Going Commando with Tripwaffle - Birthday Bash to the Deep South of NZ

[kookaburra75]

I’ll be in that area in Jan. Tips and recommendations most welcome if you are not writing a TR.

Look forward to it @kookaburra75
already shared some stunning photos

Over the past couple of weeks, MrsK and I have completed a short lap round the South Island of New Zealand. This was something we had planned a few years ago, but having the company I worked for going broke meant we had to delay our plans until now. It would be MrsK's first trip to the South Island of NZ and for me, the last time I was in those parts was a conference in 2000 in Queenstown. I expected many things would have changed since then, and they had.

We decided to replan our trip for October, as our birthdays are nine days apart and we have done many trips to encompass one or both birthdays. This time we did both. As part of the planning I looked at ways and means to get to Christchurch, and of course really the only option was using points to use the Emirates flight from Sydney to Christchurch and back, in bus class. We had never flown with Emirates, no reason just their flights never came up for planning. Plus, the choice between bus class in a Qantas A330/B737 or an Emirates A380 with an onboard bar - not even a contest.

Now the theme of our trip. I've been an avid user of @tripwaffle for my recent trips. I have been running it in parallel with TripIt Pro and comparing the functionality. I have been so impressed with what Tripwaffle has to offer, I decided to go Tripwaffle alone - going 'commando' so to speak.

We don't mind doing road trips, and aim to keep the driving to 2-3 hours per day at the most. Also, finding places to stay where we could walk around to take in the sights/bars/restaurants. So after roughing out some options, looking at what was available accommodation wise with Booking.com, AirBnB, and direct using Accor points we locked in our trip.:

• Murray's Bus from Canberra to Sydney International and stay overnight at Rydges Sydney International Airport. EK412 departed at 8.50am so being able to walk across from the hotel, through check in and into the Emirates Lounge for a champagne breakfast would work
• Flight to Christchurch, and spend the first three nights there, at Quest Cathedral Junction apartments, as it was in a central location and we would walk to most places. We celebrated MrsK's birthday there
• Pick up the hire car from Apex HIre Cars in the city - I've used them several times and found them good to deal with being a single company, and no drop off fees
• First leg of the trip from Christchurch to Oamaru, and stay the night at The Whitehouse. It's in an old restored building and in a central, walkable location.
• Next leg from Oamaru to Dunedin, to stay at Fable Dunedin. We took a route off the main road to run along the coast, and not going direct into Dunedin, but over the back roads through Port Chalmers
• Then Dunedin to Gore, to stay at the Riverlea Motel Again we planned to use the back roads along the coast, and unexpectedly part of it was on a gravel road - MrsK says I could find a gravel road in the middle of Melbourne - living in the country and remote areas I don't mind them
• Queenstown was our next stop for three night, cashing in some Accor points and staying at the Hotel St Moritz, and using that as a base to explore the area.
• Then onto Lake Tekapo for our next stop, staying at the Woolshed Apartments booked through AirBnB
• Our next stop was in Timaru, at the Grosvenor Hotel
• The final leg was to Christchurch Airport to catch EK413 back to Sydney, and celebrate my birthday at the onboard bar
• As we would arrive into Sydney in the evening I look at the different accommodation options, and came across a cheap deal through Luxury Escapes for two nights at the Hotel Indigo Potts Point/Kings Cross.
• The last leg was back home on the Murray's bus from Central Station to Canberra

I'll add in the photos and commentary for each of the legs, stops, thoughts, etc over the next couple of days.

 

[drron]

And here was me thinking you really were going commando style to cut down on luggage and be able to go HCO.

 

[SYD]

We did a similar trip last year but squeezed in Invercargill (for Bluff) as well as the Catlins.

 

[DC3]

Do we get to see the ‘going commando’ photos?

 

[kookaburra75]

And here was me thinking you really were going commando style to cut down on luggage and be able to go HCO.

Do we get to see the ‘going commando’ photos?

No, and No - you need to seek help I think.

But onto the trip. Two days prior to departure, Tripwaffle created a Pre-Trip Brief of the trip covering the places we would be staying, weather forecasts, and things to see and do. It was helpful and gave me everything in a couple of pages.

For our mobile coverage, I purchased a eSim travel pack through Spark, as it has good coverage in the regional areas. I went with the NZ$49 10GB 90day pack, as it provided unlimited calls and texts to Aus and NZ numbers. I have a Google Pixel 7a and the eSim loaded and activated without any issues once we landed. MrsK kept her mobile on, without roaming, so she could receive text messages and then use my phone to reply. If there was no wifi available, I hot-spotted my phone. We kept in touch with the kids via WhatsApp. I used 6GB of data all up, which included running my phone with Google Maps when driving. I did download maps beforehand to cut down the need for data where possible.

