New Zealand 2017 Preps
Bismillahirrahmanirrahiim
2017 year end holidays. We eventually, at the last minute as usual, decided to go to New Zealand. This time around, Daddy is only available on second week of December and Kakak is not coming along as her third semester foundation has just commenced. I admit I am a little bit nervous this time around, as it involves leaving Kakak behind. This is the first time she will be on her own while we are away overseas (sobs).
After a very rushed and limited research, I cooked up a rough itinerary road trip based on the following:
There are 3 choices of flights:
Before deciding on accommodation, we had to agree on whether we are taking the campervan (caravan or motorhome) for the road trip. The girls and I were open to the idea, as it is a novelty and uniqueness of exploring NZ but Dad was at first skeptical and later, adamant against it. Personally, I cannot imagine him driving a huge campervan around too as I know (1) he is not a patient man (2) he loves to speed and that ain't happening with such a vehicle.. hehehe. Other reasons include penat, having to ensure special parking bays, a specific holiday park to park overnight, charge the electrical equipments within and the most horrifying, is to clear human waste every other day, plus we would have to use communal shower, kitchen and laundry utilities. No offense, but being on a holiday, we do not need more things to stress us up further. Turns out most motorhomes and holiday parks are already running out, thanks to higher demand during the summer holidays. I also read a mutual friend's conclusion of driving around in campervan, that at the end of a 14-day trip, she and her 2 friends were practically clawing out each others' eyes. hahaha. mau porak peranda bercerai-berai kang! adeh :p So, for car rental, Daddy chose a stationwagon (rolls eyes) from a local NZ company, Apex Car Rentals instead of the usual international car rental companies like Budget etc. as the rates are more reasonable (read: berjimat selagi boleh!)
Having that out of the way, i.e. after deciding on renting a car instead of a motorhome, we can then pick our accommodation: 2 airbnbs for the longer stays, and using booking.com: 2 holiday parks and a few motels for the one-niters.
The chosen cities / towns for overnights are:
It does seem intimidating compared to our 'simpler' albeit longer Japan vacation last year, where we only had to choose 3 destinations i.e. Tokyo (Hatchobori & Shinjuku), Niseko and Osaka. Alas, NZ although smaller is not well-connected with rail, thanks to its more (seriously) rugged nature, no kidding there!
The overall plan is then tabulated in an excel worksheet and I later added activities, stops and of course, where and what we shall have our meals.
Sesuka hatiku, I decided on the activities and booked some of them online:
Subhanallah, so many items and even that, I have not included things in the bucket list such as skydiving, bungee jumping, most scenic train ride across the South Island: Tranzalpine, walking and heli-ing to the glaciers, whale watching at Kaikoura as the highway #1 on the east coast is still closed thanks to the earthquakes in 2011 and 2016. I intentionally skipped Christchurch, Dunedin and the Caitlins as we have to prioritise and not be MORE stressed, beating the purpose of a holiday. At first, Daddy suggested we spend the 14 days on either one of the island only BUT.. I can't possibly bring myself to agree as I do not know when the second 2 weeks on the other island will be had considering Kak Ngah will be sitting for her SPM in 2018. So 2 weeks for both islands it is.
As for food, it is quite tricky and cumbersome to bring foodstuff from our country. Unlike other countries, where we brought beras / nasi impit, instant noodles, snacks, rendang, pasta, sardines, cucur (!) bla bla bla, for NZ we bravely opted not to bring any food for the convenience of not having to declare and waste anything should the foodstuff be rejected and for the sake of speedy customs' clearance of having to describe those things after more than 15 hours of travelling. I said brave because we have a toddler son and 2 teens who are constantly hungry and could devour anything they see. huhuh.
Google, trip advisor and lonely planet book play the most part on helping me identify the food outlets, mostly involving halal kebabs (yums), staple NZ food: fish and chips, salmon with eggs (omelette / egg benedict) and halal or vegetarian friendly set-ups. Also, as the North Island has many muslims, many halal butchers are available and so we shall buy meat supplies in Auckland and have them in Rotorua, hopefully. For groceries, we will opt for either Countdown or PAK'n Save.
