11 New Zealand Disappointments

We’ve read a lot more travel articles than we’ve written and the preponderance of them rave about their subject matter. Everything is amazing and jaw-dropping in the world of travel blogging, so why would anyone write about New Zealand disappointments?

Honestly? For honesty. New Zealand is one of the most beautiful nations on earth. Even the stuff that registers as less-than-spectacular is still pretty good. So take this whole affair with a grain of salt.

This is simply our attempt to press back on the tide of gushing reviews. Not everything will drop your jaw, even in New Zealand. Some things are just ok, and some things are entirely skippable.

For five weeks we panted across the New Zealand landscape in search of the next most-amazing thing. Well worth the effort. We’re now back in the comforts of home and able to review the experience from a sober point of view.

These are the 11 things that were the most disappointing to us. Maybe you loved them, and maybe we loved them just not enough. Regardless, naked and unafraid, here they are for you to judge and calculate our moral worth. We hope you enjoy!

1. Tongariro Alpine Crossing

Everyone loves this excursion so why wouldn’t we? Well, here’s the thing… When someone dies — yes, dies — on the 12 mile jaunt across Mordor, the entire place shuts down for three days to mourn the loss. What a lovely concept! How valuable is human life?! We deserve to be revered enough that the very place we gave up the ghost isn’t trod under a thousand boots within hours of our passing.

The other side of the coin is, when the days you’ve reserved to make the journey fall within the three day mourning period, you’re S.O.L. So we missed the opportunity to numb our toes kicking Sauron’s rocks across the countryside. What a New Zealand disappointment! (with regards to the deceased).

2. Christchurch

Christchurch is a fine city that we would consider for residence if we moved to New Zealand. We enjoyed our time spent at the Riverside Market, as well as walking around the Botanical Garden and learning all about the 2011 earthquake at the museum.

That said, we drove 3 hours out of the way to spend three days in town and nothing wowed us. The weather was blah, which didn’t help. In our humble opinion, Christchurch is not necessarily the best use of your precious time in New Zealand. Do more things on the west side of the South Island instead.

We hate to say it, but Christchurch was one of the biggest disappointments on our New Zealand adventure.

3. Wharariki Beach

Look at that photo. What an amazing place, right?! Well, yes and no. It’s worth mentioning that Wharariki Beach photographs well.

There are definitely some positives here: For one, the incredible Cape Farewell Track begins in the lower right corner of the above photograph. And the walk from the parking lot to the beach is a picturesque jaunt through the hills. Plus, at the right time of year you can see the seal pups, which is super cool.

The negatives, however, pile up quickly. The drive here is an awful, winding mountain road. And the weather is most likely going to be gray and windy. Sadly, the local campground is far below average when compared to other holiday parks. And the beach itself, once you’re standing on the shoreline, isn’t all that great.

You’ll look at the off-shore sea stacks, fail to recreate the Microsoft screen-saver photograph in the cave, and … then what? Hopefully you’ll walk the Cape Farewell Track. That will turn this experience into something worth the time you spent to get here. Otherwise, Wharariki Beach is a skippable excursion.

Related Article: If you need to cleanse your pallet after all this disappointment, you can read about the 15 Best Surprises in New Zealand when you’re done!

4. #ThatWanakaTree

So nobody told us that if you come at the end of New Zealand’s summer the lake level in Wanaka is low enough that the tree looks like this ^. It’s a decent photograph, but oh, the visions I had dancing in my head of what could have been. Definitely one of New Zealand’s biggest disappointments (nobody’s fault but mine).

5. Arrowtown

When you go to Maui in the Hawaiian Islands they tell you to drive the Road to Hana… and you get to Hana and say to yourself, why is this the destination again? So you’ll hear in Queenstown to take a trip out to Arrowtown.

Arrowtown is pleasant stop with an plethora of shops to spend your cash. There are parks to walk the dog or sit on a bench. It’s all just fine.

Unfortunately, Arrowtown is less interesting than Queenstown, so we aren’t sure why you’d spend your precious time here instead of there. Unless you want to spend some money on jewelry and flavored popcorn, or walk your dog on different grass, we’d recommend you find something else to do. Give this excursion a skip in New Zealand.

6. Lake Marian Track

This hike on the Road to Milford Sound has great online reviews. Well here’s our review: It suuuucks. Easily one of the biggest disappointments in New Zealand.

The hike is harder and wetter than described. It was also a couple miles longer than described. And the area is notorious for fog, so don’t plan on seeing much of anything along the way. Or at the end, where we were entreated to a lake we couldn’t see even if we were standing ten feet from it.

