New Zealand Travel Tips: What You Wish You Knew
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| Lake Wanaka Sunset |
After crafting out my New Zealand itinerary for almost 2 months, and a grueling 10-hour flight, here are some New Zealand travel tips I wish I knew right from the start. Nothing beats having first-hand experience traveling in New Zealand.
Code-sharing flights to New Zealand
I thought I've got a good deal when I was buying my flight tickets from Singapore Airlines when they were having a deal. One fine day, I realized I was wrong. With code-sharing flights, SIN -> ZQN (Queenstown) only costs around S$900)! That's at least S$400 saved on air tickets itself. (Although the website says it costs about S$700, I went to verify on Skyscanner and it quoted me around S$900).
Transit Visa in Australia
I transitted in Australia because I didn't want to seat on the plane for more than 10 hours. Sadly, I realized that if you are transiting in Australia for more than 8 hours, you would need to apply for a Transit Visa. Even though the visa is free, apparently you need to pay for them to get your biometric information. At the end of the day, the visa is still not free.
Staying in a Campervan for 10 days might not be a good idea
And you thought that you want to sleep in a campervan for your whole trip because that's what your friends did on their New Zealand trip. It's true that staying in a campervan is convenient for your trip, and you'll be saving more money, but it also means that you'll be sacrificing a significant amount of comfort. There is limited amount of everything in the van, ranging from electricity, to water, to space and warmth. Especially in the cold months, you might want to reconsider this.
Alternatively, you can always find a campervan on Airbnb and sleep there for one night. That would easily help you tick off staying in a campervan from your bucket list.
Christchurch loop or Queenstown to Christchurch
From itineraries online to friends' itineraries, 90% of them told me to do the Christchurch loop. You fly in to Christchurch, do a drive loop and end your trip where you started off. Sadly, only after I bought my tickets and started planning for my trip, did I realize that you shouldn't go for the Christchurch loop if you are not visiting Franz Josef Glacier or Fox Glacier.
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| Lake Marian Trail |
Hikes are not as easy as they claim online
When researching about hiking trails online, there would be a high chance you'll reach the DoC site. After taking a look at the track overview, you were in excitement because the trail falls under the "Easy" category. Unfortunately, it probably only applies to frequent hikers.
I've tried hiking Roys Peak and it was really steep for me, but the website claims that it is an easy trail.
Asian food is H-A-R-D to find
If eating western food for 10 days straight is not your thing, pack some of your favourite Asian food with you, be it instant noodles to your favourite instant soups, you'll thank me later. Only in the cities like Christchruch, Queenstown or Te Anau, Asian food options are available. Towns outside those main city areas, there would only be western food served.
Driving is a Must and an International Driving License
Unless you're in New Zealand with a tour, driving is not really optional. You can get Ubers around the city, but if you want to visit those scenic spots, you need to drive. Also, you'll need an international driving license or a driving license that is in English.
"Near the airport" is not a walkable distance
When booking your accommodations, the hosts might mark their place as "Near the Airport". Some might be thinking it might be a walkable 10 minutes or so. Unfortunately, because New Zealand is really big, these places are not walkable. Some might be 5-10km away from the airport.
Having offline maps gives you peace of mind
Regardless of what telco line you are using, once you get into the National Parks, you start getting low connectivity and you don't want to just be driving cluelessly to the viewpoints you want to visit.
Strict speed limits
I've read blogs about New Zealand's speed limits, heard stories about it, fortunately, I did not get myself into any trouble this time around. I kinda like driving faster than the speed limit on empty roads but I've learned my lesson the hard way and decided to stick close to the speed limit in New Zealand.
Bonus: The best Airbnb houses run out really early
Even though I was booking my Airbnb accommodations around one and a half month in advance, some Airbnbs that I wanted ran out by the time I decided to book them. I did a quick check on those popular houses, and they were fully booked two months in advance.
These were the top 10 things which I wish I knew before even going to New Zealand. Hope you find them useful in preparation for your trip!
