Extended stay-Trip report OZ & NZ
Mar 21st, 2007 | 02:52 PM
#1
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Extended stay-Trip report OZ & NZ
We recently returned from an extended and wonderful stay in Australia and New Zealand (Dec to mid-March). It’s impossible to give full details for a trip of this length, but we would like to offer some general observations on our travels in these two countries, and offer some options for travel to those who might be considering a similar trip.
Lodging
We had lodging for the first couple of weeks booked before we left home, but after that we just booked places as we proceeded along. We didn’t know beforehand how long we were likely to stay in each place, but we knew the larger cities would be a week long and the smaller ones two or three days each. In Australia we used Wotif for booking and in some cases we contacted the hotels directly. In New Zealand, we made use of the local information I-Sites. These booking and information centers were amazing. In both countries we had no trouble booking places, even in the large cities and during the heavy touristy months of summer. Lodging ranged from one bedroom apartments to small motel rooms. In most cases the rooms had a small refrigerator, and except for one pub stay, one large historic hotel, and one bed and breakfast stay, we had ensuite bathrooms. Most rooms came in under $100 USD.
Food
We had plentiful continental breakfasts in our room each morning. We ate a large and usually quite nice mid-day meal, and had a snack in the room each evening. We shopped for the food instead of eating out all the time. Supermarkets were accessible in each city, and were surprisingly crowded no matter when we shopped. Whether towns were large or small – the markets were always full. In Australia “timtams” became our favorite snack food—especially the dark classic variety. In New Zealand the “one square meal” energy bar was incredible, and the apples were delicious. We sampled the local beers and wines wherever we went –they were all great!
Transportation
We walked a lot! And we used public transportation extensively. Even though both countries are “car” countries like the US, both are set up for public transportation, especially New Zealand’s south island bus system. In Australia we had the East Coast Discovery train pass from Sydney to Cairns. Most segments of it were nice and worked smoothly with the exception of the noisy overnight trip from Townsville to Cairns. Sometimes it just happens—you get noisy passengers. This type of travel takes more time to organize, but we had the time and found the travel mostly enjoyable. It freed us from having to concentrate on traffic and the stress of driving on the opposite side of the road. In each country we took trains and buses and ferries, and internal air flights and twice (once in each country) we had a one week car rental. We really didn’t want or need a car and avoided it wherever we could. The two places we did have a car were the southwest region of Western Australia, and the Nelson to Blenheim to Picton areas in NZ.
Phones and Communication
We bought an unlocked tri-band mobile phone before we left home. Upon arrival in each country we bought a prepaid sim card for the phone. This provided us with a local phone number, and a way for our family to reach us in an emergency. We mainly used it for local short phone calls. We also bought a prepaid paper type of phone card to use for calling back to the US. These phone cards lowered the long distance cost per minute from 80 cents a minute on our mobile to 5-10 cents a minute and allowed us to have lengthy conversations without massive costs. We got the type that could be used in hotels without a connection fee. We used local internet cafes for email, banking, CD and DVD image burning, and for general internet inquiries. They worked flawlessly everywhere. Townsville had a great one on the main street mall.
Tours and Itinerary
Before we left we bought sight-see-and-save vouchers to use in Australia. They worked perfectly for day trips in Cairns and Melbourne, and were a good value. We also booked several more trips through the local information centers in both countries, or with a tour company directly by phone.
We traveled from Sydney to Cairns, flew to Melbourne, bussed to Adelaide, flew to Perth, car through the southwest region, then flew to Christchurch, bussed to Dunedin, Queenstown, Franz Joseph, Greymouth, Nelson, car to Blenheim, Picton, ferry to Wellington, train to North Palmerstown, and finally to Auckland, then home.
We’re certainly glad to be back home although we really enjoyed being a part of Australia and New Zealand for a short period of time. Thanks to everyone on this board who answered so many of our questions beforehand. It was very helpful and greatly appreciated. Hopefully we’ll be able to help answer a question or two as it pertains to our travels. We’d be happy to provide details and expand on anything above.
Lodging
We had lodging for the first couple of weeks booked before we left home, but after that we just booked places as we proceeded along. We didn’t know beforehand how long we were likely to stay in each place, but we knew the larger cities would be a week long and the smaller ones two or three days each. In Australia we used Wotif for booking and in some cases we contacted the hotels directly. In New Zealand, we made use of the local information I-Sites. These booking and information centers were amazing. In both countries we had no trouble booking places, even in the large cities and during the heavy touristy months of summer. Lodging ranged from one bedroom apartments to small motel rooms. In most cases the rooms had a small refrigerator, and except for one pub stay, one large historic hotel, and one bed and breakfast stay, we had ensuite bathrooms. Most rooms came in under $100 USD.
