Monday, March 13, 2017

How to Plan a Trip to New Zealand

New Zealand is a fascinating land of awesome scenery and has been long on our wish list. The country sits on the Pacific Rim of Fire.

 The region's spectacular geothermal activity, amazing coastline, fantastic mountains of Southern Alps, sea level glaciers, lovely lakes, waterfalls, beaches, gardens, scenic walks make it an awesome vacation destination...
Waitakere Ranges National Park, Auckland
Lion Rock
Piha beach, Auckland
Marakopa waterfalls 35 km from Waitoma glowworm caves

Wai-0-Tapu  (Sacred Waters) Thermal Wonderland, a short drive from Rotorua
That Wanaka Tree, Wanaka Lake
Hamilton Gardens
Whakarewarewa Redwood Forest, Rotorua
Rotorua Govt Garden
Rotorua Government Garden
Christchurch Botanical Garden
Christchurch Botanical Garden
Queenstown garden
Ohinemutu: a living Māori village set on the picturesque shores of Lake Rotorua. 

WHEN TO GO?


The choice of the right season is key to enjoying any vacation and so far we have been extremely lucky with all our vacations. We try to use extra holidays at work along with vacation days and travel in shoulder season to avoid crowds, considering the weather of course!

We wanted to avoid peak tourism season in NZ but at the same time wanted stable weather, and long day light hours to have comfortable drives enjoying the scenery.

We did not want the challenges of winter driving, so Low Season of NZ winter (May–Aug) was ruled out.

We would have opted for November end using Thanksgiving holidays to enjoy Spring (Sep–Nov) the shoulder season, but work constraints vetoed that plan.

So the next option was to visit in another Shoulder Season (Mar–Apr) during Easter holidays but that may mean reduced daylight... also the company gave a deferred holiday in lieu of New Years Day which fell on Sunday this year to be taken by the end of February. Also there was a day off for Presidents day on Feb 20. So we decided to start our vacation in the second half of February

High Season is NZ summer Dec–Feb, we hoped to avoid the crowds by scheduling our holiday from Feb 17-March 8. It worked like a charm!

WHAT TO SEE?


The country has a plethora of must-dos. So it was a huge dilemma designing an itinerary. We basically focused on the more scenic South Island with just 4 days in North Island... Reason being lack of days to play with.

Here's a map with major and outstanding sights and I have marked the ones we covered with red arrows...


We had to necessarily have a return flight from Auckland as multi city option of departing from Christ Church was proving a little dicey. We locked in well priced return tickets and then bought the internal flights as well availing the discounts for booking early.

We considered taking the ferry from Wellington to South Island in our rental and leaving the rental car at Christchurch but decided that separate car rentals for each island and flights in between Auckland-Christchurch may suit us better. [it's a 250 km drive from Rotorua to the Wellington ferry terminal and we should have adjusted to ferry timings etc]

We had read that Arthur's Pass is best driving west, Haast Pass best south, Lindis Pass best northward , so had an anticlockwise loop of the west coast in South Island.

Here's the map we prepared for our trip:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-pa1SRL-BQsI5QfWM9HKwpRBGbA&usp=sharing
You can zoom in and out, click on individual bulbs and see the details of the places we visited...





Our itinerary played out as follows:

ITINERARY:


DAY 1: Feb 18 Saturday:   Auckland (arrive at 05.50hrs) [2 N in Auckland: Oakwood Manor],

DAY 2: Feb 19 Sunday:  Drive to Hamilton Gardens, Waitomo Glowworms Cave, Marokopa Falls, Mangapohue Natural Bridge, and then Rotorua [3N in Rotorua: YHA] [Drive 384 km, https://goo.gl/maps/gY2qgX88cNowwYSv7 ]

DAY 3: Feb 20 Monday Rotorua: Wai-o-tapu Thermal Wonderland, Whakarewarewa Redwood Forest, Polynesian spa in the night.

