Holiday to New Zealand + Haul

Last week, after 18 months I took a trip back to New Zealand to visit family and friends and show my partner around the country I grew up in.  We only had 7 days and a lot of people to see and things to do.  This will be a pic heavy post as I show you the highlights of the trip with a little haul at the end :)  Even though we were only there for a short amount of time I did manage to fit in some shopping of course.

We stayed most of the time with my best friend Ruthie who I've been besties with for over 15 years.  We have one of those friendships where no matter how long we've been apart for we pick up from the moment we left off so it was really special to be able to stay with her and her Husband.  The first night we arrived we all stayed up talking till the wee hours of the morning.

View of Auckland from Mt Eden - Skytower and Rangitoto Island (Volcano) in the distance

On the Monday we went North to visit my 2 friends who have both had babies in the last year.  This little guy below is only 3 weeks old and absolutely stole my heart.  I held him like this for over an hour and he slept so soundly.

One of the best tourist spots to visit in the North Island of NZ is Rotorua.  The lake is actually the crater of a volcano and the whole area is known for it's geothermal activity and features geysers and hot mud pools.  While we were here we went Jet Boating, Luging, Visited a Thermal Park and soaked in the mud pools.

Lake Rotorua featuring some Geothermal activity

Luging with the Lake in the background

On our last night we all got dressed up and went out for dinner and drinks in Auckland City.  We had an amazing dinner at Miss Claudy's at the Viaduct and it was the perfect way to end our amazing trip.
 

Me and my Bestie

Of course no holiday post would be complete without a little update on what I bought.  New Zealand isn't the best place to go shopping as Australia is generally cheaper and has more range but I did pick up a few things Duty Free and also found a Daiso store on my travels (everything is $3.50NZD instead of $2.80AUD lol)

At the Daiso store I finally found the brush cleanser I missed out on getting when I was in Brisbane.  I stocked up with 3 bottles and am hoping it's as good as everyone says it is.  I also picked up a brow pencil to try as I had great success with my last Daiso eyebrow pencil.

From Duty Free I picked up the MAC Mineralize Moisture Foundation in NC15 and the Mineralize Blush in Dainty.  This is my first MAC foundation so I'm really intrigued to see how it performs.

 

I found some Wet n Wild eyeshadows in a random store in Auckland and have heard good things about the formula so I picked them up.  They were really cheap - maybe like $3 each.

 

And my favourite Vanilla candle E V E R I found in duty free for around $35AUD instead of $50 so I couldn't resist even though it was a pain the ass to lug on two flights.  Well worth it in my opinion.

I also picked up some new clothes over there including a stunning dress from Cue but I'm no fashion blogger so there won't be any photos - you'll just have to take my word for it.

Hope you enjoyed hearing about my trip to NZ.  I may be a little biased but New Zealand really is a magical place to have a holiday.  It really struck me this time just how green and lush it really is and there is so much to do there.  If you need more motivation; your money magically turns into even more when you're over there so everything feels/is way cheaper haha :D

What's your favourite holiday destination?

Kayte xx