With travel overseas off the table for now, we’ve rounded up some recommendations from staff across Unitec on the great New Zealand holiday spots. If you haven’t planned your Christmas break yet, or are looking for options for 2021, take a look at the below stories from four of our staff… there are recommendations for luxury, beachy, scenic and eco holidays, so pick your favourite and get booking!
| The luxury holiday
Dasha Kashirskaya – Enrolment Processing team  Jack’s Point cafe “My favourite holiday spot in New Zealand is Queenstown (this place has my heart). I used to live there for a bit and for me it is the most peaceful place. Queenstown is beautiful all year around, but, of course, winter is the best (I am Russian, so no surprise there). I love it for the beautiful views anywhere you go, for being cosy and relatively small and for the breath-taking road trips. While living there, I travelled around with my husband or friends and on my own, finding nice spots in the city without any plan in mind and exploring nearby towns. My absolute day-off favourite used to be Dorothy Browns Arrowtown Cinema. It’s a very peculiar, cosy and home-like place where you can bring in a cup of hot chocolate or a glass of wine from the cinema’s bar to the showing (or at least you could back in 2015). I also loved walking through the gorgeous Jack’s Point area on a freezing winter day…sipping on the hot coffee afterwards while sitting in Jack’s Point Golf Course and Clubhouse cafe and enjoying the stunning mountain views through the panoramic windows. It was usually empty and quiet there. Places to see and things-to-do for me would be taking a trip on TSS Earnslaw steamship (made in 1912) – again, the views are fantastic, and glass of wine together with live music make it almost an unbelievably beautiful experience; a scenic drive to Glenorchy; sitting on the shore of lake Wanaka enjoying the sun; walking through the historic Arrowtown streets, especially beautiful in autumn when the trees get all colourful. Also, Patagonia Chocolates is famous for their ice-cream and hot chocolate, Flame restaurant for ribs and steak (but very few vegetarian options) and Fergburger – for its delicious burgers (though queues may be crazy long sometimes).”
North Island scenic holidays Mohan Kumar – Sports Centre  Wai O Tapu Thermal Wonderland “As I am new to New Zealand, I don’t have a huge knowledge about places to visit here. A few of favourite my holiday destinations around the North Island so far are: Mount Tongariro and the Tongariro National Park, Huka Falls, Waitomo Glowworm Caves, Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland and the Coromandel Peninsula. Around Auckland I like to visit Piha Beach and Cheltenham Beach. My wife and I like these destinations because I like to see and experience different views, landscapes and food. We have few more places on our list, including Tane Mahuta Kauri tree in the Waipoua Forest, Hobbiton, and many more.”
The summer beach getaway Sana Saleem – Library team  Sana enjoying the view during the Hahei Explorer Cathedral Cove trip “Whitianga on the Coromandel Peninsula is a memorable holiday spot for me and my whānau. In January this year we had a whānau reunion on my mum’s side of the family. My mum hails from Suva, Fiji and some of our guests travelled from there to be part of the celebration. Our whānau were keen to do things local, enjoy the beautiful nature and try the local food (Fijians love food). Summer is the perfect time to visit; we enjoyed the water activities such as kayaking, snorkelling, fishing and swimming. We booked two ocean view B&B holiday homes on the beachfront which were convenient to the local cafes and shopping area. We were happy that we chose this destination – Coromandel Peninsula offers sustainable tourism and supports the local economy. Whitianga is the main hub of the Coromandel’s Mercury Bay, home to popular attractions like Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach.
An active, environmentally friendly trip Rob Gambolati – Community Studies “One of the best trips I’ve done in New Zealand is the Timber Trail two-day cycle in the King Country. I did it with my partner two years ago on 28 and 29 December. We passed other bikers and even a few walkers doing the Te Ara Roa (walk New Zealand track) but it certainly was not busy. We stayed in the Timber Trail Lodge which is just off the track at pretty much the half-way mark. The lodge is 99% off the grid with solar power and UV-treated water. They provided communal dinner and breakfast and a packed lunch for day two. The timber trail is just over 80 kilometres long, which is most often ridden over two days. The very keen can complete it in one day but I would highly recommend an early start! There is also another lodge used but it is approximately five kilometres off the main track. We came across a couple on day two that had stayed at the other lodge and said their morning was not very fun getting back to the main track from the lodge. If you enjoy cycling, then I highly recommend checking out this track. Getting there and back: We stayed at an Airbnb in Ongarue so we could ride our bikes to the shuttle pick up point. Then we rode straight back to the Airbnb after completing the trail, and we were out of there the next day.”
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Don’t know how to manage your leave balance? Here’s how to forecast for the coming year…Don’t forget to book your Christmas leave, if you haven’t already. To forecast a leave balance go to Peoplesoft HR then select Self Service -> Leave Balances and then select Forecast Balance. Choose a date at the end of the leave period. In the instance of this summer’s Christmas closedown, if you want to check that you have enough annual leave, select Monday 11 January 2021.
In the below Table, as at 11 January 2021, this person will have 89.58 Annual Leave Total – the sum of Entitlement (0.41 hours), and Prorated Leave (89.17 hours) balances at that date. The system will give you the net figures meaning if there is leave entered already between now and that date, this will be deducted to give you net position.
 Dorothy Brown’s Arrowtown Cinema
 Sunset at Hot Water Beach
 Hobbiton
 Cathedral Cove, Coromandel |
