Not yet been myself (it is on our list) but my son worked there for 10 weeks year before last from sept to dec. He was in Aukland & reported it rained & rained & rained! I have a little booklet someone gave to me from the "Independant" by roughguides.com. They say max temp in Aukland in sept of 16c & 14c elsewhere. I do know sept is Daffodil & spring flower time, so sounds a bit like march/april here but possibly without the chance of frost that we get. My son did a few days at end in mountains at Queenstown & had quite a lot of cloud preventing him doing sightseeing flights etc. good luck let us know how you get on. PS they get very little snow in NZ except on the mountains. Eric

Hi there,

http://www.airline-network.co.uk is a good place to start looking. We've been to Oz a few times and have always used this company for the flights.

Maybe I can help, I live in New Zealand and would be happy to answer any of your questions.
I have a travelogue that was written on our trip around the south Island in 2001.
I also have many photos, taken from that trip, loaded onto a public website.

Let me know.
Richard.

Hi again.
I will attempt to answer your queries.
It depends were you are going to be during August/September.

In the south of the South Island it can be very cold with a fair amount of rain.
The West Coast of the South Island is a bit milder but you can still experience a lot of rain.
Over on the east coast there is a lot less rain and you can get the odd beautiful day. Frosts can still be experienced at this time of year.
The top of the South Island round Nelson, Blenheim and the Marlborough Sounds, you get some lovely days especially during September but mixed up with that there can be some real lousy weather.

In the North Island temps. tend to be higher than the south but these months tend to be quite damp.

If you want my opinion whether or not to join a tour group, my advice is not to, but hire a car and drive yourself.
I am not to sure where you are from, but if you are from a country that drives on the right, don't be too concerned about driving in NZ.
My wife and I have driven in the US plus many countries in Europe and have never experienced many problems.

If you want any assistance in creating an itinerary please do not hesitate to ask.
Richard.

We went in Nov 2003, weather was glorious for 4 weeks but when it rains it lashes down like the West coast of Ireland.

Driving (apart from Auckland & Wellington) is a pleasurable experience. In the Soth Island driving from Haast to Queenstown I travelled 47kms before a car came the other way.

Particularly in the South you can be whizzing along when you have to stop and admire the view. The scenery is indescribable, lakes mountains and valleys for miles and miles.

We covered 5000 miles in 4 weeks but none of the drives were onerous and petrol is very cheap. We were also very impressed with the food and standard of hotels in what is still a fairly primitive country once you get out of the cities.

Hope you enjoy it.

There aren't too many specific questions asked about Australia and it would add more work for mods and admins. If there are loads of questions on one destination then a seperate forum is made- eg Goa.

We're off to NZ in March and need some advice as to what currency travellers cheques we should buy? My understanding that NZ cheques can be exchanged easily in banks, etc but cannot be generally used in stores, etc. I know that buying £sterling cheques costs 1% but is it better to take cheques in another currency and which would be better AU$ or US$?

Thanks

Hi Elainep

We come from Australia and have traveled New Zealand l would take NZ dollars if you use cheques we do not use them we use ATMS they are all over the place and we use visa and master cards for all our needs .
The old bankcard is not used there now but visa and master cards are ok l hope this helps you NZ is one of the best places to see. If you have Aus $ or US $ you will have to change back to NZ $.

______chubby_______

Take NZ$ travellers cheques though when I was in NZ a couple of years ago I just used ATM 's and paid cash.
Have a great trip, NZ is a paradise, would move there tomorrow if they would have me.

Can anyone find me a cheap flight to new zealand.
fly out 16/06/05
return 16/07/05.

THANX

Has anybody tried to do a DIY holiday to NZ? Any info appreciated.

Dave

It really depends what you want to do when you get there, there are loads of possibilities. Do you want to go to North and South Islands, hire a car or a camper. Hotels, hostels or home stays? Lots of camp grounds have very reasonable cabin accomodation. It is quite easy to do , just takes a bit of time. I was there three years ago, booked my flight with expedia and then spent time looking up prices for hotels and/or a camper van/cars. There are bus companies in NZ that offer very reasonable prices for travel. If you hire a car it can't be taken on the Ferry between islands you have to drop it off at hire firm at one island and pick up at the other (hire company will arrange pick ups). With a camper you can travel between islands. We hired our camper with KEA , but if you trawl the net you will find loads of others.
Go for it! New Zealand is paradise. I would move there tomorrow, but unfortunately they don't want someone as old as me.

Hi Judith, thanks for that. We are experienced in doing DIY and always prefer to do it that way if we can. Do you think it worked out much cheaper and are those camper things easy to drive?

Dave

Hello Seagull
I'm not sure if we did it any cheaper as it was part of a round the world trip and we kept adding places to stop off at, so in the end we couldn't compare with a package. After returning from NZ I saw that a few travel companies were offering a package of either camper and flight or car and flight tied in with Air New Zealand or Singapore Airlines at very reasonable prices. We managed OK with the camper, it was a four birth, based on a Ford Transit, but took some getting used to when backing into parking spots. Last year we went to Canada and hired a smaller one which was much easier to manoeuvre. But if you go with the camper option there is a good range of sizes. One of the good things about camping in NZ is that you don't have to use camp grounds all the time, you can park in the open countryside for free or use very cheap basic National Park sites.
Having said that the normal paid for campgrounds are usually superb.

Can someone tell me please ,,,,,
What is the best ,not dearest, flight company,airline, to fly with on such a long journey,who does the best service while on board,which one as the most legroom,what is the best place to stop over at, as i am a young lad i can,t afford all the extra,s i,m down to a minimum on spending, I DON,T WANT ALOT DO I.

Malaysian Airlines are generally considered a good bet - one of the best seat pitches in economy (34") good prices and excellent service with the option of a stopover in Malaysia

Thanx sunbear.
Get my parents to read this info,see if they will cough up.[live in hope].

Singapore Airlines are the best & Singapore is a great stopover location. Fly from London and Manchester to Auckland & Christchurch

Singapore have very cramped seating. They have about 31" of legroom which is not really acceptable .I'm only 5'6" tall but I felt really hemmed in the last time I flew with them and my friend who is only 5'1" also felt cramped. Thai Airlines and Air New Zealand have better leg room. It's Malaysia Airlines for me when I fly to OZ in September.