Auckland: Part 1 - Day 1: Botanic Gardens, Weta Unleashed Tour

This year, my first international travel was to New Zealand. My first trip to New Zealand was in September 2010 where some friends and I travelled to South Island. Since then, I have not found a place more scenic and beautiful than that. 13 years later, I make a trip to New Zealand again to attend my sister's graduation in Dunedin. Yes, it is very far for me who is living in Sweden. In fact, I think, New Zealand is the furthest country from Sweden. During the summer, we have 10 hours difference and during the winter, it is 12 hours. I had to take 4 flights with 3 layovers to reach Dunedin and it was 25 hours flying time from Stockholm to Auckland. I was worried about jetlag but I did not suffer too badly from it. It took two days for me to recover. I just needed to sleep for many hours for a day.

I flew with Singapore Airlines and the tickets were purchased via their website in February 2023 for my flight in May 2023. I admit, it is quite late to purchase the tickets and the return tickets' price came up to SEK22.698. This was just for Stockholm to Auckland. From Auckland to Dunedin, it was a domestic flight and the return tickets costed me SEK4.373,67. The domestic tickets are expensive because I bought them a month before my flight. Since the pandemic, I do not buy my flight tickets from travel sites such as Skyscanner. Mainly due to uncertainties if my flight gets cancelled and what are my backup plans and refund options. It is troublesome for me to go through third parties. However, I use Skyscanner to get an idea on which airlines fly the route at affordable prices. 

Also, I ALMOST forgot to apply for the permit to enter New Zealand. I remembered reading it in the beginning of the year that the permit can be applied later as it takes latest 72 hours for approval. I forgot about it until a week before my trip, a colleague asked me if I needed visa to enter New Zealand. Suddenly, I remembered this and I panicked! I applied on Friday evening and I got it approved on Monday, just in time for my flight on that coming Saturday. PHEW! Applying for the permit costs NZD$52. It is cheaper if it is applied via their app. Applying via their website costs $23 and on the app costs $17. The balance of $35 is the IVL (funds tourism infrastructure).  

My flight route: 

Depart Stockholm 6 May --> London --> Singapore --> Arrive Auckland 8 May 

Spent 4 days in Auckland --> Dunedin 

Depart Dunedin 15 May --> Auckland --> Singapore --> Copenhagen --> Arrive Stockholm 16 May

Day 1
Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 1.

8/5 Day 1: Airport Auckland --> Airbnb at Papatoetoe --> Auckland Botanic Gardens --> Weta Unleashed Tour

Costs
(A) Transport and accommodation
(1) 4 nights in AirBnb for 2 persons (my sister arrived 1 day earlier) - NZD$241.76 

(2) Car rental Toyota Vitz for 4 days from Car N Go - NZD$300.19

(B) Food
(1) Lunch at Auckland Botanical Garden - $26.50 (shared), Coffee latte $5
(2) Dinner at Golden Garden Chinese restaurant - $26

(3) Grocery - Super expensive and cheated bananas $6/kg, Water 1.5 liters $5

(C) Activities

(1) Weta Unleashed Tour ticket - NZD$50 per person

The Story

08052023: My flight departed from Stockholm on Saturday 6 May and I reached Auckland two days later due to the time differences. I reached 8 May early in the morning at 8.15am. I was so happy to finally touch land. My butt hurts from the long flight. From London to Singapore and Singapore to Auckland takes slightly more than 10 hours per route. My sister picked me up at the airport and we drove to the Airbnb. I looked forward to the shower and glad that I could change my clothes and brushed my teeth properly. We left the Airbnb two hours later for Auckland Botanic Gardens. The weather was surprisingly humid and I was surprised to see banana and palm trees in Auckland! It feels like I am back in Malaysia. It is not as hot as Malaysia, though. It was cooling and I would still wear a sweater as it was very windy. 

It is free to enter. I enjoyed being at the place to see the greenery and the different types of plants. There is a section for African plants too. I realised that the grass is quite long in most parts of the garden. 

We had lunch in the gardens too. It is not very cheap, of course. This is my first encounter to expensive prices in Auckland. I thought it is because we were eating in the visitor center but no, it is expensive everywhere in Auckland! My sister and I shared a breakfast plate. It is quite a big portion. I had coffee latte and the mug is small so, I thought it is expensive for NZD$5 / SEK32.88 (NZD$1 = SEK6,58). This price reminds me of an expensive coffee in the hipster cafes in Stockholm.

Then, we drove back to the Airbnb to take the train into town to join Weta Unleashed Tour. Parking is expensive in town. My sister had an AT HOP train card and the ticket is cheaper at $2.37 (SEK15,59) than buying by cash $4 (SEK26,31). Both prices are still cheaper than the price in Stockholm at SEK39. The train car is different as it has steps in the car! It is so weird. Plus, there are no signs on the platform for train cars without steps i.e. those who are physically unable to go up the steps. Why do they even have train cars with steps? 

While waiting for our 4pm tour, we took photos around the area and saw large figures of characters used in Lord of the Rings. Weta is a company that produces movie effects and in the tour, we get to see three original movie concepts that display and explain how physical effects and props are imagined and then created for the movies. I thought these were from upcoming or old movies and was very confused until I reread the website. Such commitment Weta has in designing a workshop and creating these props just for this place. And not to mention, the amount of monies and time that go into this! 

This is a 90-minute tour. It is fun to learn and see how these designs are made. I would have like to try making some of these designs but that is in another workshop. The tour guide explained to us and let us try to play some of the props. 

We had dinner near our Airbnb at a Chinese restaurant. A pork dish and a vegetable dish plus a huge bowl of rice. We ate half and packed the remaining. 

We walked to a nearby grocery store (NZ Fruit & Spices) on Saint George Street to buy some food for tomorrow's activities and we were scammed by the grocer. The initial plan was to walk to New World which is a large grocery mall but we were discouraged by the windy weather and went inside the small store. There were no price tags. Living in Sweden, I am so used to double digits in all items and so I could not comprehend in the beginning that $6/kg for a banana is daylight robbery! I made the mistake of not converting. This is even expensive for Swedish standards at SEK39,46/kg! I buy my bananas at SEK15/kg. A 1.5 litre water costed us $5 and that same bottle costed $1.50 at a grocery mall. Lesson learnt - if there are no price tags, do not enter the store.