OTP’s Guide to Partying Your Ass Off in New Zealand
After a day of whitewater rafting, volcano climbing and mountain repelling you might be tempted to call it a night and head back to your hostel when the sun goes down, which we find incredibly lame. New Zealand might not be your typical Girls Gone Wild kind of spot, but we think the world has more to offer than college girl tits—Kiwi tits, for starters. New Zealand definitely has its own brand of rowdiness, so break out a six pack of Tui’s and enjoy the country that sells wine cheaper than water.
Rugby Pre-game
Photo By: Craig Baxter
You haven’t experienced New Zealand until you’ve lived through your first rugby game. This hybrid version of the sport, played using an integration of traditional colonial rules and indigenous Maori customs is interesting, but it’s the fans that make this game one hell of a spectacle. Drunken chants, painted faces, unexpected nudity, and even all-out brawls, are a part of any average match and pre-gaming is essential. With over ten different leagues, you’re undoubtedly going to find some sort of rugby game (official or ragtag), whether you’re looking for it or not. Just remember that this unofficial national sport is a matter of life and death to many Kiwis, so don’t say anything that might mean the latter.
Kiwis Can Dance
Photo By: Ari Bakker
There are an endless number of music festivals perpetually happening just about any time of the year, such as Big Day Out and Rhythm and Vines. An underground music scene is rapidly flourishing in New Zealand, dominated by electronica, drum and bass, and some of the globe’s best trance DJs. While cities like Auckland and Wellington were the pioneers of this new club scene, over the years, the scene has become easy to track down anywhere in the country if you know where to look. There’s almost always a crazy (and free!) dance party going on somewhere.
Everything Else
"Wunderbar" Photo By: Geof Wilson
The bigger cities (like Auckland) are packed with options that range from crowded nightclubs to dive bars and pubs. The Wunderbar in Christchurch, is nationally renowned for its unsettling décor of doll heads and funky antiques. Deals can be found at bars that cater to thrifty travelers, like Roturua’s Lava bar, which offers a $10 pint–and––meal backpacker’s special. Unfortunately, while supermarkets sell beer for dirt cheap, it’s still difficult to find a bar on the entire island that charges less than six dollars a beer. This doesn’t mean the party stops. The motto of young, broke locals is “there’s always room for wine in the bag” and damn straight, there is.
Photo By: Trey Ratcliff "Stuck in Customs"
No matter where you find yourself in the country, there’s bound to be a natural wonder or national park ready to be turned into a fantastic pre-during-after-party. Gather up a group from your hostel or meet up with some adventurous locals and take the party to a volcano, mountain, the treetops, wherever! We’re talking Lord of the Rings shit here—just don’t forget to put that wine in your daypack and you’ve got an insta-party even Gandalf would get behind.
Sustenance
Kiwis love their meat pies and everyone has a favorite local pie dealer. Your life is incomplete without one. A cross between a pot pie and an empanada, meat pies are New Zealand’s premier fast food. A little inside scoop: the best of the best, meatiest of the meatiest pies resides at the Red Beach Bakery in Red Beach. Since this pie travels well, take it down to the cove, shove it in your face and swim off whatever residual guilt may linger.
Partying in New Zealand is a bit DIY but who needs a tired old bar or club when you have Mother Nature to cater to your party needs. You can sleep when you’re dead. Or not in New Zealand.
In search of the miraculous
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