As it is a very, very long flight I decided to make a stop in Asia, spend the night and take another flight the following day... but since I'm going to stop in Asia why not do something productive since I'm already there. O:-)
Several people have been recommending me to go to Chiang-Mai (in Thailand), so since I was stopping in Bangkok I asked myself, why not take a train, check the place out, come back and head for New Zealand? :-)
So that's going to be the the beginning of my trip... nothing stressful, watch the elephants, some thai-boxing and make it back in time to Bangkok to catch my next flight.
Below you can see the New Zealand map with most of the trip highlighted. It's lacking the first 3 days going North to Paihia:
Once in New Zealand things are going to get really interesting. The first day I'll probably do nothing, it's very likely I'll be knackered from the jet-lag, I'll have a walk in Auckland and chill out. The next day a trip to Paihia where I'll stay for an extra night and do some diving.
Have you heard of the Rainbow Warrior?
Now is one of the diving highlights in the area together with the HMNZS Canterbury you can go and visit them!
Not to mention the Poor Knight Islands
After that, back to Auckland to start the real thing.
Below is my estimated itinerary which has been collated with the help of Aída who has been my Guinea pig this year since she went to NZ back in November and did all the things I'm planning to do and some more. She even told me the things I could avoid as she knows my likes and dislikes when travelling.
She saved me so much time and research you wouldn't believe. Next time I'm on holidays I need to convince her to go before me. ;-)
I suppose I'll have to buy a guide book now since I won't have her around to give me all the cultural and geographic details of the areas we'll be visiting. I'm going to miss that. :-)
Anyway, below is the master plan:
| Date | Route |
|---|---|
| 18th Jan | Auckland-Paihia |
| 19th Jan | Extra day at Paihia (diving) |
| 20th Jan | Paihia-Auckland |
| 21st Jan | Auckland-Hot Water Beach |
| 22nd Jan | Hot Water Beach-Waitomo |
| 23rd Jan | Waitomo-Rotorua |
| 24th Jan | Rotorua-Taupo |
| 25th Jan | Extra day at Taupo (Tongariro crossing walk) |
| 26th Jan | Taupo-River Valley |
| 27th Jan | River Valley-Wellington |
| 28th Jan | Wellington-Kaiteriteri |
| 29th Jan | Kaiteriteri-Westport |
| 30th Jan | Westport-Lake Mahinapua |
| 31st Jan | Lake Mahinapua-Franz Josef |
| 1st Feb | Extra day at Franz Josef (Glaciar walk) |
| 2nd Feb | Franz Josef-Wanaka |
| 3rd Feb | Wanaka-Queenstown |
| 4th Feb | Extra day at Queenstown (Milford Sound Tour) |
| 5th Feb | Queenstown-Kaikoura |
| 6th Feb | Kaikoura-Wellington |
| 7th Feb | Wellington-Taupo |
| 8th Feb | Taupo-Auckland |
| 9th Feb | Flying back home |
Let's see what happens in the end... I can't wait to be there!
