A Trip To Paradise: New Zealand!

[allhyundaicars]

We Checked in at Rainforest Retreat Hotel at Franz Josef Glacier. Private Hut with really good rooms. Absolutely Fantastic.

Tomorrow's Breakfast is served in the evening itself.

Had amazing dinner at the Hotel's Monsoon Restaurant.

I casually walked out late at night and saw this spectacular starry sky. Did some low light settings on my Oneplus 5t and was able to capture this. there was an automatic light outside
so sorry for the bad image quality.

day 11| 15th december

Most people do trekking on the glacier region. we decided to do the same but we decided to the shorter one which was too damn easy. just a casual walk and return.

We then began our ride to christchurch and stopped at Hokitika. Another small city with characterstics of its own. a beach. spent some good time here.

 

[allhyundaicars]

After Hokitika this turned out to be the most worrisome and troublesome day in the whole trip of New Zealand.

Incident 1
Distance from Hokitika to Christchurch - 250 kms approx
Car Fuel Range - 280 Kms.

So i think nobody will do a tankful with so much fuel left , i did the same thing and started driving.
Next stop was arthur's pass and mountain roads started. The Car range started dropping like crazy because of uphill and curvy roads.

We reached Arthur's pass around 5:20 pm only to find out the petrol pump closed at 5:00 PM.

Distance from Arthur's pass to Christchurch - 150 kms
Car Fuel Range - 100 kms.
got really tensed so found this Challenge petrol pump in Springfield. ETA - 7 :05 PM, Pump Closing time 7:00 PM

Started driving , within a minute a Huge SUV started Tailgating us.

That SUV was this ( the following 2 pics taken from google )

And it looked exactly like this.

He drove for about 40 seconds really close and then as soon as he saw a place where i could pull up he started the sirens and the lights.
i pulled over , he didn't come out for a full 2 minutes , god knows what he was doing. At this time i switched off the engine , i asked if i should step out using hand signals , he told me to wait.

He came here goes the conversation.

Officer : do you know why i stopped you ?
me : no sir , i don't. what did i do ?
Officer - i got a complaint from two drivers that you were driving recklessly. You overtook another vehicle on a yellow line marked road.
me : "got confused" i overtake only on dotted lines if i feel the need to. i didn't overtake on a yellow line.
Officer : i got 2 drivers complaint for your registration number and car make.
me: i am sorry if i did a mistake and it won't happen again. (kept on apologizing repeatedly ) i have been driving safe for the past 10 days and i will be going back to my country the next day.
Officer : 24 hours is a lot of time to kill people.
me :
he continued - you know there are people who record this type of stuffs and if i had some proof you would have been arrested right here.
at this time i literally started sweating.
he continued - give me your driving license.
*handed over my license
he went back to his car , came back after 2-3 minutes , god knows how much time he took. i was thinking i will be fined.
he came back and said " i have updated this in my system that you were driving recklessly at this location and time , if you continue driving the same way and someone reports you again you will be arrested.
after saying this he went back.

after this we started driving. i didn't turn on the aircon because of low petrol. it took me some time to get over what just happened. i didn't cross 80 kmph after this to save some petrol plus i just couldn't drive at 100 kmph after this. at one stretch i didn't overtake a big ass tractor going 70 kmph for about 5 minutes.

so now i started google maps again and the Challenge Petrol pump's ETA now was 7:25 pm.
i reached the petrol pump and it was like god was playing games with me. i pulled up at 7:22 pm and as soon as i got out of my car the attendant there closed the gates to the supermarket.

Car Range - 22 kms
Christchurch - 65kms

i begged him to let me fill petrol since i literally didn't have any fuel. he didn't. he said there's a automated petrol system , insert your card and fill the petrol. i went to the machine , tried 3 different cards but the machine didn't read anything. i asked the attendant for his help , he came but it was futile. the machine didn't work.

he told me there's another fully automatic petrol pump just some kms ahead and that i should try there.

i opened the google maps and it said the place is allied petrol pump and is 9 kms away. started driving , range started going down but finally i managed to get the fuel at this station. breathed a sigh of relief.

Continued my Journey to Christchurch and finally made it to the hotel.

I was thinking about this whole incident and i think i know who filed a complaint. usually there are many camper vans on new zealand roads. since they don't drive at 100 kmph they let the car pass by pulling a little to the left and slowing down. so there was this guy who started slowing down and i thought he's letting me pass and still don't know if there was a yellow line present there or not.
so arthur pass city was coming , the signboard was atleast 1-1.5 kms ahead which said speed limit 50 kmph. this campervan guy started slowing down and at 60kmph i overtook him. and since i made a stop at the city he noted my registration number and filed a complaint.
so yeah even a wrong overtake , intentional or not can land you in prison.

 

[allhyundaicars]

Day 12 | 16th december | Departure

This was our last day in New Zealand in Christchurch. Didn't drive the car for the whole day. just went again to the Christchurch Botanical Gardens.

Last Meal in Christchurch.

Saw Sunrise at Guangzhou airport also. didn't know Guangzhou too was covered with mountains.

So this is the end of the travelogue of one of the most beautiful places you can visit.

Some Random Videos.

 

[350Z]

Note: Thread Now Live. Awesome travelogue. Truly mesmerizing. I was following it even when it was in TIP Zone. Thanks for sharing!

Drive Safe,
350Z

 

[GrandRk]

Lovely thread and amazing photography of nature around. It seems you have enjoyed a lot here. Keep it up !!

 

[Surfer]

wow, what an amazing thread Lovely pics too. Thanks for sharing detailed information

 

[Nairrk]

Awesome pictures and Video clippings.
A trip to Paradise - perfect and meaningful thread heading, indeed

 

[Surfer]

International driving licence is required for self drive?

 

[allhyundaicars]

Indian driving license is valid for 6 months to drive in nee zealand. After that you require international driving permit. Make sure the person who wants to drive has a credit card of his name otherwise they won't give you the car.