Recently in Travel Guide Category
Read newspaper today and noted that from today, we could book tickets for 2008 Olympics. Read the rules and small prints. It feels and in fact works like subscribing for IPOs, as tickets are bound to be over subscribed. Each person could only put in one application, for a maximum of 10 matches, each for a maximum of 4 tickets.
The event would be held in China (and to a small extent, HK), and I guess the weather would be "too hot" for bb to be interested (I was told it was 37C in June, let alone August when the Game would be held). So I have asked my colleague, she will ask her bf and I've also mentioned it to one of my friends. The plan is we would all put in an application for 4 tickets for the matches we are interested to maximise our chances of getting the tickets. It's quite expensive, I mean the tickets plus flight tickets and hotels, but I guess it's a lifetime experience. It's too preliminary to say anything now, but we'll see. At least the thought itself is pretty interesting. : )
Here's the link to weather in New Zealand- very good site. If you place your cursor above the name of the town, it gives you the weather in that town.
Found it! Or rather, them! Yes, I found two:
1. Maporama
This one is useful for going from one two to the other e.g. from Dunedin to Queenstown. It gives you the fastest time (assuming an average speed at 61km/hour) together with the suggested route with breakdown of details. Very handy.
2. Wises map
This one seems to give you the routes within a city or a town, although I'm yet to surf more on it.
We've been looking for something equivalent to Mapquest. How wonderful, now we've found it!
bbmm went out for dinner tonight - fish head hotpot lah - and so expensive!! wonderful bb paid, and mm feels a little guilty ...
after din din, we returned to our respective homes (yeah, respective homes, sadly). mm went to a book store and looked up travel books for NZ. This hotel in Auckland sounded quite nice and appears to be within our budget:
Kingsgate Hotel Parnell
For the day we want - NZ 112.50
Apparently this is part of a group of hotels. mm will check out other destinations later :P
Ascot Parnell Hotel
This is nice too but too expensive lah :)
Best Western Midway Motel Rotorua
NZ 115 (1-bedroom)
Palm Court Motor Inn
Reply: We have a studio available at $125 per night or a 1 bedroom at $145 per night. Prices include GST Tax and both units have cooking facilities.
Coachman Motor Inn
Studio NZ 105 (or upstairs for NZ 125)
Ascot on Fenton
NZ 90 or $95 for 21 to 23 Dec 2005 (Labour weekend)
Ann's Volcanic Rotorua
Enquiry made.
Best Inn Rotorua
(Found this in a travel book. It says it's run by a Japanese. But can't find its website. Will look it up in agents :) )
Kingsgate Hotel Rotorua
NZ 118
Some useful links:
Supermarket Shopping Guide
This website have information about shopping, including which supermarket offers best value for money! It also offers other useful information about New Zealand, for example, living in NZ, NZ estate agent guide, finding a job, and even salaries ! It says according to The New Zealand Consumer's Association (which carries out regular surveys of supermarkets), for a typical family they currently report that the cheapest stores are Pak'N Save branches in Wellington.
For a typical basket of groceries, Woolworths is generally around 15 percent more expensive than Pak'N Save. The two main supermarket groups in New Zealand are:
The Countdown / Woolworths / Foodtown / 3 Guys chains / Big Fresh / Price Chopper chains.
Pak'N Save / New World / Four Square chains.
It also says:
- Woolworths is the winner for pleasurable shopping. The Woolworths shops are laid out more spaciously and tend to be quieter than the others, probably because their prices are higher.
- Countdown stores are slightly less spacious, a bit busier (and a bit cheaper).
- Pak'N Save is generally busy - it's known jokingly as "Push'N Shove" - and has a lower standard of décor, with bare concrete floors.
- In Woolworths and Countdown, shop assistants pack your bags for you. In Pak'N save, you pack your own.
Note: New Zealanders don't like it when foreigners tell them their accents are the same as Australians'! mm need to be careful lah - ha haa haaa!
