3 Facts You Have to Know Before Coming to New Zealand

It’s Hobbiton!

Text and photos by Anri Pristidianita.

First of all, let me introduce New Zealand. Have you watched or read the Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit? Nah! Those movies were shot in New Zealand, in over 170 places all around the country. Why they did it in New Zealand? It’s just because New Zealand offers beautiful landscape which really close with what in the books.

Indeed New Zealand is a beautiful country. The number population of the sheep + cow more than the human. Sometimes people say that New Zealand is untouchable country. Maybe it’s because the location of the country?

Sooo.. where is New Zealand??

New Zealand is down there in the map. It’s 3.5 hours flight from Eastern Australia, around 10 hours flight from Hong Kong – Singapore – Tokyo and around, 12 hours direct flight from United States, and more than 20 hours flight from Europe. Whenever you live, please make sure you have more spare time for your trip. Because, going and leaving from/to New Zealand needs more time than other countries.

Going to the Mordor

I’ve been living in the country for 2 years and I already explored both the island, North and South. This is really an honour for me to tell you some tips and trick while travelling in New Zealand. Here you goo….

  1. Transporting from one place to another is not that easy down here.

I have to be honest to you guys. New Zealand has public transport like any other countries: train, bus, airplane, and cruise. But, not every places can be reached out by the public transport. Even in some places, they don’t have public transport to go around the town. The only option you have if you want to go to specific place is rent a car!

It’s cheaper if you rent a car if you want to travel in New Zealand. You can decide where to stop, where to sleep, where to go. Basically, you can do whatever you want if you have your own car. But, you have to be ready to drive. In New Zealand, it’s right wheel and the maximum speed is 100km/h.

  1. The Wi-Fi is not (free – available) everywhere.

You want to post your picture right away in your social media while you’re travelling? It’s not going to be happen while you’re in New Zealand. The internet (Wi-Fi) is not available everywhere. Even, sometimes you will not have any signal at all. The best way that you can do is purchasing the travelling phone card. There are some provider options that you can choose, Vodafone, spark, or 2 degree. You can get it in the airport right away and they will help you how to use it during your trip.

  1. Buy everything you need before 4 pm.

Almost every shops cafes restaurants close around 4PM or 5PM. Except the clubs, bars, or pubs. They will open until around 3 AM. What if we want to have dinner outside? There are some restaurants open, but you only have limited options. The best ways to handle this, eat dinner earlier than usual or buy something that you can have later. Most of the accommodation place has microwave that we can use in our room or common room.

Despite those three, everything is almost totally fine down here. The nature will always make you wonder how beauty it is. You don’t need any filter for the picture that you take. You don’t need to worry you will get lost because there are signs, maps, and information centre everywhere (even in the rural areas).

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This post is written by Anri Pristidianita. She is now residing in Auckland, New Zealand, while finishing her thesis, exploring NZ (she studies Tourism. OMG! How cool is that), and blogging on The Return Ticket. If you have any question, feel free to reach her out.

I wish u all the good luck for thesis and surely thank you for your sharing. Definitely gotta visit you!

Cheers,

nabilaasad

One Comment

  1. Ahh I always want to go here someday, not only The Hobbiton but the whole NZ with its incredible nature landscapes are so tempting :’)

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