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Holidays in New Zealand.
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| posted by Waterslang 1088 days ago |
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Would like getting some feed back, if possible.
We are planning a trip to NZ just after their summer holiday season (school resumes there on Feb 7th 2006).
Already have been surfing the web and checked the holiday packages on the Air New Zealand website.
Would appreciate some extra tips from people who do know that country well about how to visit (guided tours are not our cup of tea).
Car rental?
Hotel quality in general?
Tips for foodies and wine lovers?
Things absolutely not to miss?
It's our intention to stay for a maximum of two weeks.
How long is the trip from HK? Guessing about 10 hours?
Oh and btw, how is Air New Zealand rated?
Any kiwis here to help us out?
Thanks in advance.
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| Fundy |
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| posted by adfundum 1088 days ago |
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Restaurant advise: Monsoon Poon (Both Auckland & Wellington)
Former HK Expat Chef of 11 years in charge here...
http://www.monsoonpoon.co.nz/
.
Even sick puppies need love...
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| posted by Waterslang 1088 days ago |
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Hmm... I don't know if you guys know but we happen to live in HK-China-Asia with lots on offer regarding Asian food.
I'm sure the guy is a good cook, but we are not going to NZ to get Asian food!
Especially as I've been told that NZ has great local food.
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| posted by God de Vader 1088 days ago |
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Im solly.......replied before i could think about it.....ok.......go elsewhere......or u could ask him for a true NZ menu to showcase all the produce :))
have fun
I'm not under the alkafluence of inkahol that some thinkle peep I am. It's just the drunker I sit here the longer I get."
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| posted by God de Vader 1088 days ago |
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BTW ws op de 24e is Pieters resto onveilig, we zjn daar met ongeveer 20 nederlandse horecaffers :) wordt me wel een spelletje denk ik ......
I'm not under the alkafluence of inkahol that some thinkle peep I am. It's just the drunker I sit here the longer I get."
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| posted by Waterslang 1088 days ago |
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So the place will be closed for the general public, I guess. Anyway as he will have to do something extra we might go for a booking on the 23th then and enjoy the avant-premiere.
Am making a note about it. I wonder if I can give him a hint about the bearnaise also, without offending. Same problem as the one discussed on the other topic.
OK, back to this topic...
WHERE ARE THE KIWIS ??????
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| posted by geraldo 1087 days ago |
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want to rent a camper? Have (Belgian) friends who are like adventurous, they did the country (both islands) in a few months, and then settled in the Christchurch area, they had a great time, might give some good advice, hints & tips;
In Wellington, get a big breakfast at Brasserie Leuven, same price as the buffet breakfast at the intercontinental 2 blocks down, but you've eaten for the whole weekend ...
also the botanic garden in Wellington, a must-see.
There are 10 kinds of people. Those who can read binary and those who don't
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| posted by sabi 1087 days ago |
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Mac,
I know the guy and his wife, kids too, and used to tell him a few secrets of my grandma's re Asian recipes.
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| posted by Waterslang 1087 days ago |
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Thanks Geraldo,
Last thing I thought is there would be a brasserie Leuven in Wellington.
Funny.
Camper would be a great idea especially if one has a few months time. We are only going for max. 2 weeks and trying to visit both islands as well.
In fact am thinking to travel by train and eventually hire a car for some days as well. Seems like they have a very scenic railroad organisation. You have any experience about it?
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| posted by geraldo 1087 days ago |
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well did some train trips in the WLG area when I had to stay over the weekend in Wellington, scenery is absolutely amazing!!!
I was hopping between Wellington and Auckland all the time, a flight is about 1 hour, the train trip was a bit longer than overnight.
I don't know how many you are, you could also rent a normal sedan. Driving is pretty relaxed in New Zealand, and every village has a motel-stylish thing to spend the night at reasonable prices (as far as I understood)
Make sure you visit Wellington during weekdays, it's flat empty and dead during weekends
There are 10 kinds of people. Those who can read binary and those who don't
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| posted by Waterslang 1087 days ago |
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Wellington sounds pretty much like Brussels then.
Thanks for the hint, We'll try to avoid the weekends.
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| posted by geraldo 1042 days ago |
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Wet snake, been there this week, there's a local version of Dymocks (as well as Dymocks itself) selling a number of books, priced from about 150 HKD; scenic routes, things to do, and so on ...
one that caught my eye: www.bnb.co.nz
There are 10 kinds of people. Those who can read binary and those who don't
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| posted by Waterslang 1042 days ago |
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Thanks G.
Have already an "Insight Guide" book for NZ.
So guess no problem for the classics.
But always good to hear about some little "gems" travellers have discovered and that are not referred to in the mainstream media.
Our planning is for Febuary, so still a lot of time left for fun research
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| posted by Design Holiday 1021 days ago |
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How about prebook some day tours in Queenstown or Christchurch?? Wine Tour or Canyon or River Rafting or Lord of the Rings day tour??
www.designholiday.com
Tel: 81088310
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| posted by Waterslang 1021 days ago |
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Thanks, but as posted before, not really into prebooking tours.
Mind you, have family living there and they also can get us some inspiration, but we, for sure, are not looking for being shown around the evident tourdotcoms.
Basically, the idea of my first post was to get some 'gem' feedback, outside the usual.
Thanks anyway for your time. Appreciate.
