"Visiting New Zealand" a New Zealand Travel Page by dragontml

New Zealand, Land of the Long White Cloud or know as Aotearoa.

What made me make this trip ?

I applied for the working holiday scheme and stayed in this country for 4 wonderful months ! It took 2 years in planning and I left my job when the time came and began this adventure. Some of my friends could not believe that I would leave my job and just travel ! Well, I did and I can say now, I'm glad I did what I had done. Of course the thought of my return back to KL after the trip - what will I do ? How easy would it be to find a job ? I did have some thought but I did not bother too much as if I did, I just should have stayed on in KL...and so I left Malaysia for 4 months and the travel begins...

I've been home for sometime now and things have somewhat changed a little but that's what happens when time goes by...some for the better and some not.


New Zealand is situated in the South Pacific ocean between latitude 34'S and 47'S. The country runs roughly north-south with mountain ranges down much of its length. Its two main islands cover 266,200 sq km (103,735 sq miles), about the size of Japan or California and slightly larger than Great Britain.

New Zealand has fantastic scenery ranging from snow covered mountains for winter sports, white sandy beaches on the Pacific coast, to mysterious fiords on the Tasman coast.

New Zealand was the first western democracy to give women the vote.

New Zealander Edmund Hillary was the first person to climb Mt Everest.

New Zealand invented bungee jumping !

New Zealand has the worlds largest flightless parrot (kakapo), the oldest reptile (tuatara), the biggest earthworms, the smallest bats (the only native land mammals), the heaviest insect (a weta), some of the oldest trees, and many of the rarest birds, insects, and plants in the world.

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Map of NZ

The route taken...

Kuala Lumpur -> Bangkok (29/8) -> Sydney (30/8-5/9) -> Auckland (5/9-18/9) -> Tauranga (19/9-25/9) -> Whitianga (Coramandel) (26/9-29/9) -> Thames (30/9-1/10) -> Hamilton (2/10-4/10) -> Waitomo Caves (5/10-6/10) -> Rotorua (7/10-10/10) East Coast -> Whakatane -> opotiki -> Motu River -> Waihau Bay -> Hicks Bay-East Cape(Lighthouse) -> Tikitiki -> Rangitukia(Farm stay 11/10) -> Gisborne -> Wainui (12/10) -> Napier, Art Deco City (13/10-16/10) -> Taupo (17/10-20/10) -> Palmerston North (21/10-22/10) -> Wellington (23/10-29/10) -> Ferry to South Island, Picton (30/10-31/10)

[Magic Bus Southern Discovery start] Picton -> Nelson (1/11-5/11) Abel Tasman National Park (2/11) - Nelson Lake -> Westport -> Seal Colony -> Punakaiki Pancake Rocks -> Greymouth (6/11) -> Hokitika -> Ross (Gold mining town) -> Harihari -> Franz Josef Glasiers(7/11-8/11) -> Fox Glasiers -> Lake Matheson -> Haast -> Makarora (9/11) -> Lake Wanaka (10/11) -> Arrowtown -> Queesntown(11/11-13/11) -> Te Anau -> Milford Sound -> Te Anau (14/11-15/11) -> Queenstown(16/11) -> Dunedin (17/11-19/11) -> Oamaru -> Mount Cook (20/11-22/11) -> Lake Tekapo -> Timaru -> Christchurch (23/11-6/12) -> Kaikoura & Farmstay (6/12-12/12) ->Blenheim (13/12-20/12)
[Magic Bus Southern Discovery end] -> Christchurch (21/12-27/12) -> Dunedin (28/12-29/12) -> Catlins Coast ->Brighton -> Wahola -> Balcutha -> Kaka Point-Nugget Point -> Owaka, Surat Bay (30/12) -> Papatowai -> Waikawa -> Otara -> Invercargil -> Bluff -> Riverton (31/12) -> Lake Manoupouri -> Te Anau (1/1) -> Milford Sound -> Queenstown (2/1-4/1) -> Cromwell -> Wanaka -> Haast -> Fox Glasiers (5/1) -> Franz Josef -> Ross -> Hokitika -> Greymouth (6/1) -> Punakaiki -> Buller Gorge -> Nelson (7/1-8/1) -> back to Auckland (9/1-10/1) -> Northland -> Matakohe -> Waipoua Kauri Forest -> Haruru Falls -> Paihia (11/1-15/1) -> 90 mile beach -> Cape Reinga -> Bay of Islands -> Whangarei -> Orewa -> Auckland (15/1-17/1) -> Brisbane -> Bangkok -> Kuala Lumpur...home sweet home (18/1)