Car rental?

[RobDickinson]

Comin over to NZ next March for 3 weeks, will be touring round both islands. Doing it cheap as its still costing an arm and a leg... flights booked so far.

Was initialy thinking about a low/mid range econobox for north island and picking up a 4x4 for south.

Unless anyone there can come up with something more intresting? Have found mx5's (eunos) but boots to small and 'prestige' BMW/Audi but thats way to expensive.

[pawsmcgraw]

unless your wanting to do a little off roading,climb some of the mountain ski field roads or go very remote into the high country i wouldn't bother with a 4x4.The roads around SI are good and sealed on all the tourist trails and in March the weather should be good down here.Even the ones that are gravel if you venture of the beaten track, are graded often and more than suitable for a 2wd eurobox.Jus'a thought.

[Esprit]

Agree with paws on this one.... there ain't nowhere in NZ that you're going to be seeing on a three-week trip that a front-driving jappa won't get ya..... something like a Toyota Corolla should do the trick... cheap to rent/insure, plenty of space for you and the lady wife and more seats should you need to take guests anywhere... the worst roads you'll have to travel will just be loose metal, where a light, FWD hatchback is probably better behaved than a large 4WD anyway... if you are dead set on a 4WD and going to places where you'll need it, something like a Subaru Outback wagon would be more than ample, but not sure if anyone hires those as they're expensive to run and maintain. In marche there'll be no snow so it's not like you're going to need a 4WD with chains to ensure that you can drive some of the passes in the central north and south islands.... I'd stick with an econobox and spend the loose change on better accommodation or a flasher camera to take all of the photos that you'll be wanting to take. If you need a tourguide in Auckland to help you navigate, then I humbly volunteer my services.

[RobDickinson]

Esprit said:

I'd stick with an econobox and spend the loose change on better accommodation or a flasher camera to take all of the photos that you'll be wanting to take. If you need a tourguide in Auckland to help you navigate, then I humbly volunteer my services.

Well looks like an econobox is it then.

As for the camera, just bought a minolta A2 8mp , all I need to do now is figure out how it works. And how to store several gig of data. probbaly on a portable hdd thingey.

Thanks for the tourguide offer, may take you up on that We've so much information on where to go /what to do we need lest 6 weeks to fit it all in

[Esprit]

RobDickinson said:

Well looks like an econobox is it then. As for the camera, just bought a minolta A2 8mp , all I need to do now is figure out how it works. And how to store several gig of data. probbaly on a portable hdd thingey. Thanks for the tourguide offer, may take you up on that We've so much information on where to go /what to do we need lest 6 weeks to fit it all in

Hi Rob,
No Problem... always happy to help out a PHer.... we're pretty rare in this neck of the woods

Good move on the camera... I've got a Finepix S602Z (6MP) that I bought about a year ago and get LOTS of good use out of it here.... takes BRILLIANT pics of the NZ Scenery, although this might not be the sort of scenery you have in mind
(pic greatly downsized of course) but it's one of the many views from the top of my parents' drive when we need to tidy up the garage and have to get move the couple of moneysponges we have sitting in there onto the grass

As for NZ there's a few MUST SEE places and there's a few places that are very touristy and overhyped, so if ya want the skinny on my pics of what's worth seeing then I'd be happy to buy ya a pint and discuss it once you're here

As for the storage thing, I use a 512MB card in my camera with a 128mb reserve (as well as the useless 16mb one that comes with it.... that's usually more than good enough for an entire day's snap-hapiness (at something like a carshow or something) or a week's worth of snap-happy holidayness... I think most netcafes in NZ (you'll find one in most towns in NZ over 15k population) should have CD-burning facilities that should enable you to dump straight onto a CD to clear your cards.... probably the safest way to transport them as portable HDDs have a nasty habit of going bung (especially inside suitcases when in the hands of clumsy baggage-handlers) and would be pretty cheap... I'd not imagine it'd cost you more than $15 per CD at the very most (about 5 quid).... come to think of it, most photo shops probably offer the same service and if that's the case, then you should be right in even the most remote places.

