New Zealand Oddities

Garibaldi

I've already got a basic itinerary for things to do on both islands from the New Zealand tourist board, but was wondering if any of ye had discovered any strange/interesting places worth checking out. Suggestions for anything from unusual (but decent) accomodation, to outrageous activities welcomed.

djfattony2000

I drove it all top to bottom in march. It depends on what time of year you go. If you go in thier winter its going be pretty crap weather, or good if you want to ski.

I was there in the autum so the weather was alright. Good things to do are:

North Island

90 Mile Beach/Bay of Islands - Rent a speed boat, drive a 4x4 on the beach
Roteroua - Mountain Biking, Zorbing, Luging, Going to a Thermal Spa, Maury night
Lake Taupo - Jet Boat, Bungy, Sky dive, play the golf driving range into the lake
Bull's - A town where everything is called something like Increda'bull', funny for about 10 minutes
Wellinton - My Favourite city in NZ, nice coffee shops and bars, go to the science museum

South Island

Nelson - Very nice little town, go to the national park while there, its about a 2 hour drive
Franz Joseph Glazier - Walk on the glazier, do the full day, a real highlight
Queenstown - Nevis Bungy, Luge, Riversurfing (brilliant), Helicopter mountain biking, cannion swing, firefox. Great nightlife
Milford sound - I wouldnt stay the night there but well worth a day trip form queenstown, sail on the river.
Duneaden - Nice scotish town, go look at the penguins and sea loins on the beach. Good night life
Christchurch - spent most of my time there selling my car, nice to drive around, the town square is very nice, really cheap indoor go karting if youre into it.

That was basically what we did on our trip. We had an amazing time and found the people really nice and helpful.

Clank

Much appreciated djfattony, ive been thinking about visiting New Zealand for a while now.

djfattony2000

Yeh you should go. Its a great place. I've just come back from a trip around the world and it was in my top 3 countries. Way ahead of Australia!

Garibaldi

Nice one dj. I was starting to think no boardsie had been that far.

I'll be heading down there in just over three weeks time, so I'm hoping the weather should be pretty good. I've been braced to expect weather marginally better than an Irish Summer, so I won't be packing the factor 40.

On top of what you mentioned, I'm also booked in for flying in a Stearman biplane at Rotorua. 40 minute acrobatic flight, with me being allowed to take the controls (very briefly, mind you), but I don't think they'll let me loop-the-loop. Pretty sweet for $90. What's the Maury Night?

What did you think of that canyon swing? I saw the website, and it looked pretty good, but then I saw some vids of it on youtube, and it really doesn't look anything like the way their site makes out.

Other than that, I've booked every possible activity the South Island can offer....as Mr. Visa knows only too well.

djfattony2000

That Flight sounds good, the thing I liked about new zealand was that if they say youre going to do something, you do it, none of this look at it behind a red rope business like the americans do. This is because they have some law about sueing, that you basically cant. For example that glazier walk, people are always having to be airlifted off it, and if you were to slip you would easily die, which adds to the adventure I think.

The weather Id say will be alright, youre going right in the middle of summer, in the north Island anyway.

I didnt do the swing myself, I'm a complete pussy when it comes to jumping out of/ off anything. The lads did it and said it was very good though. If youre doing a bungee aswell you can get packages where it saves you money.

Cheiftan

Garibaldi wrote:

Nice one dj. I was starting to think no boardsie had been that far.

I'll be heading down there in just over three weeks time, so I'm hoping the weather should be pretty good. I've been braced to expect weather marginally better than an Irish Summer, so I won't be packing the factor 40.

On top of what you mentioned, I'm also booked in for flying in a Stearman biplane at Rotorua. 40 minute acrobatic flight, with me being allowed to take the controls (very briefly, mind you), but I don't think they'll let me loop-the-loop. Pretty sweet for $90. What's the Maury Night?

What did you think of that canyon swing? I saw the website, and it looked pretty good, but then I saw some vids of it on youtube, and it really doesn't look anything like the way their site makes out.

Other than that, I've booked every possible activity the South Island can offer....as Mr. Visa knows only too well.

TBH I think your WAAAYYY off track booking all these things before you go , The acrobatic flight can be got a hell of a lot cheaper in Mackenzie country , spoke to people there that got it for $50 45mins, that was last April.
Maury night , maybe thats some new thing i don't know about :rolleyes:
MAROI night , I know about that , would'nt really reccommend it , bit tacky, what you have to remember is that Rotorua is a MAJOR tourist trap and the Maroi night far from been the cultural experience its bigged up to be is really a conveyor belt operation, bus the mugs in , have a few dudes with tats run round sticking thier tounges out and screaming , rub noses with the ahem "chief" , eat reasonable food from the hungi( Maroi BBQ) , go home with $50 less in your pocket, oh yeah if you go the next night its prob the bus driver from the prev nights turn to play the chief. Avoid at all costs
Taupo is a nice place , great scenery. Try taking a drive down the East coast of the N.Island and return up the West coast.
The Waiarapa region is great, its North of Wellington, some cracking towns where accom is reasonable, food cheap, wine cheaper(major wine producing region) and the people are super cool
Wellington is worth being in for a weekend, nightlife is superb , great buzz round the place , also NZ chicks love the Irish accent and they can be very co-operative:D
South island , take a tip from a fool , put extra petrol in the boot of the car/van/camper when driving in the South Island .
Outside Christchurch , North side , is a little town called Amberly , some great vineyards that do tours and are almost 50% cheaper than doing tours in the Marlborough region. On the South side of Amberly is a cafe/micro brewery called Brew moon, DO NOT DRIVE BY THIS PLACE, the food is excellent as is the beer.
Queenstown is good but expensive, lots to do , the canynon swing is worth the money but if your gonna bungy do the holy trinity with AJ Hackett.The Jet boating is cool, get the yellow boats out across the lake, mental!!
when you get off the jet boat have a look at the downstairs of the jetboat office, you'll be amazed at the size of the fish in that lake!!
The world bar in q/town is good as is a resturant called the Purple Cow.
Dunedin , good town, big uni there so night life not a prob, if poss try and get to a rugby match in the superbly named "House of pain".
Kaikora for whale watching , did'nt float my boat but lots of people rave about the place.
Milford sound , bring the mossie repellent , also take some baby lotion with you , sand flies everywhere. Great trip though
Mount cook , get the helicopter ride to the top , a far better trip than the Franz Josef glacier imho.
As prev poster also said Nelson is worth the visit, stayed in a great place there but for the life of me can't remember what its called, will check the lonley liar and post it on this thread.
One final thing if your driving anywhere in NZ , if you are caught doing over 140km/hr they arrest you and sieze the motor, now you might say no chance but when your driving on the S island , the road is striaght as far as the eye can see and NO ONE is on the road , its an easy but v expensive mistake to make.
Have a great time , its a wonderful country, people are great, scenery out of this world and you should be sound weather wise
ENJOY!!

djfattony2000

Sorry, the misspelling Maroi is my fault, I apologise profusely.

I would agree with cheiftan though about booking things, it can be alot cheaper to book there.