Disclaimer: This is a travelogue that has been long pending and I hope the moderators will be kind enough to let me post this. I was greatly motivated reading some travelogues off late and decided that I would give mine a shot as well.
The Trip: Amazing New Zealand
Passengers: Wifey and Self on Honeymoon
Time: End November
Itinerary:
North Island Leg:
Kolkata- Singapore- Auckland- Rotorua-
South Island Leg
Christchurch- Mt Cook- Queenstown- Millford Sound- Dunedin- Christchurch- Singapore- Kolkata
Steeds for the trip: North Island: Toyota Corolla Hatch, South Island: Ford Falcon XR 6
No of Days: 12
The spreadsheet below outlines the drive distances and times. I am working on a more detailed spreadsheet as well with the costing.
Attachment 1249094 Introduction: This is a trip that had been a personal dream for the both of us and we had spent more time planning this than our actual marriage. To the extent we even went on to cut out some of the functions to the utter dismay of the relatives. Our thought was simple: This was going to be some US time and we were really not too bothered about cavorting and displaying ourselves around umpteen uncles and aunties who would disappear as soon as they appeared. At the same time, we didn't plan every single aspect of the trip (Except the cars and the Heli :-) ) and decided we would take it step by step, use the Lonely planet guide and do what we wanted to rather than stick to a tried and tested packaged itinerary. In case anyone travel to NZ, I'd suggest to keep lots of open spaces in your itinerary. You never know what you might miss out on otherwise.
About New Zealand: Contrary to expectations, NZ is not a very small place. The distances between places are around 300 kms on an average, but one can make short work out of these distances due to the awesome roads (speed limited to 100 kmph). Thus, you might be wondering about the unusually high times taken by us to complete the journeys, but one cannot help but stop from time to time to marvel at the picture postcard vistas of the place.
Day 1-2:
We took Singapore Airlines from Kolkata to Singapore then onwards to Auckland. Considering the long flight, the only thing we did on Day 1 was go off to sleep. Sadly, the room AC decided to give us a rude wake up call 2 hours into our slumber by switching itself off and not turning on despite our threats, pleads and cajoling. The only option was to request the management to change the room and BOY, did they oblige by upgrading us to their Suite. Thats when we knew, this trip had started off on the Right note.
Day 2 saw us rising late and then deciding what we were to do. We happened to find out that it was Farmers Day and that a fantastic parade would pass through the centre of town. Day pack ready, we headed off to explore the wonderful city of Auckland on foot. The weather in November is excellent and the temperate climate really whets your appetite for walking and eating both. I recollect stopping for at least 3 coffees, 1 dessert and 2 main courses during our 4-5 hour sojourn.
The upgraded rooms
The wonderfully well organized parking
Farmers Day parade
With Ron Mc D (Sorry Ron, I hardly ate a single Mac during my trip)
Drooly Baby
All hail the Queen
Post the farmers day parade, we walked off to the Auckland Sky Tower to gets a birds eye view of the city.
Day 3:Auckland to Rotorua via Waitomo Glowworm Caves
Day 3 began early in the morning waiting for my Compact car to arrive from Avis. While there were other cheaper options available, we decided to go with Avis because of a limited period offer of Free GPS, Free Excess reduction insurance and Free second driver. All in all, we hardly paid a premium of 5% over cheaper rental companies. The car was a Red Corolla Automatic (Didn't know they had Dual VVTI's on the compacts as well) with a Garmin GPS Unit. Funnily, the GPS unit we had would decide to switch off from time to time (A problem which persisted during our entire North Island sojourn) and we would have to stop, restart the unit and then reset the coordinates. Being my first time in NZ, fast expressway traffic all around, led to some really close situations while getting out of Auckland. That said, the traffic is very disciplined and many folks realized we were tourists and gave us a thumbs up (No Middle Fingers surely !!) as they passed by.
Roads from Auckland to Rotorua were fantastic (as was entirely through NZ) and we expected to cover the 229 Kms distance in around 3 hours or less. But, little did we know our wanderlust and laziness would extend the drive to 300 kms and almost double the hours. Well, such is the languid beauty of NZ coupled with tons of village cafes (Ok, by now you guys must know I like to eat as much as I like to drive)
Thats not our car
The cafe
Rainy weather
Prim and proper villages
I could not attach any pictures of the Waitomo Glowworm caves since no photos were allowed inside, but its an experience in itself. May not be to everyone's liking though.
We reached Rotorua around 2 PM and checked into a motel, Six on Union, which is walking distance into the main town square and also close to the lake. The owners provide cheap rooms, free parking and also send across a breakfast tray in the morning. We spent the remainder of the day at the lake and stopped for a Salmon dinner at a lakeside cafe.
Day 3: Rotorua- Whakarewarewa Thermal Village and Buried Village:
Day 3 began very very late (Blame the Jet Lag) and we were rushing against time to do our site seeing. However, rather than rush, we decided to drop the evening visit to the Tamaki Maori Village and only cover the Thermal Village in the day time. The Lakeside setting was wonderful and we couldn't get enough of it.
Co-pilot getting ready to take the controls
Day 4: Flight from Rotorua to Christchurch, O/n in Christchurch
Early Day 4 and it was time to head to Rotorua Airport to catch an Air NZ, ATR to Christchurch. While there are lots of things to see and do in north Island, we were more keen to spend more time in the South and hence our hurry to head there pronto. Also, its possible to drive from Rotorua- Christchurch, but it involves a ferry crossing as well as a One way fee (while x-ing from the North to the South) payable to the rental car company. For the same money, we were able to buy tickets on Air NZ and reduce our travel time to 1 hour or so.
Having landed in CHC, we took a super shuttle bus to the hotel (Ibis on Hereford Street), which was bang in the city centre (The subsequent earthquake has quite changed the landscape of this beautiful place now). Rest of the day was free to explore a breezy and chilly city on foot.
Christchurch is also an amazing city. We totally loved the vibe of the place and the wonderful working environment there. 5.30 PM and the PwC, KPMG and ANZ officers near the hotel would have scores of people rushing out and heading off to their favorite pubs to spend some time bonding with colleagues and friends. By 7.30- 8 PM, everyone would leave for home, with only the tourists being left behind. I wish my work environment back in India was similar but Alas...!!
Prelude to what's coming: An amazing car and an amazinger drive. I wish I could do it again and again and again. Stay tuned folks.