DAY 4: Feb 21 Tuesday Rotorua: Government gardens, Ohinemutu village, St Faith's Church, Hamurana Springs. Okere falls, 

DAY 5: Feb 22 Wednesday:  Early drive Rotorua to Auckland airport [225 km]; 12 noon flight to Christchurch. [1N in Christchurch: YHA]
Evening: Botanical Gardens

DAY 6: Feb 23 Thursday: Drive to Hokitika via Arthurs Pass covering Castle Hill Rocks, Millenium falls, Devil's Punchbowl falls at Arthus pass, Otiro viaduct with a great encounter with the cheeky keas [1N in Hokitika: Hokitika Mountainjade backpackers] [drive 248 km]

DAY 7: Feb 24 Friday:  Early morning Hokitika Gorge Scenic Reserve, Hokitika beach, jade shops;
Drive 194 km, 2 1/2 hours Hokitika to FJ/Fox Glaciers [1N in FJ Glaciers:YHA]
Evening FRANZ JOSEF GLACIER HIKE

DAY 8: Feb 25 Saturday:  
Drive: total 287 km [our actual distance was 72 km more as we backtracked from Fox village to Franz glacier YHA to pick up our hiking poles left behind], 
Franz Josef -Wanaka via Haast Pass
 https://goo.gl/maps/cLFJqmfSoXDzz5as7

Morning drive to Fox glacier, then view point hike

 Fox Glacier to Haast 122 km (76 miles):  Ship's Creek and Knight's Point Lookout, Roaring Billy Falls,
Haast to Wanaka 139 km (87 miles); Gates of Haast,  Thunder Creek Falls, Fantail falls,   [2N in Wanaka: YHA  Purple Cow,]

DAY 9: Feb 26 Sunday: 
Morning: Blue Pools
Afternoon: Diamond Lake Conservation Area: Diamond Lake trek. The trek from thereon to the Wanaka Lake view point .
Evening: That Wanaka Tree

DAY 10: Feb 27 Monday:  Wanaka Lavender Farm
Drive  235 km to Te Anau [2N in Te Anau: YHA]
https://goo.gl/maps/4xKn1Pu3faRLEofr7
Evening: Bird park(4.30pm Takahe feeding), Lake Te Anau

DAY 11: Feb 28 Tuesday: Milford Sound Cruise (Mitre Peak Cruises)

DAY 12: March 1, Wednesday: Drive to Queenstown [2N in Queenstown:YHA]
Te Anau -Queenstown - 175 Km/109 Mi
Afternoon:    Glenorchy

DAY 13: March 2, Thursday: Drive to Arrowtown. On the way back Lake Hayes. Gondola and Luge,
Evening: Queenstown Gardens

DAY 14: March 3 Friday: Drive to Aoraki/Mt Cook via Lindis Pass
[drive: 352 km]
Afternoon: Tasman lake view trek, Tasman glacier view trek

[2N in Lake Tekapo for Aoraki/Mt Cook: Lake Tekapo Holiday Park & Motels]

DAY 15: March 4 Saturday: Aoraki/Mt Cook
Hooker Valley track in the morning, then after lunch walk to Kea Point 
Evening: Church of Good Shepherd

DAY 16: March 5 Sunday: Drive to Christchurch 227 km [2N in Christchurch:YHA]
Evening: Willowbank

DAY 17: March 6 Monday: Christchurch
Akaroa Lighthouse, St Peter's church, St Patrick's church, Giants House

DAY 18: March 7 Tuesday: Return car at 7.30 am, 9 am flight to Auckland, 7.30 pm flight back to Houston

 Planning an itinerary for any country is about having GREAT experiences... not just going with a cookie cutter approach copying what somebody else does. Our past travels and sights we have enjoyed also come into play. We always look at pictures, videos of places when deciding how much time we need to allot. We have been to Perito Moreno glacier in Argentina... so did not feel the need to spend a lot of time in Franz josef and fox glaciers.

 Here are some pictures of Perito Moreno glacier...my next blog posts are about our trip to Argentina,,,




CAR RENTAL CHOICE AND DRIVING PREP:


NZ car rentals don't charge a bomb for dropping off at a different location, but our scheduling did not take advantage of this!

We rented twice, both the times returned the car to the same location as the pickup, both at airports!

