Introduction New Zealand trip, by hire car, Sep 2014 file= NZ2014.htm
Had not been to New Zealand for 10 years, so it was 
time we went there again to refresh our fond memories.
Its almost as easy as travelling in Oz, or USA apart
from their weird accents and rainy weather. It rained so
hard and so long we thought we were in Nth Qld., in the
rainy season. 
We had taken a battering from arthritis and sore joints
and a few other problems so it was good to escape in
comfort to an easy motoring holiday, no skiing or hiking.
As usual, Parj did an overall plan, which was fine tuned
by Yollie to pick up all her points of interest, using our
tried and tested "Trip Planner" and NZ travel books. We
are happy to make this available to anyone who may
be interested. These are simple EXCEL spreadsheets.
Started in Auckland, Nth Island, going clockwise on
the coasts into South Island and back to North Island.
We wanted to do the Nth, Sth, East and West points, and only just missed out in the last 110 km
north of Kaitaia, to Nth Cape, the northernmost tip, due to very heavy rain. Consider NZ DONE !!
Flights Costs vary greatly from day to day, try and avoid Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon if possible.
The earlier you book/pay, the cheaper the flights. Try to avoid changes after payment.
We booked with Air NZ, but unfortunately got a Virgin flight outbound. As usual, it was
3rd class standard. The seats were so tight you could barely fit your knees in and the
service was terrible and expensive. I'd guess Turkey or Zimbabwe could do better. The
return by Air NZ was much better, in a Boeing 777, rather than a Boeing 737 by Virgin.
Car Rental Apex Car rentals offered some
very good deals on "older" vehicles. We chose a Ford
Focus, 2007 model with 204,000 km and $45/day all up.
Gave us no problems, apart from a blown rear tyre in
the Coromandel Peninsula on gravel roads. Did not 
notice this until we stopped for photos, and the tyre
was ruined. It was a rear wheel on a front wheel drive
so it wasn't apparent on the noisy gravel road. The
spare wheel was one of those narrow ones, but did
the job until we got a new tyre. The TID travel insurance
was handy in case we had an accident. They cover
any claim excess, to a value of $4,000, if required.
Ferries, Cook Straight
Not as well organized as the ferries in Europe, for on/off
loading, which took much longer than expected.
The trip took about 3 hours, with all amenities on-board.
Apex car hire paid for the 2 vehicle crossings, but we
paid 4 times $65 for the two peoples returns :- $260
We were lucky on the return from Sth to Nth Island, as
the service was cancelled for many hours due to high
winds and swells, soon after we returned.
Motels We only booked our 1st night motel at Auckland airport from home. All others were done 
using selections from Booking.Com at the various towns we expected to visit. These
were printed out at home, and we used the Sat Nav to find/select motels on the move.
Very few have restaurants, but usually diners are handy, nearby. Cheap & reasonable.
Wi-Fi The promised $29 Vodaphone Wi-Fi stick was NOT available in NZ. They had a $79
version, which we declined as a rip-off. We were happy to use the Wi-Fi available in
the motels, either free or at minimal cost. These were OK, after you got some practice
getting connected to the different methods/services. No problem with emails. We could
receive emails on our home email address, but had to use Gmail to send, from NZ.
Mobile Happy to use our mobile phones on "international roaming", as we did NOT want to
phones change phone numbers and only expected to make few or emergency calls.
Sat Nav. Our trusty Garmin Nuvi 1450 came along.
As usual, it was mounted on a Perspex plate, fixed to
the dash with double sided tape. Had some problems
initially as Apex had applied "armourall" vinyl cleaner
to the dash, which had to be thoroughly cleaned before
we could make the mounting plate stick properly.
Even with recent map updates, we had some problems
in some areas, including :- Coromandel Pen., Picton,
Christchurch, Queenstown +more. We are experienced 
users, so it must have been poor mapping by Garmin ?
The Sat Nav was useful in locating motels and petrol.
Pity it didn't detect Yogie Bear radar ?
Weather Experienced much rain/wind, but only one major delay from rockslides onto the road. 
Going down Queenstown chairlift. This rain One of many rainy days, which took away
made us abandon our trip to Coronet Peak. from magnificent scenery on the coasts.
Trip Used our tried and tested "Trip Planner" for overseas rental car trips.
planning This allowed various daily itineraries to be tested and confirmed, together with costs.
Also had an equipment checklist for such trips, which is very necessary at our age.
Out  trip costs were actually $6,956 -vs- forecast $7,000
Our trip km were actually 5313 -vs- forecast 5211
After much experience, our estimates of costs, times, distances get very accurate.
Trip Cash  Followed our usual habit of getting all our foreign currency requirements from Aust. Post.
They give the best deal, as they supply the banks as well. It avoids the problem and cost
of using overseas ATM's with all the inconvenience and extra fees.
We can calculate our needs at home very accurately, so this works well.
Only needed to change back about NZ 200 to AUD on departure.
