Trip to New Zealand

We had a fantastic time in New Zealand (NZ) last week.  Here are some details of our trip written to someone interested in taking a similar trip.

Before the trip:

I bought a NZ Lonely Planet guide book and got an app for the iPad with NZ camper site information called Rankers Camping NZ.  The app cost $15 and had information about facilities, cost, and maps for all campsites in NZ.  It makes finding campsite so easy as it uses the GPS in the iPad to locate you.

Day 1

Arrived in Auckland airport via Singapore Airlines.  It is 10 hour flight from Singapore to Auckland.

Picked up at airport by the RV (campervan) vendor.  We used Pacific Horizon, but there are many to choose from. 

We made a reservation on their website.  We had 7 passengers (my parents joined us), so we rented a 6 berth van with 7 seatbelts.  Legally, all passengers need to be wearing seatbelt when driving and all under age 8 need child seat.  You will need an English language driving license to rent the van.  Cost was about  $350 per day with complete package including full insurance, GPS, outdoor table, foldable chairs, car seats, etc.  The RV had 3 double beds, a sink, fridge, microwave, toilet, and shower.

After loading the van, we drove our friend's house and stayed the night parked in their street. 

Day 2

We saw sights in Auckland.  We went to the Auckland War Memorial Museum.  Very interesting with Maori culture, exhibits of NZ animals now and past, and wars that NZ was involved with.  Cost was officially free, but requested $10 NZD donation per adult.

In the same area, there is a botanical garden with local plants in it.  No cost.

We stopped at a Countdown grocery store and bought some food and other stuff. 

Drove to a Presbyterian summer camp that doubles as an RV park outside of Hamilton.  Cost was $15 NZD per person and included electrical hookups, shower, and kitchen.  No dump site for emptying tanks.

Day 3

There is an LDS temple in Hamilton that we attended for religious purposes.  Although the temple itself is not open to the general public, there is a visitor center that is open to anyone wanting to learn more about it.

We traveled to a campsite near Kawhia that was basically electrical hookups and a dump site next to a gas station/restaurant.  The owners were super nice and the cost was $5 NZD.  We went to a nearby local beach in the Tainui Kawhia Forest.  If you time it right, you can relax in a natural hot spring that seeps up in to the beach sand.  Unfortunantely, we were an hour too late as the tide had already covered the hot water.  The beach was empty and beautiful.  It is also the original landing spot for the Maori people.  The road to Kawhia was very scenic but lots of curves and elevation change.

Day 4

We toured the Glowworm caves.  Everyone enjoyed the short hike through the cave and boat ride.  Cost about $50 NZD per person before discount.  We had a 30% off coupon that we found in a brochure since it was the off season.

We traveled around Lake Taupo to see the scenery. 

We stayed in a Top 10 campsite in the town of Taupo.  It had full facilities including play areas for the kids.  Cost was about $15 NZD per person.

Day 5

We made the journey to Rotorua.  Along the way we stopped a few times.

We visited the Craters of the Moon which is a hour walk through geothermal vents.  Impressive.  Cost was about $10-15 NZD per person if I remember right.

Then, we visited a small museum called the Volcanoes Activity Center.  It had some cool information about the geology of NZ and an earthquake simulator.  It was old and outdated.  Cost was about $10-15 NZD per person if I remember right.

In Rotorua, we visited a park called Te Puia that had geysers, hot mud pits, a Maori village.  We also went to a Maori cultural show which features the Haka dance.  They let volunteers join them in the Haka dance.  Good times.  Cost was about $50 NZD a person, I think.

We rolled into another Top 10 campsite that had a small stream running through it and full facilities.  You can fish and use small boats if you like.  The cost was about $15 NZD per person.

Day 6

We went to the Rainbow Springs Kiwi Wildlife Park.  We paid extra to have the Kiwi encounter.  This is a facility for raising kiwi birds to be released into the wild when they are big enough.  They also had a zoo and a roller coaster where you ride in a boat and get wet.  Kids loved this place.