Feb 18- Feb 22: Auckland airport rental


We collected the car at 10 am Feb 18 on the day we landed at Auckland airport and returned it at Auckland airport at 10.30 am Feb 22 returning from Rotorua. Ideally we would have liked to fly to Christchurch from Rotorua instead of backtracking but the early flight timing was at 7am in the morning and we did not want to return our rental off hours without inspection. Only a few rental companies were allowing drop off at Rotorua. We prefer getting things inspected and signed off, so we went with Apex and retraced our way back to Auckland. A bit of a waste of holiday time...

Feb 22-March 7: ChristChurch airport rental


We flew to ChristChurch by the noon flight, collected our car at 2.30 pm on Feb 22. After a loop of the west coast returned the car at ChristChurch airport at 7.30 am March 7 before taking the 9 am flight.

We went with second tier rental company Apex.  

 First tier companies Hertz, Avis etc.  have their offices in the airports and allow drop off at small location as in the case of Auckland to Rotorua. Of course these come at a price.

We had an excellent experience with Apex, their shuttle pickup/drop off from airport went smooth and the car was great on both the occasions. They also allow drop off at different locations but at bigger ones if my understanding is right. We opted for car less than 2 years old, took full insurance, and had a great time. The speedometer seems to be calibrated to show 5km above the real speed, we noticed this when approaching towns where your speed gets shown on electronic monitors. Had seen the same practice in Norway, fine with us, as it keeps the driver under the prescribed speed limit!

DRIVING PREP:


Son made prep for driving in NZ by reading and taking the recommended tests at https://www.drivingtests.co.nz/roadcode/tourist/

The following were useful to understand double laned roundabouts.

He had practice in the nearly deserted Rotorua and had no problem in crowded areas later.

Also good to know is the Give Way sign arrows at one lane bridges.

He had earlier driven on the left side of the road in South Africa and has pretty good experience in mountain road driving in Norway, California, South Africa etc. So we were good.

Also we are early birds and hit the roads much before the rest. We had most of the roads to ourselves as in Milford Sound road from Te Anau etc... no oncoming traffic too!

PARKING:


In Christchurch and Queenstown, parking is difficult as can be anticipated in busy cities. There is free all day parking in Gloucester Street, Christchurch (just two blocks away from our YHA) which we used. In Queenstown, we parked along the allowed white lined slots along streets

GPS/SAT NAV: 


 We had maps downloaded for offline use on my Tablet as well as son's blackberry phone. With the use of car charger to keep their battery running we were good without additional GPS from the rental.

 Use AA maps, NOT google maps for calculating drive time... the wiggly roads are best handled at reduced speed for safety. 

Wifi from our accommodations was more than adequate for evening use, we did not miss data plan.

DISTANCE COVERED DAILY:


Well under 250/300 km per day. It's to be borne in mind that mountain roads are wiggly-swiggly with many hairpin bends and one can't whiz at 100 km/h on such roads! It was comfortable and enjoyable driving for us as our target was modest. We had time to do a few scenic hikes on the way as well as at the destination.

 NOTE: The hikes do take longer than the prescribed time on the sign boards! The hike going in invariably takes longer as it's usually uphill on a gradient, the hike back is usually faster as it's downhill! We joked the timings given on signboards/official websites are Usain Bolt minutes, not meant for normal mortals!

 We stayed 2 nights in quite a few places, there were one nighters too.  There was a total of 10 bases for the whole trip of 18 nights, quite manageable.

ACCOMMODATIONS:


We went in for ensuite private rooms in YHAs in most places. All were AWESOME and were very reasonably priced! We had a further 10% discount as we had taken emembership for Hostels International... the fee varies according to nationality. For NZ nationals it's $25. For Indian passport holders it was USD 3 for 2 people!




Some YHA rooms were basic like the above in Te Anau but still had the necessary hooks/towel rods for ease of use as seen below...Beds were comfy and towels were adequate.





We had the best views too from our room! The kitchens and lounges were great too!


