We got up at 4:45am for a 5:00am for the 8:00am flight for Christchurch, but while waiting for the the pickup I checked my phone and there was a message at 5:00am telling us that the flight was delayed. We opted to go to the airport early anyway, which turned out to be a good thing. When we attempted to check in, we were told that you now needed to apply for a visa to enter New Zealand, even if you were a US citizen! I later found out that this was a new requirement that was only implemented in 2019. A quick search on the internet took me to what quickly became identified as a scam site purporting to offer you an application package. The official New Zealand NZeTA website revealed that the easiest way to apply was via a downloaded Android app. We downloaded the app, went through the application process (including a fee), and then waited. Within 10 minutes Bowen and Boen were approved, but Xiaoqin and my application still read as “Pending.”
as long as you had an application in “Pending” state the airline should let you board. So we went back to the check-in counter and sure enough, once they saw our application as pending they let us through. Our relief was palpable. Indeed, nobody ever asked to see our NZeTA application ever again, and we got our notification that we were approved 3 days after arriving in New Zealand. Clearly my previous trip in 2000 shouldn’t have led me to be overconfident to the point where I’d neglected to see if entry requirements had changed.
Our flight was so delayed that by the time we touched down in Christchurch it was already 4:00pm, nixing any plans to do a hike that day or even take the scenic route to our first motel in Geraldine. All our luggage arrived and we cleared customs with a check for our backpacking gear to make sure it complied with New Zealand standards. The customs agents were impressed by the freeze-dried ice cream that Boen had packed.
At the rental car counter, the lady giving us our car declared that they were giving us their smallest car, “A tiny Hyundai i30! That’s not big enough for your family and all your luggage! Your kids will be uncomfortable!” She was selling an upgrade pretty hard, and that upgrade was $30-50/day! I did a quick Google which noted that the i30 had more luggage space than a Toyota Corolla, which would fit all our luggage in my pre-trip calculations. “The mountain roads aren’t going to be good for a small car!” That was when my BS detector tripped. On narrow mountain roads, you want as small a car as possible for better acceleration, easier passing, and more room when that inevitable American-driven RV drifts into your lane! We went with the i30, which true enough had plenty of luggage space in its boot and we had space between the kids to stow more luggage.
She gave me the keys and then passed me on to her colleague for a pre-drive briefing, which was just as hyperbolic. The guy spent a lot of time telling us that New Zealand was a dangerous place to drive, with challenging mountain roads, and devastating weather conditions. For a typical San Francisco Bay Area cyclist/driver who regularly visited the Alps or the Sierras, however, I remembered that New Zealand was pretty tame. There were no
deer or other large animals that would dart out onto the road randomly, and there was usually enough traffic to remind you to stay on the left side of the road. Much like Japan, your biggest danger was dying of frustration being stuck behind a line of RVs doing 20kph below the speed limit. “You’ll never see a speed limit sign higher than 80kph,” declared the briefing agent, “so slow down!”
Once we loaded the luggage and drove off, I discovered that in addition to driving on the left side of the road, the control stalks next to the steering wheel were also reversed, so for the first day I would be turning on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signals first before remembering to use the correct control stalk.
Once we left the airport we immediately saw a speed limit sign for 100kph! “Hey, that guy lied to us.” said Bowen. “They both lied to us, but fortunately we ignored them.” came Xiaoqin’s reply. We drove for an hour and a half to get to Geraldine, where we checked into our motel, which was furnished with enough kitchen supplies to make dinner but we were quite tired and so went out to dinner at the local Indian take-out place, which charged us an extra $5 to eat in! Next to the Indian place was a supermarket, so we bought sunburn lotion, breakfast, and various snacks, the snacks in the packed baggage being meant for the 4 day hiking trip.
It rained on and off for the rest of the evening, but our early start time this morning meant that we all went to bed super early. The forecast for the next few days looked decent, but rain was predicted on the days when we were going to be on the Kepler track, which worried me.
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