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Trip reports Auckland to Wellington, via Coromandel Peninsula and Mt Ruapehu.
Picked up the Rental Car from Apex, very close to Auckland airport. They are well organized. The
Ford Focus with 204,000 on the clock was perfectly adequate for our needs and $45/day was good.
We headed South towards the Coromandel Peninsula where we got lost. Did a few circles then 
headed south towards Lake Taupo
Scenic views, Coromandel Peninsula.....Sat Nav got us lost. Fixing the only flat we got.
Had planned to stay on the East coast heading south, but time lost made us head inland via Lake 
Taupo, using the shorter route, past some of the Nth Island Ski Fields and volcanoes.
Near Lake Taupo Mt Ruapehu, in the clear (almost)     Ski field near Okahune.
Continued south on the Desert road, towards Palmerston North, enjoying the drive and views.
Great tank in Army museum. River gorge view. Wellington waterfront.
View from Lookout hill, Wellington        Downtown Wellington. Boarding Cook Straight ferry.
The ferry trip was calm and allowed us to catch up with emails from the cheap Wi-Fi. Took about 3 
hours to Picton, where Sat Nav got confused again !
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Picton to Invercargill, via Kaikoura coast, Christchurch and Dunedin.
Our Sat Nav had trouble finding our selected motel in Picton. Next morning, headed south along the
Kaikoura Coast to sample the Crayfish and look at the Seals, Penguins and Albatrosses.
Heading south from Picton Seal colonies on Kaikoura coast, big buggers.
Christchurch earthquake repairs Penguin display area, on coast Rock features, on coast
Yollie's Albatross ?? (large gull?)     Talk about wind, rain, cold ? A small/low lighthouse, any use ?
Invercargill town, quite nice. Strange church/tower, mad Scott?   Next South, Antarctica ?
Heading North, Invercargill to Queenstown, via Milford Sound ?
After a very pleasant stay in a TOP motel in Invercargill, we started heading North towards
Queenstown. Had hoped to divert to Milford Sound and a ferry ride, but the weather was so bad, we
decided to head for Queenstown direct. Had skied at Queenstown often before, over-rated, but
one cannot complain about the scenery. Also missed Coronet Peak due to heavy rain.
The Chairlift in Queenstown is a MUST DO, no matter how bad the weather.
Clifton Suspension bridge Approaching Queenstown Approaching Queenstown
View from Queenstown motel. Queenstown chairlift, going up. Looking down on Queenstown.
At Queenstown, it rained fairly hard, so we didn't spend time looking around the ski areas. Headed
North to west coast and Fox glacier, Greymouth and Westport. Then N-East to Picton.
Mad Kiwi bungy jumpers.  Minor delay, rock slide 30 min. Fox glacier, much retreated.
Didn't walk to glacier end point. Pancake rocks, great coast. South of Westport
Like Great Ocean Road, VIC ? Rain swollen river valley. Ski area south of Picton
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Wellington, then heading North via Mt Egmont, Hamilton, Auckland, Dargaville
Couldn't find a motel in Wellington, so headed north. On approach to Mt Egmont, the rain set in, so
no point driving in the clouds, kept heading north to Hamilton and Auckland.
Onto Ferry, Picton to Wellington. Yollie never misses a windmill ? Reason we missed Mt. Egmont.
Road to Auckland Passing Auckland tower. Lunch at Dargaville, going North
Dargaville, heading North to Kaitaia, Nth Cape, then South via Bay of Islands
Got to Kataia in light rain. Then it started pouring, so we abandoned our plan to get to the most
Northern Point in NZ, Nth Cape. We were only 110 km short, so headed to East Coast, and Bay of
Islands and Wangarei, towards Auckland.
Kayakers, in Bay of Islands Hurrara falls, near Bay of Islands  Yollie admiring the view
Mountain view, going South Sea view, going South Strange rock outcrop, east coast
We were nearly back in Auckland, so the time pressure was off and we began to enjoy a more 
relaxed pace and even looking forward to home.
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Last leg, Whangarei to Auckland airport, missing Auckland city.
We had a leisurely time to Auckland airport, still in the rain. Wanted to spend some time in Auckland
City but because of constant rain, just spent a rest day at motel at Auckland airport.
Pleasant seaside motel Also had a "resident" cat. Driving towards Auckland.
Crossing Auckland harbour. Passing Auckland to Airport. Waiting for Airport shuttle.
Conclusions and recommendations
Its always a worthwhile and value trip to New Zealand. Going in Winter/Autumn and avoiding the
school holidays, there was no pressure on accommodation, so we didn't need our emergency gear,
sleeping bags etc., for cabins, if motels were full.
When booking airlines, try and avoid any Virgin flights.
Apex car rentals are good value and competent.
Only got one speeding ticket at the time of writing. Their revenue collection is as bad as in Oz.
I was doing 110 to 112, in a deserted country highway with no traffic, apart from the booking
vehicle approaching me from the opposite direction. Be interested to see if Apex debits my Credit
card for this?
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