Peter, We were in New Zealand & Australia in Oct/Nov '06. We flew into Auckland and then on to Queenstown on the South Island for 8 or 10 days. On the way back from Australia, we spent 4-5 days on the North Island. It's a wonderful place.
Here's a map of where we drove on the South Island. http://picasaweb.google.com/rf.sullivan/NewZealand02/photo#4992791946674176018 http://tinyurl.com/3y96k5 Queenstown is great scenery, dark starry skys, and probably skying this time of year. Don't miss an all day bus+boat trip to Doubtful Sound, the most southwestern part of our trip (see map). Spectacular scenery. The west side of the island is rather sparsely populated, but the vistas are grand around the top of the island (Nelson) and along the coast down to (up from) Christchurch. Here are my photos with some captions. http://picasaweb.google.com/rf.sullivan/Sabbatical http://picasaweb.google.com/rf.sullivan/NewZealand02 On our return to the North Island, we went north from Auckland and skipped Rotorua altogether (warned it was a tourist trap). After a 3-4 hour drive north, we were in a tropical climate at Bay of Islands, Paihia and then Hokianga Bay. Again, we were very impressed with the beautiful scenery. (see photos) http://picasaweb.google.com/rf.sullivan/NorthIslandNewZealand We rented cars from Budget without any problems. There were just 2 of us, so an intermediate car was just fine. The roads are two lanes but tarmac, so an SUV is a bit of overkill especially in the mountains. We thought of driving from the North Island to the South Island, but the fast ferrytook 3 hours to cross the Nelson(?) straights and actually took 7-8 hours on the day we went south as there were 10 meter swells. We can't wait to go back. Regards, Bob S. On 5/1/07, Peter Lacus <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi, > > I'm flying to New Zealand (together with another list member) on 14th of > May so it's about time to ask some questions I guess ;-) (since I > haven't found too many conversations about subj. in the list archives): > > 1. where to go? I'm sure there are so many places worth visiting and > we've got just 8 days for the Southern Island and 5 days for the > Northern Island. I'd certainly like to experience Rotorua and compare NZ > fjords with their cousins in Norway. If you know about some hidden gems > please share your knowledge. Exact GPS coordinates of great photographic > vistas are especially welcome! (just kidding, I don't have a GPS ;-)). > > 2. where not to go? Are there some obvious tourist traps which are > better to be avoided? > > 3. availability/prices of Pentax lenses and slide film. If the prices > were substantially closer to the US than to the UK, I'd probably buy > 21Ltd. and perhaps 40Ltd. at the start of our trip (which happens in > Christchurch). WRT slide film, Kodak EliteChrome or Fuji Sensia is > enough for me (but of course AGFA RSX-II 50 would be preferable) - is it > readily available or it's better to take some from home? > > 4. I'd welcome some tips which car rental company offers most bang for > the buck - e.g. not the most expensive nor the cheapest one, but with > solid fleet and services. On our US trip we've used Alamo services and > we were very satisfied. Also is compact/intermediate car (1.6-2.0l > engine) enough or it would be a better idea to rent a SUV? > > 5. And of course the most important question - how about small PDML > meeting under the Southen Cross? It's always nice to meet fellow > Pentaxians anywhere in the world, isn't it? > > Of course any other suggestions/comments are welcome - if you know for > example where to buy the best (yet affordable) wine or where to see kiwi > in the wild - _everything_ is welcome. > > If you don't have experience from New Zealand but have some from Hong > Kong, just substitute NZ in the questions above with HK (except of Q4 - > we are probably not going to rent a car in HK - it's just stopover on > the way back home, which means 2 days & 2 nights). > > Thank you for any replies! > > Cheers, > > Peter > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
