The Good, The Bad and The Ugly in New Zealand

After a couple of months in beautiful New Zealand, there are a few things we learned and would like to share with everyone. In short, our trip was a fantastic, fun experience. We met wonderful people, no exceptions, and enjoyed sharing a little about ourselves and learning more about their lives and cultures. A great trip!

So, what about this adventure.  What was the Good, the Bad and the Ugly? Well, I’ll try to list the important things and not ramble too much.

The Good…..

The People of New Zealand!

Kiwis are wonderful people! Everyone we met during this 2 month adventure was helpful, welcoming and more than willing to spend time talking about their culture and learning about ours. Many were quite interested in our politics, the new President in particular, and policies like health care and welfare. Overall, the people of New Zealand made this trip a great experience and one that we will certainly put in the books for a revisit.

Kiwis are also keen on keeping their natural resources and attractions preserved for future generations. Parks, beaches (lots of beaches), monuments and historic sites were all clean, well kept and had ample parking and facilities. Handicap access was available at all the sites we visited. The best part, most if not all of New Zealand’s sites were free or had a minimal charge. (Especially with the exchange rate!)

The roads

I know, I’ve made a lot of comments about roads but that’s the one thing we used more than anything else. New Zealand roads are in good condition, lots of repairs were in progress but that shows their commitment to maintaining a good infrastructure. Traffic (drivers) that’s another story but the roads were good. If you visit the Kiwis, plan on adding time for all drives, 15 to 30 minutes in most cases.

Accommodations

We stayed in houses, hotels and B&B’s during our time here and all were very comfortable and clean. Lots of research went into selecting our accommodations so don’t shortcut this process. Take time to explore all your options as not all accommodations are created equal. Just a note, NZ has a lot of backpackers so there are tons of hostels, packer inns and discount hotels. If that’s what your budget calls for, there’s plenty to chose from, just be selective.

Food and drinks

One of our favorite things to do on an adventure is enjoy local cuisine and have a nice glass of wine. New Zealand did not disappoint! Great food selections and wine were available at all of our stops. Again, a little research goes a long way. Most grocery stores (Countdown, Four Square, Pac & Save) have a good selection of wines, oh yeah and food too. Credit cards were accepted everywhere so carrying limited cash was not a problem.

Rental cars

Our rental car experience was pretty good. We used About New Zealand car rental and there was no upselling, no add-ons, basically walk in, hand over your license (no international license required) and credit card, sign and drive. Make sure you check out the car, just as you would anytime you rent and there shouldn’t be any issues. Returning the car was just as simple. The agent did a quick walk around to check for damage (and hubcaps!) and we were off. Easy.

Gas stations

Gas stations were not as plentiful as in the US but we managed to always find one before hitting critical mass. Gas was $1.21NZD per liter, or about $4.60 gallon and again, credit cards were accepted everywhere. Be aware that some stations required a credit card with a “pin” before you can fill your car.

The Bad…..

The traffic

Even though the roads are in good condition, the traffic makes traveling slow going. Yes, the winding roads add to extra time driving, but predominately the slow going was due to logging trucks, camper vans and motorhomes that simply couldn’t do the speed limit. Big cities like Christchurch and Auckland had usual big city traffic problems so nothing unexpected there. The countryside however, another story. Even when there was sufficient room to legally pass slow vehicles, most drivers decided to wait for a dedicated passing lane making for slow going. Now you know so plan accordingly, add time to your drives!

GPS drop-outs

We have a Garmin GPS unit that usually works fairly well for our adventures. Of course, we have to buy maps for the area, and they’re are not cheap, but most are accurate. The issue in New Zealand was loss of satellite connectivity. Not sure if that’s an artifact of the southern hemisphere location or the geography of NZ but drop-outs happened quite frequently.  We used our cell phone for backup and that seemed to cover everything. Besides, there are plenty of clearly marked roads to get where you’re going.

The Ugly…..

Itinerary changes

Our air travel was changed 7 times before we started our trip, 2 of which we received notice, the rest we found on our own! Some of this is expected. We bought our tickets in August the year before we travelled so yea, there’s probably going to be a change or two. But without notice? Moral of the story, check your itinerary every two weeks or more frequently. Don’t rely on your airline to contact you. Although we have never bought travel insurance, it will certainly be on our “check it out” list for future travels.

Accommodation cancellations

Only had one experience with an accommodation cancellation but it was significant. We booked our stay through a 3rd party site and somehow, it was canceled by the same 3rd party site. Fortunately I had the printed version of our confirmation and an email that we received just 2 days before arriving that stated our room was waiting (from the 3rd party site) so the owner / manager was understanding, and very helpful. Lesson here, confirm your reservations with the hotel, not the booking site!

Traffic cams

We’ve driven in lots of countries that use traffic cams and have never gotten a ticket, until New Zealand. I don’t recall any signs or notices of traffic cams but guess what, they’re there! Our (my) ticket was for driving 5kph over the limit of 50kph, that’s 3mph! I guess all those motorhomes and camper vans driven by tourists provide a good income for the local Mounties.

I think that’s it. Again one of the best adventures we’ve taken so highly recommended. As with all our adventures and travels, planning is the key. Take time to do your research and you won’t be disappointed.

Time for our next adventure. Two options are on the table, both of which will be a bit longer than our trip to New Zealand. Let the planning begin!!!!!