New Zealand South Island Road Trip
We are all set to take you on a roller coaster of a road trip through the South Island of New Zealand. This would require quite a bit of planning so let us straightaway get to work and see what all needs to be done, before we start.
Visa – The most important, as expected, is the visa to New Zealand. This can be applied online where the requested documents need to be uploaded. There is no requirement for any physical appearance. The lead time for this is four weeks after which you get your eVisa. All you need to do is to take a print of that and carry that with you while travelling. The link to apply visa is here. The cost for two people came to ₹28,321 which is approx. NZD 500.
Flight Tickets – New Zealand is quite far away and hence flight tickets will be expensive. So, its best to book well in advance, in order to get the best deals. Skyscanner is the best site to initiate the bookings as it provides a variety of options. However, most of the options would be via Australia (either Melbourne or Sydney). And if you go via Australia, you would need a transit visa for Australia. This is free of cost and it would take around 10 days. And most importantly, while applying for this you need to show your NZ visa and your onward flight tickets. Hence, the total visa lead time would be four weeks + 10 days in case you travel through Australia.
Car Rental – As we are going for a road-trip, it is best to do the bookings a week in advance. We went through the aggregator app Discover Cars, and from there we got a decent deal from Yes Rentals. For six days, the cost came to around ₹23,000.
All set to travel now. We booked our tickets through Melbourne, Australia. We would be flying by Indigo from Mumbai to Singapore and then by Qantas to Melbourne.
Our itinerary is as follows:
Day 1: Fly from Mumbai to Melbourne via Singapore.
Day 2: Arrival in Melbourne. Overnight stay in Melbourne
Day 3: Spend Day in Melbourne. Fly to Christchurch in the evening
Day 4: Spend Day in Christchurch
Day 5: Start of Road Trip. Drive from Christchurch to Lake Tekapo (overnight stay in Lake Tekapo)
Day 6: Drive from Lake Tekapo to Mount Cook and then to Twizel (overnight stay in Twizel)
Day 7: Drive from Twizel to Lake Hawea (overnight stay in Lake Hawea)
Day 8: Drive from Lake Hawea to Wanaka and then to Queenstown (overnight stay at Queenstown)
Day 9: Drive to Glenorchy and back to Queenstown (overnight stay at Queenstown)
Day 10: Drive back to Christchurch via Twizel and Lake Tekapo
Day 11: Spend Day at Christchurch
Day 12: Fly out of Christchurch to Hong Kong (overnight stay at Hong Kong)
Day 13: Fly from Hong Kong to Pune via New Delhi
Day 1: Fly from Mumbai to Melbourne via Singapore
Day 2: Arrival in Melbourne. Overnight stay in Melbourne
Day 3: Spend Day in Melbourne. Fly to Christchurch in the evening
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Day 4: Spend Day in Christchurch
Day 5: Start of Road Trip. Drive from Christchurch to Lake Tekapo (overnight stay in Lake Tekapo)
Day 6: Drive from Lake Tekapo to Mount Cook and then to Twizel (overnight stay in Twizel)
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Day 7: Drive from Twizel to Lake Hawea (overnight stay in Lake Hawea)
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Day 8: Drive from Lake Hawea to Wanaka and then to Queenstown (overnight stay at Queenstown)
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Day 9: Drive to Glenorchy and back to Queenstown (overnight stay at Queenstown)
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Day 10: Drive back to Christchurch via Twizel and Lake Tekapo
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Day 11: Spend Day at Christchurch
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Day 13: Fly from Hong Kong to Pune via New Delhi
