Including flight, food, accommodation and our day tours!
To start with, we booked our flights
really early. We were due to fly in October and we have already booked the
flight tickets in April.
So here’s the expense and itinerary
breakdown
Day 1 Singapore – Sydney – Christchurch
Depart
Singapore on 16 October at 7pm local time
Cost:
S$1,102.00 (Return flight - We found
out that the prices sky rocketed after that, so it was an awesome feeling!)
SIN
to SYD – 7 hrs 45 min (British Airways)
(4
hour layover – the luggage goes straight to Christchurch, so you don’t have to
worry about this during the layover)
SYD
to CHC – 3 hrs 5 min (Air New Zealand)
Day 1 Total Expenses: S$1,102.00
Day 2: Christchurch
We
arrived at 3pm local time and man it was colddd. Brrrr.
We
grab a 3GB Data prepaid sim card from Vodafone that was on promotion at NZD39 with 200 minutes local and overseas talk time so it was
really well worth the price. Then we head over to the bus bay to wait for the
transfer bus to take us to the Apex Car Rental to pick up our ride for the
trip. We have already reserved a car back in Singapore and it costs us a total
of NZD876 including all excess
cover. To save some money, we brought our own GPS pre-configured, which was a
great idea as we were familiar with our own device and reduces the need of
fumbling around the machine.
The staffs
was helpful, we checked the car and was ready to go!
We
drove to our hotel in Christchurch – Breakfree on Cashel. This hotel is new and
in the city area. You could reach the supermarkets and the places of interest
all within about 10 minutes’ drive. Moreover, they have loads of free parking
space nearby. So it’s a good deal.
Christchurch – Breakfree on Cashel (1
night)
Cost
per person: S$47.50
Day 2 Total Expenses: S$47.50 + NZD
457.50 (NZD 915/2)
Day 3: Christchurch
– Lake Tekapo
We headed out early to Lake Tekapo
and the sceneries along the route were just breathtaking. We checked into our
hostel – Tailor Made Tekapo Backpackers and the staff was really welcoming,
introducing us the places of interest in the vicinity. This hostel is only a
mere 15 minutes’ walk or 4 minutes’ drive away from the infamous Church of Good
Shepard and the eateries around town. You may think associate hostels with bunk
beds and shared bathrooms but nope. This is none of those. We have a huge room
to ourselves and an attached bathroom. Our car can be parked right in front of
our unit so it was really convenient and economical!
 |
| Church of Good Shepard |
Lake Tekapo - Tailor Made Tekapo
Backpackers (1 night)
Cost
per person: S$44.00
Near
evening, we head over to the Earth & Sky Stargazing Tour for an amazing
night ahead. It was freezing cold but we saw the aurora australis!!!!!
 |
| Aurora Australis at Tekapo |
Earth
& Sky Stargazing Tour
Cost
per person: S$137.95
Total distance covered: 325km
Day 3 Total Expenses: S$181.95
Day 4: Lake
Tekapo – Mount Cook – Omarama
 |
| Mueller Lake Lookout |
After the incredible night, we head
over to Aoraki Mount Cook. As far as the planning goes, we wanted to stay in
the car at the DOC for that night, but judging how little stuff we can do, we
decided to make our way to the next town to alleviate some km for tomorrow.
So we ended driving to Omarama after
a short hike to the Mueller Lake Lookout.
Omarama - Countrytime Hotel (1
night)
Cost
per person: S$58.00
Countrytime
hotel is fairly decent
and has an old vintage feel to it. We actually like the hotel (surprisingly)
despite being a last minute decision. The outdoor area has what it feels like a
picturesque country side and you can only try to imagine big open spaces with
Aoraki Mount Cook as the backdrop.
Total distance covered: 185km
Day 4 Total Expenses: S$58.00
Day 5: Omarama
– Oamaru – Moeraki – Dunedin – Catlins
We started our day early as we have
a long journey to go. We stopped by the Moeraki Boulders for a short break.
