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[Travel] New Zealand.









jakarta

Well-known member
May 25, 2007
15,738
Sullington
Nothing wrong with 'doing the sights', why would you not?

Having said that what I most enjoyed about NZ wasn't the sights but the laid back and friendly people who almost to a man liked us Brits, far nicer than the Aussies.

Apart from the fact it is so far away from anywhere else I could happily live there (especially the Bay of Islands).

The older and more curmudgeonly I become I reckon it is my Retirement destination which I always thought would be northern Italy.
 


Nigella's Cream Pie

Fingerlickin good
Apr 2, 2009
1,132
Up your alley
Nothing wrong with 'doing the sights', why would you not?

Having said that what I most enjoyed about NZ wasn't the sights but the laid back and friendly people who almost to a man liked us Brits, far nicer than the Aussies.

Apart from the fact it is so far away from anywhere else I could happily live there (especially the Bay of Islands).

The older and more curmudgeonly I become I reckon it is my Retirement destination which I always thought would be northern Italy.

You might want to revise that again, Noel Edmonds aims to retire there:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=12162071
 






Leekbrookgull

Well-known member
Jul 14, 2005
16,384
Leek
Five weeks,from Helensville in the North to Queenstown in the the South. VERY LITTLE and i MEAN little rubbish/litter anywhere you went. Why can't we be like this ?
.
.
 


Djmiles

Barndoor Holroyd
Dec 1, 2005
12,064
Kitchener, Canada
Was out there for 3 weeks back in 2007. Loved every minute of it. Beautiful country.
 






Greg Bobkin

Silver Seagull
May 22, 2012
16,026
Honeymooned for a month there back in 2002 – absolutely amazing place and people. Toured around both North and South Island in a campervan – a mix of seeing the obvious sites as well as a few hidden gems provided by a local contact I had.
 


arewethereyet?

Well-known member
Jul 19, 2011
780
Brighton
3 weeks in 2016, mainly around Auckland as visiting family, did venture a bit south to Rotorua. Amazing country, people very very friendly and laid back, great hospitality but the traffic in Auckland was hideous.
 










el punal

Well-known member
Aug 29, 2012
12,545
The dull part of the south coast
Nothing wrong with 'doing the sights', why would you not?

Having said that what I most enjoyed about NZ wasn't the sights but the laid back and friendly people who almost to a man liked us Brits, far nicer than the Aussies.

Apart from the fact it is so far away from anywhere else I could happily live there (especially the Bay of Islands).

The older and more curmudgeonly I become I reckon it is my Retirement destination which I always thought would be northern Italy.

My daughter did her “travelling the world” bit a few years ago. She and her boyfriend visited India and Malaysia before settling in Australia (Sydney) and getting temporary jobs to supplement their travelling budget. After four months they continued travelling, driving throughout Oz and then flying to New Zealand for three weeks and then onto the South Pacific islands and Canada before returning home.

My daughter reckoned that New Zealand was the highlight of their tour. Everything about it she thought was brilliant and doing it on the cheap they hired a camper van, which she said was the best way of seeing the country. Now, all of this happened in 2005 and coincided with the Lions tour of NZ - rugby, for those of you unaware! There were thousands of Lions supporters in attendance and their one mission was (apart from seeing a Lions win!) was to drink a pub dry. This went down a storm with the Kiwis and the papers did updates on the progress of this particular mission with reports of success or not. As it happened many of the pubs heard about the forthcoming “invasion” and stocked up accordingly. By all accounts everyone was happy all round!

A final point, she said that one thing that she will always remember was that everywhere they drove she could smell roast lamb!
 




clif26

Member
Oct 18, 2010
137
It's a great place for me. I’ve lived here for many years now. Auckland is like most big cities. The South Island has the most sensational scenery anywhere.
Rotorua is a thermal centre with geysers, boiling mud and a sulphuric smell. A local Maori there told me it's the closest place on earth to Hell.
Ha! He’d obviously never been to Selhurst Park.
 


Insel affe

HellBilly
Feb 23, 2009
24,330
Brighton factually.....
Amazing place, we did the camper van thing for three weeks, before flying on to Australia, which was such a let down (Melbourne was ok) compared to New Zealand.
Would love to go back
 


Badger

NOT the Honey Badger
NSC Patron
May 8, 2007
13,101
Toronto
My daughter did her “travelling the world” bit a few years ago. She and her boyfriend visited India and Malaysia before settling in Australia (Sydney) and getting temporary jobs to supplement their travelling budget. After four months they continued travelling, driving throughout Oz and then flying to New Zealand for three weeks and then onto the South Pacific islands and Canada before returning home.

My daughter reckoned that New Zealand was the highlight of their tour. Everything about it she thought was brilliant and doing it on the cheap they hired a camper van, which she said was the best way of seeing the country. Now, all of this happened in 2005 and coincided with the Lions tour of NZ - rugby, for those of you unaware! There were thousands of Lions supporters in attendance and their one mission was (apart from seeing a Lions win!) was to drink a pub dry. This went down a storm with the Kiwis and the papers did updates on the progress of this particular mission with reports of success or not. As it happened many of the pubs heard about the forthcoming “invasion” and stocked up accordingly. By all accounts everyone was happy all round!

A final point, she said that one thing that she will always remember was that everywhere they drove she could smell roast lamb!

That's very similar to my "round the world" trip in 2006/7. I also settled in Sydney for a few months to earn enough money for the rest of the trip. The Lions tour was replaced by The Ashes, so The Barmy Army were the ones doing all the drinking in Australia. Fun times, despite losing the series 5-0.

New Zealand was definitely the highlight for me too. I did the Kiwi Experience hop-on hop-off bus rather than the camper van, but I imagine the experience was very similar. It's just such an amazing country with so many things to see. I love how empty it is too, especially on the South Island. You'll be driving along one of the "main" roads and see a car every 15 minutes.

I've been itching to go back. I missed out on seeing the Bay of Islands and Milford Sound, amongst other places I'd really like to see.
 


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