Travel: New Zealand
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Small Bell:
Humm... I'm not good in writing, took too many pictures as always... plan to sort them next year while children are schooling. BTW, did you notice the cute kiwi road signs near Rotorua? Upload 1 of them
There were some interesting road signs along the way. Didn't take any photos of them since I am driving... :yikes: Actually they have quite creative road signs using animals warning drivers about speeding, etc. Notice one on the way back to Auckland for truck drivers to do safety checks...
Yah, took lots of photos. Good thing it is now digital and not using film. Just shoot and delete later if not happy. Still the photos taken do not capture the situation when you are actually there. -
JR:
Hi JR,Small Bell:
Humm... I'm not good in writing, took too many pictures as always... plan to sort them next year while children are schooling. BTW, did you notice the cute kiwi road signs near Rotorua? Upload 1 of them
There were some interesting road signs along the way. Didn't take any photos of them since I am driving... :yikes: Actually they have quite creative road signs using animals warning drivers about speeding, etc. Notice one on the way back to Auckland for truck drivers to do safety checks...
Yah, took lots of photos. Good thing it is now digital and not using film. Just shoot and delete later if not happy. Still the photos taken do not capture the situation when you are actually there.
Just read your review. Sounds like a great trip. I just got back yesterday evening. No problem with time difference for us. We got into things well once we arrived at Christchurch, and slept well last night and are back to SG time today. I must say we are lucky that our flight timings are great and we were able to rest well on our flights. I'll be getting down to sharing my review of our SI trip in the next few days once we are settled back.
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Am thinking of going to New Zealand during Christmas…how is it like? Always heard there are more sheep than people and worried that my kids will get bored.
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coolit:
Am thinking of going to New Zealand during Christmas..how is it like? Always heard there are more sheep than people and worried that my kids will get bored.
If you still haven't booked your tickets and accommodation, then I think you are too late to plan to go now. Christmas is a peak season in NZ. -
coolit:
Am thinking of going to New Zealand during Christmas..how is it like? Always heard there are more sheep than people and worried that my kids will get bored.
I suppose kids will prefer activities than just appreciating the nice scenic views. It will depends on how old your kids are and what kind of activities they are interested in. For my 7 year old son, he loved the Waterworks, the river rafting and skyline luge. -
Hi, do we need a visa to travel to NZ? TIA!
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For Singaporean, we do not need visa for travel to NZ.
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Sporean visiting NZ -> no need to apply visa
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Tks for your assurances!
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Hi everyone,
Here’s Part 1 of my trip review that I promised. Sorry, took so long as there has been so much to do after we came back. Hope I won’t bore all of you with my rattling…
To give some background, we went on a 15 day self drive trip around South Island. We have 3 kids, age 14, 11 and 5.
Day 1:
We arrived in Christchurch in the late morning after a 10 hour flight from Singapore. Bought a prepaid voda phone and data card ($100), and called our motel to pick us up. We were promptly picked up by the Airport Delta Motel. After check in, we picked up or rental car from Apex a short walk from our motel, went for lunch and stock up at the supermarket for breakfast and stuff for our planned picnic lunch at Arthur’s Pass the next day. Then it’s off to the International Antarctic Centre. We experienced the Antarctic storm (up to -18degrees), saw a 4D show, penguins and boys went for the Huggland Ride. They loved it. We were too tired to go out for dinner, so I prepared a simple steak and salad dinner that night.
Day 2:
After breakfast, we set off for Punakaiki via Arthur’s Pass. We were wowed by the scenery along the way and made photostops! Stopped at Arthur’s Pass visitor’s centre for our picnic lunch. After lunch we took the Devil’s Punchbowl Falls Walk. It was our first walk and it was more tiring then we expected. But we made it and what a beautiful view it was that greeted us!
Arrived at Punakaiki after several photo stops along the Coastal Road. Decided to take a walk at the Pancake rocks before checking into our hotel at the Punakaiki Resort. Pancake rocks was beautiful but tide was low and so we decided to check it out again the next morning.
Checked into our hotel, had a short rest, then went for dinner at the Waterline Restaurant. After dinner, went back to our room to enjoy the beautiful sunset. It was already past 9pm!
Day 3:
Checked out of our hotel early and had breakfast at the little café opposite the pancake rocks. Visited the rocks again, but no luck, tide was still low. Off we went to ShantyTown at Greymouth. Took the steam train ride, kids panned for gold and we had an old fashion family photo taken. Then we had lunch here before heading to Franz Josef. ShantyTown is small, didn’t think it was worth the ticket price, but then it is a good stop between Punakaiki and Franz Josef.
Arrived in Franz Josef and checked into the Punga Grove Motel & Suites. Went to the visitor’s centre to check out the walks in the area. We were interested in doing the Sentinel Rock Walk. Was advised that the clouds are low and we may not be able to see the Glacier from the Sentinel Rock and may need to do the Glacier valley walk instead. We decided to check it out but it started to rain, so we turned back, promising ourselves that we do the walk the next day. So we went to the supermarket and I cooked dinner again that night. Incidentally by now, we discovered the chocolate magmum ice cream that we don’t get at home, and we love those and had to have them for dessert every other night!
Day 4:
DH, DS1 and DS2 went off for their Helihike this morning after breakfast. DD (5yo) is too young for the Helihike. Min age is 8. So myself and DD were picked up an hour later for our Twin Glacier scenic flight with glacier landing tour. DD was all excited about going up a Glacier and playing with snow. We enjoyed ourselves on our scenic flight and glacier landing. It was so beautiful and not an experience we’ll forget. The Helicopter Line office was less than 10 mins walk to our motel. So after our adventure, DD and I took a leisurely walk back stopping along the way to browse the shops. Back at the motel, borrowed a DVD from reception to keep DD occupied and started preparing lunch.
Boys came back from the hike and had so much to tell. They enjoyed their morning adventure too. We took a rest after lunch and in the late afternoon, went for our Sentinel Rock Walk. It was again a tiring steep walk, but we managed and had a good view of Franz Josef. Then we decided to drive over to Fox Glacier for the Lake Matheson walk. Little did we expect the drive to be a long windy one. We were disappointed when we reached lake Matheson. It was cloudy and we could not see much. So after a walk to the Old Jetty, we turned back, and went back to Franz Josef for dinner.
Had dinner at the Blue Ice Café. It had good reviews, but we found the food to be so so.
To be continued…
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