There is a café at the site and boy, the fish and chips is really one of the best
we ever had. It costs NZD$28 but it was huge and absolutely delicious and well
worth it.
 |
| Nugget Point |
We then move on to Dunedin, a city
bustling with heritage and we visited some of the infamous places like the
railway station and the Speight’s Brewery.
We left at around 3:30pm and start
making our way to our last stop of the day at Kaka Point.
Kaka Point - Cardnos Accommodation
(1 night)
Cost
per person: S$48.00
Oh I
love this homestay and it was really fantabulous. They have 3 heaters; 1 in the
living area, 1 in the bedroom and 1 in the bathroom. For a S$48 per pax
homestay I thought it was really well furnished.
Right
after we settled in, we went ahead to the roaring bay to wait for the rare
yellow-eyed penguins and the eminent Nugget Point Lighthouse to enjoy a little
sea breeze and sunset.
Total distance covered: 360km
Day 5 Total Expenses: S$48.00
Day 6: Catlins
– Slope Point (Invercargil) – Te Anau
We went further south today, in fact
that’s the “southest” you can go. We visited slope point and invercargil as an
impromptu after we went by the Cannibal Bay and the millions years old Curio
Bay. We then proceeded dejectedly to Te Anau when we found out that the famous
Bluff oysters were a bluff (off- season when we visited, as we didn’t do much
research since it was an impromptu side track)
 |
| Wind-swept trees at Slope Point |
We drove in the rain and reached Te
Anau at around 7pm. Rain is usually a good sign in the evening; it tells you
that there is a good chance that the sky will be clear the next day.
Te Anau – Te Anau Top 10 Holiday Park
(1 night)
Cost
per person: S$53.00
I
honestly didn’t had a good opinions about holiday parks until I arrived and
stayed here. It was INCREDIBLE. It was clean, it has all the amenities and you
can park your car right outside your unit. Don’t underestimate the privilege to
park right outside your unit. You don’t really want to lunge your luggage
around in the cold, and worst rain.
So
after we washed up, we went back to book the tour to Milford Sound (Go Milford)
for the following morning. It was a decent deal, NZD159 per pax including
picnic lunch and a mini land tour as well as entry to NZ only floating
underwater observatory at Milford Discovery Center. (Note: there was another
similar tour at NZD 149 that includes buffet lunch that we only realised later.
But read what happens the next day to understand why we didn’t regret our
choices)
Total distance covered: 337km
Day 6 Total Expenses: S$53.00 + NZD159
Day 7: Te
Anau – Milford Sound – Queenstown
We woke up early to pack and check
out and prepare for our tour to Milford Sound. A small bus came to pick us up
and the tour was unbelievable.
We went past the Mirror Lake, Monkey
Creek, Knobs Flat, Homer Tunnel, Christie Falls and The Chasm for photo stops
and finally on the cruise for the Milford Sound tour. The guide was really
informative and the cruise was relatively small, so you get a panoramic view
from every seat. There is also a outdoor area where you can enjoy the breeze
and also the waterfall as they go under it.
 |
| Milford Sound |
We were brought to the floating underwater
observatory where we can observe the wildlife in their natural homes. Afterwards,
we board another cruise back to land. That’s the thing, this cruise that picked
us up was a huge one, serving buffet lunch. But the cruise was so huge it
wouldn’t be able to go close to the cliffs to experience the waterfalls, and
also it you can’t get a seat near the windows, you pretty much can’t see much.
So yea, I think we’ve got ourselves a better deal.
We were back in the holiday park
before 5:30pm and we make our move to Queenstown via the Devil’s Staircase and
the views were just breathtaking. We arrived slightly before 8, got ourselves
checked in and went out for the renowned Fergburger for dinner.