Also visited the Agrodome to see sheep shearing, milk a cow, and watch dogs herd sheep.  They put on a pretty good show.  Cost was about $40 NZD per person but there is a package deal with the Rainbow Springs Kiwi Wildlife Park that saves some money.

We headed up to the Coromandel Peninsula.  Very scenic with lots of turns in the road. 

During a stretch break, we noticed old ruins on the other side of the river.  We went over to find an abandoned gold mining facility called the Victoria Battery.  It was pretty neat and played a significant role in reforming NZ's labor laws back in the late 1890's.

We ended up staying in a free campsite at a boat launching location on the beach.  It had a public bathroom and no other facilities.

Day 7

Headed back to Auckland.  We paid $10 NZD total to use a Top 10 camping facilties for one and half hour.  We took showers and emptied the campervan's sink and toilet water tanks. 

Filled up the campervan's diesel tank on the way into the city and dropped off the RV.  The RV vendor took us to the airport.

Lessons Learned:

Don't park over night on inclined area as it is hard to sleep when you are sliding out of bed.  We did that on our first night!  All the campsites we went to had level places to park.

I underestimated how long it takes to drive an RV through the hills (2-3x longer than in a car).   I was exhausted at the end of each day as it takes great concentration when driving a big, heavy vehicle in the hills of NZ.

Outside the towns, use the camper van's engine brake and low gearing the maintain control in the steep descents.  Otherwise, it can get a bit exciting!

You will need a electrical plug adapter to charge iPad, phones, camera batteries, etc.  NZ uses the same plug as Australia.  They are available at the Auckland airport or in hardware stores.  Cost about $8-12 NZD.

Surprisingly, finding restaurants takes some patience even in Auckland.  It is relatively easy to find British food (fish and chips, meat pies, etc), American fast food (burgers and pizza), and Chinese takeout. 

Check for fire bans.  We found out that NZ is in a drought, so we were forbidden to make any fires.  We never used the charcoal we bought.

New Zealand is not cheap!  As a reference, a 600 ml Coke cost about $4 USD on the street.

In hindsight, I would have rather had either more time or done fewer things to make the vacation more relaxed.  But everyone enjoyed the trip, and we are already scheming about going to the South island when the kids get a bit older.  :)

Flyover

My driver wanted to try out one of the new flyovers that just opened recently. We got on from Jalan Antasari near the SOS clinic in Cipete. It spits out on Jalan Iskandarsyah just before Pasa Raya and Blok M. At least when we were on it, there was no traffic. Now trying to get on was a pain. Antasari is necked down to one lane because of ongoing construction so we crawled at a snailspace until we could finally get on. Not sure it is worth being stuck in traffic to get on the flyway. Maybe it will be better once the construction in the area is done.

Flooding in Jakarta

We have felt like the rainy season in Jakarta has not been that bad until this year.  It seems like it has rained pretty much every day.  The last several days it has rained almost non-stop day and night.  Now many areas of the city are flooded.  I read an article today that said that 40% of Jakarta is below sea level.  It is no wonder that sustained heavy rains have caused extensive flooding.  So far it is not as bad as in 2007 where 350,000 people were displaced from their homes.  Even the business district which does not usually flood was inundated with water.

I should have stayed home today, but I mistakenly thought that it was just another rainy day. I’m not very good about keeping up with the news.  I had no idea that there was flooding in so many areas around the city.

While I was out, I got an sms from the school my children attend saying that bus riders were dismissed from school early.  I thought it would take me hours to get home in the rain and that traffic would be at a standstill.  Instead, I found that the roads we were on were relatively empty.  I made it home in record time.



This was my view of Jalan Sudirman just past the flying pizza man roundabout. It is normally packed with cars and almost impassable on a rainy day. It was totally empty. This picture was taken around 12:30pm.