New Zealand Reservations
Covers: Accomodation, Activities, Food & Wine, and so on.
We shall pick up our car from Dunedin, leave it in Christchurch, fly to Rotorua where we shall pick up our next car, returning it in Auckland.
Suggestion: Looks like Ezi-Rent is the cheapest for our trip (Total cost from Dunedin to Auckland: NZ 758 - inclusive of Dunedin pickup; no extra cost for additional driver.) Downside is they cannot guarantee a CD player even if we book early, although that's true to most of the other rental companies.
Details of research as follows.
Dunedin
Nationwide
Group C - Nissan Pulsar 1.6 litre auto - Total: NZ 645.96 (NZ 64/day+NZ 30 pick up fee)
Ezi-Rent Car Hire
Group EC - Nissan Pulsar 1.6 litre auto - Total NZ 534 (NZ 56/day, NZ 30 additional)
Hertz
Toyota Corolla w/Automatic Transmission or Similar
Total: NZ 814.46 (NZ 549.08+(NZ 78.44x2)+NZ 18 (Airport concession fee) +tax)
Getaway Car Hire
This is a no go - they sau they have nothing available for us.
Avis
Compact Toyota Corolla Sedan 1.8 or Similar auto - NZ 775.16 (NZ 672.03 (Base rate) + NZ 17(Airport surcharge) + tax)
NB - the only one that seems to guarantee a CD player!
$59.00NZD per day.
This rate is based on Group C Mitsubishi Lancer or similar (1.8 litre, 4 door, automatic,
with air-conditioning) for 13 days.
Please note, extra hours under 3 hours, will be charged at 1/3 of the daily rate per hour. If extra hours are 3 hours or more, this will be classed as an extra day.
If you collect or drop the car off to the airport/ferry there is an airport/ferry fee of
$19.13NZD.
When travelling between the North and South Islands, no vehicle is taken on
the ferry, with the first car being left at the Wellington/Picton Ferry
Terminal and the second car being collected from the Picton/Wellington
Ferry Terminal. Each hire in each island is a minimum 3 day rental. It is
imperative if you wish to proceed with a reservation you advise your cross
over details also. Flying also applies.
Please note, the above rate that has been quoted, can only be guaranteed
with a confirmed booking.
PS Can't they give us the total cost too?? So lazy !
Avon Percy
NZ 58 per day, inclusive of unlimited mileage,insurance and GST.
Group D
THANKYOU FOR YOUR E-MAIL RE CAR RENTAL WE CAN SUPPLY A CAR @$59.00 PER DAY
INC GST UNLIMITED KM AND COMPREHENSIVE INSURANCE WHICH IS BY WAY OF CREDIT
CARD IMPRINT IF NO DAMAGE TO CAR ON RETURN THEN THERE IS NO CHARGE ON
THAT.....THERE ARE AIRPORT TRANSFERS OF $35.00 AND A ONE WAY HIRE FEE OF
$100.00 WILL APPLY DROPPING CAR OFF IN CH--CH......YES THE CARS DO HAVE AIR
CON AND IF YOU BOOK EARLY ENOUGH WE CAN PUT YOU IN ONE THAT DOES HAVE CD
PLAYER....WE ONLY HAVE A SELECTED FEW THAT DO SO WE DONT EVEN ADVERTISE
IT.....NO ADDITIONAL COST FOR EXTRA DRIVER.....REGARDS MARTY......
PS I don't like the capital letters - bad manners, and it's difficult to distill the information we want. May be they are not interested in us ... ??!