[kylie]

RobDickinson said:

Esprit said: I'd stick with an econobox and spend the loose change on better accommodation or a flasher camera to take all of the photos that you'll be wanting to take. If you need a tourguide in Auckland to help you navigate, then I humbly volunteer my services. Well looks like an econobox is it then. As for the camera, just bought a minolta A2 8mp , all I need to do now is figure out how it works. And how to store several gig of data. probbaly on a portable hdd thingey. Thanks for the tourguide offer, may take you up on that We've so much information on where to go /what to do we need lest 6 weeks to fit it all in

Hi Rob, well done making the decision to come out here, you will love it! Also nice choice of camera. I just came back from 17 days in Rarotonga and was using a 8mp Sony F828 with a 512mb Lexar Pro FCard and 128mb sony memory stick. I took around 200 pics averaging 1-3meg each pic and only used 1/5 of the available space. Unless you plan on printing all pics at A4 or bigger you really don't need to take pics that big. I took a few spesh pics at 5meg for printing off due to capturing stuff using fish eye and wide angle converter len's but other than that I think I will delete half of what I took. I was plugging my camera into the hotel TV's using the AV leads to see what the pics really looked like, just a thought also. And yes invest in a super wide coversion lens your gonna need it for the landscape here, you will go mad!!!!

I hope you have a blast here feel free to ask any questions.
Cheers
Kylie

[RobDickinson]

So looking forward to going, does mean I dont have much holiday this year tho.

Will probably get a hdd based mp3 playing thing for pic storage, but may get that burned onto cd as I travel round, I recon I'll be taking 2-3 gb of pictures at least, probably all at 8mp, dont see the point in buying an 8mp and using it at 5mp (could have bought an A1 for that and had less noise).

Hopefully the a2's 28mm wide angle will doo, seems to work ok, cant be bothered with extra lenses as I made a decision not to go with a dslr because of that...

havnt yet finalized the route yet, prob 1-2 nights in Aukland then 7 days round N, down to south for 10-14 days then 1-2 in N again. 21days ish total. Got decent flights via singapore but its easily twice the flight length I've ever done before

"although this might not be the sort of scenery you have in mind "

hmm, who do I have to sleep with to borrow that e-type?


Were half thinking ov moving over, know a few people who've either done it or tried, has its upsides, but several downsides too.

[Esprit]

RobDickinson said:

hmm, who do I have to sleep with to borrow that e-type?

Well since it's my father's and mine 6+ year combined project, it'll be both of us :P Lol but sreiously I doubt it'll even be finished by then.... we have asirations of having it all done by the end of the year, but we said that years ago (although it really is near-complete now).... if you like Jaguars, you'll HAVE to visit Hawkes Bay, Havelock North in particular (where that picture was taken and there those cars live), not only for the stunning scenery, beautiful climate that time of year and the MAGNIFICENT wine, but it's also the home of Beacham Jaguar..... they do MkII specials and E-Type (SIII) specals with all the modern Jaguar running gear in them including airbags, heated seats, supercharged V8 the works.... in a totally original shell (not just original, most of the monocoque remains unchanged.... great sight to see!

But yes, you are right, E-Type 3.8 Roadsters do make excellent viewing platforms for round-NZ tours 'specially in summer! :P

[RobDickinson]

Any recomendations for places to stay in Aukland and Christchurch? Will rpb be a few nights at either, rest of the time probably motel type things on the road.

Probably going to go for those hotel voucher things for the bulk of nights.

[kylie]

RobDickinson said:

Any recomendations for places to stay in Aukland and Christchurch? Will rpb be a few nights at either, rest of the time probably motel type things on the road. Probably going to go for those hotel voucher things for the bulk of nights.

Really depends on your budget, if you want to stay in central Auckland city the Heritage is really nice with full facilities and walking distance to heaps of touristy stuff. They have their own website too. I think its got prices on it too by memory. You are spoilt rotten travelling here on the pound!

[jamieheasman]

I haven't got my favourites loaded on this laptop but look for boutique accomodation in NZ, you'll often find self-contained luxury home-stay for the price of a city motel. Also if it's on a budget a lot of the camping parks offer cabins which can be really good and cheap. The NZ AA website has a very good accomodation guide.

[Esprit]

My folks are going home to England for 5 weeks in sept/oct and are doing a house swap with a couple back there.... DEFINITELY the way to do it, if you're only interested in largely staying around the same area that is........