Best fish and chips in Taupo

posted in: Food and drink | 0

Taupo’s lakeside setting is often enough to stimulate a big appetite and the town has plenty of restaurants, cafes and fast food outlets to hasten a search for decent fish and chips.

To help identify the best fish and chips in New Zealand, we’ve drawn on many sources including which fryers have taken awards at the national Best Chip Shop competitions. These awards have run since 2006 and are a useful guide to identifying the best in the country and in each region.

Our guide to the best fish and chips in Taupo includes the following recommendations:

Top choices

Kinloch Store 

2 Mata Place, Kinloch, Taupo

The store is located on the lake front at Kinloch, a 20-minute drive around the lake from Taupo township. It includes a cafe offering burgers, wood-fired pizza as well as fish and chips. Highly commended in the Bay of Plenty section of the Best Chip Shop awards in 2013, the store took the Best Hospitality Business title at the 2013 Taupo Business Awards.

Ploughmans Restaurant

Off State Highway 1, 45 Charles Crescent, Taupo

Offers battered or crumbed fish with crisp chips. A recipient of TripAdvisor’s Certificate of Excellence.

The Fish Box Restaurant

Shop 2, 3 Rainbow Drive, Taupo

An easy walk to the lake, you can easily take your fish and chips in the cardboard cartons to the nearby picnic tables.

Our guide to the best fish and chip shops in New Zealand

Northland & Far North Ι Auckland’s North Shore Ι Auckland Ι Waikato Ι Coromandel Ι Tauranga Ι Rotorua Ι Taupo Ι Hawkes Bay Ι Manawatu Ι Taranaki Ι Wellington Ι Nelson Ι Blenheim Ι Christchurch Ι South Canterbury Ι Otago Ι Southland

Best fish and chips in Tauranga

posted in: Food and drink | 0

With a glorious coastline and a host of waterfront eateries and bars, locals and visitors are not short of options in Tauranga and its nearby population centres. The country’s fourth-largest city has plenty of takeaway shops so finding decent fish and chips comes easy.

To help identify the best fish and chips in New Zealand, we’ve drawn on many sources including which fryers have taken awards at the national Best Chip Shop competitions. These awards have run since 2006 and are a useful guide to identifying the best in the country and in each region.

Our guide to the best fish and chips in Tauranga includes the following recommendations:

Top choices

The following were highly commended in the Waikato/Bay of Plenty regional Best Chip Shop awards in 2013.

Welcome Bay Takeaway 

248 Welcome Bay Rd, Welcome Bay, Tauranga

Full-range takeaway service.

Pleasant Valley Takeaways

1 Merivale Rd, Parkvale, Tauranga

Doubles as a dairy but is an award-winning chip shop too.

Papamoa Fast Food Domain Takeaway 

554 Papamoa Beach Rd, Papamoa Beach, Papamoa

Standard fast food service but does it well and you can take your food to eat on Papamoa Beach across the road.

Oceanview Takeaways

550 Papamoa Beach Rd, Papamoa Beach, Papamoa

Another chip shop with easy access to the beach (as its name suggests).

Our guide to the best fish and chip shops in New Zealand

Northland & Far North Ι Auckland’s North Shore Ι Auckland Ι Waikato Ι Coromandel Ι Tauranga Ι Rotorua Ι Taupo Ι Hawkes Bay Ι Manawatu Ι Taranaki Ι Wellington Ι Nelson Ι Blenheim Ι Christchurch Ι South Canterbury Ι Otago Ι Southland

Top 10 places to fall in love in New Zealand

posted in: Places, Random | 0

New Zealand is filled with places that act as the perfect backdrop for romance.

Tourism site newzealand.com has compiled a list of its top 10 spots to fall in love.

Where to fall in love

1. Beneath the stars, contemplating the Southern Cross or the Milky Way at Lake Tekapo, South Island.

2. In a private pool in the Glacier Hotel Pools near Franz Josef, South Island.

3. Listening to bird song at Zealandia, Wellington, a haven for rare wildlife.

4. While enjoying the stars and the sounds of forest at Raglan, Waikato, North Island.

5. On a romantic cruise to Mokoia Island on Lake Rotorua, North Island.

6. A stroll at sunset on the wild black beaches of Auckland’s West Coast.

7. In the shadow of Tane Mahuta, the giant kauri tree in Northland.

8. Kayaking through the mist at Milford Sound, South Island.

9. Enjoying Bluff oysters on Stewart Island, off the southern tip of New Zealand’s South Island.

10. Experiencing the ambience created by millions of glittering glow worms in the Waitomo Caves, North Island.

Source: newzealand.com

10 top places to raise a family in New Zealand

posted in: Places, Random | 0

New Zealand is often rated one of the best places in the world to raise a family but where in the country is the ideal place to settle?

Westpac Bank’s REDnews looked at education, crime rates, unemployment rates, and lifestyle factors, to come up with a list of 10 outstanding locations in New Zealand for family living.

Best places to raise a family

(Not in order)

New Plymouth

Low crime rate, low unemployment and affordable homes and close to mountains and beaches.

Wellington

Combines big city living with tight-knit community living with excellent schools and access to culture.

North Shore, Auckland

Lots for families to do with lovely beaches and just over the Harbour Bridge from Auckland, twice rated the world’s best city for livability.

Nelson

Strong educational performances by local schools with the sunniest climate in the country.

Queenstown Lakes

Otago enjoys low crime, low unemployment and high educational achievement, and Queenstown is outstandingly beautiful. Access to some of the world’s best ski fields.

Selwyn, Canterbury

Excellent for education and relatively affordable housing, and close enough to Christchurch to enjoy big city benefits. Close to the snow slopes and lots of outdoor family activities.

Hamilton, Waikato

A fast-growing city with three major tertiary institutes and affordable housing when compared with Auckland up the highway. Thriving area for sport and outdoor activities.

Dunedin, Otago

Relaxed lifestyle with low crime rates and a strong sense of community, and a successful university. Affordable housing.

Porirua, Wellington

This city is overcoming past perception issues by making children a priority for future planning with substantial resources being put into family wellbeing and facilities such as swimming pools, free activities and libraries. Significantly cheaper housing than nearby Wellington City.

Invercargill, Southland

Boasts New Zealand’s most affordable housing for a large city and has extremely low unemployment and crime rates. Educational achievement is high and easy access to outdoor activities.

Sources: HSBC’s 2014 Expat Explorer Survey and Westpac’s REDnews 2015

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