! There are also caves in the area which you should visit to see all the glow worms and learn about the limestone rock formations.”
Clover’s Recommendation: “Have you ever watched Rings of Power? It’s where everyone lives in a house that is underground. And colorful! Sam lives in the blue house. Nothing is real. The elves aren’t real! Also go to the caves and then you will see glow worms that are blue and please don’t worry they won’t poop on you!”
🚣 Coromandel
🇨🇰 New Zealand
Nov 27th - 30th, 2022
🥇 8th Place!
75 / 100
60 / 100
85 / 100 ⭐
75 / 100
80 / 100
80 / 100
40 / 100
80 / 100
100 / 100 🤯
675 / 900
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Penny’s Recommendation: “When you go to Coromandel you have to go to a spot called the Blow Hole. It’s one of many sea caves along the coast. You can only get into it by boat. It’s a beach inside a cave with some amazing trees growing up top. I want to live there!”
Clover’s Recommendation: “There is a spot where the ocean is freezing cold but under the sand there is hot sand - so hot that they are boiling. You can bring a shovel to the beach and dig a hot pool! It’s basically a hot spring. We sat in one and watched the sun rise!”
🌊 Piha
🇨🇰 New Zealand
Nov 26th - 27th, 2022
🥈 12th Place
60 / 100
60 / 100
50 / 100
70 / 100
80 / 100
80 / 100
40 / 100
85 / 100 ⭐
105 / 100 🔥
630 / 900
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Penny’s Recommendation: “At Piha Beach the waves are as tall as an elephant and as green as emeralds. All the rocks are so loose they’d fall on your head in two seconds. The stone structures are so big that if you fell you’d break every bone inside you. Every single one!”
Clover’s Recommendation: “My favorite thing about Piha is the rocks are big and sharp. The black sand is sticky… Mangos are yellow. If you see mangos you have good luck and I would not swear swimming in the water you would actually die because it is strong like bulls.”
🌈 Northland
🇨🇰 New Zealand
Nov 22nd - 26th, 2022
🥈 18th Place*
50 / 100
55 / 100
40 / 100
100 / 100 🤯
50 / 100
70 / 100
55 / 100
85 / 100 ⭐
95 / 100 🌈
605 / 900
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Penny’s Recommendation: “In Northland there are a ton of rainbows and the tide gets really low at night! When you drive down to get here there’s this huge road that’s totally in the middle of the forrest and the whole beach is covered in seashells! Literally millions of shells. You should camper van here!
Clover’s Recommendation: “Northland beaches don’t have any garbage. They have so cool rocks! We went on the mud path. It go to a grassy, tall sculpture! Penny even got to climb it! We made salad out of the plants - the leaves were money - and we talked about what we were thankful for! 🦃
🐚 Aitutaki
🇨🇰 Cook Islands
Nov 14th - 18th, 2022
🥇 7th Place!
30 / 100
85 / 100 ⭐
80 / 100
100 / 100 🤯
35 / 100
90 / 100 ⭐
85 / 100 ⭐
70 / 100
105 / 100 🔥
680 / 900
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Penny’s Recommendation: “When you go to Aitutaki you need to snorkel with Leo ‘cuz he will take you to see clams the size of a couch and you can swim with fish the size of my mom! You have to be there on a Thursday so you can see them dance and have the buffet night and try their mango (Clover’s fav), papaya (mom’s fav) and passion fruit (dad’s fav)!”
Clover’s Recommendation: “When you go to Aitutaki you should book a reservation. Look at the songs. Hear them! You should pet the cats if you like the cats. Then wash your hands. My favorite part was the view - it ‘sploded my mind! The water around Aitutaki was so so blue, as blue as a waterfall in the sky. And it was teal like… sorry that’s all I have.”
🌺 Rarotonga
🇨🇰 Cook Islands
Nov 11-14 & 18-21, 2022
🥈 15th Place*
25 / 100 🤢
85 / 100 ⭐
65 / 100
80 / 100
40 / 100
90 / 100 ⭐
70 / 100
65 / 100
90 / 100 ⭐
610 / 900
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Penny’s Recommendation: “When you go to Rarotonga you should jump off the big rock (see pic) and try kayaking. One of the best parts of travel is to meet friends and swim with them all day. The locals love their cultural vibes. They talk about their village and the chieftains, singing songs and shaking their butts.”
Clover’s Recommendation: “When you go to Rarotonga you should watch the girls shake their booties and the boys bend down! We stayed on a salty beach with lots of people and went to Black Rock Beach. Why was it called Black Rock? Because it had a big rock that was black. We even got to climb it!”