Food
We had plentiful continental breakfasts in our room each morning. We ate a large and usually quite nice mid-day meal, and had a snack in the room each evening. We shopped for the food instead of eating out all the time. Supermarkets were accessible in each city, and were surprisingly crowded no matter when we shopped. Whether towns were large or small – the markets were always full. In Australia “timtams” became our favorite snack food—especially the dark classic variety. In New Zealand the “one square meal” energy bar was incredible, and the apples were delicious. We sampled the local beers and wines wherever we went –they were all great!
Transportation
We walked a lot! And we used public transportation extensively. Even though both countries are “car” countries like the US, both are set up for public transportation, especially New Zealand’s south island bus system. In Australia we had the East Coast Discovery train pass from Sydney to Cairns. Most segments of it were nice and worked smoothly with the exception of the noisy overnight trip from Townsville to Cairns. Sometimes it just happens—you get noisy passengers. This type of travel takes more time to organize, but we had the time and found the travel mostly enjoyable. It freed us from having to concentrate on traffic and the stress of driving on the opposite side of the road. In each country we took trains and buses and ferries, and internal air flights and twice (once in each country) we had a one week car rental. We really didn’t want or need a car and avoided it wherever we could. The two places we did have a car were the southwest region of Western Australia, and the Nelson to Blenheim to Picton areas in NZ.
Phones and Communication
We bought an unlocked tri-band mobile phone before we left home. Upon arrival in each country we bought a prepaid sim card for the phone. This provided us with a local phone number, and a way for our family to reach us in an emergency. We mainly used it for local short phone calls. We also bought a prepaid paper type of phone card to use for calling back to the US. These phone cards lowered the long distance cost per minute from 80 cents a minute on our mobile to 5-10 cents a minute and allowed us to have lengthy conversations without massive costs. We got the type that could be used in hotels without a connection fee. We used local internet cafes for email, banking, CD and DVD image burning, and for general internet inquiries. They worked flawlessly everywhere. Townsville had a great one on the main street mall.
Tours and Itinerary
Before we left we bought sight-see-and-save vouchers to use in Australia. They worked perfectly for day trips in Cairns and Melbourne, and were a good value. We also booked several more trips through the local information centers in both countries, or with a tour company directly by phone.
We traveled from Sydney to Cairns, flew to Melbourne, bussed to Adelaide, flew to Perth, car through the southwest region, then flew to Christchurch, bussed to Dunedin, Queenstown, Franz Joseph, Greymouth, Nelson, car to Blenheim, Picton, ferry to Wellington, train to North Palmerstown, and finally to Auckland, then home.
We’re certainly glad to be back home although we really enjoyed being a part of Australia and New Zealand for a short period of time. Thanks to everyone on this board who answered so many of our questions beforehand. It was very helpful and greatly appreciated. Hopefully we’ll be able to help answer a question or two as it pertains to our travels. We’d be happy to provide details and expand on anything above.
Mar 21st, 2007 | 03:43 PM
#2
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 21,150
Likes: 83
Hi kathleen -
Sounds like you had a great trip! Lucky you to have so much time to explore these wonderful countries.
I hear ya on the dark Tim Tams - just returned from two weeks in WA and ate waaaaay more of those babies than I should have!
Sounds like you had a great trip! Lucky you to have so much time to explore these wonderful countries.
I hear ya on the dark Tim Tams - just returned from two weeks in WA and ate waaaaay more of those babies than I should have!
Mar 22nd, 2007 | 09:08 AM
#3
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 576
Likes: 0
Thanks for the summary, but I want details! Where did you stay? Would you recommend the places? What do you mean by "We also bought a prepaid paper type of phone card to use for calling back to the US."? What is a paper type of phone card and where do you get them?
Sally in Seattle
Sally in Seattle
Mar 22nd, 2007 | 11:49 AM
#5
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Joined: Jan 2003
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Melnq8, Sally, Twoaussies,
I’m happy to provide details.