Queenstown - Tanoa Aspen Hotel
Queenstown (2 nights)
Cost
per person: S$95.00
The hotel is about 5 minutes’ drive
from the city center but it resides up a hill which makes your mornings look
like a painting from your windows. The room was normal and decent, but they
gave us a 3pax room making it very comfortable for our 2 nights stay.
Total distance covered: 410km
Day 7 Total Expenses: S$95.00
Day 8: Queenstown
AND I JUMPED.
We woke up early to have a light
breakfast before heading to the Kawarau Bridge Bungee. The whole thing went off
really quickly, from the time I got my tags, I was done in 15minutes. But boy,
it was really frightening and I jumped before I’ve got time to hesitate.
Kawarau Bridge Bungee
 |
| Coronet Peak |
Cost: NZD 195
And guess what did we do after
bungee? We went for a buffet. LOL. We parked downhill and took a gondola up
Bob’s Peak and had buffet lunch at the award winning Stratosfare Restaurant
& Bar. Considering that it only costs NZD
57 per pax including the gondola ride which costs NZD 32 by itself, it is
an extremely good deal with international cuisine and panoramic view of Queenstown.
After our well worthy lunch, we went
to take a quick drive around Queenstown and landed up in Arrowtown and Coronet
Peak (after we got lost to Skipper’s Canyon). It sure ain’t the ski season but
the view was nonetheless beautiful in her own ways.
And guess what we had for dinner
again? You guessed it, FERGBURGER! It was so awesome that my boyfriend has to
eat it twice in 2 nights. (Trust me he even considered going back when we were
in Christchurch later in the trip)
Total distance covered: 86km
Day 8 Total Expenses: NZD252.00
Day 9: Queenstown
– Wanaka – Haast (Blue Pools) – Fox Glacier
We set out early as it’s another
long drive to Fox Glacier with the stops we want to make along the way. We took
the Crown Range road to get to Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea. We also passed by
the Haast’s Pass and had some fun at the Blue Pools before we went straight to
Fox Glacier.
 |
| Crown Range Road |
Fox Glacier – Lake Matheson Motel (2
nights)
Cost
per person: S$119.00
I always had a different opinion
about motels until I arrived here. Lake Matheson Motel is an unassuming motel
that has an ultimate homely feeling when we were there.
We drove to The Lake Matheson but it
was drizzling and required a fair bit of walk so we turned around and went for
dinner at Cook Saddle Cafe & Saloon instead. The food is great and the price is
reasonable. (Try their Chicken Chop! It was absolutely mouth-watering the
moment you see the dish. Gosh I’m getting hungry thinking about it. Their Fish
& Chips is only so-so compared to the ones we had in Moeraki and Kaka
Point.)
Total distance covered: 330km
Day 9 Total Expenses: S$119.00
Day 10: Fox
Glacier
Our hearts sank when we woke up
hearing rain drops on our doorstep because it meant that our long awaited trip
to the heli-hike up the Fox Glacier might be cancelled. Nevertheless we got all
dressed up and went ahead to the Fox Glacier Guiding Building just around the
corner to await the weather check.
Fox Glacier Helihike
Cost per person: NZD 399
It’s a go ahead after waiting for
15minutes’ or so, but we had the choice of postponing our hike to the later
time. We were lucky that we had 2 nights here at Fox Glacier township so we had
the luxury of ascending the glacier at a later time. One tip would be to book
for the 8:50am tour so that in any event, like us, you encountered bad weather,
we could still go back for the tour at 11:50am. And that’s what we did! We went
back at 11:50am and the sky cleared up quite a fair bit by then so it’s great
news!
While waiting for the time to pass,
we went over to Lake Matheson (again). This time round we managed to complete
the full circuit in about an hour and the time was well-spent! Really, you
should definitely visit Lake Matheson whilst in Fox Glacier township.
Total distance covered: 10km
Day 10 Total Expenses: NZD399.00
Day 11: Fox
Glacier – Franz Joseph – Hokitika – Greymouth – Punakaki – Nelson Lake National
Parks – St Arnaud
It’s a ultra-long day today and we
set off really early before 8am and we made a terrible mistake by not pumping
petrol at Fox Glacier township and move on to Franz Joseph township thinking
that the petrol will be cheaper there since it is a larger township of the two.