 In Auckland, we stayed at Oakwood manor 6 km near the airport, rented a car from the airport. This was convenient as we set off for Rotorua the next day without entering CBD. The hotel provided free shuttle for pickup/drop off and served our purpose


JETLAG & DRIVING:


We had decided to assess how fresh we feel before going ahead with plans for our 1st day in NZ. No matter what, the first day was not going to be a heavy driving day

We had booked a room for 2 nights so that we can check in and sleep as soon as we land... me at midnight, son at 6am. It worked out great.

Son had had a decent sleep on his 15 hour direct flight from Houston to Auckland. He was crossing the International Dateline and though the time difference is 18 hours (NZ is 18 hours ahead of Houston), in practice it kind of eliminated jet lag.

 We Picked up the rental car after a good nap at 10 AM, bought some provisions at Countdown near the airport, had a meal, packed some picnic food and then spent the day at Waitakere ranges national park. It was a short uncomplicated drive from our accommodation and was a great intro to the beauties of NZ. 

Next day started off at 7 AM for Rotorua... with no trace of jetlag... we had totally avoided the crowded CBD and hope to enjoy Auckland city on a future visit!

HISTORY OF NZ:


We had been to Africa last year and were amazed about the continent being the cradle of mankind.... fossils of human remains dating back to millions of years are proof to that. [ Our trip to South Africa, Zimbabwe is documented here: http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2016/06/how-to-plan-trip-to-africa.html]

 Conversely, which is the youngest country?

New Zealand situated in south western Pacific Ocean is the youngest country on earth, inhabited by man only over a 1000 years ago!

Here's a bit of interesting history...

Maori first landed on these beautiful islands on waka hourua (voyaging canoes) from their ancestral homeland of Hawaiki probably just over 1,000 years ago. They settled, and started farming and hunting. They called the land Aotearoa (Land of the Long White Cloud)

The first European to sight New Zealand was Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1642. He was on an expedition to discover a great Southern continent 'Great South Land' rich in minerals. He never set foot on the land and his mission was considered unsuccessful by his employers, the Dutch East India Company, as he had not found treasures.

But the country was named New Zealand... Zealand being the island in which current Denmark's capital Copenhagen stands. So that's the origin of the country's current name![Our visit to the lovely Denmark is reported here: http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2016/08/denmark-trip-report-day-1-copenhagen.html]

James Cook began his circumnavigation of the country in 1769 and that's when European migration began. The first European migrants were whalers and missionaries.

By 1800 there were over 100,000 Maori and just 2000 Pakeha ( Europeans) in New Zealand. 

 In 1840, New Zealand become a British colony, British migrants were offered a paid passage to New Zealand, and 40,000 took advantage.

By 1858 the Maori and Pakeha populations were nearly equal. The South Island gold rush of the 1860s saw more migrants come from around the world, including English, Scots, Irish and Chinese.

So that's the very interesting story of the country.

Now... to come back to our vacation story...weather plays a huge role in an outdoor driving holiday... NZ was having a very rainy summer this year!

WEATHER and PACKING:


NZ weather is unpredictable and we were anxiously watching how the rains lashed the islands this summer. Our packing included rain pants, ponchos, an umbrella and a waterproof fleece/shell outer jacket. Sun hat, sun glasses and sunscreen etc as well as capris also were optimistically packed with fingers crossed! Son's hiking shoes are waterproof, my comfortable New Balance shoes got a water proof spray. Our hiking sandals were also packed... they were fine on tracks like Waitakere ranges Kitekite falls but the loose gravel in Aoraki tracks of course require closed shoes!

We were on the lookout for a reliable weather website for predictions... now that seemed to be the Holy Grail, hard to come by...

We loved the String Theory proposed by TA regular OZRCFLYER and decided to follow the very scientific methodology advocated... we bought a hemp string and tied it outside our accommodation. Rest was easy... for those of you interested, the results in the morning are to be interpreted as follows:

String stiff... It's Freezing
String wet... Raining
String dry... Not raining
String swinging... Windy
String missing... thieves around!

Ha Ha!!

