Planning your New Zealand trip

Trust me, planning for New Zealand is not easy. It took us months to plan it all out. Hopefully with thetravellingdesi blogs, it will be much easier for you. Most people who plan New Zealand, also club Australia with it. Whilst that may make more sense financially in terms of the flight bookings, let me warn –  these two countries are very different, and are so big, that to do justice to each of them, you need a minimum of 12 days for each. We chalked out a 15-day trip of New Zealand alone for December 2019. What to pack, what to expect – this blog covers it all.

The blueprint

December is summer in New Zealand, since it lies in the Southern Hemisphere. This is peak tourist season, which means bookings must begin way in advance. All our bookings were done by June 2019. This included air tickets and hotel bookings. Attractions can be booked later (but still at least a couple of days in advance.) New Zealand, itself is made of two islands – the North Island and the South Island.

If (and only if), you are short of time, my recommendation would be to just cover the the South Island, because it is more scenic.

We flew to Auckland in the North and covered North Island while driving to Wellington. We flew between Wellington and Christchurch and then drove all of South Island, making a loop back to Christchurch, before flying out.

The itinerary was planned keeping in mind that my family does not like to rush. If I had to, I could have squeezed it in 12 days and saved a few days and dollars. But then a vacation needs to feel like a vacation too, right? This felt!

The full itinerary can be found here (Coming soon)

Visa

We applied for visa, online in September. All required documents had to be scanned and uploaded. In a couple of days, after submitting the application, we got a mail requesting us to visit the VFS center where we had to present the original passports for verification. This is standard procedure for all. After approximately one and a half months, i.e. November, we got our e-visas though email. Note, I have heard stories where some applicants have not received the e-visas even after 2+ months and have had to cancel their trip. Please check the immigration website and VFS center in your area to make sure, you apply well in time. The cost of the visa was 250 AED (approx. 5000 Rs pp)

Transport

The best and cheapest way to travel around New Zealand is by renting a car. Trains run on some scenic routes and there is always an option to fly between cities, but the real fun in New Zealand is in the drive. NZ makes you realize, it’s about the journey, not the destination. 15 days, 2500 kms! That’s the longest we have travelled by car as a family.  

What a journey – never a boring sight! Even in a 5 hour drive the scenery changes so fast, it’s hard to keep the camera down. For example, along the scenic Transalpine route from Franz Joseph to Christchurch, the landscape changed from this,

to this,

To this,

to this,

to this,

How can one ever get tired of this? Just strap your belts and drive like there is no place to reach.

Once your dates are fixed, book a rental car with any of the usual car rental companies like Hertz, Thrifty etc. or go local with Apex. That is what we used. The prices were cheaper, and the cars were newer. Bookings can be made online. Note, that your driver’s license must be in English. If not, it has to be translated. Driving is left side drive, like in India. Driving is not very difficult. Most roads are single lane roads and traffic is sparse. Some roads have a lot of twists and bends, so that can be uncomfortable for those who suffer from motion sickness.

If you are more adventurous, go for the camper vans (RVs). These are quite popular in NZ, especially with couples. We were very tempted to rent a RV, but the 15 night minimum rental requirement (during peak season) put us off. Otherwise the RV can be an interesting alternative. The bigger RVs can accommodate even 6 adults. Many RVs even come with toilets and showers so you don’t have to share the common toilets on campgrounds. Campground rentals for RVs were much cheaper than the hotels but considering the cost of the RV rental and its poor fuel economy in the end, the rental car turned out to be cheaper.

Google maps are your best bet for directions. Note however that actual times can be a little more than what Google calculates, so always add some extra buffer when planning your travels. This is because roads are single lane, winding and there are just to many photo-stops!

Weather

Don’t get fooled by the ‘It’s summer in New Zealand’ statement. The summer in Dec. 2019 was so cold, even the locals questioned exasperatedly “Oh, when will summer arrive?” This was me on my first day in Auckland when it also happened to rain heavily.

Then they told me that of all cities, Auckland was the warmest, and of all months, December was the warmest. If this was ‘warmest’, I wasn’t sure what lay ahead. I was sure though, that my shorts and tees were not going to see the NZ daylight.. and they didn’t. So before you pack, it would be wise to check out the weather over the next 10 days and pack accordingly.

Also note that the UV index is extremely high in New Zealand. On a scale of 0 to 11 where 11 is extreme, the UV index in New Zealand in summer is in the range of 8 to 10. This is due to the ozone hole over Antarctica, which tends to be pretty large during spring/early summer. The high UV index can cause severe skin irritations. So make sure you pack your sunscreen and use it whenever you are out in the sun, or wear full sleeves tees.

Food

Read my article ‘The serious business of bio-security’ before you pack your food items for the trip. I am a preferred vegetarian and it was going to be a big trip, so I decided to carry my trusted methi theplas. I declared them at Customs, and thankfully they let them pass.

But to think about it, even without the theplas, I would have easily survived on just the fresh fruits and vegetables. New Zealand is a haven for fresh produce. For almost 15 days, my breakfast every day was avocados and egg on toast with fresh kiwi juice.

The Hass avocados in New Zealand are fresh, creamy and so cheap. The berries are mouthwatering and the fresh berry ice creams are irresistible even in the cold.

For the non-vegetarians there are a lot of meat options. My carnivorous family absolutely enjoyed the lamb meat and the beef. They say it was the juiciest they have ever had.

For the pure vegetarians, there will still be a few options. There will be at least one Indian restaurant in town. I wasn’t allowed to enter, thanks to the eat-no-Indian-food-when-not-in-India family motto 🙁 In one supermarket in Te Anau, I found MTR ready cooked meals (divine intervention after the fourth day of burgers). I had a hearty dinner that day!

The only thing to remember is during Christmas i.e. 24^th evening to 26^th morning, everything, including supermarkets will be closed. So, if you happen to be in New Zealand then, make sure you have plenty of food stocked up.

Currency

The NZD dollar at the time of writing was approximately 47 Rs.  We converted our AEDs to get just about 400 NZD at the airport. That was more than enough for the entire trip, as most payments were made with an international credit card. Credit cards will be accepted in 95% of the places.

Communication

Would you need international roaming plans on your home company contract? I don’t think so. Sim cards are available at the airport, so the minute you land you can get connected. In fact it’s best to get them at the airport as they are tax free, and hence a couple of dollars cheaper.

Data and calling plans are available with three major service providers – Vodafone, Spark and 2Degrees. Based on reviews, we saw Vodafone had the best coverage, especially in the remote areas of the South Island, but it was also slightly more expensive.

We bought the lowest $25 pack and it was more than sufficient for 15 days. We did have GPS in the car and wifi in all the hotel rooms, so minutes were only for emergency calling and data for emergency Facebooking (when something irresistibly beautiful like this had to be immediately shared 😉).

All plans from Vodafone had unlimited WhatsApp too. Sorted!

I think I have covered most aspects of the trip planning. In case of any queries, feel free to comment.