All the Top Tourist Spots Matty Matheson Missed in New Zealand

Last summer, bad-boy chef and Munchies host Matty Matheson hit New Zealand to film his VICELAND show DEAD SET ON LIFE. Matty went to the Hawke's Bay and Rotorua to eat some hangi, played in geothermal mud and did his groceries at Countdown—I spent my summer stalking his Instagram stories.

It was a super quick, tap 'n' gap trip for the Canadian cook and he didn't really get to hit the sweet tourist spots New Zealand is most known for. Here are the best bits of Aotearoa that I reckon Matty missed out on.

(And you can see him doing all the stuff he did actually do this Saturday when the New Zealand episode airs on VICELAND, SKY Channel 13, 8.30 PM.)

New Zealand is a destination for thrilling adventure and our one and only theme park, Rainbow's End, is not to be missed. With 14 rides for adults at $59 per person, you're sure to have an exciting day being buckled in by dank smelling carny operators and dead-eyed 19-year-old Polytech students.
But hopefully that doesn't put Matty off, no one has actually died on our rollercoaster—yet.

If Matty has a cool spare $40 he can see the entirety of Kelly Tarlton's in 20 minutes.
The penguin ride with the carbon-fibre killer whale may be demolished but his excitement of standing on a moving walkway at 3 km/h won't be.
And if it's good enough for Ja Rule, it's good enough for Matty.

Only two hours and 14 minutes away from Auckland Airport, Matty could've seen the world's biggest corrugated-iron sheep. Tirau boasts over three extra large corrugated-iron structures, great cafes and a medieval castle housing a doll museum. Definitely a must-see on a summer road trip to Tokoroa, a Waikato town described as "the city that almost was".

In 2008, the Lonely Planet guide described the Sky Tower as "a giant hypodermic needle giving a fix to the heavens", a very fitting description for 2017 as Matty now lives a new drug-free cleaner lifestyle, he can get his adrenaline fix by leaping off the tower for just $290. If that's not enough of a fix, he can also gamble away his life savings at the casino, nestled at the foot of Auckland's most prominent landmark.

As a chef, you can't end a summer trip around New Zealand without going to at least one Mad Butcher store. And if Matty's lucky, he might run into New Zealand's problematic fave Peter "The Mad Butcher" Leitch buying the $20 bbq pack, 10 pre-cooked sausages with extra bone, four wet sinewy steaks and six grey hamburger patties with the grill lines—a delicious feast for any foodie tourist.

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Watch DEAD SET ON LIFE on VICELAND, SKY Channel 13, Saturdays at 8.30 PM.