🍤 Auckland
🇳🇿 New Zealand
Nov 9th - Nov 12th, 2022
🥉 28th Place
85 / 100 ⭐
65 / 100
85 / 100 ⭐
30 / 100 🚧
75 / 100
70 / 100
15 / 100
60 / 100
55 / 100
540 / 900
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Penny’s Recommendation: “When you go to Auckland you should make sure you are able to make it to Weta Works Unleashed because they have an awesome tour and also at the end you should get the Lord of the Rings board game An Unexpected Party from the gift shop. We played it and loved it. You get to play as Fili and Kili!
Clover’s Recommendation: “So there’s this toy store [Pop Mart] where we got miniatures. You can never see this again so you should *snag it!* But you do not know what is in the box. But that’s the fun part. I’ll tell you this, too: you should not lay on your [AirBnb] couch because the couches are so so dirty. Like trust me.”
⛰️ Waiheke
🇳🇿 New Zealand
Oct 27th - Nov 9th, 2022
🥇 6th Place!
90 / 100 ⭐
60 / 100
45 / 100
85 / 100 ⭐
90 / 100 ⭐
85 / 100
60 / 100
85 / 100 ⭐
85 / 100 ⭐
685 / 900
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Penny’s Recommendation: “When you go to Waiheke you should go to the beaches because they are clean, the water isn’t polluted and there are huge cliffs and amazing caves. Here you can have a horse as a pet or rent one for a day. Getting here on the car ferry was amazing, we saw a sea lion beside the boat.”
Clover’s Recommendation: “When you go to Waiheke you should go to the beach and see the slugs and the crabs and the hermit crabs and the beach. All of the buildings are fat (“chubby” if you want to say it nice). Only come here if it’s your birthday - because it’s nicer. If you forget your birthday it would be a huge mistake.”
🐠 Malolo
🇫🇯 Fiji
Oct 21st - 27th, 2022
🥇 9th Place!
70 / 100
90 / 100 ⭐
75 / 100
90 / 100 ⭐
30 / 100
90 / 100 ⭐
90 / 100 ⭐
45 / 100
90 / 100 ⭐
670 / 900
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Penny’s Recommendation: “When you go to Malolo you should take a boat to a good snorkeling place - you can see millions and millions of fish. We also saw reef sharks, eels, giant blue starfish, sting rays and sea snakes. If you can visit during Diwali, it’s amazing because they give free treats and they do amazing entertainment like dancing and they even bring the kids out to help them.”
Clover’s Recommendation: “When you go to Malolo you should go on a boat so once you get the boat they sing you a song and they give you waters and necklaces and they give you the best water on earth because it has green things in it. They have the best kids’ club where you can braid your hair and don’t miss Honeymoon Island (you don’t have to be married to go there).”
🏖️ Denarau
🇫🇯 Fiji
Oct 15th - 23rd, 2022
🥈 18th Place*
65 / 100
45 / 100
70 / 100
75 / 100
40 / 100
90 / 100 ⭐
65 / 100
70 / 100
85 / 100 ⭐
605 / 900
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Penny’s Recommendation: “When you go to Denarau you should get a coconut from the supermarket outside of town. Also try out the diner and enjoy the breakfast buffet - and don’t miss the beet juice (911 what’s your emergency?). You should go see all the crabs on the rocks and go swimming there. Look for a big log popping out of the water to put your butt on.”
Clover’s Recommendation: “When you go to Denarau you should go to the baby pool then the older pool and then the beach. Tuesdays they swing fires and they breathe like a dragon! You should go to the pool with all of the people dancing and the bathroom outside! Up, straight, and then this way - I think. And get the best dinner ever, when you have chicken they don’t take the bones out!”
🎰 Las Vegas
🇺🇸 United States
Oct 8th - 13th, 2022
🥉 30th Place
60 / 100
10 / 100
95 / 100 🌈
20 / 100
40 / 100
75 / 100
05 / 100
90 / 100 ⭐
75 / 100
470 / 900
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Penny’s Recommendation: “When you go to Vegas you should go to the NYC Casino and get a lot of their candy. At night go to the city to see the volcano erupt and water fountains! You also should definitely go to the pools. Don’t miss Cirque de Soleil or the Nathan Burton comedy show. Also be sure to get to Meow Wolf and get a good room with video games and a good view - it’s key!”
Clover’s Recommendation: “When you go to Vegas you should pay a lot of money to get a good room with a bunk bed. Get the best bed, which is the *fattest* bed (so you can fit more people) and the first thing you should do when you get there is go to the lazy river! I especially love the nighttime because all of the lights come to you.”