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Our Americanism is perhaps never more evident than when we are on a road trip and inevitably stop at McDonald’s for food. It’s like a shot of nostalgia for childhood! And while we don’t normally eat fast food, we had to add this particular McDonald’s to our New Zealand road trip because it is literally the coolest McDonald’s in the world.
Check it out in our latest video:
Biking in Taupo
After visiting Taupo during our first visit to New Zealand, I hadn’t added it to our North Island itinerary. I wanted to focus on new places! But our first visit was rainy and we didn’t get to do much in the city other than eat pizza and go to the movies.
As we entered town, we saw billboards for mountain bike rentals and I instantly begged Heath to bike around the landscape. Rolling green hills surround the outstretched lake and looking at the photos on the billboards, the whole family would have a great time.
We found bikes for rent at Torpedo 7 and loaded up the kids for their first ever bikes rides. I hadn’t ridden since pre-kids, over five years ago, though Heath has ridden the Tuscany Trail. We asked the bike rental employees for recommendations. They assured us that the trails were easy, knowing that I was rusty on the bike and that we had young kids…
I’ll let you watch the video above to see how that easy trail worked out!
Coolest McDonald’s?
After *spoiler alert* crashing more than once on a particularly steep, rocky point on the trail, we turned around and made our way off the mountain biking trails and back toward town. Everyone was much more comfortable—especially baby Eli—on the smooth concrete paths!
We biked back down to Lake Taupo to visit what the internet called the “coolest McDonald’s in the world.” We expected to be a little overwhelmed by a McDonald’s, but this was actually really cool. Apparently McDonald’s bought the property a few decades ago with the plane still on the land. The previous owner had planned to turn it into a home office.
Instead, McDonald’s turned it into a dining area, leaving the cockpit intact but blocked off. As travelers, we of course loved getting to eat this unique old plane. (Heath shares some of the plane’s story in the video!)
But if you ask the kids, the real highlight of this McDonald’s was the playplace. I wish more rrestaurants in the States still had these! The kids had a blast and a McFlurry never tasted so good.
Visiting New Zealand
The best way to see New Zealand is by campervan and the best campervan is from Wilderness Motorhomes. We’ve rented from them twice now and have nothing but amazing things to say (and we’ve rented a lot of RVs!).
You can get their help planning your own New Zealand road trip here 🙂 We use their road trip itineraries to help us plan our own adventures.
