coach/bus/train/trips
 

hi
we are visiting NZ in dec for the first time
we are both over 60s and would prefer not to drive
are there any coach/bus tours we could use while in NZ
and could someone tell me is it worth us using the trains to get around,as we would like to visit as many places as we can
because its unknown when we will visit again from UK
thankyou

The best Bus company for you two would be Intercity .
New Zealand's major coach line operates coaches to most destinations in both the North and South Islands. Although many travellers buy individual tickets, you can save up to 40% by buying one of the passes that are available. The range of passes offered by InterCity is quite confusing with specific passes valid only on certain routes.
New Zealand Travelpass
Travel on InterCity buses is also included in the New Zealand Travelpass (tel 0800 33 99 66; website www.travelpass.co.nz
There are three great train trips on the South Island have a look under Rail Services @ www.newzealandatoz.com.

Cheers Glenn

I took this tour in June:

http://www.scenicpacific.co.nz/trip.cfm/trip-10000032

The company was easy to work with and everything turned out beautifully. We made our bookings over the internet.

We had determined that we were more interested in the South Island and felt this tour covered most of the highlights at a good price. We added a wildlife tour in Dunedin and a Maori Dinner in Queenstown. This is not a guided tour and there will be different people on the bus each day. We chose the less expensive motels and had no problems finding meals within a reasonable distance. The bus drivers provided excellent commentary and stopped at points of interest. The same buses are used just as intercity transportation by the general population.

From what I could see on the South Island

Travelbag -

I spent 2 weeks on the South Island, NZ in March 2003 as a single woman traveling on my own. I didn't want the hassle of driving either, so I bought a travelpass for the Intercity bus system, as the first poster commented on. I found it to be great - the bus drivers were very nice and most of the time they would pick you up and drop you off at your accommodation. The busses are very comfortable and stop often for food and restroom breaks, as well as "photo ops." I would highly recommend this form of travel for anyone who doesn't want to drive themselves.

Martha

Barbara - I took the exact same tour as you did back in 2002 - and we enjoyed it very much.

We also booked online, and everything turned out wonderfully. All of the hotels we stayed at were as expected or better and everything went very smoothly. What appealed about the tour was that it was not a guided tour - besides the arrangement of hotels, transportation and a few side trips, we were on our own and able to decide how to spend our time.

We had traveled independently for a week on the North Island prior to this with other family members, but it was just my mother, young daughter and myself on the South Island. Given that I had to look after both my mother and daughter, I didn't want the added stress of completely independent travel. This tour was the perfect solution.

i would like to thank everyone for their replies,
they have helped alot,
we are going to look at buying a travelpass for north island and south island,
we are counting the weeks now until we visit NZ
looking forward to seeing a beautiful country and meeting friendly people

Hi, travelbag,
Welcome to New Zealand! Hope you have a wonderful tour through our country.
Are you visiting both islands? Have you any preferences for places to visit? activities?
Just one little tip - NA secondary schools start their holidays around 12 December and the rest from 20 December onwards so there may start to be a demand on accommodation, particularly in tourist spots.

thankyou for letting me know about the school holidays ,how long are the holidays
we have not planned anything yet although i have been looking at web sites about NZ
i looked at buying coach passes ,but being english??? i am not sure how it works.
have i got this right if i buy a pass for 15 days ,i can go as far as i like in one day,get off stay for a day or two then use the pass to go somewhere else,stay for a couple of days , i can use coach passes until 15days travel are used up,is that correct???

so far this is what we had thought about doing
AUCKLAND 2days
WAITOMO CAVES
ROTORIA
NAPIER
WELLINGTON 2 days
as i am not sure how long we need at each stop and how far it is ,so i do not know where to book B&B's or hotel
does this make sense

we also are thinking of taking the train from WELLINGTON - AUCKLAND
we will be based at CAMBRIDGE but plan to tour and see as much as we can
we will stay in CAMBRIDGE when we need a few days rest in between travelling around (staying with relatives who have just emigrated)
everyone says SOUTH ISLAND is beautiful so we must try and spend some time there.
if you have any idea's we would love to hear them

You seem to be stopping frequently, so train or bus may be best. But for longer distances, say if you wanted to include much of south island in place of some of the minor north island spots, try some of the new bargain air options like http://www.originpacific.co.nz/Home

Not only saves a lot of time (you can burn up an entire day on bus or train even crossing partway of a single island) but local air can be very very cheap. Some of the passes are no longer competitive, esp one that includes an airleg along with bus. For hotels consider http://www.wheretostay.co.nz/search.asp

Visit www.intercitycoach.co.nz for schedules and connections. I used their flexipass- you basically buy hours of time and utilise them to buy any connection depending on your route-works out cheaper than the travelpass. Visit www.tranzscenic.co.nz for train connections - the rail is not weel devleoped in NZ, but the Christchurch-Greymouth train journey is the most beautiful ride in the world !