New Zealand’s top 10 small hostels
June 4th, 2009 by Tim Uden
The latest BUG New Zealand guidebook reviews of around 500 hostels throughout New Zealand.
New Zealand’s hostels range from small intimate places to large modern multi-storey hostels with hundreds of beds although compared with Australia the emphasis is mostly on smaller hostels.
When I asked the authors working on the travel guide, their favourites were invariably these smaller hostels where the managers remember your name and provide a warmer welcome and a more personal service, all while keeping the hostel clean.
New Zealand’s smaller hostels also have the advantage of catering more to true independent travellers as they are generally too small to cater to backpacker buses like Kiwi Experience, Magic or Stray.
Based on the guidebook author’s recommendations I have compiled a list of New Zealand’s top 10 small hostels.
Most of New Zealand’s top 10 small hostels – all with less than 60 beds – are unique hostels with lots of charm, but some are known for the top-quality fittings and others for the friendly hospitable staff.
New Zealand’s top 10 small hostels are:
- Bay Adventurer (Paihia, Northland)
- Beaconstone (Charleston, West Coast)
- Billy Brown’s (Port Chalmers, Otago)
- The Bug (Nelson)
- Hopewell (Marlborough Sounds, Marlborough)
- Juggler’s Rest (Picton, Marlborough)
- Moana Lodge (Plimmerton, Wellington)
- Mt Cook YHA (Mount Cook, Canterbury)
- Old Slaughterhouse (Hector, West Coast)
- Tree House Backpackers Lodge (Kohukohu, Northland)
All these hostels are reviewed on the BUG website and also in the third edition of BUG New Zealand, which is now available in bookshops in Australia, New Zealand and the UK.
You can also buy the book online from amazon.co.uk, Waterstones (with free delivery in the UK) or the Book Depository (which has free worldwide shipping).
BUG guidebooks on the Book Depository’s bestseller list
May 21st, 2009 by Tim Uden
Today I was checking how the BUG guides were doing on various online bookshops and found that both guides are on the Book Depository’s travel bestseller list.
BUG New Zealand was at number four when I took this screenshot, although earlier today I saw it at number three…
and BUG Australia is at number 19.
I’ve been a fan of the Book Depository ever since I bought some books from them last year. I bought a hardback copy of the Oxford Style Manual, which my local Borders store was selling for over AUD $120. The Book Depository had it for under £18 with free worldwide delivery. I ordered it on a Friday evening and it arrived the next Tuesday; and I live in Australia which is the other side of the world to the Book Depository’s Gloucester warehouse. I was very impressed and will certainly order more books from them.
If you live in the UK, then amazon.co.uk is often – but not always – a better deal; but if you live abroad, then the Book Depository is well worth checking out and in many cases it is your cheapest option. Books in the UK are cheaper than in Australia and a lot cheaper than New Zealand bookshops and if you live in North America – where BUG guidebooks aren’t available – then the Book Depository is the most logical choice if you want to buy a BUG guidebook.
Australia’s top 10 small hostels
April 22nd, 2009 by Tim Uden
The latest BUG Australia guidebook reviews over 600 hostels throughout Australia.
Australia’s hostels range from small intimate places to large modern multi-storey hostels with hundreds of beds. The large hostels like Beaches of Broome, Gilligan’s Backpackers in Cairns plus Sydney Central YHA and Wake Up! in Sydney are world class with hundreds of beds plus top notch facilities that include resort-style swimming pools.
When I asked the authors working on the travel guide, their favourites were invariably the smaller hostels where the managers remember your name and provide a warmer welcome and a more personal service, all while keeping the hostel clean.
Based on the guidebook author’s recommendations I have compiled a list of Australia’s top 10 small hostels.
Most of Australia’s top 10 small hostels – all with less than 60 beds – are unique hostels with lots of charm, but some are known for the top-quality fittings and others for the friendly hospitable staff.
Australia’s top 10 small hostels are:
- Bellingen YHA (Bellingen, NSW)
- Black Cockatoo (Nannup, WA)
- Eco-Beach YHA (Apollo Bay, VIC)
- Eumeralla Backpackers (Yambuk, VIC)
- Grampians Eco YHA (Halls Gap, VIC)
- Lakeside Manor YHA (Robe, SA)
- Number 14 (Katoomba, NSW)
- Olembia (Melbourne, VIC)
- On the Wallaby (Yungaburra, QLD)
- Tim’s Place (Halls Gap, VIC)
All these hostels are reviewed on the BUG website and also in the fourth edition of BUG Australia, which is now available in bookshops in Australia, New Zealand and the UK.
You can also buy the book online from amazon.co.uk, Waterstones (with free delivery in the UK) or the Book Depository (which has free worldwide shipping).
BUG guidebooks now available on amazon.co.uk
March 23rd, 2009 by Tim Uden
BUG’s two travel guidebooks – BUG Australia (4th edition) and BUG New Zealand (3rd edition) are now available on amazon.co.uk.
The books have been available in the UK since late January and other online stores like Waterstone’s and the Book Depository have had both books available for a couple of months now. Now that Amazon have them in stock as well it should now be much easier to get hold of a copy.
If you’re in the UK, it really doesn’t matter where you buy it as most high street bookshops will be able to order the books in for you and all online shops will ship it to you pretty quickly, although Amazon and the Book Depository are usually the cheapest option.
BUG guidebooks aren’t distributed in North America so you’ll need to buy them online if you live in Canada or the United States. Amazon.co.uk is a good option – although the books aren’t available through amazon.com – however the best option if you live outside the UK is to buy from the Book Depository, since they have free worldwide delivery.
Update on UK availability of BUG guidebooks
February 25th, 2009 by Tim Uden
BUG’s two latest guidebooks (BUG Australia – 4th edition and BUG New Zealand – 3rd edition) finally started making their way into UK bookstores at the end of January.
They have been available in the UK for almost a month now so virtually all bookstores should have the guides in stock, but amazon.co.uk is still showing both books as being unavailable. Our UK distributors have been in touch with Amazon so hopefully this should be resolved shortly.
In the meantime if you want to buy these books online, you can try either the Book Depository or Waterstones. These two online bookstores have both titles in stock. Waterstones has free UK delivery and the Book Depository goes one better with free international shipping.
The following links will take you to the books’ pages on these two sites:
BUG Australia – The Book Depository
BUG Australia – Waterstones
BUG New Zealand – The Book Depository
BUG New Zealand – Waterstones
Delays to BUG’s guidebooks
December 6th, 2008 by Tim Uden
The launch of BUG’s guidebooks in the UK has been delayed until early 2009.
The books were originally supposed to be available in Australia in October 2008 and New Zealand and the United Kingdom in November. However I have been informed that availability in the UK and Europe has been delayed until early next year.
The reason for the delay is because our publisher is changing their distribution arrangements in the UK and these changes won’t be finalised until early next year.
I have told everyone that the books were to be available in November, and now they won’t be available until two months after they were supposed to available in the UK; so I’m not completely happy with the situation. However I understand and support the publisher’s decision as book distribution in the UK is very difficult for a publisher based outside the UK and our previous distribution efforts would have meant that our books would be difficult to find outside specialist travel bookshops. The new distribution arrangement will be much better (even without this year’s Christmas sales) as it will mean that our publisher will have their own sales rep based in the UK and by early 2009 (January, I hope) you should have a good chance of finding BUG’s travel guidebooks in your local High Street bookshop.