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Top Things to Do in New Zealand

admin — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:06:11 +0000

Throughout New Zealand
Buy the Lord of the Rings location guide, and do some hunting out of familiar scenes from the LOTR trilogy.

North Island
Cape Reinga and 90 Mile Beach
Swim with the dolphins in Paihia, Bay of Islands
Vertigo Climb, Auckland Skytower – beyond the observation decks, and wear an orange suit to do it.
Take a ferry or kayak from Mission Bay, Auckland to Rangitoto Island & climb to the top.
Waiheke Island – only 35 mins by ferry from Auckland, for some great wineries, maybe spend the night.
Raglan- & catch some wild surf.
Waitomo Haggas Honking Holes and tubing the glow-worm caves
Kayak from Whitianga to Cathedral Cove – then go to Hot Water beach and dig your hole in the sand
Drive from Opotiki to Gisborne then around the East Cape and back to Opotiki
Hawkes Bay- wineries, East Coast, North Island
Whakatane- Take a scenic flight over White Island, an active volcano.
Rotorua – to see the geysers, thermal activity and smell, visit Te Whakawerwera for your Maori cultural experience.
Drive out to Lake Tarawera near Rotorua- check out the Blue and Green lakes on the way
Taupo- Tandem Skydive 12,000ft
Craters of the moon outside of Taupo
Tongariro Crossing- one of the best one-day walks in the world, stunning scenery with volcanoes
Walk up Mount Taranaki- West Coast, North Island
Watch the sun rise at Te Araroa – the eastern most place in NZ
Martinborough- wineries- bottom East Coast, North Island
Te Papa Museum in Wellington- you could spend all day here learning about NZ / Maori -culture

South Island
Abel Tasman- for relaxing walking and kayaking around the National Park
Walk the Queen Charlotte Track, Marlborough Sounds- Top, South Island
Marlborough- wineries, top East Coast, South Island
Kaikoura- for whale watching and swimming with dolphins
4 day hike, Banks Peninsula – East Coast, South Island
Moeraki Boulders – East Coast, South Island for unusual round boulders
Christchurch- Arts Centre
Akaroa- for a bit of French New Zealand history
Dunedin- for historic homes, albatross, yellow eyed penguins and seal colonies
Oamaru- for Old Oamaru Stone buildings and Penguin watching
Pancake Rocks and blowholes- Punakaiki, upper West Coast, South Island
Mount Cook – South Island
Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers- West Coast, South Island
While looking at the glaciers in the Fox/Franz Josef area take a cruise out to Lake Matheson first thing in the morning to take some amazing photos of the reflection of Mount Cook in the water
Wanaka- a relaxing place in Central Otago
Arrowtown- an old Central Otago Goldfields town with an old Chinese village, 20 minutes from Queenstown
Queenstown- for adventure activities and party atmosphere
Pipeline Bungy Jump in Queenstown
Drive from Queenstown to Glenorchy- have a beer at the Glenorchy pub, after stopping and taking plenty of photos whilst on the drive
Queenstown- wineries
5 day trek of Routeburn/Greenstone Track
Walk Milford Track- one of the Worlds best.
Milford Sound and Fiordland National Park- lower West Coast, South Island
Doubtful Sound in the Fiordland National Park- swim with dolphins
The Catlins- for nature East Coast, South Island
Stewart Island- for nature bottom South Island

Once you have done all these things you will have had a great look around beautiful New Zealand

http://www.newzealandatoz.com
New Zealand AtoZ provides useful New Zealand information to travelers, including a full list of all New Zealand car, motorhome and campervan rental companies along with their daily hire rates
Your complete guide to New Zealand.

Tags: activities, holiday, ltor, new, things, top, travel, Vacation, zealand

New Zealand Hitchhiking Advice

admin — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:37:00 +0000

Hitchhiking is not without risk in any country and the same applies in New Zealand. New Zealand has crime like any other western country. New Zealand only has 4 million people, so the number of criminals is lower than the USA or the UK. Use the same discretion getting into a car with a stranger in NZ as you would anywhere in the world.

Don’t try to hitch hike in Auckland, the main way out is the motorway, and it is illegal to walk or stop on any motorway (except in case of emergency).

In the country outside of the main centres you are more likely to have luck getting lifts, especially in the South Island.

Wear your pack (to make it obvious you are a tourist)

Look clean and tidy – try to avoid the wild-mountain man look

Let people know where you are planning to go.

Don’t accept lifts from anyone you don’t feel comfortable with.

Handle things in the car (to leave your fingerprints in case something does go wrong).

If you are staying in hostels, you may well get lifts from there anyway – some hostels have a ‘carpool list’ where people with free space in the car write down their destination and departure date/time.

Hitch hiking can be a great way of learning about New Zealand and meeting new people. If you get lucky you can find out about great local “treasures” from the local people or you could be told of the cheapest and/or best place to stay at the town you re heading too.

Be careful, take note of the points above and your trip should be entertaining and enjoyable.

http://www.newzealandatoz.com

New Zealand AtoZ provides useful New Zealand information to travelers, including a full list of all New Zealand car, motorhome and campervan rental companies along with their daily hire rates.
Your complete guide to New Zealand

Tags: car, hike, hikeing, hiking, Hitch, hitching, holiday, new, travel, travelling, Vacation, zealand

Tipping in New Zealand

admin — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 08:14:04 +0000

Minimum wages in New Zealand are $10.25 an hour for a worker over 18 and $8.20 for under 18, so they are not dependent on tips to subsidize their income, as is the case in the United States.

Most New Zealanders would not like tipping to become the normal procedure. This could factor into your wages when negotiating for a job.
With a non-tipping society it also gives a better feeling when you have finished your transaction. You do not feel guilty about leaving the right tip, and do not feel like being held captive at a restaurant or cafe until the tip is paid.

One of the more common New Zealand tipping practices in New Zealand is to round up taxi fares to the nearest couple of dollars.
Restaurants, hotels or bars do charge an extra service charge on public holidays around 10%-20%. This is now a common public holiday levy.
If you get great service feel free to leave a tip, $5 would be a good tip and a nice way of saying thanks for going out of your way. It will be much appreciated, it is not expected.
Do not feel “cheap” if you don’t leave a tip, think “when in Rome”.

Tags: new, tipping, tourism, travel, Vacation, zealand