 Now dummies that we are we left our precious string behind when we moved... so our valuable tool was lost right at the start of our vacation!

www. metservice.com (NZ weather site) guy gave an encouraging statement that rain was abating but we were still nervous. Locals have commented how forecasts may not pan out and we were ready for all 4 seasons in a single day. 

When we started off from Auckland to Rotorua it started pelting and we got resigned to the fact that we were going to be a soggy mess on the whole vacation.

 It drizzled a bit in the lovely Hamilton gardens but that was the end of bad weather for our whole holiday. 

The Sun shone bright with cool winds blowing and we had the most perfect weather everywhere. Only Fox glacier hid under a cloud but the hike had been glorious, so no regrets!

 The keas (alpine parrots on the endangered list) were at their naughty best (worst?!)...uploaded a 7 minute video of their pranks in the link given below at the end of this post






After GREAT weather at Arthur's pass,

Hokitika Gorge...




Franz Josef glacier,

 Haast pass, Wanaka ... Blue pools here...




 Lake Hawea


Te Anau also proved amazing

 Milford Sound which gets rain 300 days a year was another AWESOME clear beautiful day with penguins, dolphins, seals frolicking around....


Mitre Peak glowed in a calm reflection...

Queenstown displayed splendid weather as well and we enjoyed lovely vistas on our trips to Glenorchy and Arrow town...




 This lovely private garden on the way to Glenorchy was amazing...



Arrowtown was great too...









We moved toward the climax, the tallest mountain in NZ Aoraki/Mt Cook. 

The weather was still holding but when we arrived we were stunned to see the shy Aoraki hidden while rest of the area was bathed in sunlight. We hiked to Tasman glacier viewpoint and lake view that evening...

The visitor center girls promised the next day will be a clear day. WOW, they were right... we saw Aoraki in all her glory and did 2 great hikes Hooker valley and Kea point in the best possible conditions. Could not have asked for more as our cup of JOY is FULL!












And our trip came to a beautiful finale with Christchurch Willowbank Reserve seeing the endangered kiwis and trip to Aoraki with good weather still holding!




CUSTOMS/SECURITY OFFICERS, FOOD RESTRICTIONS:


NZ Govt has restrictions on what can be brought into the country because in the past pests and diseases have been introduced into the secluded country. Fruit flies for instance have been introduced and have wreaked havoc on local crops.


It's best not to bring in food items or medicines; if one happens to bring in something, one should declare it so that the officers can decide whether it's OK. There is a fine of $400 for people flouting these rules and getting found out... x ray machines and trained beagle dogs do the screening! Hiking equipment needs to be spotlessly clean too!

I brought in a spice packet and 2 soup powder packets and declared it on the form when I landed at midnight at Auckland airport. I had it in a transparent packet ready to show in my carryon. The 1st immigration officer who stamped the passport said I have to proceed onward to the Biosecurity officer (like everybody else did) and put a green tick on my form. 

Meanwhile I was panicking about my sunscreen, moisturizer, shampoo, conditioner etc which are all totally herbal/plant based. They were also in transparent covers but in my checked bag; I kept them ready for inspection as we moved toward the next counter. The biosecurity officer waved off my food stuff packets. I said “My cosmetics are all herbal/plant”-based” and lifted the packet for inspection. He gave a wide grin and said “These are OK. Do you have fresh fruit, honey, wine?” 

After an emphatic NO, I proceeded to the x ray machines where everyone was putting their bags. No issues there... no beagles either as they were having their beauty sleep one would presume.

When my son landed at 6 am, he said the beagles were there bright and bustling sniffing through all bags! He ticked hiking equipment and showed his well scrubbed hiking shoes he was wearing and told the officer he had a pair of new trekking poles in the bag. They waved him off too!

FOOD:


Wish I had brought more soup packets as the ones we bought were not to our specs. I'm mighty glad I had my own preferred spice packet! We are vegetarians and self cater on all our travels. I could churn out tasty meals in a jiffy with the lovely local produce available in NZ...the linseed, soya breads, rolls, cream cheese, milk, yogurt, juice, tomato sauce, bottled olives, walnuts and raisins, garlic salt, Peri peri salt, fresh vegetables like tomatoes, avocado, potatoes, fruits like grapes, bananas, kiwis of course, NZ pears, ice cream tubs and chocolates.

