FF:NZ Travel advice

I'm off to work in Australia in early March for a few days and then I have a few weeks free to do whatever I want. I was thinking about coming to NZ and wandered whether anybody could give me any advice.

Is it a good time of year to visit; where should I go/stay; what should I do; anywhere really chilled where I can get away from it all.

I'll be there for about 10-12 days. It will be the first proper holiday I've had for years so I don't want to do too much - just relax and not think about work...

Hope you guys can help me out! Thanks

DARKO

 

Hi Dark_Score

March is usually a great time to visit New Zealand ... our hottest months are jan-feb, so the weather is usually milder in March. But with this global warming, who knows, lol.

There's a lot of tourist packages centered around the LOTR filming locations. Some of it is probably just farmers charging people $10 to look at their paddock, but I'm sure most of the places is interesting.

In the North Island, Rotorua is a popular tourist destination ... it's kind of the 'volcanic activity capital' as it has geysers, boiling mud pools, natural hot springs and the Buried Village.

If you're more into the seaside kind of holiday, the Bay of Islands is a great place for kayaking and whale-watching.

In the South Island, Queenstown is probably New Zealand's most popular tourist destination. There's heaps of stuff to do there. Fiordland is a must if you like natural wonders .. it always votes very high in 'most beautiful place on earth' polls.

 

Yes, Fiordland is very pretty. I think I've been to all of the places Kitt mentioned, except Bay of Islands.

 

Yes, to Kitt327 you listen.

If you're hitting north, 9O-mile Beach and the Russell/Paihia townships are nice places to check out.

 

Yea, I have this great memory of eating fish'n chips on the beach at Russell.

 

Good grief!

Why would anyone voluntarily spend money to come here ... there's ABSOLUTELY NOTHING here unless you want lots of scenery, you may as well take a vacation in you own house.

Save your money and go to places in Australia like the marine park and the Disneyland-clone.

 

Darko, Buzz is our forum's resident Grumpy Bear.

 

LOL

I was watching the episode of the Simpsons when they went to Australia tonight. Damn funny episode.


Sorry for getting off-topic.

 

"You call that a knife? This is a knife."

"That's a spoon."

 

Do you think I should go to Oz instead of NZ?

 

Darko, Buzz is our forum's resident Grumpy Bear.

^ See above

Aren't you going to Australia anyway?

 

> Buzz is our forum's resident Grumpy Bear.

But nobody's proved me wrong yet, have they!


As I said, unless you like scenery (spend US$8 and see LotR and you've seen the most of the scenery), there's NOTHING here that you can't see in small town America, Europe, or Australia. There's no unique monuments, parks, tourist attractions, etc. of any interest, except perhaps a few old Maori buildings (which look like any other old civilisation's buildings, except they've got Maori carvings on the front).

 

there's NOTHING here that you can't see in small town America, Europe, or Australia.

And vice versa eh?

Seriously, he's going to Oz and he *wants* to come by here; it's not very helpful if you keep dissing your own country.

 

How much have you traveled around New Zealand, and the rest of the world to compare it, Buzz?

Actually, that's an interesting question for everyone. I know we've got some globe-hoppers here

 

Having just returned from queenstown I can safely tell you it is expensive and no republic credits will not be fine!!
However saying this you can get some good deals on accomodation and if ya have a tent then your only looking at about $15 - $20 per night, food/entertainment is about the same as any major NZ city, unless you want to do all the adventure stuff and that costs a pretty penny (more than a j type nubian!!)

 

> it's not very helpful if you keep dissing your own country

But he wanted opinions and that's my opinion ... that still nobody has proven different. There's just nothing here that you can't see elsewhere for far cheaper, so why waste the money.


Besides, this ain't my country, it's just a country I live in.



> How much have you traveled around New Zealand, and the rest of the world to compare it, Buzz?

I was born in England and lived in various parts there, passed through Los Angeles and Hawaii on our way here, and various places around New Zealand since then. Plus lots of stories from my dad's trips to various places all over Europe for work and other countries when he was in the English Navy.

 

The NZ Tourism website could be a good place to wander through to see how little is here on a region-by-region basis.

 

that still nobody has proven different.

I think the problem is, it's such a radical thing to say, we're just putting it down to your usual somewhat cynical nature.

I mean, honestly, you can't see my own back yard in any other country, never mind Fiordland and Rotorua.

I think what you're really trying to say, is that you don't see anything here worth travelling to see. There's no point trying to 'prove' someone's opinion wrong ... it's your opinion and you're entitled to it.

However, millions of people obviously disagree with your opinion, seeing as New Zealand has a huge tourist industry, and it was voted the number one tourist destination by Lonely Planet.

