Travel

Planes, trains and automobiles...
and ferry and helicopters

Here are a few tips and comments on traveling in New Zealand. Whilst we were there we did 3400 km by car, 2 helicopter flights, 1 ferry ride and 2 train trips !!

Fuel - whenever you see a petrol station be sure to fill up. The country is not large, but you will do a lot of low gear work going up and down the hills. Twice on our travels we were down to the emergency fuel light coming on. On one occassion we pulled over to ask for advice on the nearest petrol station, which was about 30 Km away. The locals then said they would follow us the entire way and give us a lift if we ran out of petrol, fortunately we didn't, but it does go to show how friendly and really helpful New Zealanders are, thanks.

Hire cars / routes- we rented 2 cars when we were out there both, Rav4s, one in the north and one in the south island. There are some routes where you are not allowed to take hire cars as their insurance doesn't cover you. These roads are usually marked on roads maps and having been down one in a tour land rover I can understand why they don't want hire cars to use them. We did 3400 kilometres by car in the 3 weeks there and still didn't get to see everything we wanted to.

Shared bridges - ok these were seriously freaky when you first encounter them and that is something that a number of our friends have found too when they've gone to New Zealand. We found 3 such bridges on the south island and really wished we had taken a photo of them. They are single lane road bridges that are shared with trains!! Yes trains.
You drive down the tracks and hope nothing is coming since there are no warning lights or anything.

Ferry - there are two types of ferry that take passenegers across the Cook Straits. The Lynx (fast ferry) and the slower one (thought there is only about an hour) we were quite fortunate the day we travelled as it was relatively calm, the following day the ferries were ever cancelled or delayed for several hours due to bad weather.
This is where Rob discovered he didn't like ferries !!

Tranz Coastal/Tranz Alpine - these are train routes on the South Island (www.tranzscenic.co.nz). Both trains include an open scenic carriage to get a better (if colder) view from.

The Tranz Coastal is from the ferry in Picton to Christchurch. Whilst signtings of seals are common place en route it is a very long journey (about 5 1/2 hours), whales are occasionally seen, but you'd but you'd be a very lucky person to see them. Taking light snacks with you is a good idea. If you get the ferry from Wellington and are scheduled to continue your journey on the train you don't need to collect your baggage because it's all put onto the train for you.

The Tranz Alpine is great if you like mountains and the Lupins are stunning, even though they are a Noxious weed in New Zealand because they have spread wherever there are riverbeds. The route is from Christchurch to Greymouth and takes about 4 1/2 hours. It is not possible to drive the route that the train takes as the road winds a different way through the mountains.

We preferred the mountain journey but that is probably because we both like mountains.