A Trip To Paradise: New Zealand!

[allhyundaicars]

I have been planning this trip since September and finally went to this magical place early December.

VISA Formalities and Planning
Visa itself took 20 days at the embassy but i Tried 3 Different Agents and none of them would Guarantee Visa Approval because of the documents i had. Finally the third one was able to set all the documents right and got the approval.

Date of Travel
4th December, 2018 (20 Hours flight to Auckland , 4 hours stop at Guangzhou) - 16th December ( 21 hours flight from Christchurch to New Delhi , 5 hours stop at Guangzhou)

Date of Booking
27th November , 2018. Just 7 Days Before the second Travel Agent wasted 10 days giving numerous reasons why he couldn't apply. I got the Visa on 26th November.
[Don't Pre-book anything before you get the visa. One other indian couple didn't get the visa on time and lost 1.7 lakhs because of non-refundable bookings]

All the three agents Quoted me 3 Lakhs per person for 11 nights \ 12 days with 2-3 star hotels and 4 basic activities and return flights with visa. Just wait when i tell you what my trip costed me including extra activities and all the food and parking costs.

Itinerary
5th December Day 1 - Auckland
Day 2 - Auckland - Waitomo - Auckland
Day 3 - Auckland - Rotorua
Day 4 - Rotorua -Taupo - Rotorua
Day 5 - Flight Rotorua to Christchurch
Day 6 - Christchurch - Tekapo - Mount Cook - Queenstown
Day 7 - Queenstown - Glenorchy - Queenstown
Day 8 - Queenstown - Te anau - Milford Sound - Queenstown
Day 9 - Queenstown
Day 10 - Queenstown - Wanaka - Franz josef Glacier
Day 11 - Franz Josef Glacier - Hokitika - Arthur's Pass - Christchurch
Day 12 - Flight Back to New Delhi.

Costs Incurred (all expenses for 2 people)

1. Visa - 19000 rupees.
2. Flights - China Southern Airlines - 184000 rupees and Air New Zealand - 21000 rupees.
3. Hotels - all 4-5 stars category hotels with daily buffet breakfast - 140000 rupees.
4. Self Drive Car rental for 12 days - 52000 rupees
5. Waitomo Caves Black Labyrinth Tour - 14500 rupees
6. Hobbiton Tour - 7000 rupees.
7. Maori Hangi Dinner and Performance - 11000 rupees.
8. Milford Sound Cruise Only - 8300 rupees.
9. Thunder Jet Boat Ride - 7000 rupees
10. Para Flights Parasailing - 8000 rupees.
11. Currency - 125000 rupees

Total - 6 Lakhs plus some leftover Currency. the travel agent was taking 6 lakhs and that didn't include item 5 , 9 , 10 and obviously 11. So i Saved around 1,30,000- 1,40,000 rupees booking the tour on my own.
1 , 2 and 3 booked from travel agent
4 - Ezi Car Rental and Rad Car hire
5 - The Legendary Black Water Rafting Co
6 , 7 and 8 - Tripadvisor
11 - Got the Currency on my way to the airport at 8:30 AM i was occupied somewhere and totally forgot to get the currency. God bless india And the Jugaad which is something you can't do in countries like New Zealand.

Important Tips

1. You have to have a credit card in your name or else you won't be able to rent a self drive car.
2. Many hotels charge parking fees even if they have their own parking space.
3. Parking is free at night from 9pm - 9am on public roads and from 9am-9pm rates ranges from 2$-4$ per hour depending on the city.
4. Speed limit is 100 kmph. don't exceed it. my cousin was fined 500$ plus 28 days license suspension for driving at 160 kmph.
5. Get all supplies from Countdown Supermarket.
6. Keep on left lanes unless you are overtaking.

 

[allhyundaicars]

Day 1 | 5th December | Auckland Airport

Sunrise from the Plane !

First look at the island.


Outside The Auckland Airport,

So the first thing i did after checking out of the airport was to call Rad Car Hire. they will send a complimentary shuttle to drop you at their office from where we have to collect the car.
i booked a medium hatchback and got the Nissan Pulsar.

I paid 26500 rupees for 4 days rental. This contains a one way drop off fess of 230$ ie 11500 rupees since i collected the car from auckland and dropped off at rotorua. every company charges one-way fees and this was one of the few companies that operate in rotorua.

First Drive On NZ roads.

Outside the Hotel. No Hotel Parking.

