"iandsmith's new New Zealand Page " a New Zealand Travel Page by iandsmith

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East Coast South Island

Now you see it, now you don't

I have been to New Zealand four times now. Twice mainly to ski and once to tour the south and, 10 years later, a tour of the north.
In New Zealand you will find the natives friendly, the scenery the stuff of postcards, food cheap and, here and there, quirky features. Inside this "what used to be a station" they have a picture of a train waiting for the station. What on earth am I talking about I hear you think? Well, because they wanted to preserve this place, they had to move it from its original location on the other side of the line to this side. So, there it was, on the back of a truck being hauled across the train line to its present location while the train waited for it to pass.
There's a lot of friendly rivalry goes on between Aussies and Kiwis, though under it all we're tarred with the same brush and can be found in the trenches helping each other.
There's one thing that always amuses me though and that is their complaint that there's all those animals that bite you in Australia. Well, let me put VTers straight on that. While it's true we've lots of critters, I've never been bitten more by any animal than Kiwi sandflies. You have been warned.
TEN THINGS TO DO IN NEW ZEALAND:
1. Take one of the three pass roads across the mountains on the South Island......better still, do all three.
2. Take a trip on Pekapeka Bay - for something completely different
3. Queenstown - you've seen the pictures, heard the reports and still it stuns.
4. Go to the Kauri Museum in Matakohe - One of the world's finest museums
5. Go in a stunt plane at Wanaka - wow!
6. Milford Sound - despite the hype, it'll take your breath away
7. See the gardens in Christchurch in spring.
8. Cathedral Cove - a walk with a purpose.
9. Tairua - go to the top of the hill, you'll be entranced.
10. Ride the Driving Creek Railway - eccentricity at its best

"I have my itinerary worked out now. Let's try for an exchange at Banff."
"I have to tell you Mr. Smith that we have a special on in New Zealand, a 2 for 1 offer."
"No, I'm going to Canada."
"But it's a very good offer and you get two weeks at different resorts all for the price of one."
About then I started to weaken, always been a sucker for a genuine bargain.
Thus it was that I ended up in New Zealand 7 months before I was going to Canada.
The difference was that this time I would be going to the North Island.
At around $600 for accommodation, $650 for 18 day car hire, $174 return airfare (x2) and $231 x 2 airport tax, I figured it was a relatively inexpensive holiday............of course, that was before we stayed two nights in a 4 star hotel in Auckland and 2 nights in a 4 star B&B at Tairau and bought an $800 video camera. Mmmmm.