Tramping (Hiking) in New Zealand #2

The first time I heard about hiking in New Zealand was about 7-8 years ago. My buddy at work showed me a picture of her mother hiking in New Zealand. It was in the beautiful area. I still remember our sarcastic conversation. 

My buddy Ms.M was showing me a picture and said, "My mom is hiking in New Zealand."

I replied, "Wow, it is very pretty! Nice."

Ms.M said, "It is miserable, huh?"

We were doing experiments in the lab and so jealous. 

Since then New Zealand is one of my hiking destinations on the bucket list.

For people who live on the northern hemisphere like U.S.A, New Zealand is a great destination in Christmas holiday season. You can escape winter by going to New Zealand where December is summer. Actually we tried to go to New Zealand in December 2018 first, but the flight ticket was very expensive. In February 2019, we found a reasonable price ticket for December 2019 trip and booked. After 10 month of waiting, the trip started. 

It is a long way to go there from Boston. 

On the way to go there: Boston to Houston, Houston to Auckland, Auckland to Christchurch. 

On the way back: Christchurch to Auckland, Auckland to San Francisco, San Francisco to Boston. 

19 hours of flying time + custom + waiting time at airport=LONG

Although the flight was long, especially US to NZ portion, it was not boring. Air New Zealand provides very good service! I saw many movies on the plane... I enjoyed Hustlers, The Sound Of Silence, some NZ short movies. 

Surprising fact on Air New Zealand was that there are some Les Mills in flight stretch videos. Les Mills is a New Zealand company which provides a variety of fitness/exercise programs all over the world. I am a big fan of BODYPUMP, one of their programs. I occasionally review BODYPUMP versions in this blog. I enjoyed a lot about their in-flight stretch videos. 

Food is good (I have to say Japanese airlines' food are better) and you can order complimentary drinks including New Zealand wine from touch panel as much as you can. I tried both red and white New Zealand wine. They were really good. 

Then finally we arrived at Christchurch on the south island of New Zealand. One thing you need to keep in mind to go to New Zealand with camping gears is that there is biosecurity check at airport. It is required to report what you brought and where you have been used with them, such as tents, hiking boots, etc. Our tent went into the check line. They opened and inspected if there is something stick to the tents that could impact the nature in New Zealand. The inspection was around 10 minutes and it was fine. My guess is as long as clean and free of dirt or small insects, it is okay. 

We rented a car at Dollar, then went to grocery stores to get camping food. Luckily Christchurch has a Japanese grocery store, we had found this online in advance, so we didn't need to bring so much staff from Boston. We got ramen, udon, soba, pasta sauce, anpan, Japanese snacks there. We bought the rest of camping food at New World market, which is similar type of store to Safeway/Market Basket in the U.S. 

Then we searched for a cafe/restaurant to have food. 

food I got

Coffee

On the plane Mr.N told me that New Zealand has a different meal style. Breakfast (in the morning, same as the U.S.), dinner (around noon, equivalent to lunch in the U.S.), then tea, then supper (equivalent to dinner in the U.S.). I thought, "Huh, it is interesting."

Then, the very first restaurant I saw in New Zealand has this big sign at front.
Lunch: 11 a.m. -2 p.m.
Dinner: 5-9 p.m.

I said, "Look at that!!! Mr.N!"
Mr.N was, "........."
Mr.N continued, "Maybe it is different now from when I was in New Zealand during student exchange 17 years ago."
I was, ".....OK"

We went to a different cafe and we had coffee and food. It was delicious! Definitely tastier than most restaurants in the U.S. with the same price. 

Campground

In the evening we camped near Christchurch. In New Zealand there are many DOC campsites, and many private campsites. Usually there is a box to put money, first-come first-served. The one we stayed was the private one (Rakaia huts campground), $8 per person per night. Showers are available for $1 coin. 

We used Wikicamp App to find a campground nearby or on the way to the next destination. There are a bunch of campgrounds in New Zealand. Some are free, but most are $8 (without shower), $12 (with shower) per person per night. No bookings are required. It is good for flexible trips. 

The next day we started hiking. 

To be continued...