Date: 19 October - 2 November
Type: Leisure Backpacking

Land of the long white clouds

Visiting New Zealand is one of the items in my bucket list. Ever since I went to Swiss, I have put New Zealand as my must-do list. I am embarking on a typical road trip journey with 2 friends - one who actually had been to New Zealand back in 2012! I am sorry guys, if you expected this blog post would be titled as "2 weeks in New Zealand for just RM XXXX", because it is not. If you have been reading my blog lately, you would notice that I rarely share on how low I can go for a particular trip. I mainly share on what is the experience and how to optimise your time and also tips on saving some cash for ones place.

Sure, budget is very important but please, do not make an impossible paper thin budget that you will loose the excitement and pleasure of having the fun of your life. Nuff said, I have been eyeing the flight tickets to NZ since 2015. When AA announced they would re-establish the KL-NZ route, I was so excited.  When should we go to New Zealand? Anytime. New Zealand is beautiful in every single season. The main plan we had - 2 weeks to spent in both North and South of New Zealand.

1. FLIGHTS

2 bookings: KL-Auckland and Auckland-Christchurch. We took Air Asia X for the KL-Auckland leg and we were a bit lucky for the 30% Raya Sale. As for the domestic flight, we took Air New Zealand which costs $59 with 10kg luggage.
TIPS: We get the Air NZ tickets via grabaseat.co.nz which is the partner of Air New Zealand. They usually have promo seats for every 3 months. Do check for Jetstar promo as well.

2. ACCOMMODATION

As usual, we fixed a budget max of $30-40 per person per night. Our accommodation options are mainly YHAs, Holiday Homes and Hostel. Based on experience, the hostel/backpackers in New Zealand offer a comfortable, clean facilities to their guests. We did not have any horror story from YHA or ant hostels in new Zealand. We rebooked every accommodation except the one in Waitomo where we just walk in. List of places we stayed:

Auckland - Jucy Hostel, Ibis Budget Airport and Haka Lodge
Franz Josef - YHA Franz Josef
Queenstown - YHA Lakefront Queenstown
Te Anau - Kiwi Holiday Park Te Anau
Aoraki/Mount Cook - Glentanner Holiday Park
Lake Tekapo - Tekapo Holiday Park & Motel
Christchurch - YHA Christchurch
Rotorua - Four Canoes Motel
Napier - YHA Napier
Waitomo - YHA Waitomo (June's Hall Backpackers)

3. CAR RENTAL & FUEL

We rented from Jucy Rental for the entire trip where we had 3 separate bookings. Jucy do give out discounts for repeating customers. We email the Jucy HQ on the side and managed to get a deal for free GPS for our entire trip. The car rental costs around $600 for 2 weeks which includes a full coverage insurance. Please do not skip the insurance as you will be driving in multiple road condition and anything can happen.

Fuel is definitely expensive in New Zealand and prices varies from place to place. While we were there, Mobil actually have a promotion where you will get 6 cents off every liter if you spent fill up more that certain amount of liter. Total fuel for 2 weeks is around $550 - hefty right?

4. ACTIVITIES - COUPONS, COUPONS, COUPONS

Most of the attraction in New Zealand are free and the only one we booked before arrival is the tickets for Hobbiton since they have scheduled time and the Milford Sound cruise. Other activities that required payment, we just bought it on the spot. Please took a copy of the Arrival magazine as it contains a lot of discount coupons for the paid attractions in New Zealand. We got discounts for NZone, Jucy Cruise, Wai-o-Tapu Wonderland, Whakarewarewa Maori Village, Waitomo Glow Worm Cave and FREE UBER!

From the list of accommodations above, you can pretty much guessed our itinerary for this trip. We visited a lot of places - really and I could not possibly lists everything. So below are the summary of start-end point location for each leg. We will discuss the legs in detail on separate blog post below.

NORTH ISLAND:
Leg 1 - Auckland-Hamilton-Auckland
Leg 9 - Auckland - Rotorua
Leg 10 - Rotorua - Napier
Leg 11 - Auckland

SOUTH ISLAND:
Leg 2 - Christchurch-Franz Josef
Leg 3 - Franz Josef - Queenstown
Leg 4 - Queenstown - Te Anau
Leg 5 - Te Anau - Queenstown
Leg 6 - Queenstown - Mount Cook
Leg 7 - Mount Cook - Tekapo
Leg 8 - Christchurch

5. FOOD

We brought 3 packets of Brahim's instant rice, 1 box of Tom Yum cubes and M brought a homemade sambal ikon bills. Don't forget to make a list for food and medicine for easy custom clearance. Food was relatively easy to find in New Zealand. Lots of halal joints in the cities - kebabs, Indian food, fish &chips (F&C). Burger fuel have halal burgers too!

We rarely cook, but we bought our grocery supply from Pak'nSave or Countdown. Our staple stocks are milk, cereal, eggs snacks, fruits, water. Please try the Lewis Road Whittaker milk - it is to die for!

6. DOCUMENTS

No visa required to enter New Zealand and you don't need to apply for Australia visa for the short transit. Our driving license works fine in new Zealand, so you don't have to apply for the International Driving License Permit. And, most cashier terminals employ the Pin&Pay, so get your card sorted out before flying.

7. CLOTHING AND SIMCARD

We went during Spring-Summer transition, so the temperature fluctuate a lot. DO NOT underestimate New Zealand's weather as they can change rapidly. The lowest temperature we encountered was -1 degC and the warmest day was 18 degC. The wind can be violent at some places. Bring your thermal wear, fleece and 3-in-1 jacket for contingency.

We bought Vodafone Travel Sim at the Auckland duty free zone. There is a counter where you can buy the sim card for $45 which includes 3GB of data.