New Zealand Retreat Wrap Up!

Traveling through New Zealand is truly an adventurer’s dream. From white water rafting to jet boating, hiking through heated rivers, and for those feeling exceptionally adventurous, even jumping out of a plane from as high as 18,000 ft.

Our retreat focused on the North Island of New Zealand for its variety of adventure and diversity of landscapes. In the north, you truly get to experience a range of people, places, and things while filling your adventurous cup with activities galore.

From our first day of wine tasting on Waiheke Island to our last in Mt Taranaki, our trip was carefully curated to give our bees the highlights of the North Island and a feeling that no stone or adventure, in this case, was left unturned! One of our more rigorous retreats, New Zealand is a good fit for anyone wanting to push the limits of what’s possible while still getting to choose your level of adventure each day.

Although this is an action-packed adventure, we still managed to find downtime for folks to have their own free time and choose their own experiences. During some free time halfway through the trip, a handful of the bees decided to go sky diving, while other bees relaxed and luxuriated with spa days and massages. Some used the day for rest and recovery and enjoyed our beautiful property and the surrounding area to just “bee” in New Zealand. As much as we like to pack the schedule with lots of fun activities, we also love to give our bees optional downtime on their vacations, so everyone feels they get to have their individual experience still.

A highlight for one of our attendees, Talia, was celebrating her birthday by skydiving for the first time during some of our scheduled free time. Talia turned 26 and was somewhere in the middle of our ages ranging from 21 to folks in their fifties. This is one of the amazing things we love and pride ourselves on, people of all ages and all walks of life are included and welcomed in our Bee The Wellness family.

Our most significant athletic feat was our 19 km trek on the world-famous Tongariro Crossing, which is an otherworldly landscape crossing through three active volcanoes. The film site for Lord of the Rings Mordor scenes, it’s stark landscape, creates a dramatic backdrop as you make your way to the summit. As you crest the top of the crossing, you are met with the most amazing views of the glacial lakes known as the “Emerald Lakes.”

It’s breathtaking views made for a perfect place for our group to grab lunch, a quick silent meditation, and of course, a group picture before we descended. The backside of the crossing is just as stunning as the ascent, and the landscape goes from volcanic terrain into lush grassland with views of New Zealand’s largest lake Taupo off in the distance. The views are spectacular, the terrain is striking, and the trail is meticulously maintained. We could see why it is considered one of the best day hikes in the world.

One of the things we were most impressed with was the delicious food. New Zealand is naturally very farm-to-table as most of their food is pasture-raised on the island. With plenty of paleo options, the food was fresh, delicious, and kept us feeling amazing during our stay.

With so many awesome activities included in this trip, it is difficult to summarize the event in one blog post, but hopefully, the pictures of our adventures clue you into just how special this experience was for all our attendees. We loved getting to run this event and can’t wait to go back to New Zealand again.

We hope to have you join us at an event sometime soon. For our latest retreats and adventures, visit here!

Check out the highlight video below!


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Vanessa Lambert