My favorite trip I've ever taken was to New Zealand. The country is beautiful and the people are so cool. New Zealand is a very nature-centric place, which is incredible and makes for amazing trips for people like me who love the natural beauty of landscapes.
One of the main, larger hostels in Auckland, New Zealand is Base Auckland. It's a very large hostel that is fairly nice and very close to a lot of the bars and the city center.A little further away from the city center, but closer to K Road is Haka Lodge Auckland. This is where I stayed. It's smaller than Base, but so so nice. The beds have privacy curtains, lights, under bed storage, and outlets. It's the most privacy I've ever had while staying in hostel dorms. At the same time, because it was smaller, I got really close with a lot of the other travelers there. We all hung out together before going out.
K Road is home to many, many gay bars. It's a very fun atmosphere with a lot of cute and a lot of cheap restaurants near by (it's also close to bagels - rare find). It's not a bad walk or bus ride to where more of the bars, restaurants, and activities are.
There's many opportunities to take buses to glow worm caves and many other hiking spots further north. The hostels often advertise these trips and they're fairly cheap.
When I was in Melbourne I used Happy Travels to book a Waiheke Island wine tour through Fullers Group. I can't even begin to explain the beauty of the island and the vineyards we visited. We took the ferry from downtown Auckland and visited four vineyards where we tasted amazing wine and cheese.
Visiting/eating at the Britomart area is gorgeous. It's located very close to the water and is a nice place to relax. I especially liked the Store and the pizza place around there.
A splurge I made was eating at Orbit 360, a restaurant that rotates while you eat so you get a panoramic view of Auckland. When you make a reservation at Orbit 360, you get admission into the Auckland Sky Tower included. If this is too pricey for you head on up one floor above Orbit 360 to Sky Cafe for a coffee or a drink.
I spent one day just walking around by my hostel and ended up at Mount Eden, which was a beautiful walk.
You can also take a ferry to Rangitoto Island and do a volcano hike, which is a lot of fun.
Obviously a big thing to do is a day trip to Hobbiton. I personally did not do this, but it's a huge attraction.
Hope you enjoy this beautiful land as much as I did!
~The Flighty Blonde