New Zealand

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New Zealand

Highlights: North Island South Island
Information:

Visa	Time to travel	Length of Journey	Arrival/Departure	Transport	Accommodation	Language
Health	Security	Food	Trekking	Activities	Culture	Links

Highlights

North Island

Click on map to enlarge
Northlands
is the outstretched finger in the north of Auckland. I didn´t get it done. People had different opinions of the Northlands and of the most mentioned "Bay of Islands". Due to the climate in the Northlands there are the best beaches for swimming and sunbathing.
Auckland:
An agglomeration of some towns, now a city of one million people, but still quiescent. The most interesting thing to do is visiting the Auckland Museum with it´s Maori exposition. If you like sailing you might visit the harbour. A good look around view is from the "Skytower" (app. 10 Euro) downtown or from "One Tree Hill", but you haven´t got to visit it. Judicial hearings of NZ High Court are just for free. Don´t spend much time in Auckland, the city has a nice and relax ambience, but the rest of the country is more exciting.
Waitomo Caves:
In the South of Hamilton are limestone caves with stalagmites and stalactites. The main tourist attraction are the glowworm caves. Rivers are going underground and you can do black water rafting (app. 40 Euro), This means leaping on a black inner tube over a small waterfall and floating in the dark through a glowworm covered cave. A very funny and sporty adventure.
Roturora:

Geysers, boiling mud pools are famous for this area. Whakkarewaewa near Roturoa is the most known Geyser thermal reserve. You can swim in public thermal mineral pools at Waikite Valley. Roturoa has a large Maori population, who offers Maori performances with hongis (nose to nose kisses), hakas (war dance) and pois (dances and songs). The audience has to take part to the performance and all is a lot of fun.
In the east of Roturoa is "Hells Gate", a thermal area with a large waterfall.

Lake Taupo/Tongario NP:
NZ biggest Lake with the homophone town. A good place to do your first tandem sky dive. It should be comparatively inexpensive there (app. 100 Euro). You get a adrenalin rush with a great view at Lake Taupo.
If you like trekking, you should walk the "Tongario Crossing". You climb up to a volcano territory, past coloured crater lakes and fuming sulphure springs. At the end there is a gorgeous view onto Lake Taupo. The Tongario Crossing takes 6 to 8 hours. Be on time at the car park and don´t miss the latest shuttle. I had to walk two hours after I succeed in hitchhiking. Thanks!!! It was 36 miles to my backpacker and there were only one to three cars per hour.
Wellington
Very nice capital of NZ in the South of the Northern Island. Great ambience, but no particulary worth mentioned sights.
Others
Kiwi Experience offered a farm stay at Te Ruke Lodge near the Tongario NP (phone (07) 8966231. I tried horse riding for the first time of my life and I had to master gait, trot and gallop. The ride between the very green hills of the farmland was fantastic. In the afternoon I did a very nice stroll through the landscape. It was really breathtaking, everywhere sheeps and a colour of green I never had experienced before.

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South Island
Click on Map to enlarge
Marlborough Sound

Going the strait between the North and South Island by boat is a great experience at nice weather. The blue of the sea, the green of the mountains and the yellow of the beaches is painting a fantastic luminous colourful landscape. Going back you might fly from Picton to Welligton with a small airplane. It wasn´t much more expensive than the boat passage.
Abel Tasman NP

Exciting is the three to four day ( 51 km) "Albel Tasman Walk" along the shore of the Abel Tasman NP. Again and again golden coloured beaches invite for swimming. You stay overnight in huts, with huge mattresses or dorm beds. Some sections of the trail are only traversable on low tide, ask for the tides. You have to pay a small entrance fee for the huts. Food and beverage you have to take with you, drinking the water from pools and streams without proper purification is not advised because of the guardisis. Transportation and information is possible from Nelson.
Pancake Rocks /Paparoa NP

At the western shore at Paparoa NP are the "Pancake Rocks". These rocks look like piles of pancakes, formed through a weathering process, known as stylobedding.

Franz Joseph Glacier

Franz Joseph Glacier

named after the Austrian emperor from its Austrian discoverer Julius Haast. It´s possible to walk close to the glacier, but you shouldn´t miss a guided glacier walk, you can book for 20-30 Euro in Franz Joseph Glacier Village. Expect some climbing up and down.

