New Zealand, a dream destination with plenty of dream towns and cities to try and fit into your schedule. In all likelihood, you’ll be road tripping in between these destinations which means random roadside pit stops in small towns.
Rather than dine and dash, consider making an extended stop over for a night in one of these towns you have never heard of.
You’ll get to see a different side of travelling in New Zealand, a lifestyle that city slickers crave during the week. So much so, many try and recreate over long weekends and any time off they get.
Staying In A Bach
A bach is a small New Zealand holiday home, usually within a kilometre or two of the beach. Owning a bach became popular during the middle of the 20th century and to this day are sought after. Especially now that adults who spent their holidays in bach’s around New Zealand as kids are now at retiring age and the idea of a beach lifestyle in a small town is appealing.
Head To The Pub And Be The Center Of Attention
Small town pubs get the same crowd in every week. Everyone knows everyone on a first name basis and while the chat is funny, seeing a new face in the building will definitely capture the local’s attention.
Head on in with a smile, order yourself a pint and get chatting with the bartender. They’ll know everyone in the pub, so that’s your ‘in’. Once you get chatting, anything could happen over the following hours as you meet the ultimate kid’s lads and ladies.
Experience The Local Dairy
When you stay in a small town, you might not be close to a supermarket but there’s a good chance you’ll be close to a dairy (a.k.a a convenience store). The people who run the local dairy are local legends, start chatting with them and they’ll be able to tell you all sorts of stories about people and the town.
For an extra classic kiwi experience, head to the dairy in your bare feet. Just don’t blame us if you end up with a cold as a result! Oh, an order a single scoop of hokey pokey ice cream!
Get Some Old School Fish And Chips
It is true you can get fish and chips in pretty much every village, town and city in New Zealand but it’s not how it used to be. There are still a couple of shops out there that serve fish and chips wrapped in newspaper. It’s quite the fun gimmick and if you aren’t eating your chips on the beach with the seagulls stalking you, you’re missing out! It gives you a chance to catch up on last weeks news too.
Give The Budget A Break
The touristy places like Queenstown and Rotorua are popular for a reason. They also mean you’ll likely be staying in accommodation that’s on the higher end of your budget in addition to the once in a lifetime experiences such as bungy jumping that cost a pretty penny. Small town New Zealand is going to be a place where you can keep a low profile for a day or two and nurse your budget for a little bit.
Are you convinced you should make a stop off somewhere in small-town New Zealand? I’ll be biased and say you should visit my hometown Waikanae (Winner of Best Large Town in New Zealand 2015!) but at worse, check out Book A Bach and let your imagination run wild. We are all pretty friendly in New Zealand so you can’t go too far wrong.