Sally, You asked about the paper type of phone card. Actually, I’m not sure how else to describe it. It’s a slip of paper much like a paper receipt from shopping. You purchase a certain dollar amount, say $20.00. On it is the company’s connection number. In New Zealand we used a company called Blah Blah and purchased it at an internet café on the main square in Christchurch. The person there asked us specifically if we wanted to use it from hotels, since some of the companies have a connection fee. Blah Blah did not. I can’t remember the Australian company, but I do remember where we purchased it—at the main train station in Sydney in one of the small magazine and convenience shops. On the paper slip there’s a 10 to 13 digit number. You call that number, then after the prompts, you punch in your specific number that is printed on the slip. Then you punch in the number you want to call, including the country and area code. We had the numbers written down in a couple of places since the paper slip got folded and crumpled very quickly.
For the mobile phone we used Telstra in Australia (we were told they had the greatest overall country coverage).. We bought it in a Retravision shop in Katoomba. The person there helped us set up the phone account as well. In New Zealand we used Vodaphone and bought it at a Vodaphone shop in Christchurch.
We had many favorite places, but I’ll start with one in each country.
In Australia we just loved the southwestern region of Western Australia, specifically the spectacular coastline and the wines. On the road between Albany and Pemberton we stopped at William Bay (Green Pool and Elephant Rocks). The gigantic rocks, rugged coastline, and crisp Southern Ocean easily matches the splendor of the Great Ocean Road, IMHO. I took tons of photos, husband swam. We had a picnic lunch, then spent more time walking and climbing over the rocks. It was a beautiful day.
In New Zealand, again the west coast was spectacular. We set up a day where one bus (the K Bus) took us from Greymouth up as far as Truman’s Track (a couple of miles past Punakaiki and the Pancake Rocks). This track was a beautiful trail trough coastal woods down to a beach and back. After that we walked along the main road back to Pancake Rocks and Blowholes, with a sidetrack excursion walk on the Pororari River Track and to the Punakaiki Cavern. The pancake rocks were incredible, although the blowholes were not doing too much. We then ate lunch at The Wild Coast Café, and had arranged for the other bus (Atomic Shuttle) to pick us up there and take us back to Greymouth (we stayed at the Kingsgate in Greymouth—very nice place, central location) . It was at the very helpful I-Site in Greymouth that we set up this two bus system which met our needs perfectly. Nice way to spend Valentine’s Day!
Twoaussies, I did keep a thorough journal, but it is way too long to post. But, I'll answer any questions that you ask.
Melnq8, I wonder how our southwest Western Australia day compares for the specific day between Albany and Pemberton. Can't wait to read your account.
I’m happy to provide details.
Sally, You asked about the paper type of phone card. Actually, I’m not sure how else to describe it. It’s a slip of paper much like a paper receipt from shopping. You purchase a certain dollar amount, say $20.00. On it is the company’s connection number. In New Zealand we used a company called Blah Blah and purchased it at an internet café on the main square in Christchurch. The person there asked us specifically if we wanted to use it from hotels, since some of the companies have a connection fee. Blah Blah did not. I can’t remember the Australian company, but I do remember where we purchased it—at the main train station in Sydney in one of the small magazine and convenience shops. On the paper slip there’s a 10 to 13 digit number. You call that number, then after the prompts, you punch in your specific number that is printed on the slip. Then you punch in the number you want to call, including the country and area code. We had the numbers written down in a couple of places since the paper slip got folded and crumpled very quickly.
For the mobile phone we used Telstra in Australia (we were told they had the greatest overall country coverage).. We bought it in a Retravision shop in Katoomba. The person there helped us set up the phone account as well. In New Zealand we used Vodaphone and bought it at a Vodaphone shop in Christchurch.
We had many favorite places, but I’ll start with one in each country.
In Australia we just loved the southwestern region of Western Australia, specifically the spectacular coastline and the wines. On the road between Albany and Pemberton we stopped at William Bay (Green Pool and Elephant Rocks). The gigantic rocks, rugged coastline, and crisp Southern Ocean easily matches the splendor of the Great Ocean Road, IMHO. I took tons of photos, husband swam. We had a picnic lunch, then spent more time walking and climbing over the rocks. It was a beautiful day.
In New Zealand, again the west coast was spectacular. We set up a day where one bus (the K Bus) took us from Greymouth up as far as Truman’s Track (a couple of miles past Punakaiki and the Pancake Rocks). This track was a beautiful trail trough coastal woods down to a beach and back. After that we walked along the main road back to Pancake Rocks and Blowholes, with a sidetrack excursion walk on the Pororari River Track and to the Punakaiki Cavern. The pancake rocks were incredible, although the blowholes were not doing too much. We then ate lunch at The Wild Coast Café, and had arranged for the other bus (Atomic Shuttle) to pick us up there and take us back to Greymouth (we stayed at the Kingsgate in Greymouth—very nice place, central location) . It was at the very helpful I-Site in Greymouth that we set up this two bus system which met our needs perfectly. Nice way to spend Valentine’s Day!