Checked in at Barclay Suites. Really Good Rooms with all amenities that you can think of. Paid 3500 rupees for 2 days at Wilson Car Parking.

View From the Balcony

Breakfast for Two , the following Morning. Limited Options But Tasty Breakfast.

I have a cousin in auckland who helped a lot and after roaming the city for an hour , having an indian dinner , called it a day.

Sky Tower

Not that good Indian dinner. paid 8$ (400rupees for onions) extra. Assumed it should be like 2-3$.

Someone threw a Sofa in the middle of the road. Weird things happen everywhere

 

[allhyundaicars]

Day 2 | 6th decmber | Waitomo caves.
Left the Hotel at 11:00 AM for our Waitomo Caves Tour.
We were awestruck looking at the landscapes NZ has to offer. Clouds , Blue sky and Green Farmlands everywhere you can see. Sheeps , Cows , Horses Grazing on each side of the road.
Continuous uphill and downhill roads. Trucks with two trailers overtaking my car.

At 13:00 we reached Black Water Rafting headquarters for our Black Labyrinth Tour where we changed into wet suits offered by them. Had a wonderful 3 hours tour of the Waitomo Caves.
If you don't like to get wet or don't like dark places get the basic 45 minutes tour of glowworm caves in which you sit on a boat and enjoy.
you can't miss this place.

This Videos Shows everything I did at this tour.

Some Promotional Pictures.

Had Some Hot Chocolate Lamb Shank and a Burger at The Backyard Bar and Eatery on our way to Auckland.

 

[allhyundaicars]

Day 3 | 7th December | Hobitton Tour
If you are The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies Fan, you cannot miss this place.
Checked out from the Auckland hotel we left for Matamata to see the Hobbiton Movie Set.
It's a guided tour and has limited slots for one particular time so pre-book this. They have nicely maintained the movie set but i got sad to know that most of the shooting was done back in Auckland movie sets and there is nothing inside these hobbit holes.

Clicked some pictures, the guide told facts about the movies and locations where they shot the scene. In the End they offered us Beverages for free , all in all a good experience.

Different Sized Hobbit Holes.

 

[allhyundaicars]

Day 3 | Continued...
After the Hobbiton Tour we headed towards our next stop Rotorua.
In the evening checked in at Holiday inn Rotorua. The first hotel where we didn't have to pay parking fees. Decent rooms and was fully packed with tourists.

View from the Hotel.

After taking some rest we headed towards Kuirau park to get the first look at the geothermal activity which Rotorua is famous for.

On the Way Stopped for some fuel.

Nicely maintained park with proper fencing around the hot pools.

After this we headed towards Govenrment gardens. again nicely maintained garden with different type of roses plus few more attratction points like Sulphur point , Polynesian Spa
(a must do )and the Rotorua Lake. The point was famous among st youngsters and many were drinking and enjoying with no loud noises or such things. A community patrol car
came and went in seconds.

 

[allhyundaicars]

Day 4 | 8th December | Wai-O-Tapu
After waking up to a beautiful morning we headed to Wai-O-Tapu, another active geothermal area , Rotorua is famous for. you can easily spend 2-2.5 hours here looking at different
weird things here.

Not too far from here is Kerosene Creek. it's a natural hot spring area which is famous among the locals as well as the tourist. the road to this place was the worst in my whole trip.
Still a place worth to visit.

 

[allhyundaicars]

Day 4 | Continued...
After this we had an option to go back to Rotorua for Redwoods Treewalk or go to Taupo.
We made ,soon to be proving, the best decision. We headed towards city Taupo. Such a beautiful and peaceful city with a beautiful lake. We spent around 4 hours in the city. Had some lunch and took some pics.
By far i liked this city the most in New Zealand.

Another famous place to go near the city is the Huka Falls. Such beautiful colors.

Returning back we had the Tamaki Maori Village Tour. Attraction explaining their culture , arts , dance and music shows with a Dinner Buffet at the end. Experience was Mediocre.

 

[allhyundaicars]

Day 5 | Flight To Christchurch

Reached the EZI car rental kiosk which is present in the airport terminal , paid the amount ( they accept payments only on arrival and not before but will give you confirmation for the booking instantly )and got the keys to this. a 2018 model with 11.5k on the odo. I paid 25400rs for 8 days for the corolla.

Checked in the Crowne Plaza hotel , had some rest and later in the afternoon went out to have some lunch.

there's nothing much to do in christchurch besides a beautiful maintained garden and museum.
if you like some gambling there is a casino too and a city tram tour. other than this city is almost dead. we didn't find much people on the road. had some lunch at this place , walked around the city
we saw people in the garden , lots and lots of people.

