Sometimes, a photo just begs to be taken.
March 5th, 2008 by Thomas Maresca
Rainy day in Christchurch?
March 4th, 2008 by Tiffany Miller
I am out and about in cities and towns all day long, and my parade is definitely being rained on. Literally. The rain is following me. Often when I am travelling, I will read an entire book on a rainy day. But sometimes you have to get out of the hostel. A lot of travellers choose to go to a cinema, but you can do that at home.
While in Christchurch, I visited a place called The Bone Dudes. It is a gallery/workshop where you can learn about the ancient Maori techniques of carving bone into tools, weapons and jewellery - and how to make your own! It is run by a man named John, a gentle giant with an infectious passion for art of any form. He spends a few hours with each guest, chatting away, telling stories, and giving tips on how to make your own special piece. It is an incredibly easy thing to do thanks to him. You have many designs to choose from, but whatever you end up with will be far better than any of those mass-produced plastic key-chains they sell in tourist shops.
After three hours you have a very memorable souvenir. When people comment on mine, I will be able to say “A Maori man taught me how to make this in New Zealand” rather than “I bought it in New Zealand”. Cool.
I thought I would mention it as a good activity for Christchurch, but then I saw something similar while in Nelson, so there may be others; but John made my experience great, so I’m gonna recommend you do it in Christchurch. It is a great rainy day option. Far better, in my opinion, than watching Tom Cruise over-act for two hours.
Tis the season
December 17th, 2007 by Tim Uden
It may be the middle of summer downunder, but that doesn’t stop these window cleaners in Wellington, New Zealand from getting into the Christmas spirit.
Diahatsu Sirion (rental car review)
December 17th, 2007 by Tim Uden
I rented a Diahatsu Sirion from Avis at Wellington Airport for a week of driving around New Zealand’s North Island.
It has a high driving position and is a nice zippy car for city driving, but it has some flaws that affect its performance in some driving conditions.
Like the Diahatsu Terrios, which I normally drive at home, it accelerates slowly (or as Jeremy Clarkson would say, “with most cars you measure accleration with a stopwatch, but with this you need a calendar”), it is sluggish climbing steep hills and it is unstable on tight corners. They both have a 1.3 litre engine, so you would expect the larger Terrios to be a bit sluggish, but the smaller and lighter Sirion really should do fine with a 1.3 litre motor.
It is usually lots of fun driving a small manual hatchback on winding roads, but each time you take a corner the Sirion car feels like it will roll over so you have to really slow down on each corner (at least until you get a good feel for the car), but at least going uphill you don’t pick up enough speed to need to slow down.
Despite its drawbacks, I still like the Sirion. I wouldn’t buy one and if a competing rental company offered something nicer I would probably rent that instead, but I would still be happy driving one around.
Tiny Tirau proves that Australia isn’t the only place with big things
December 14th, 2007 by Tim Uden
Australia has the big banana, the big lobster, the big koala and several big pineapples. But Australia isn’t alone, and the tiny town of Tirau in the Waikato region of New Zealand’s North Island has the big sheep and the big sheep dog.
Unlike the usual fibreglass used in Australia, Tirau’s big things are done in corrugated iron and Tirau’s big sheep looks a lot better than the big merino in Goulburn, NSW.
Wanganui - New Zealand’s most underrated destination
December 12th, 2007 by Tim Uden
New Zealand is a popular destination for backpackers and it seems that no part of the country hasn’t been discovered by backpackers. Even relatively uninteresting destinations like Whangarei, East Cape, the Coromandel Peninsula, Motueka and Greymouth and swarming with backpackers, yet Wanganui - which is infinitely more interesting that these other places - only gets a trickle of backpackers, even though there are three hostels where you can stay.
Wanganui is a small city of around 50,000 with a lively cultural scene that you would expect in a much larger city. It is also a pretty town with lovely architecture, including some great art deco buildings, and a nice riverfront promenade that hosts a great Saturday morning market.
There’s not a lot to do in town unless you like visiting glass blowing studios; and let’s face it, that isn’t high on the backpackers’ list of things to do. However Wanganui is a great place to stock up on supplies and make arrangements for the Whanganui River Journey - an epic three to five-day canoe trip on the Whanganui River, which incidentally is probably the New Zealand’s most underrated outdoor activity.
Flying - an alternative to the Cook Strait ferry
December 11th, 2007 by Tim Uden
Every day hundreds of backpackers travel between New Zealand’s North and South Islands and the majority of them take the ferry. I understand that the ferry offers many benefits, but I’m puzzled that more travellers don’t think about flying. Sure a three-hour cruise is a nice way to travel but a flight offers great views and gets you across the Cook Strait in just 25 minutes.
It’s affordable too. The one-way airfare between Blenheim and Wellington is $56 with Air New Zealand or $89 with air2there and Sounds Air flys between Picton and Wellington for $79. Compare this to the cheapest Interislander ($52) or Bluebridge ($55) ferry fare; and the ferry can cost as much as $72 each way. You’re not going to save much (if anything) by flying, but at around the same price as the ferry it is worth considering.
In New Zealand rental car companies generally let you book a multi-island rental dropping off at the Wellington ferry terminal and picking up a new car when the ferry arrives in Picton; however most rental companies will also let you do a multi-island rental with drop-off and pick-up points at Wellington and Blenheim Airports so there’s plenty of reasons to consider flying between the North and South Islands.
Toyota Yaris (rental car review)
December 11th, 2007 by Tim Uden
I rented a Toyota Yaris from Hertz at Blenheim Airport for four days of driving around the Marlborough Sounds (at the top end of New Zealand’s South Island).
I had always found Toyota a bit boring. The Corolla is the world’s most popular car and the Camry (which is way too big to appeal to people who like small cars and too small to appeal to those that like big cars) is normally seen driven slowly in the fast lane by old geezers. But the past few years has seen Toyota updating its image with a more design-oriented range with cute and trendy cars like the Echo, Prius and the Yaris.
I really liked the Yaris. It is a really fun car to drive, it looks good and is surprisingly spacious (although the boot is a bit small). The model I had was a 5-door hatch with a digital dashboard display.
I took it all around the Marlborough Sounds, which included loads of narrow winding unsealed roads, and it handled like a dream and it had no problems when I put the foot down on the rare occasion that I came across a flat bit of road.
It is a great zippy little car that handles well, has a small turning circle and is easy to park in tight spaces. I would certainly look for one again next time I need to rent a car, and would consider buying one (although I still prefer the Citroen C1) next time I’m in the market for a new car.
Naked Bus - the Ryanair of New Zealand bus companies
December 7th, 2007 by Tim Uden
Naked Bus is a year-old bus operator with a nationwide network of bus services to most destinations in New Zealand. What makes Naked Bus a good deal is that they - like Megabus in the UK and USA - operate with a yield-management pricing system just like budget airlines such as easyJet and Ryanair. So basically you can ride the bus around New Zealand with prices starting at $1 per trip (plus a 75c booking fee) as long as you book far enough in advance. Although booking everything so far in advance can kill the spontanious carefree spirit of independent travel, the cost savings make it a real bargain.
I rode the Naked Bus from Christchurch to Blenheim (about a six-hour trip) and overall it was a good experience and I would certainly consider travelling with Naked Bus again. It was just a crappy old minibus, but newer full-size coaches operate on many routes. I paid $24 for the trip, but there were $1 fares available if I wanted to take a bus later in the day, although I was on a tight schedule so I paid extra to leave on the early bus.