BUT WE WERE WRONG. It costs us an explosive NZD2.275 per litre in Franz Joseph
but only NZD2.175 per litre in Fox. Silly us. Thinking that there were no other
petrol kiosk for the next hundreds of km, we decided to bear the pain and pump
nevertheless to only arrive in Whataroa to find the petrol at only NZD1.959 per
litre. Yes we were devastated. Lucky we only pumped NZD30 in Franz Joseph. So
we filled the tank and carry on to Hokitika Gorge.
We passed by this Lake Mapourika
along the way and it really is a hidden gem. It was quiet and peaceful and
exceptionally gorgeous. We had our take-away lunch there before continuing our
journey to Hokitika Gorge.
 |
| Lake Mapourika |
We then went straight to Greymouth
because allegedly there was a KFC and he just had to have that craving. But I
guessed we were really out of luck as the only KFC in a 3 hour drive radius is
under renovation. I LOL when I saw his face when he realized there was no KFC.
So we settled out lunch at McDonald’s just opposite the supposedly KFC
location.
We are supposed to head straight to
Nelson Lake Motel but him being him and me being me, we decided to re-route our
way to see the Punakaki Pancake Rocks and the blowhole before we finally
reached our accommodation of the night at St Arnaud slightly passed 8pm.
St Arnaud - Nelson Lake Motel (1
night)
Cost per person: S$58
Damn. It’s cold. The landlady shed
some light as to why it’s so cold, because it’s about 800m above MSL. To put it
into some perspective, Mount Cook village is only about 750m above MSL. And
lucky thing Nelson Lake Motel has 2 separate heaters to keep us warm through
the night.
Total distance covered: 505km
Day 11 Total Expenses: S$58.00
Day 12: St
Arnaud – Kaikoura
There’s a beautiful lake just behind
our motel hence we headed over there the first thing in the morning after we
checked out. It’s really beautiful but there are too many flies. We couldn’t
hang out for long. If you are there just take a peep around the pier as there
are huge clusters of eels swimming around the pier.
The drive from St Arnaud to Kaikoura
is only about 3 hours, so we decided to head up north. We passed by Nelson and
decided against Picton as it started pouring. Since Marlborough is renowned for
their vineyards, we dropped by one of the most accredited vineyard on
international level – Cloudy Bay. We had wine tasting in their vineyard. How
awesome is that. They have a range of different wine and tasting would only
costs NZD5, NZD 10 or NZD20 depending on the package you choose. And it’s just
purely amazing.
 |
| Cloudy Bay |
I couldn’t help myself but to walk
out with a bottle in hand as we carry on our journey to Kaikoura. You know that
you are reaching Kaikoura because you see tons of seals. Like everywhere. They
lie on all the rock formations and we even saw some right beside the roads.
Kaikoura - Heritage Court Motor
Lodge (1 night)
Cost per person: S$48
Similar to a motel, we parked right
in front of our unit. This motor lodge seemed to be operated by a group of
Chinese so this is a good place if you need mandarin speaking assistance.
We head along to have dinner and we
chanced upon Coopers Catch Kaikoura just tucked away from plain site, nothing
fanciful, just a downright eatery. But the food was fabulous! The fish &
chips were also one of the best we had, and the burgers were really nice and
cheap.
Total distance covered: 335km
Day 12 Total Expenses: S$48.00
Day 13: Kaikoura
– Hanmer Spring – Christchurch
We received a call in the morning
from the Kaikoura Aero Club advising us to fly a little later than our
scheduled timing as it’s drizzling and the whales might not appear. We took the
offer and went over to Reserve Hutt for breakfast.
