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 Traveller's Tales: Getting around in New Zealand
Know the most popular landmarks in New Zealand. You may read about best transportation, recommended travel itinerary, suggested routes and directions. Also, you might want to read our
Auckland city guide,
Bay of Islands city guide,
Dunedin city guide,
Queenstown city guide,
and Wellington city guide.
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| T Lynch |
10 April 2005 |
Stayed at Mercure Grand Hotel St Moritz Queenstown - Queenstown, New Zealand.
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Hired a car for a couple of days which was brilliant as we went to a few places which would have been difficult to get to otherwise, ie Glenorchy, which has the most amazing walks around it from 1 hour to 3-4 hours. Arrowtown which is an old mining town and extremely interesting and the ski slopes ( no snow ) but very interesting. Took a coach booked through hotel to Milford Sound which was wonderful. Too much to see to think of driving and the coach Great Sights was wonderful with a great driver/commentator. We took a coach with the same company from Christchurch to Queenstown which was well worth it as the scenery was amazing. Of course the drivers know all the good places to stop for the photographers! Best meal was a restaurant called The Captain, brilliant food and service. Queenstown a wonderful experience. Recommend it to everyone.
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| R Maylin |
07 March 2005 |
Stayed at 10 Trinity Court Motel - Dunedin, New Zealand.
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Dunedin is a lovely city. Would recommend Royal Albatross & Penguin Colonies. Monarch Cruises are excellent.
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| D Cooper |
02 February 2005 |
Stayed at Wairakei Resort - Taupo, New Zealand.
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Just far enough out of town that having a car was helpful for us (I'm not sure what transportation facility was available at the hotel.) We were close to, and visited, nearby winery (several times for cheese platter and wine), 18-hole golf course (NZ$125 pp plus cart fee), and a couple tourist stops (Craters of the Moon, and park). Taupo itself is a nice little town with a variety of restaurants and taverns, not to mention the lake (very beautiful.)
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| R Flaherty (2nd stay) |
05 January 2005 |
Stayed at Sudima Hotel Grand Chancellor Christchurch Airport - Christchurch, New Zealand.
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The hotel is next door to the Antarctic Center. It is a good place to go. There is a bus stop in front of the hotel that you can go to downtown Christchurch. There is great shopping and food and tourist attractions. At the firehall, there is a Sept 11 memorial and they have some of the steel beams from the World Trade Center in a sculpture. Downtown is a good place to spend several hours. Buy a "day pass" when you get on the bus for $7 and you will be able to return to the Sudima whenever you want that day. I mistakenly bought a one way for $5.
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| D Ainge |
28 December 2004 |
Stayed at Hyatt Regency Auckland - Auckland, New Zealand.
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We only stayed the one night,as we were moving on to Hamilton the very next morning.
So no actual comment can be given about Auckland. Travelled the next day by the "Overlander" train to Hamilton. This was also a very nice experience, and a very good way of seeing the countryside of New Zealand.
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| E Mccartney |
26 December 2004 |
Stayed at Duxton Wellington - Wellington, New Zealand.
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Wellington's a beautiful city. The Te Papa museum is quite an experience (and it's free!). Our favorite restaurant was Kopi, a Malaysian place on Willis St. The Bouquet Garni across the street also had a very nice wine bar with a great selection of Kiwi vintages. The cable car to the botanical gardens is also a lovely trip on a nice day. If you take cabs be sure to take note of the company's name--my wife left her purse in one and every company we called said that because we weren't sure it was one of their cars that we'd have to wait for the purse to be turned in to the police. We ended up having to drive up to Auckland to get her a new passport, only for it finally to get turned in at the airport on our last day there. (Go figure. The drive up Desert Road was gorgeous, at least.)
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| R Troop |
02 December 2004 |
Stayed at Punakaiki Rocks Hotel & Villas - Punakaiki, New Zealand.
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We drove down from Picton, where we did the Queen Charlotte track. The Queen Charlotte drive is incredibly beautiful, but SH6 is a lot longer than SH69. Interesting sharing single lane bridges with oncoming traffic and railways.
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| H Zeevat |
30 November 2004 |
Stayed at Airport Gateway Hotel - Auckland, New Zealand.
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Rented a car from rentadent and drove to Paihia and back to Devenport and then to Rotorua, flew to Christchurch, rented another car and "did" the South Island for a week, flew back to Rotorua and spent the rest of the time on the North Island, staying mostly in B&Bs, which we really enjoyed tremendously. Had a great vacation in a great country!
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| B Aston |
16 September 2004 |
Stayed at Scenic Circle Airedale Hotel - Auckland, New Zealand.
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Excellent location close to the Aotea Centre (3 mins walk) Town Hall (directly across the road) Sky Tower (5 minutes walk) and a whole range of good restaurants. About a 15 to 20 minute walk down Queen Street to the Viaduct Waterfront complex and the harbour ferries.
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| W Purnell |
08 March 2004 |
Stayed at Carlton Hotel Auckland - Auckland, New Zealand.
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Food
Tony’s Steakhouse has good food. We would eat there again. Lots of food for the money and excellent management! New wait staff person brought dish with beans though we asked for No Beans. Dish was removed, a new one brought immediately and no charge for the new one. Only downside.... No cocktails.
Power
If you are traveling New Zealand from the US or Japan, you need a convertor for the power plugs. Borrow one from the hotel or purchase it in Auckland on Queen street near one of the Backpacker places. They're on $2.50 NZD there. They're $15-40 elsewhere in New Zealand and Australia!
Things to do
We just used Auckland as a starting point. I suppose there are things to see in just Auckland. The SkyTower is the highest point in the Southern Hemisphere. They have a tethered climb to the top of it you can do. A.J. Hackett has a bungy site on the Auckland Bridge. We drove up to the Bay of Islands area. Make sure you go early. From there you can swim with dolphins, whale watch, fishing, cruises, parasailing, etc. Cool place! Go early or stay overnight!
Driving
Just need a driver's license from somewhere! We have Japan and U.S. driver's licenses and either would have worked. The driving is on the left and roads are narrow and winding with high speed limits compared to Japan. 100 km/h on most roads. Still it takes forever to get anywhere in the North; not so much on the south island.
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