In terms of luggage, the girls will share one medium luggage, I will use my medium one, both Daddy and Adik will use a small luggage each. And a backpack each. Just to ensure that the bags can fit into the stationwagon. Our gameplan was to bring old clothes and leave them behind (recycle) and buy new ones instead. This is necessary as we do not have time to do laundry for those one-nighter stays. And to make sure bag tak beranak hahah.
Oh yes. As Adik is no longer a baby, I have to bring him to Imigresen Dept to have his passport picture updated. That took a whole morning at the Kelana Jaya branch. Just have to pay for picture (taken at a nearby outlet, next to the branch). And not forgetting sending the Cat to the pet hotel.
So, that was basically the planning side. My goodness, itu je pun dah fenat!
2017 year end holidays. We eventually, at the last minute as usual, decided to go to New Zealand. This time around, Daddy is only available on second week of December and Kakak is not coming along as her third semester foundation has just commenced. I admit I am a little bit nervous this time around, as it involves leaving Kakak behind. This is the first time she will be on her own while we are away overseas (sobs).
After a very rushed and limited research, I cooked up a rough itinerary road trip based on the following:
- Lonely Planet's on NZ
- Dad's friends' itineraries
- Google map - to estimate driving distances & duration between selected towns or cities
- Trip Advisor
There are 3 choices of flights:
- MAS direct flight KUL to AKL
- Air Asia KUL to OOL (Oolangatta) and the OOL to AKL
- KUL to Changi, then take JETSTAR to Sydney, then SYD to either AKL or Queenstown
Before deciding on accommodation, we had to agree on whether we are taking the campervan (caravan or motorhome) for the road trip. The girls and I were open to the idea, as it is a novelty and uniqueness of exploring NZ but Dad was at first skeptical and later, adamant against it. Personally, I cannot imagine him driving a huge campervan around too as I know (1) he is not a patient man (2) he loves to speed and that ain't happening with such a vehicle.. hehehe. Other reasons include penat, having to ensure special parking bays, a specific holiday park to park overnight, charge the electrical equipments within and the most horrifying, is to clear human waste every other day, plus we would have to use communal shower, kitchen and laundry utilities. No offense, but being on a holiday, we do not need more things to stress us up further. Turns out most motorhomes and holiday parks are already running out, thanks to higher demand during the summer holidays. I also read a mutual friend's conclusion of driving around in campervan, that at the end of a 14-day trip, she and her 2 friends were practically clawing out each others' eyes. hahaha. mau porak peranda bercerai-berai kang! adeh :p So, for car rental, Daddy chose a stationwagon (rolls eyes) from a local NZ company, Apex Car Rentals instead of the usual international car rental companies like Budget etc. as the rates are more reasonable (read: berjimat selagi boleh!)
Having that out of the way, i.e. after deciding on renting a car instead of a motorhome, we can then pick our accommodation: 2 airbnbs for the longer stays, and using booking.com: 2 holiday parks and a few motels for the one-niters.
The chosen cities / towns for overnights are:
- Auckland - 1 night - Novotel at the airport itself.
- Rotorua - 2 nights - airbnb at Hannah's Bay, fronting the Rotorua Lake.
- Wellington - 1 night - Lower Hutt Top10 Holiday Park.
- Pohara - 1 night - Pohara Beachfront Motel
- Fox Glacier - 1 night - Heartland Hotel Glacier
- Te Anau - 2 nights - Fiordland Greatviews Holiday Park
- Queenstown - 4 nights - airbnb at Hallenstein Street
It does seem intimidating compared to our 'simpler' albeit longer Japan vacation last year, where we only had to choose 3 destinations i.e. Tokyo (Hatchobori & Shinjuku), Niseko and Osaka. Alas, NZ although smaller is not well-connected with rail, thanks to its more (seriously) rugged nature, no kidding there!
The overall plan is then tabulated in an excel worksheet and I later added activities, stops and of course, where and what we shall have our meals.