Twoaussies, I did keep a thorough journal, but it is way too long to post. But, I'll answer any questions that you ask.
Melnq8, I wonder how our southwest Western Australia day compares for the specific day between Albany and Pemberton. Can't wait to read your account.
Mar 22nd, 2007 | 02:36 PM
#6
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 21,150
Likes: 83
kathleen - We made the trip to Greens Pool and Elephant Rocks as a day trip from Albany on our previous visit in July. We also visited Valley of the Giants and the Ancient Empire.
I'm with you - love the SW area of WA.
If you want details of our previous trips, you can take a look at my trip reports:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34838163
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34657096
I'm slowly plodding through my notes for my most recent report - will try to add another installment today.
I'm with you - love the SW area of WA.
If you want details of our previous trips, you can take a look at my trip reports:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34838163
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34657096
I'm slowly plodding through my notes for my most recent report - will try to add another installment today.
Mar 22nd, 2007 | 02:44 PM
#7
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 9,922
Likes: 0
Sally, just to add to kathleen's explanation re the phone card, you can buy similar cards in many locations in the US, including Safeway and Walgreens.
In Australia many different brands are sold through post offices, newsagents, Asian groceries and other outlets. We've been buying Chi-Tel cards to call China at very low rates (a few cents per minute) and I think the same rates apply to calls to North America. In the US we found the cards offered higher call charges but better call quality.
The higher charges were partly attributable to the fact that the US card companies provided access via a national toll-free number, at a cost to them. With our Chi-Tel card, and no doubt many others in Australia, you need to dial a different local number in each major city. That means you pay for a local call fee, or if you're outside those cities' local call zones a timed toll fee, when you use the card.
The actual cards are the size of a credit card. When you make a call you'll be told how much credit you have left.
In Australia many different brands are sold through post offices, newsagents, Asian groceries and other outlets. We've been buying Chi-Tel cards to call China at very low rates (a few cents per minute) and I think the same rates apply to calls to North America. In the US we found the cards offered higher call charges but better call quality.
The higher charges were partly attributable to the fact that the US card companies provided access via a national toll-free number, at a cost to them. With our Chi-Tel card, and no doubt many others in Australia, you need to dial a different local number in each major city. That means you pay for a local call fee, or if you're outside those cities' local call zones a timed toll fee, when you use the card.
The actual cards are the size of a credit card. When you make a call you'll be told how much credit you have left.
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Mar 22nd, 2007 | 04:21 PM
#8
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Joined: Jan 2003
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Neil,
We might be discussing different types of prepaid phone cards. The types sold in the US are definitely the size of credit cards and are similar in plastic thickness and weight. You're right in that you can buy them in different denominations and in a variety of places.
However the types I'm describing that we bought in Australia and New Zealand weren't cards at all. They were slips of paper, like receipts from supermarkets. But, they were set up in prepaid amounts. The one we bought in Australia did have the different local numbers to connect. As we moved about the country, the number to call to connect would change.
However the New Zealand one was a toll-free 0 800 number, so it's connect number was the same all over the country. In most hotels, you weren't charged for calling toll free numbers.
Sally, are you even more confused now?
We might be discussing different types of prepaid phone cards. The types sold in the US are definitely the size of credit cards and are similar in plastic thickness and weight. You're right in that you can buy them in different denominations and in a variety of places.
However the types I'm describing that we bought in Australia and New Zealand weren't cards at all. They were slips of paper, like receipts from supermarkets. But, they were set up in prepaid amounts. The one we bought in Australia did have the different local numbers to connect. As we moved about the country, the number to call to connect would change.
However the New Zealand one was a toll-free 0 800 number, so it's connect number was the same all over the country. In most hotels, you weren't charged for calling toll free numbers.
Sally, are you even more confused now?
Mar 22nd, 2007 | 06:00 PM
#9
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 9,922
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kathleen, it sounds like we're talking about the same thing, only printed on different media. My Chi-Tel cards are printed on thin cardboard, neither the plastic used in the US or just paper as you describe. As far as I can tell they all do the same thing, though. Chi-Tel cards do require you to enter a 4-digit PIN after your card number (this is revealed by scratching off the the adhesive stuff covering it). The Safeway and Walgreens cards we used didn't have a PIN, just a card number.