 Cut some lemons and added salt, spice to them in an empty yogurt container and they became a tasty pickle in a 3/4 days!

 We filled up drinking water from the kitchen taps in the bottles we carry.

  Bought 2 kg packet of rice for our North island stint and then a 5 kg bag for the South island.

 We shopped at the supermarkets COUNTDOWN, FOURSQUARE in bigger towns and did not need anything in the smaller places we stayed in.  All provisions were put to good use, Left behind a small bottle of oil and sauce as free food at the hostel at Christchurch when we left.. I travel with my own set of 3 vessels/lids, spoons, and it worked for this trip as well though the hostels were quite well stocked!










 I had contemplated bringing some Vicks Vaporub and headache pills but decided against it. They may have been allowed in too! At Rotorua son developed an allergy sneezing and bought a Vicks vaporub for $11. Thankfully the allergy disappeared after leaving Rotorua and we did not need any other medication!

SECURITY OFFICERS AGAIN:


On the domestic flight from Auckland to Christchurch, I did not anticipate any problem but of course as per Murphy's Law there were a couple of issues. We were at the bag drop counter to drop off one checkin bag at 11.20 but the long line did not move at all. We saw the conveyor belt had broken down! We stood around as the time crept on; then saw some people jumping the line and approaching the officer and decided to do that as our flight was at 12 noon. We showed him our boarding pass and he asked us to keep our bag there near the belt and go for boarding. We ran to our gate and made it as one of the last to board.

Of course our checked bag did not make it with us when we landed at Christchurch. We waited till the belt stopped and filed a missing bag complaint at the counter. They promised the bag will be delivered by 4 pm at our accommodation. The bag was indeed delivered but there was a note inside that my new headlamp has been confiscated as it has Lithium battery. I had bought it for caving and it was a small battery, but you can't argue with security officers, can you? Hope it was not trashed, and some one is using it!

One more tale regarding NZ security officer...

There are terrible little monsters in the west coast of the country... the official signboard even referes to them as Dracula... they are tiny little sandflies which have a stinging bite

According to Maori legend, the god Tu-te-raki-whanoa had just finished creating the landscape of Fiordland, it was absolutely stunning... so stunning that it stopped people from working. They just stood around gazing at the beauty instead. The goddess Hine-nui-te-pō became angry at these unproductive people, so she created the sandfly to bite them and get them moving !

For the pesky sandflies, I had brought in baby oil and Dettol and made a mix 2:1 in a small dispenser. It worked like magic. We had some DEET wipes as well but did not need it! Some enterprising flies had got into the car at Hokitika gorge and took a couple of bites on my arms when I took off the long sleeved shirt in the assumed safety of the car. They itched a lot and the place swelled up after a few days. I was terrified, put some neat Dettol drops on the spot (no broken skin and the itching had earlier stopped with baby oil, dettol mix), they magically started healing!

 In fact I had the Dettol in my handbag when I was leaving Auckland for home when a Security officer pulled up the handbag and started inspecting it. He took the bottle, searched for his glasses and read the label. I was upset that he may throw it away and I'll have no succor for itching/swelling during the long flight home. I showed him the red mark on the arm and told him I got badly bitten on the west coast and needed the medication please. He nodded and put the bottle back and waved me off. Surprisingly the whole thing healed with just one more application and I'm as good as new now!!

At all instances, the officers were sweet, polite and smiling! In fact all the locals we met were friendly and warm and enhanced the vacation!

I'm winding up this intro on this note. There are detailed reports of each day of our trip with the pictures in following posts.


OUR VIDEOS:


 Our videos are being posted on this link:
https://goo.gl/photos/Cx4Ud4nYHoyo3QQJA
 I continue with the report of our Day 1 in Auckland Waitakere Ranges park and Day 2 Hamilton gardens, Waitoma glowwormcaves, marakopa falls and Mangapohue natural bridge on the way to Rotorua in my next post:
http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2017/03/new-zealand-trip-report-day-1-auckland.html

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