Personally, I think there's plenty of amazing things to see here, as I mentioned in my initial post, and enough to keep any tourist satisfied.

 

Buzz, then why do you stay?

eh, grumpiness is infectious.

The thing is we are compact and small so you can see all those places in a few weeks, with spending far less on accomodation (Queenstown notwithstanding ) petrol and food.

So instead of hopping around all over Europe and the UK you can see it all in one small country.

Course we don't have the big Opera houses of other countries.

See the World of Wearable Arts, in Nelson too.

And yes, I've travelled to many places, I prefer NZ because we have bugger all poisonous creatures (katipo spider is about the equivalent of a bees ting), it doesn't get so hot that you pass out, nor does it get so cold that you could die just by walking outside (even the deep South doesn't get as cold as some artic regions) Yeah, a lot of places are like that but then again we are also so small as to not really be seen as a destination for terrorists.

Our 'boringness' is exactly what makes us a haven for people to get to.

At least that's what terry Pratchett had to say

Also no nukes, a few small thingies in unis for experiments...

 

Our 'boringness' is exactly what makes us a haven for people to get to.

*nods*

Here may not be the most exciting place to have a vacation, but it's a nice place to live.

 

Buzz-Bumble's level of ignorance utterly astounds me.

 

As I said, unless you like scenery (spend US$8 and see LotR and you've seen the most of the scenery),

How the hell would you know Buzz, you havn't even seen the LOTR!!!


NZ is a great country to visit on holiday. We've had a couple from Denmark come and have a few meals here as they wait for their rent-a-car (comes today actually) and they will make their way down to Wellington (from Auckland) and then spend most of their trip touring the South Island. The south island is full of natural amazing sights and experiences. If it's laxing on a beach in Nelson, to walking Milford track in Fiordland to snowboarding in the Alps (though it's march you're comming, so perhaps not).

The point is this couple form Cenmark were told specifically to make most of their trip in the South. They will travel from Auckland down to Rotarua and possibly Tauranga and then via the Desert Road (called this because it is barren, not actually a sand desert - just scrubby trees nd tussock as it's high altitude). We have great vineyards/wineries so if you want to do a wine trail that's always a relaxing enjoyable day or two around Blenhiem/Nelson. The West coast is rugged and untamed and very beautiful. There's Gore. Queenstown is definitely the tourst capital of NZ,. With activites such as Jetboating, Bunjy jumping skiing etc it's a place to visit not just for the picturesque scenery but for the activities too. LOTR sets and scenes are scattered around the south island (more so than the north island) and you may just recognise a hill of mountain range that was in the movie.

What this all means.

Do come to NZ. Do ignore Buzz. DO see the North Island. Do spend most of your time in the South Island if it sights and activities you wish to do. DO go up north of the North Island for beachs and laxing if that's what you want to do. Do what you want to. Get a car, get a map and go for it.

Have fun in March if you don't post here anymore, but please don't be put off by Grumpy Bears opinions of possibly the most beautiful countries this small world has to offer.


SFL.

 

How the hell would you know Buzz, you havn't even seen the LOTR!!!

Touché, touché...

Sounds like almost everyone has been up and down the country more than me. I've only been to one major trip here, which was one week mostly in the South Island. I wish I could go again these holidays. Don't like being stuck in Auckland all the time. And however boring it is I bet it's still cheaper than going to Australia.

 

Now everybody's giving scenery examples, which is what I said in the first place ... unless your interested in scenery, there's nothing here - and basically the same scenery (mountains, forests, beaches, etc.) is available elsewhere anyway, and for far cheaper than the price of getting out here and the overblown 'tourist' pricing.


There's absolutely nothing here like Disneyland, Eiffel Tower, etc., etc. - nothing that's unique and can't be seen elsewhere. If you've seen one bubbling mud pool, you've seen them all.


As I said above, a good place to visit might be the NZ Tourism website to see what little there is here and if anything interests you personally as a visitor, but bear in mind that they're obviously biased to encouraging people to come and spend their money here.

 

Well actually NZ is seen as one of the better value tourist destinations, air fares aren't that expensive and the exchange rate for the US$ and Euro make us a fairly attractive destination. we are currently in the top 5 places americans want to visit and as for saying you can get everything elsewhere well maybe you can but its not the same, I've driven from chch to queenstown in the last few days and the scenery is Stunning!! Azure blue lakes, snow capped mountains, rugged rock formations and tussocky mountain passes, if you want tacky tourist parks and fun rides then sure go elsewhere, we are a unique destination and to suggest otherwise shows how little you know.

"You call that a knife? This is a knife."

"That's a spoon."


I can see you've played knifey spoony before