For one brief moment the wind blew the fog away and we saw the lake quite clearly — it was as if God Himself had mercy on us — but it was fleeting and didn’t erase the muddy, uphill slog we suffered to get there.

Honestly, this hike almost ruined the entire day. There have to be better hikes nearby. We do not recommend the Lake Marin Track.

That said, the first 20 minutes of the hike were awesome. You could spend 40 minutes here and be thrilled, or 4 hours and be disappointed. Your choice!

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7. The Cardrona Hotel

The Cardrona Hotel is found between Wanaka and Queenstown on the Cardrona Valley Road. The hotel/restaurant is over 150 years old and interesting to examine.

But our review is this: While there is nothing wrong with the Cardrona Hotel, it’s not that great. The food was prepared well enough, but flavors were unimpressive, even the “famous” nachos. Also, the dining rooms have odd arrangements and traffic flow, so we felt awkward at our table in the corner of the room. The design of the building doesn’t really fit it’s current use as a restaurant.

We would never rage against an establishment like this. They serve reasonably priced food in a historic setting which is a good thing. I think the problem is the online hype raised our expectations. If the Cardrona Hotel is on your way and you’re hungry with an hour to spare, have yourselves a meal. Just don’t go out of your way otherwise.

8. Fergburger

Oh, we’re gonna rattle some chains with this one ;). Everyone eats at Fergburger in Queenstown. Their menu has a seductive assortment of burgers, like an genius athlete went to art school and became something truly unique.

Well, as good as they sound, the burgers really aren’t that special. They’re huge! And you’ll have a lot of choices. We ate a total of 8 different burgers and not one of them stood out as a burger to remember. We’ve had better burgers from far less heralded establishments, and that didn’t jive when juxtaposed with the amount of hype Fergburger receives on the internet. Sorry, y’all!

Related Article: The 35 Best Things to Do in New Zealand

9. The Roads

Sometimes the disappointment belongs firmly in the lap of the disappointed. And that could be said for the majority of the things listed in this article.

The Hoffmann family was unprepared for the extreme winding nature of the New Zealand roads and what it would be like to travel them in a 25′ motorhome.

Night driving is not an option, really, because most of the highways are without street lights. If you dare drive after sunset on these curvy roads you’ll quickly rethink your decision.

Overall it was spectacular to look out the windshield while driving. But the levels of stress it took to stay on the road, and the amount of time it took between point A and point B were disappointing.

10. Star RV

I don’t want to get off on a rant here…. but I reserved the motorhome 15 months before the trip and they gave me an absolute bucket for my 35 day roadtrip across the country. It was beat up and bashed in and the refrigerator didn’t work. We had to swap it out five days into the trip after losing a lot of food and they gave us a better, newer model.

That’s the long and short of it. We paid a lot of money and they tried to give us a worn-out hunk of junk to ruin our good time. Thankfully — thankfully! — the fridge didn’t work so they had to give us a nice motorhome. Why did they ever think anything less was acceptable?

You have other RV rental options, like Maui Jim. That makes Star RV one of the things to NOT do in New Zealand.

If you’re going to be renting a motorhome, be sure to check out our article, 20 Tips for Driving a Motorhome in New Zealand. This is a no-nonsense rundown of things you’ll be glad you knew ahead of time.

11. Western Europeans

We met some fun-loving and kind people from Western Europe, so this isn’t a blanket statement about 200 million people. Still, we would be remiss if we failed to mention that of all the nationalities we met in New Zealand, (Europeans, Indians, Japanese, Chinese, Aussies, Kiwis, and Americans), the Western Europeans appeared miserable by comparison.

Something is clearly awry with Western Europeans’ mental health. One could only speculate as to what is the problem, but it was apparent and relatively consistent during our vacation.

An Honest Conclusion

Let’s not dwell on what was less than perfect. New Zealand is an incredible country. Any list of the best places to visit on earth includes this gorgeous nation, so why ruin it with complaints about what didn’t satisfy our little hearts?

Right? Wrong. Let’s just be honest here. Not everything is as great as they say it is. And by “they” I mean the internet people that gush about things like the Seattle Gum Wall. Hyperbole is nobody’s friend.

Hype + whelming thing = disappointment.

Is being disappointed the worst thing in the world? Obviously not. However, when you’ve come all the way to New Zealand and time is precious, we don’t want you to waste it on underwhelming, overhyped stuff. Take it from us, or do what you want. We love you either way.

Thank you for stopping by our website! We are the Hoffmann family, a full-time RV family that has split residence in Seattle, Washington and San Antonio, Texas. We have special needs children that we homeschool, and work travel assignments for the Veteran Affairs Hospital. If you would like to learn more about us, check out our Start Here and Biography pages. In the meantime, God bless and travel happy!

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