The Land of Kiwis

Take me to the volcano!

Yeah! We are going to New Zealand, the land of Kiwis.

We met someone from New Zealand when we were in Guilin and she invited us to visit her in New Zealand. After we got back from China, we decided this is the best time to go to New Zealand. After all, it is spring down there!

Things to do

There are lots of information online for things to do in New Zealand. Tripadvisor Things to Do in New Zealand‎ is a good starting point. Two other sites with great, detailed local information are, the official New Zealand travel site and Department of Conservation site.

We created a My Map on Google Maps and plotted on it every locations we found interesting during our research.

Flights

We have a few must haves that affect our flight plan.

We want to visit my sister in Melbourne
We want to visit Rotorua on the North Island
We want to visit our friend at Nelson on the South Island
We want to spend most of our time on the South Island

Based on that, we have several options, like, visit Melbourne at the start of the trip or at the end, driving down to Wellington then take the ferry to South Island, fly from Auckland to Nelson, fly from Auckland to Christchurch, and on and on.

We used Google Flights to get a sense of the price and flight schedule for each segment of the various options. At the end we decided to book the following flights separately to maximize our time on the ground.

Chicago – Melbourne round trip [Orbitz] – Air Canada
Melbourne to Auckland [Expedia Australia] – Air New Zealand
Auckland to Nelson [Expedia New Zealand] – Air New Zealand
Christchurch to Melbourne [Expedia Australia] – Air New Zealand

Notes:

Carry on limit for Air Canada is 10kg and only 7kg for Air New Zealand.
Air Canada operates CRJ 900 between Chicago and Vancouver. The overhead compartment would not fit the standard carry on suitcase.
Air New Zealand charges for inflight meal for regional flights and the meal needs to be booked when booking the ticket.

Rental cars

Instead of taking the ferry, we will rent two separate cars, one for North and one for South

Two days of Hyundai i30 from Snap Rentals at Auckland
Thirteen days of Mazda CX-5 from Hertz at Nelson

Tours

A few sites for professional guided tours and cruises

The more your know

Travel documents and customs

Make sure to check New Zealand visa requirements before booking the trip. U.S. passport holders do not need to apply for visa for staying up to three months.

The Australian visa requirements are different. U.S. passport holders must apply for an ETA before boarding the flight to Australia.

Both Melbourne and Auckland airport have SmartGare/e-gate for international arrival and departure. Getting through customs only take minutes. However, both are island countries and are extremely strict about biosecurity. Make sure to declare any controlled items on the arrival card or at the kiosk.

Connectivity

T-Mobile with international roaming works great in Australia and New Zealand. If you have an unlocked phone, you can also buy a tourist SIM card at the airports. In New Zealand, coverage is really good around cities. Areas in between oftentimes have no cellular signals at all.

Payment system

Most restaurants and grocery stores accept payWave which works with Apple Pay and Android Pay. Many stores at the airports also accept WeChat pay and Alipay. Chip-and-PIN credit card works in all places that accept credit card. Unfortunately, almost all American credit cards require a signature for the transaction. Those cards can only be used at staffed locations. Good old cash still works. Each bank charges different fee for using oversea ATM; some debit card does not even work overseas. Make sure to check that with the bank before heading out. The only time we had to use cash, at a public restroom at Te Anau.

Apple Pay, Android Pay, WeChat pay, Alipay
Credit card
Cash

Driving

More than just driving on the left, driving in New Zealand is different. A few things to especially pay attention to,

In most cases, direction of travels are separated by WHITE line, NOT yellow. Visit the Transport Agency web site to find out more details.
In remote areas, there are not a lot of cars. You could be driving on the WRONG side of the road without realizing it, until another car shows up.
If there is another car behind you, let it pass. If there is passing lane ahead, pull to the left lane at the passing lane. If there isn’t one, just slowdown and pull off to the left side when it is safe to let the car pass.

Be prepared to take more time than what Google Map shows. Make sure to check road closures before heading out, especially towards the west coast on South Island.

Gas stations

In New Zealand there are a lot of unattended gas stations. Those stations only accepts Chip-and-PIN credit cards. Credit cards that require signature, i.e. American credit cards, will NOT work. Debit card does not work at such station either. Luckily, attended gas stations are just as common. I fill up the tank everyday just to be safe. Especially, before heading to Milford Sound from Te Anau. The round trip is about 250 km and there is no gas station anywhere in between.

Weather

The weather is on the wet side, especially on the west coast. Milford Sound rains about 200 days in a year. A great weather forecast for the New Zealand area is metvuw.com. It is recommended by sky divers, must be good!

Voyager