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| posted by timfraser 960 days ago |
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well ive been living in wgtn for 16 years and can tell you that all my favourite holiday memories are ones when im near a beach. depending on what you want to do there i can recommend different places. New zealand is one of( perhaps the most) beautiful countries in the world so if you want to see amazing sites pretty much anywhere will do. however milford sound, in the south island, is possibly the most beautiful place in the world i have seen. it is tucked away and is so untouched by mankind it just takes your breath away. so that is something i would definitely not miss if i were you. i havent stayed in alot of hotels but they are probably good enough for the average persons taste. air new zealand is quite good but perhaps a bit more expensive than other flight companies... wine lovers should visit hawkes bay or martinborough both of which offer great winetasting oppurtunities, e.t.c.
If you want to visit more urban areas (don't know why you would!) wellington rather than auckland is the place to go aside form that all other cities in n.z are nice and not too crowded.
queenstown is a thrill centre for tourists£ºyou can do bungy jumping, river rafting, lugeing,e.t.c. but it is more expensive than the rest of n.z.
tell me what sort of things you are interested and i will tell you more if you want
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| posted by tgif 959 days ago |
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I wouldn't worry about booking accommodation, there are loads of good decent privately owned and run roadside motels. If you're a golf fan, take your clubs and you can play for no more than about HK$100 in pretty much every town you go to! Taxis are expensive in NZ, so rent a car if you can
Here are a few of my favourite haunts
Wellington
My hometown. Great food - you can go to a top notch Welliongton Restaurant for the same price as a mediocre Hong Kong restaurant. best places are Logan Brown on Vivian Street (BYO on a Sunday) Cafe Bastille on Marjoribanks Street near Courtenay Place (Restaurant of the year many times over - awesome). hang around Lambton Quay to take in good coffee and shopping, and to shop for weird nicnacs, go up Cuba Mall (It's not a mall, it's a streetwith mostly pedestrian access only)
Other things to do
- Take the cable car from Lambton Quay up the hill. Good view from the top, v cheap too. Nice restaurant up there for a glass of wine or two, and also a chance to look around the university
- Head over the Peter Jackson's favourite cafe, the Chocolate Fish at Scorching Bay. Get a Bus or Taxi from town, it's not too far. Great food and tables set up looking out over the water.
- Jump on the Eastbourne ferry (about HK40) and head across to Days Bay in eastbourne. Bit of a beach for the kids and a few great cafes (look for CHocolate Days Cafe). Great all day fry up!
-Drive up to Martinborough as a poster above mentioned. All of the vineyards have restaurants and generally great food. Sadly the wine isn't really any cheaper at vieyards, but tasting is plentiful (usually they charge a fewdollars, which is taken off the price of anything you buy). There is a great selection of wines at the Martinborough Wine Shop though, so it' worth getting a few bottles for the road. IF you can find a few bottles of Dry River Reisling you won't be sorry about the hk500 price tag - simply devine
Taupo
- Greatlakeside fun and again loads of affordable motels. Lots of water fun here like boating and wakeboarding, minigolf for the kids, great cafes and restaurants and the thermal mudpools are 10 mins up the road near Wairakei.
Rotorua
-Smelly but loads of things to do - lugeing, waterskiiing, also great food. A bit more touristy than other place.
Auckland
-Not my sort of town, but loads of shopping and close to many beaches as well. I'm not an Auckland resident, soI don't really know much about it sorry
South Island
Dunedin
- Captain Cook Tavern for beers and fun (will be charging full of students, as Uni would have just started )
- Poppa's Pizza (next to the Uni library - everyone knows where it is) for best PIzza ever. Get a dipollo pizza
- Near the Octagon is the best coffee shop in the world - go down George Street and turn left at Octagon and "The Percolator". Yum yum yum. On the right hand side of that street are some cool boutique shops too
Chch
- Go to the Dux Deluxe to drink. That's all I know. Everyone goes there, good food and good drink.
-Also, drive 1/2 hour out to the gorgeous seaside town of Akaroa. Great beach, some cool walks and best of all lots of restaruants parked by the water. Beautiful on a sunny day
Queenstown
- Stay here forever if possible.
- Go have a pizza at the "Holy Cow" - a Queenstown institution. Great food.
- PLenty of pubs, best one to start your evening at is down on the waterfront - it's called "Eichardts" (pronounced "eye carts"). Great old pub and heaving at night.
- More pubs than Lan Kwai Fong, hard not to find a good place to go
- Head up the Gondola for a great view of Queenstown, and if you feel the need, you can tandem paraglide off it.
Wanaka
-Recharge batteries by the lake. Two pubs, some great little food outlets and a good place to base yourself if you want to do some walks
Kaikoura
- A few hours south of Picton, about 2 from Nelson as well
- Best Fish and Chips in New Zealand, adn plenty of whale watching boat cruises you can do.
- Spend the night on the beach if it's not too cold - sublime
Nelson
- Great place to go sea kayaking at this time of year - hire a kayak and a guide will give you pointers and then you just cruise around the coast - they'll pick you up at the end
- Nelson is a really cool town, very fast growing as well, graet food adn drink to be had
Thats all I can think of at the moment - sorry about all of the typos, I'm just throwing out ideas as they come to me.
Cheers
TGIF
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| posted by Waterslang 959 days ago |
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Thanks guys,
Appreciate the info. As the intended dates for Feb are in conflict with some other arrangments we had to postpone the trip for now but will go as soon as possible. After reading the above posts it's even more convincing that NZ is a "MUST visit".
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| posted by geraldo 959 days ago |
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good idea, Wellington in August is an experience
There are 10 kinds of people. Those who can read binary and those who don't
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| posted by Waterslang 959 days ago |
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Geraldo,
You mind to explain? Mid-winter?
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