I think I will stay home tomorrow.  We count ourselves blessed that we live in an area that has not flooded.  We got word from one of my daughter’s classmates that their house was flooded.  We feel badly for those that have been affected by the heavy rains.  It has stopped raining for the time being.  It was forecasted to continue to rain throughout the evening and through the next few days. We will see what happens in the days to come.

Our driver's house

During the rainy season, our driver often calls in to tell us that he needs to stay home to repair leaks in the roof of his house. Naturally, this always falls on days when we were counting on him to work, so after this occurred again this week, we decided to consider our options. We could replace him with someone else, but we really like how he is a very honest, punctual, and courteous driver how knows exactly where we want to go. Plus firing him would leave him with a leaky house and no job to feed his family. I wasn’t excited about having to find someone else to be our driver as many people go through drivers every couple months.  So we decided that we would spend some money to upgrade his house and benefit everyone involved. It should provide a great teaching opportunity for the kids and is a way to meet a real need where there are so many people are in need. The next step was to go to see his house and evaluate what needs to be done and discuss how to get started. Here are some pics from our visit to his house today.



The house is 150 sq meters (1600+ sq feet) and about 15 years old.  For what I gather, six people live here.



The tin roof leaks badly in big rains especially in the master bedroom.  We are planning to replace the patchwork tin roof with orange ceramic tiles that are very commonly used here.



There is an unfinished kitchen the back.  If possible, we may finish this area as well (plaster the walls, install a ceiling, and install tile on the floor (which he already has).



Chicken coop in the front yard.



His family was so warm and friendly to us.  They insisted that we take one of the chickens they processed recently and some fish from the local market.  Such nice people and the chicken was delicious.
Next is so get some quotes about the work to be done.  Hope it all works out well.

Senayan Golf Driving Range

Monday night we took the kids to the the Senayan Golf Driving Range to hit a few balls.  We got a bucket of 100 balls for IDR 90,000.  We also rented clubs for IDR 20,000 each.  Our two older kids have taken golf classes before.  The kids had a good time and did quite well.  I was a little nervous because we were on the top tier.  There is no railing or anything.  Next time we will opt to hit the balls from the ground level.  Even though it was a week night and raining, the place was packed. The driving range is located in the Bung Karno Stadium Sports Complex just off of Jalan Sudirman.  Hitting the balls was a fun activity for the kids.  My youngest who is 4 even took a couple of swings. I'm sure we will take the kids again sometime.

Taxi vs. motorbike

I decided to go hometeaching this afternoon.  I called for a Blue Bird taxi since the Toyota Kijang was having issues today (engine not getting fuel, I think).  I was not in the taxi for more than one minute before we T-boned a motorbike with an older couple onboard.  The taxi driver didn't even see the motorbike as it was coming down the sidewalk against the flow of traffic.  I yelled "Berhenti!" ("Stop!"), but it was too late.  The older couple were knocked off the bike and the taxi rolled on top of the bike.  The old man got up and tried to pull his motorbike out from under the Toyota Yaris sedan; but of course, this was fruitless.  So the taxi driver put it in reverse and proceeded to rip off the front of his car!  I was just trying to lay low in the back seat... 

Luckily, another Blue Bird taxi was waiting nearby so I hopped in it and went on my way.  The two drivers started arguing as I left, each feeling the other was at fault.  Of course, if this was America, the motorbike would obviously be at fault, but here the general rule of thumb is that motorbikes can do no wrong.  I don't know who won the dispute, but I wasn't going to stick around to find out!  I just am grateful that noone was seriously hurt and I wasn't driving.

Jakarta at Sunset

Today we went to the uppermost floor of our apartment complex to watch the sunset.  I had never been up that far before.  It was nice to have a different view of the city.  The rains this afternoon pushed out much of the haze that hangs over the city so the visibility was actually quite good. 

Looking out towards FX mall and Senayan City Mall


I just love the mosque that is tucked away in the trees beneath the tall buildings.