 

[allhyundaicars]

Day 6 | 10th December

Checked out of the hotel to our way to Lake Tekapo. A beautiful Turquoise color lake. This day i drove around 600 kms.
This highway is famous for this flower Lupins and sure they did look beautiful.

The Train Won

Stopped at Farm Shop Cafe to Refresh.

a beautiful highway to drive and every lake i visited had a different color to it and this looked really amazing. You can see how landscape changes.

Many Chinese tourists were stopping their camper vans like i did to get some photos clicked.

Had a Burger and some Fish and Chips.

I didn't know that there was a stargazing trip at this place where they take you to the darkest places after midnight to experience this. i sure missed the opportunity to
look at this so it's highly recommend that you stop here for one night. plus it will also be less tiring for you.

 

[allhyundaicars]

Day 6 | Continued..
After having lunch we headed towards Mount Cook. Some people also stay here for a night but we skipped it.

Clouds looking like a wave over the mountains.

After this we headed towards Queenstown. Another set of beautiful roads going towards Queenstown.

Saw this beautiful sunset close to Queenstown.

This is what 10:00 PM looks like in Queenstwon

Had some Beer and Pizza at the Fat Badgers Pizza and Bar.

Lake Wakatipu at night.

 

[allhyundaicars]

Day 7 | Queenstown | 11th December
We stayed in Novotel hotel. looked good in online pictures but this hotel needed remodeling. the most expensive hotel of the whole trip but it didn't feel worth the money. why was this expensive ? because it was just 50 meters away from the lake.

This is what it looked like at around 8:00 AM.

The same place in Afternoon.

After a tiring last day we decided not to do much today , so we roamed around the city had lunch at the famous burger joint Ferburg.

Also did a jet boat ride from Go Orange Thunderboad ride. Two v8 engines powering this boat 14
25 minutes was sufficient for me. I would have vomited if it was for 1 hour. Obviously we did this before having your lunch at fergburg.

What it's like.

In the evening we decided to do visit Glenorchy and it sure was a mesmerizing ride. some pics attached. You cannot miss this Place.

Got a Tankful at night.

 

[allhyundaicars]

Day 8| 12th December | Milford Sound
This was the best day of the trip. We went to Milford sound. if you didn't see this you did nothing in New Zealand.

Bought Some food items for the road trip.

Lake Te Anau.

This was a common site throughout New Zealand

These relights were often placed near construction sites.

Wait to be mesmerized

YouTube

Yup , we saw some seals too.

Back to Queenstown.

Need some more fuel.

Have to fill on our own

 

[allhyundaicars]

Day 8| 12th December | Milford Sound
This was the best day of the trip. We went to Milford sound. if you didn't see this you did nothing in New Zealand.

Bought Some food items for the road trip.
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Lake Te Anau.
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This was a common site throughout New Zealand
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These relights were often placed near construction sites.
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Wait to be mesmerized
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Yup , we saw some seals too.
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Back to Queenstown.
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Need some more fuel.
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Have to fill on our own
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[allhyundaicars]

Day 9 | 13th December
Aanother Beautiful day and not much to do today. We headed towards the Skyline Gandola and also did luge ride.

Near the Lake.

View from The Gandola Ride.

Lake Wakatipu From Above.

Saw a beautiful sunset and i don't think i would see a sunset like this anywhere else.

Para gliders plus Ducks Plus Sunset.

Stocked Up for the next day ride.

 

[allhyundaicars]

Day 10 | 14th december

The thing is in New Zealand won't get to see the same thing you saw at an earlier place. yes you will see many lakes but each one has a character on its own.
we experienced a lot things on the way.

Did para sailing early in the morning. saved 5000rs choosing to do at this time. Checked out of the hotel and headed towards Franz Josef Glacier.

Lake Wanaka. Missed the Famous Wanaka Tree Because we didn't want to stop here for long.

Lake Hawae. Another Beautiful Lake.

Another attraction : Blue Pool Rocks.

Another View Point.
YouTube


After this stopped at Another Viewpoint and Had a small accident while taking the car out. Didn't see a rock , well i couldn't.

Gladly i had taken Full Insurance so Didn't need to pay anything for the damages.

After driving further saw these weird looking trees near the Ocean.

Another viewpoint. Knights Viewpoint Lookout