New Zealand 16 Days Self Drive Holiday 2019 - Pre Trip

Lupin by the Lake side, Tekapo

The idea of going to New Zealand was quite a sudden and unusual; NZ is far from most parts of the World including Borneo Island, and airfare is high.

We had travelled to few parts of Europe with travel agents, and this is our first out of the country self-planned holidays. Lily and I still preferred cooler climate; we decided on NZ partly of its self-drive popularity, safer environment and familiar commonwealth background; and particularly beautiful landscape for older people like us.

Dairy milking cows, Tirau, Waikato


As we were planning the trip in early 2019, the cheaper AirAsia X had just cancelled its direct route to Auckland from Kuala Lumpur!

We finally booked the usual Malaysian Airline as we could get easier connecting flight from Borneo, Kuching; our luggage was checked in from Kuching direct to Auckland!

Malaysian Airline ticket - Kuala Lumpur/ Auckland


This proved a little convenience when the MH changed its whole KL Auckland December schedule one month after we had confirmed the tickets. We could reschedule the connecting flights on Borneo sector with ease and free. Later Nonie joined us with the same schedule easily also as she had a whole December free before starting her legal career.

2019 was the first year NZ started using the NZeTA (New Zealand electronic Travel Authority); application was easy and fast, with the www.govt.nz.

NZeTA issued from www.govt.nz


Both car rental and accommodation planning came later as a very challenging exercise after our immigration & flight confirmation as this was a 16 days self-drive trip in both North and South Islands.

Lily and I went through countless routes possibilities and changes. As we were planning more than 6 months ahead, we got plenty of night discussion and arguments with our laptop in front, displaying with Google Maps, Agoda sites, NZ sites, photos, sample itineraries etc.

Our rented Apex's Toyota Rav4 from Christchurch to Auckland


We landed with local Apex car rental starting our journey from Christchurch; Apex provided competitive rate for returning car to Auckland from Christchurch at the time of our booking. We were doing a backwards loop from Christchurch to Auckland, through the Cook Strait, by ferry.

Crossing the Cook Strait from South Island's Picton to Wellington


Partly I had planned some contingency especially on the returning international flight from Auckland to Kuala Lumpur; I felt having staying in North Island few days ahead with own transport on hand was flexible and less risky than catching a domestic flight from South Island to North for a subsequent international flight, especially on the last 1 or 2 days before home.

Jetstar flight delay from Auckland to Christchurch


This proved to be quite logical because our 2nd day domestic Jetstar from Auckland to Christchurch had delayed almost 3 hours! Well, we were not rushing then, at least. We later learnt that was partly due to the Whakaari / White Island eruption, hours after we touched down Auckland on the first day.

Whakaari / White Island eruption; source: popularmechanics.com


I had been using Agoda for more than 10 years, we decided to just use the platform for our whole trip accommodation for convenience. Lily and I went through countless amendment as route were changed and up to the last few days before we departed for Auckland, as we were being updated with more and more interesting sites, tips etc.

Sample Agoda confirmation

The NZ MYR exchange rate was close to 3 before we left Kuching, early we were wondering how much hard NZ cash we would require, I was quite reluctant to use credit cards on petty items especially in foreign lands. A young couple we met in last Eastern Europe trip showed us, the old-fashioned couple, the ease of getting just a mug of beer with BigPay Master debit card!

BigPay mastercard


We registered for 2 BigPay cards, and maximised on the trip on groceries, and beer of course, as NZ had been using their own similar EFTPOS for years even in remote townships.

We would use credit cards for petrol since most petrol companies would withhold certain unnecessary funds from debit cards for few days. Car rental normally would prefer credit cards also. Accommodation was earlier taken care off with Agoda before the trip, with credit cards facility. The arrangement had helped taking lesser hard NZ dollar around. In fact, I hardly recalled any moments during the trip using real NZ cash. Lily could even top up the BigPay while I was driving on the way to Queenstown!

Like earlier few memorable trips, I still preferred getting the familiar cheaper pre-paid SIM from China Unicom (HK); as we touched down Auckland International Airport, we just switched on and Lily already called Boy on household reminders at home, we got 3 SIMS, all with 4G.

Pre-paid 4G SIM


As we got done with major ground works, we focused on getting details on local attaractions, things to do and the like before the BIG DAY, departure on 08 December 2019!

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