10/12/23 Sun - 11/12/23
Mon: Was pretty excited because I’d wanted to visit New Zealand since a long time
ago because of the amazing nature they seem to have! Though the return tickets
to Queenstown was expensive ($2300.95 per pax), I still decided we should visit
New Zealand this summer! Quick summary of essentials/info before the trip…
- New
Zealand’s five hours ahead of Singapore time, so it took me a while to adjust
in the first two days especially.
- Exchange
rate: SGD1 to NZ 1.21 (changed S$1.5k each)… all-up, I estimate we’d spent
about S$4.5k per pax for the entire trip, all costings included.
- Yoowifi
Pocket Wifi (1GB daily): S$39.44 for 16 days (it worked fine for us in
Mauritius but it did not connect well in many places in New Zealand though)
- Bubblegum
insurance: S$58.72 per pax
- International
Driving Permit: S$20
- Snap
Car rental: S$984.58 for 15 days
- Nzeta
fees: S$86.16 per pax
Ian was very nice to drive
PotaTOHs to the airport in the late afternoon on Sunday and Potato treated us
to dinner ($69.85) at T3’s Paradise Dynasty. We had tofu century egg, lime
juice and xiao long bao~ I think Potato “desperately” needed the lime juice
because the la mian pork dumpling he had tasted the spiciest among us three lol!
Ian ate the dan dan mian while I had the hot sour la mian which was quite nice
I thought.
Tried to go to one of
the Amex’s lounge at SQ but was denied entry because of they required more paperwork
to be submitted on Potato’s side. We boarded SQ 221 enroute to Sydney. It was
supposed to fly off at 8.40pm but somehow delayed to 9.15pm, but we still
reached Sydney slightly earlier by five minutes at 7.35am on Monday morning.
Red-eye flights are not my friends because I can’t sleep well on moving
vehicles and there’s wailing kids in the middle of the night omg… One of the
SIA stewardess was very attentive though. She gave me warm water after I asked
for it and after that, she remembered to serve me warm water when I asked for
plain water again.
Thanks to Ian’s
supplementary card, PotaTOHs got to visit The Centurion at Sydney airport for
some random buffet meal before NZ 232’s flight at 9.20am.It was a smaller plane
and a shorter flight to Queenstown. We were supposed to land at 2.25pm but it
got quite scary five minutes prior to landing. The plane suddenly took flight
again when it was almost landing and we were left wondering. The pilot was
quick to explain that wind was too strong for landing so he tried after going a
few more rounds around the mountains and did it! Everybody in the plane clapped
and I was like “phew!”
It was almost cold at
the small Queenstown airport when the wind blew~ After going out of the
airport, we had to look for the shuttle bus area where the bus would pick us up
and go to the Snap Car Rental shop. *The air was so dry there compared to
Singapore so I’ve got blood in my phlegm on the first day, and also dried bloody
boogers on the first two days.*
The drive over to our
Airbnb at Tina’s (S$286.43 for two nights) was quite fast and we got there at
4pm. Tina was very welcoming and explained to us on our self-contained
apartment for the night. I thought her Airbnb was easily the best we stayed at
in New Zealand because it was spacious, had heated bed and even the toilet
floors… everything we needed basically. *Not too sure if it’s because I barely
slept on the flights and was up for 30+hours but I’m quite sure I saw a weird-looking
driver that resembled a grim reaper in an old red car going away from us while
on our way to the Airbnb. Potato was focused on driving, but I saw that and
much as I hoped it was a prank by some local, it probably was a bad omen
because there were a number of hiccups the next two days for me, especially.*
PotaTOHs drove over and
parked for two hours at Boundary Street Carpark (NZD 2.5 per hour) before
walking over to the main Queenstown shopping street, where we had late lunch at
Erik’s Fish and Chips. We ordered the Hoki fish with fries (NZD14.5) but it was
very salty.
Drove over to Onsen Hot
Pools at 6.15pm and got there in 15 minutes. I already bought a one-hour soak
session at their outdoor tub via Klook (S$135.79). It came with a towel, drink
and snack for each person. I chose red wine but didnt finish it though it was good.
Potato tried their boyson berry and neyson apple juice which was very nice. The
views were so pretty and I felt somewhat better after the soak.
For dinner, we drove to
Freshchoice supermarket and bought a frozen ham and pineapple pizza (NZD 4.2) and
green capsicum because I wanted some greens haha. *Potato said salmon sold
there was more expensive than Singapore’s.* Got back at 8.30pm and Potato helped
to make dinner for us~ only ate at 9.15pm and it was okay I guess. *Potato tried
using a dishwasher for the first time too… nice.* The unlucky thing happened
to me at night when I was brushing my teeth. One whole amalgam filling on my
upper right molar fell right out as I brushed omg! There was a big hole
immediately and since I would only visit the dentist when I go back, I had to
be careful of infection in there, so I avoided chewing using the right side of
the mouth as much as possible. *Ouch what a first day in New Zealand for me~*
Oh and it was cold at first so I tucked myself under the bedsheet but woke
up in the middle of the night sweating badly!
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