Sesuka hatiku, I decided on the activities and booked some of them online:
- Auckland - Takapuna Beach with view of Rangitoto Island (largest volcanic island)
- Auckland - Davenport Beach and Town (for Auckland's skyline & pastry breakfast)
- Auckland - Kelly Tarlton's SEALIFE Aquarium for the gentoo and king penguins
- Auckland - Albert Park and University of Auckland
- Auckland - Piha Beach (black sand beach)
- Auckland - One Tree Hill and observatory
- Rotorua - Te Puia for the geysers, mudpools, maori cultural performance
- Rotorua - Tamaki Maori Village for the hangi and maori experience
- Rotorua - Lake Rotorua and Hannah's Bay Reserve park & playground (free)
- Rotorua - Skyline Gondola and Luge - no need to book beforehand
- Rotorua - Agrodome - farm tour
- Taupo - Hukka Falls and Taupo lake front, while trying out BurgerFuel and then noting Mount Ruapehu and Mount Tongariro when driving further south
- Wellington - Te Papa Museum (free), waterfront, kebab lunch, Mt Victoria lookout
- Scenic cruise (compulsory) on Interislander, crossing between North and South Islands
- Pohara - Golden Bay and Farewell Spit, having brekkie at the Totally Roasted Cafe, noting the Abel Tasman National Park as we drive along
- Hokitika - Fish and Chips takeaway lunch at Sunset Point
- Franz Josef Glacier - takeaway food for dinner
- Fox Glacier - breakfast at Lake Matheson cafe with view of Mt Cook and Mt Tasman and trail to the Mirror Lakes for reflection of these mountains
- Fox Glacier lookout
- Haast River when driving south enroute to Te Anau
- Wanaka Lake
- Wanaka - pastry snacks at Florence Foodstore, Cardrona Valley Road enroute to Queenstown
- Te Anau - dinner at Mainly Seafood
- Milford Sound cruise
- Te Anau Glowworms Caves cruise
- Queenstown Gardens
- Mount Cook
- Lake Pukaki
- Lake Tekapo
- High country fresh salmon farm
- Lake Dunstan at Cromwell
- Kawarau Bridge - Watch people bungee jump
- Jet Shotover at Kawarau Gorge
- Queenstown Ziptrek Ecotours - 4 lines
- Queenstown Skyline and Luge
- Glenorchy scenic drive
- TSS Earnslaw cruise on Lake Wakatipu
- Walter Peak Farm tour
Subhanallah, so many items and even that, I have not included things in the bucket list such as skydiving, bungee jumping, most scenic train ride across the South Island: Tranzalpine, walking and heli-ing to the glaciers, whale watching at Kaikoura as the highway #1 on the east coast is still closed thanks to the earthquakes in 2011 and 2016. I intentionally skipped Christchurch, Dunedin and the Caitlins as we have to prioritise and not be MORE stressed, beating the purpose of a holiday. At first, Daddy suggested we spend the 14 days on either one of the island only BUT.. I can't possibly bring myself to agree as I do not know when the second 2 weeks on the other island will be had considering Kak Ngah will be sitting for her SPM in 2018. So 2 weeks for both islands it is.
As for food, it is quite tricky and cumbersome to bring foodstuff from our country. Unlike other countries, where we brought beras / nasi impit, instant noodles, snacks, rendang, pasta, sardines, cucur (!) bla bla bla, for NZ we bravely opted not to bring any food for the convenience of not having to declare and waste anything should the foodstuff be rejected and for the sake of speedy customs' clearance of having to describe those things after more than 15 hours of travelling. I said brave because we have a toddler son and 2 teens who are constantly hungry and could devour anything they see. huhuh.
Google, trip advisor and lonely planet book play the most part on helping me identify the food outlets, mostly involving halal kebabs (yums), staple NZ food: fish and chips, salmon with eggs (omelette / egg benedict) and halal or vegetarian friendly set-ups. Also, as the North Island has many muslims, many halal butchers are available and so we shall buy meat supplies in Auckland and have them in Rotorua, hopefully. For groceries, we will opt for either Countdown or PAK'n Save.
In terms of luggage, the girls will share one medium luggage, I will use my medium one, both Daddy and Adik will use a small luggage each. And a backpack each. Just to ensure that the bags can fit into the stationwagon. Our gameplan was to bring old clothes and leave them behind (recycle) and buy new ones instead. This is necessary as we do not have time to do laundry for those one-nighter stays. And to make sure bag tak beranak hahah.
Oh yes. As Adik is no longer a baby, I have to bring him to Imigresen Dept to have his passport picture updated. That took a whole morning at the Kelana Jaya branch. Just have to pay for picture (taken at a nearby outlet, next to the branch). And not forgetting sending the Cat to the pet hotel.
So, that was basically the planning side. My goodness, itu je pun dah fenat!
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