New Zealand
New Zealand
Introduction
That's right. You heard me. I'm going to spend a year working and travelling in the awesome internationally recognised as 'New Zealand'
Recent Activity
- Added transportation section. Because transport is the new black.
- Rough budget plan made
- Elin is arranging payment for Matt-leg tour ticket
- Matt has booked the flights and tour ticket
- Elin's New Zealand blog can be found here
- Flight has been booked.
To Do
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Get work/holiday visa |
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Book Flight |
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Get Travel Insurance |
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Set up credit card |
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Buy travel uke |
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Make rough plan, packing list and budget plan |
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Book initial accommodation in Auckland |
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Contact first and second helpX hosts. Maybe third. |
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Set up NZ Bank Account |
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Transfer money to that bank account |
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Find mobile solution |
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Buy a giant backpack (sew a flag on the back?) + sleeping bag |
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Buy a netbook for travelling computations |
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Buy Matt-leg tour ticket |
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Buy Mum-leg tour ticket |
Flights
Hokai, so, flights are actually quite complicated. Here's a detailed page for flights and here's the summary:
Booking Reference: HJC5GH
OUTBOUND
- Outbound Flight Status: Booked
Outbound Flight
| From | To | Via | Date and Time | Landing At | Flight No | Terminal | Carrier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| London - LHR | Auckland - AKL | Hong Kong | Thursday 12th August 2010 21:05pm | 09:00am Sat 14th | NZ38 | LHR Terminal 1 | AirNewZealand |
RETURN
- Return Flight Status: Booked: But must be changed in September 2010
Return flight
| From | To | Date and Time | Flight No | Class | Carrier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auckland - AKL | ? Hong Kong ? | ? 10th August 2011 (time) - (time) | Flight ID | Class: Economy | AirNewZealand |
| ? Hong Kong ? | London - LHR | ? 11th August 2011 (time) - (time) | Flight ID | Class: Economy | AirNewZealand |
.
Auckland Accommodation
Two Main options:
Oaklands Lodge in Mt. Eden, short (cheap and regular) bus ride to centre, pleasant and quiet location.
Auckland International YHA - excellent cooking facilities, nearer centre and probably have better travel centre.
Might win on convenience- can always book for 6 days then switch to Oaklands if it's no good.
Price-wise I think they are exactly the same - £10.45 a night for an 8-bed dorm.
Because of location and reviews Auckland International YHA wins...this round... also airbus from airport goes straight there which is handy. Important not to confuse with Auckland City YHA which is apparently crappola.
Travel Insurance
| Policy | GlobeLinks | World Nomad |
|---|---|---|
| Cover 1 | GL Thing | WN Thing |
| Cover 2 | GL Thing 2 | WN Thing 2 |
| Cost | GL quote | WN quote |
Rough Plan
- Arrive in Auckland, get over jet lag, deal with bank stuff and other stuff.
- Stay in Auckland for 2 weeks- try to get in Cape Reinga, the little islands, and Auckland itself.
- Homestay/farmstay your way round: First to Coromandel across to Rotorua, Bay of Plenty and Hawkes Bay, Napier region then down to Wellington.
- Stay in Wellington for a week, then home/farmstay across to New Plymouth region, Taranaki and Waikato back up to Auckland, via Te Awamutu.
- Enter Matt stage left (Auckland -> Christchurch)
- Do same sort of thing for South Island as north - stop off in the key places for a week or so (Christchurch, Queenstown, Dunedin), Go north, round, south home/farmstaying along the way, back to Christchurch
- Enter Mum stage right (Christchurch -> Auckland)
- Get a job for 3 months or revisit highlights, hang out doing whatever. If some people were awesome at the beginning, go see them again.
- Come home with a slightly Kiwi accent, and a set of charming anecdotes where money used to be.
Mandatory activities
- Pilgrimage to Te Awamutu
- Waitomo Caves
- Sandboarding
- Visiting:
- Napier
- New Plymouth
- Dunedin
- Stewart Island
- the Catlins
- Fox Glacier
- Milford Sound
- Auckland,
- Christchurch
- Greymouth
- etc.
- Maybe a trip to Samoa.
Stray Tour
Ticket is booked- an open ticket. Matt lands in Auckland on the 1st of November, so he will need accommodation for that night. We will be departing from Auckland on the 2nd November and the tour is 16 days long. Hopefully it will be fantastisch!
- Stray Tour Confirmation Code: 1019835
- Passenger number/ User Id: 23044
Contact Details: email [email protected] | phone +64 9 526 2140 | web www.straytravel.com
Note: We will need to ring them before hand (I'll ring one or two weeks ahead to confirm departure date)
For More Details on the tour itself see Matt's Page here
Work and homestay Options
Farm and Homestay options - HelpExchange
Transportation
Buses? Hail yes! Trains? Hail yes! Fake Southern American accents? Hail - wait, what?
NakedBus - cheap. Have more destinations than intercity. Also, cheap.
- Timetables They seem to be roughly £11 ish per trip (to places that take ~ 4 hours to get to). Considering the Sheffield tram is £3, this seems fair. Cheaper the further ahead it's booked. Nudity not required.
Intercity - more expensive (about twice as expensive as NakedBus) but may need them for trip from airport? They go every hour from the airport to the Auckland city (the quay)
For long distances - an always take a flight