Kaikoura Whale Watch – Extended
Scenic Flight
Cost per person: NZD140
We really got a cheap deal from
Bookme.com as the price for this Extended Scenic Flights costs NZD210 usually.
So go over to the site and see what promotions are there that coincides with
the activities you are interested in.
But unfortunately, despite seeing
loads of dolphins, we did not manage to spot any whales. Even the whaling boats
didn’t set out that day. To trust our luck. But we did have a treat that day
when we were the only 2 person onboard. What an incredible experience to
“charter a plane”. Nonetheless, the scenery is still breathtaking, and
definitely different from what you would see from land.
We landed safely under the
experience of the pilots and they were really kind to give us a voucher that
would take us up on another flight for whale watch for free the next time we
visit Kaikoura, judging that we didn’t manage to see any whales with our rotten
luck.
We then visited the Seal Colony,
really it is flooded with wild fur seals in every direction you look. They are
ridiculously cute. We also had our take away lunch from Coopers Catch (again)
before heading on to Hanmer Springs.
 |
| Seal Colony |
We took up the Private Thermal Pool
at NZD40pp for 60mins at Hanmer
Springs. We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly and relaxed sufficiently then move on
back to Christchurch. By the time we arrived, it was already half past 8pm.
Christchurch - Camelot Motor Lodge
(2 nights)
Cost per person: S$96
We wanted to try a different hotel
as the first night so we can have a comparison. This motor lodge is really 1
quaint looking accommodation in the midst of an urbanized city.
Total distance covered: 280km
Day 13 Total Expenses: S$96.00 + NZD180
Day 14: Christchurch
We didn’t have anything planned out
for the day so we decided to drive around Christchurch and later concluding
that we should visit Akaroa for their well-known seafood. But it was a pity it
was raining when we were on the way, so we only grabbed lunch at one of the
local shops before heading back.
I really wanted to see some penguins
before we leave New Zealand, so we settle with the little blue penguins in the
Antarctic Center right beside the airport. It was actually quite fascinating
and they have a chamber that simulates the Antarctic Storm. Lucky we were in
time to experience what it feels like with wind speed at 40km/h and -18degC.
Antarctic center Admission: NZD39
Total distance covered: 180km
Day 14 Total Expenses: NZD39.00
Day 15: Christchurch
– Auckland – Sydney
CHC
to AKL – 1 hr 20 min (Air New Zealand)
1 hr
35 min layover
AKL
to SYD – 3 hrs 35 min (Air New Zealand)
1 hr
55 min layover
SYD
to SIN – 8 hrs 00 min (British Airways)
So we were there and back again. Covering
a whopping 3343km on land!!
And there you have it! S$3,280.00 for 15 days (Exchange rate S$1: NZD1.08) in New Zealand excluding most food
items. But we spent about S$3,800 each in total considering the entire expenses
(we spent about S$400 on petrol). You
can estimate to set aside about S$50 per person per day as a complete meal in
any decent bar or restaurant will set you back about S$30 per person. I am a
small eater, and we usually eat on the go for lunch so we had quite a huge
savings from there. We also did cook for a couple of times as the motels and
motor lodges come with microwave and electronic stove.
Tips:
1.
En-suite
rooms means that there was a connecting bathroom. Good for people on budget yet
still hopeful for privacy like us!
2.
Petrol
prices fluctuate quite a lot in New Zealand. The cheapest petrol we’ve got was
$189.90 and the most expensive one was $227.50. I would say it averages out at
about $195.50. (We’ve got the most expensive petrol at Franz Joseph and saw it
was only $195.90 at Whataroa at less than 30min drive away, we almost burst
into tears. Moral of the story, don’t pump at Franz Joseph. )
3.
New
Zealand is a very tourist safe destination, they have indicative signs if there
is no petrol for a long ride ahead.
4.
Bigger
cities will usually have a better petrol prices
5.
Google
map time estimation is quite accurate.
I hope the itinerary is useful for you. I had loads of fun in New Zealand. I hope you do too!!