As I mentioned earlier, we packed light but as we wanted to take more liquids than allowed in cabin bags we put the zip on covers on our July cases so we could check them in. I dragged out my 20+ year old Antler cabin case to take with us, with the usual couple of days worth of socks, undies, tops, and my camera gear. It had the place of honour with the Tripwaffle luggage tag.

The bag line up.
Day 0 was spent on the bus from Canberra to Sydney International Airport, arriving just after 3pm so we could check in to Rydges. Murrays run an hourly service from Canberra to Sydney, with most going via SYD. It only takes three hours, and as we buy the extra seat there's enough room. At $150 return each, it works out a lot better than paying for Qantas which is usually abt $400 return each. And not much different in the time it takes to get to Sydney, get from Domestic to International etc.

Lake George still has water in it
Check in was painless and we settled into our room, with a view of course. MrsK still doesn't get why I get excited about carparks.

I've stayed at Rydges a couple of times but never visited the rooftop bar. We headed up there for the-day-before-bubbles and took in the view. It was a lot smaller than I expected, but good enough in plane spotting terms. We chatted with other people there about where they were travelling to.

After a couple of drinks we went down to the main bar for a snack and an early night.

 

[kookaburra75]

Day 1 of the trip started early, but not too early as the flight was scheduled to depart at 8.50am. This was my first time flying with Emirates, so after hearing many good reports about their business class we were looking forward to trying them out, and the bar. I used the online check out process, with Rydges which worked ok, unlike their online check in which didn't really work. We headed out the door at 6.30am and made our way to the departure area at SYD. We worked out the last time we went through there was in 2023 on our way to Samoa.

There were very few people at the Emirates check in area and we had our boarding passes almost straight away. We had access to the Express Route, but I don't think that would have mattered as it was mid week and hardly anyone going through security or immigration. We were through in about 15 minutes and on our way to the Emirates Lounge, again a first for us. It's a nice space with a bit of a view, and virtually next to Gate 30 where our flight was leaving from. We had the usual pre-pre-departure-bubbles and something to snack on, as we knew we would get something on board.


The flight boarded on time, and we settled into our seats, 7E & 7F. There must have been only a dozen people in bus class - I think there were more staff than passengers. After a light breakfast/brunch we headed back to the bar to check it out. We sat there for a bit, chatting to other people and their plans for NZ. Most were Aussies heading over on holidays, and they had started from Sydney too. I must admit that the bar area is very nicely done, and something that Qantas should have thought of. The service from the staff was prompt and friendly, and they kept us and the other passengers entertained.

After three short hours we arrived into Christchurch, on a cold and blustery afternoon. We jumped a taxi into the city, to the Quest Cathedral Junction apartments. I had picked them as they were right in the middle of town, I've used Quest properties many times and not been disappointed. The room was good, and had a fridge, microwave, plates etc. After dropping off our bags we went off to check out the area. The weather wasn't so inviting, and many people we spoke to said that "... you should have been here last week when it was 26 deg". But after a couple of chilly days in Christchurch the weather did improve for the rest of the trip.

New Regent Street was almost straight out the door, and we checked out some of the bars and places to eat - there were many.

Looking north up New Regent Street - the tram tracks are for the tourist tram

Looking south, towards the back of the Quest apartments, and the tram junction

We found the gin gin bar, which of course served local gins. We tried some that we knew and a couple we hadn't tried before.

L to R: Chemistry London Dry Gin, Curiosity Rhubarb Gin, Scrapegrace Gold, and 4 bars - an aviation themed gin

In the next couple of days we managed to get around to the distilleries for Curiosity and 4 bars, and got some to take home with us. 4 bars was started by Chris Giles a former Cathay Pacific pilot, and ex NZ Air Force. We had a good chat with him about his venture, and tried some different takes on negronis and of course G&Ts. I hadn't heard the expression Gin Clear Day before, which apparently means perfectly clear blue skies for ideal flying conditions. Later on, we checked out the Curiosity coughtail Bar in the Riverside markets. They had gin and whisky tasting paddles which was a good way to try their range. The gins were good, the whiskies just ok. We dropped into the distillery on our way out of Christchurch, and picked up a bottle of their Rhubarb Ruby GIn.

We picked up dinner at The Church Pub, which was very busy even for a mid-week night. We were lucky to get a table when we walked in. As you can imagine, it's in an old church. They had two different live music acts on while we were there.