Kia Ora and thank God for the wonderful vacation at beautiful New Zealand. We had a free-n-easy tour from 27-Sep to 14-Oct 2003. We drove around the beautiful country on a rented car. Some of the activities that we did are black water caving, white water rafting, ice glaciers hiking, and snow skiing. Wow! It was such good fun!

Here are the details of our trip. Feel free to click on the links for more information...

Day Date  AM PM Overnight
0 27-SepSat Depart Singapore for New Zealand
1 28-SepSun Arrive Auckland Drive to Waitomo Kiwi Paka YHA Waitomo
2 29-SepMon Lost World AbseilHaggas Honking HolesKiwi Paka YHA Waitomo
3 30-SepTue Drive to Rotorua Visit Whakarewarewa Therma Reserve Kiwi Paka YHA Rotorua
4 1-OctWed Kaituna River Rafting (Grade 5) Polynesian Spa (Sulphur pool dip and massage treatment) Kiwi Paka YHA Rotorua
5 2-OctThu Fly to Christchurch Drive to Tekapo Lake Tekapo YHA
6 3-OctFri Drive to Omaru Drive to Dunedin Stafford Gables YHA
7 4-OctSat Horse Farm VisitNatural EncountersCarisbrook Motel
8 5-OctSun Drive to Nugget Pt Drive to Te Anau Te Anau YHA
9 6-OctMon Treking at Te Anau Milford Sound Overnight CruiseMilford Wanderer
10 7-OctTue Milford Overnight CruiseDrive to Queenstown Sherwood Manor
11 8-OctWed Snow Skiing at Mount Coronet (Queenstown) Resort Lodge
12 9-OctThu Drive to Haast (West Coast) Drive to Franz Josef Franz Josef Glacier YHA
13 10-OctFri Fox Glacier Hike Drive to Greymouth Kainga-ra YHA
14 11-OctSat Drive to Hanmer Springs Forest Hike Kakapo Lodge YHA
15 12-OctSun Drive to Christchurch Christchurch Shopping Gothic Heights Motel
16 13-OctMon Last minute shopping at Christchurch Christchurch City Central YHA
17 14-OctTue Depart New Zealand for Singapore

After much research on the web, we got a good deal for our car rental with Ace Car Rentals. They offered us a 1.5L Toyota Corolla car at NZ$39 per day (North Island) and NZ$35 per day (South Island). The cars served us very well!

We registered ourselves for a YHA Membership. That gave us some savings for our lodging with YHA. Free Linen even! ;) It gave us some savings for some of the activities as well.

We have also got our Travel Insurance from Tenet Insurance. One of the nice features of the TravelJoy policy is that it has the Vehicle Rental Access cover. Should there be an accident, it covers the first S$750, whereas the car rental insurance from Ace covers the remaining. They complement each other and we are fully covered then. :)

Well, you have read the details, now it's time to view some really nice pictures. Click on the banner below to journey with us...

Pictures of New Zealand


Here's a big THANK YOU to some of our friends who have given us many invaluable advice :

  • Michael & Jennifer - for the tips on driving around NZ...
  • Wilfred & Siow Ling - for the tips on YHA lodging...
  • Justin & Serene - for the very useful map of New Zealand...
  • Terence from Wellington - for the many ideas for the trip...
  • Andrea from Dunedin - for vetting through our itineraries...
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