Almost a year ago, we thought about making a trip to somewhere far away. And the last answer for us was a remote country at the southern hemisphere, "New Zealand" -- a land of kiwi. We chose to go there on autumn since we could see colorful trees that changed their colors before falling to the ground. Moreover, if lucky, we might have a chance to see snow at the early winter as well. That meant we had to wait until the following year since it was a spring season right there at that moment. Since then, we had planned and gathered all information about this area from everyway we could find -- i.e. guidebooks, websites, e-forums and more. All hotels (or motels), rental cars, domestic air flight and inter-islander ferry tickets were also booked via internet before arriving New Zealand.

About a month before this journey, we finally got a rough plan and ready for this journey. We applied for New Zealand Visa by the end of March in Bangkok -- "First Flight with Nok Air" -- and received the permission ten days later.

We would travel throughout New Zealand on both the North Island and the South Island (two major islands of the country) during April 18 to May 5, 2005. Leaving Chiang Mai to Bangkok in the afternoon (April 18, 2005) and transferring the flight to Auckland (New Zealand) via Sydney (Australia) by Thai Airways International.