Mt. Cook (3753m)
the highest mountain ofNZ. There are some short walks from Mt Cook Village, but in my opinion the Mt.Cook area is not as exciting as other parts of the country; the scenery is similar to the Alps in Austria, great but not new for Europeans.
Queenstown
Fun- and adventure capital of the world. A small town, very nice situated at Lake Wakatipu. You have a good overlook from "Bobs Peak", accessible with a gondola from the city.
Queenstown is famous for Bungee Jumping. Jumps are offered from "Kawarau Suspenision Bridge" ( 43 m ), Skippers Canon Bridge ( 72m ) or the Pipeline -Shotver river- ( 102 m ). The price is around 70 Euro. The ride to the "Pipeline" along Shotover River is worth the trip. Decide, if you want to jump with a clear "yes" or "no" otherwise could remain a nasty feeling of failing. Nowhere it is easier and more sensible to dare a jump. You don´t get any refund, if you pay and don´t dare to jump.
Very popular are also white water rafting with boat or sledge ("sledging" or "surfing") , parapent and parachuting from Bobs Peak and jet-boating the Shotover River. Afterwards people talk in the many pubs about their adventures.
In Queenstown you can book at the information center Routebourne (3 days ) or Milford Trek ( 3 days). The Milford Trek that is considered by NZ as the finest walk of the world is expensive and mostly overbooked, but sometimes you are lucky. More chances are for the cheaper Routebourne Trek, reachable from local bus from Queenstown.

Cloud forest -Routeburntrek-

Milfordsound

The breathtaking fjord of 22km longitude is embedded of high, nearly vertical wall of rocks. It is the most popular scenery of NZ. The Milford Treks ends at Milford Sound and also the Routebourne Trek nearby.
I visited Milford Sound after walking the Routburn Trek. There is a bus from the end of the Routeburn Trek to Milford Sound, and also busses from there back to Queenstown.

Catlins
Landscape deep in the South with an unique flora and fauna. You can see penguins and sea lions. I had to skip it, because of lack of time.
Christchurch
very nice old English like city with student ambience.
Kaikoura (whale watching)
at the eastern shore situated village. Main attraction is whale watching. The trips last the three hours and cost about 60 Euros. If you are lucky you see the big sperm whale. Whale watching depends of information from spotter planes to locate the whales and therefore is often cancelled because of bad weather.

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Arrival/Departure; Time to travel

Water temperature of the South Island: all the year 14 to 12 degrees Celsius in the South
Length of journey: Calculate one week only for the flight from Europe. Add two more weeks each for the North and the South Island. If you like trekking, add another week. I think you should travel at least six weeks. A stop over in Asia or South America is often possible, but it is often better to spend this additional time in NZ. You might not enjoy the stopover, because the impressions of NZ could be diluted by another impressions. I talked with people, who couldn´t enjoy much a stopover in Hong Kong or Fidschi.; But I have to revise. I enjoyed some years later stop overs in Singapore, Taipeh and Dubai and won't miss them.



Transport: Accommodation are found everywhere in all categories. In many towns is a tourist information, which arranges rooms. Backpackers are everywhere, calculate with 15 Euro for a dorm bed.



Language

Security: New Zealand is a very safe country. Be careful as anywhere. There are no dangerous animals in NZ.



Trekking: Dozens of trails are waiting for trekkers. The most famous is the "Milford Trek", which ends at the Milford South (Southern Island). It is called the finest walk of the world. Permit is expensive (some hundred Euros) and the trek in winter is quickly booked up in advance for months. But if you are lucky you get a permit on the spot. The nearby "Routeburn Trek" is cheaper (app. 30 Euro) and it is easier to buy a permit. Both trails take 3-5 days and you sleep in huts in a dorm without water and food supply. Sometimes there are huge matrasses, where you put down your sleeping bag.
Culture
Links:
general: purenz.com NZ tourist info, aaguides.co.nz (NZ- Automobile Club)
Nature: doc.govt.nz nature/hiking,
culture: maori-org.nz (Maori culture),

please mail changes, critic, suggestions and mistakes (also in grammar and writing), Thanks! :
kambodschajoe@hotmail.com
Excuse my English, thanks!
It would be kind to mail me 1-5 mistakes you found, if you think this side is helpful for your trip. Thanks!

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Monat	Jan	Fec	Mar	April	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec
temp/day	23	23	22	20	17	14	12	15	16	17	19	21
temp/night	16	16	15	13	11	9	9	8	9	11	12	14
raindays	10	10	12	15	19	20	20	19	16	17	16	16
water	18	19	19	17	16	15	14	13	14	15	16	17

Month	Jan	Fev	Mar	April	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec
temp/day	19	19	17	15	11	10	9	11	13	15	17	18
temp/night	10	10	9	7	5	4	3	3	4	6	7	9
raindays	14	12	13	13	13	14	14	12	12	14	15	16