Thrifty
CCAR - Toyota Corolla 4 or 5 door, 1.8 litre, manual, air conditioning, radio with CD player, air bag(s), central locking. Also in this category: Toyota Corolla, Toyota Avensis
Total: NZ 784.58 ((NZ 75.60 x 9)+NZ 17 (Airport surcharge) + tax)
Rhodes Rental
Economy (1.6 litre, 4-door manual or automatic, sedan, seats 4/5) - NZ 59/day for 7+ days
Medium (1.8 - 2.2 litre, 4 door, automatic, sedan, seats 5) - NZ 69/day for 7+ days
Rotorua - Ezi-Rental seems to be the cheapest in this section too !
Nationwide
Group C - Nissan Pulsar 1.6 litre auto - Total: NZ 304 (NZ 76/day no additional)
Ezi-Rent Car Hire
Group EC - Nissan Pulsar 1.6 litre auto - Total 240 (NZ 60/day) (no additional)
Hertz
Toyota Corolla w/Automatic Transmission or Similar
Total: NZ 299.25 (NZ 62/day+NZ 18 (Airport concession fee) +tax)
Avis
Compact Toyota Corolla Sedan 1.8 or Similar auto - NZ 379.13 (NZ 320 (Base rate) + NZ 17(Airport surcharge) + tax)
Thrifty
CCAR - Toyota Corolla 4 or 5 door, 1.8 litre, manual, air conditioning, radio with CD player, air bag(s), central locking. Also in this category: Toyota Corolla, Toyota Avensis
Total: NZ 731.61 ((NZ 78.33 x 4)+NZ 17 (Airport surcharge) + tax)
PS And I think I've done all my homework for Car Rental now - yeah! (7 Oct 2005 around 11 am - and I'm obviously now busy at work - hee hee)
We have talked about various things we want to do when we are in NZ. We are also conscious about having a budget so that we won't go overboard. I've checked out the cost of some of the things we want to do, and here they are:
Dunedin
(i) Elm Wildlife Tour - seeing penguin, albatross, and so on at Peninsular - NZ 67
This can be combined with kayaking - for NZ 137
(ii) Dunedin Sunrise Penguin Walk NZ 65
(iii) Cadbury Chocoloate Factory Tour - Available 7 days a week - 9am to 3:15pm, with extended hours during school holidays and the summer season. Admission charges: NZ $15.00 adult (Approx 1 ¼ hours); Reduced Tours (Sundays, Public Holiday weekends) - NZ $8.00 adult (Approx 40 minutes).
(iv) Speights Brewery Tour - Tours run daily, with duration of 1.5 hours. Prices: Adults $15. For information, click here.
Useful links:
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Milford Sound
Red boat cruise
(i)scenic cruise - NZ 48
(ii) scenic flight - NZ 330
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Queenstown
(i) Jetboating NZ 99
(ii) Lord of the Rings 4WD Tour NZ 120
(iii) Full day Funyaks NZ 275
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Fox Glacier/Franz Josef
(i) Scenic flight NZ 325
(ii) Half Day Glacier Walk NZ 65
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Christchurch
(i) Hot Air Ballooning NZ 240
Christchurch i-Site Visitors Centre
(ii) Whale Watching in Kaikoura NZ 125. It says sometimes they could see dolphins too. If so, that would be real good value for money! (How much was it for dolphin watching in Coffs Harbour again? Pretty cheap, right?)
Kaikoura i-Site Visitors Centre
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Rotorua
(i) Zorbing wet zorb NZ 35; zorb + river raft NZ 110 - 115
(ii) Fishing and Thermal Bath
(iii) Scenic cruise, Trout fishing cruise and Lake Tarawera Cruise to Hot Water Beach
(iv) River Rafting (of course, the lower grades - just for fun !) NZ 90
(v) Termal pools - but the websites say it's standard in hotels and motels.
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Others
Everthing you want to know about Lord of the Rings
PS More will be added to this post - watch this space!
I found a website of a company that could tailor made holidays in New Zealand. That website also offers a few sample iterneries. One of them is called "Midlife Adventure" and (without admission!), could be a useful reference.
PS Did you notice that I managed to put a link to the words, but not the link to the website addresses??!!
