New Zealand Travel Guide: Things I Wish I'D Known Before Going To New Zealand (2020 Edition)

By George Anderson and Sophie Brown

Want to experience New Zealand at its fullest potential without spending tons of your precious time on a monstrous 700 pages travel guide? Then, “Things I Wish I'D Known Before Going To New Zealand” is all you need!

In this book, George Anderson and Sophie Brown will share with you:
The ultimate New Zealand itineraries that are improvised for more than 30+ times
All the essential info like hours of operation, transit tips, prices etc
Detailed maps of New Zealand
The most updated super cheap budgeting tips
New Zealand’s Best Kept Secrets
Best hostels, hotels, airbnb, and bed & breakfast recommendations
All the best of the best local cuisines
Much, much more!

About George Anderson and Sophie Brown
Before serving as a tour guide, they were full-time professors working in Auckland University of Technology. After having their first child in 1986, they have decided to pursue their long-hidden dream of exploring the world. Inspired by their life-changing adventure throughout the world, they have decided to serve as a tour guide. This happy couple has been serving as a New Zealand local tour guide for more than 30 years now. In their effort to show the world what New Zealand truly is, they have decided to write a book about it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: George Anderson
• Release date: Nov 27, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463001295

George Anderson

About George Anderson and Sophie Brown: Before serving as a tour guide, they were full-time professors working in Auckland University of Technology. After having their first child in 1986, they have decided to pursue their long-hidden dream of exploring the world. Inspired by their life-changing adventure throughout the world, they have decided to serve as a tour guide. This happy couple has been serving as a New Zealand local tour guide for more than 30 years now. In their effort to show the world what New Zealand truly is, they have decided to write a book about it.

Book preview

Introduction

What comes to mind when you think of New Zealand? For most people, the first thing they think about is kiwis (both the fruit and the bird), Maori culture, The All Blacks rugby team and the millions of sheep that exceed the population of humans in the country (a ratio of 6:1-95% of the country’s population are animals,) but the truth is, there is more to New Zealand than these.

For a country with two national anthems, a third of the country being a protected national park, no single snake throughout the country and being voted multiple times as the best travel destination in the world by TripAdvisor, Lonely Planet and Wanderlust magazine, you can be sure that New Zealand has a lot of unique stuff to offer. And for a country roughly the size of UK (268,021) but only a fraction of UK’s population i.e. 4.7 million people, you can bet that it is a vast country with lots of untamed natural landscapes and beauty.

With that, it can be very easy to get overwhelmed by the many things to do and see. That’s why we created this travel guide to make your visit or stay in New Zealand, one you will make the most of without being overwhelmed.

You can think of this as your go to guide for everything to do with your visit to New Zealand.

We will not bore you with stuff to do with history and such, as you can probably find this information readily available online and from the different places, you visit. Instead, we will get straight to discussing as much as possible about New Zealand including:

All the essential info like hours of operation, transit tips, prices etc. to different attraction points

Pictures for every attraction and food

Super cheap budgeting tips

Best accommodation tips

Best local cuisines

Events and festivals in New Zealand according to places

And much more!

For each of the regions, you will find the following for easy reading:

Suggested Itinerary

Popular Attractions and Destinations

Best local cuisines and why is that so

Best accommodation, for hotel, Airbnb, hostel name and why is that so

Copyright 2019 by George Anderson and Sophie Brown - All rights reserved.

This document is geared towards providing exact and reliable information in regards to the topic and issue covered. The publication is sold with the idea that the publisher is not required to render accounting, officially permitted, or otherwise, qualified services. If advice is necessary, legal or professional, a practiced individual in the profession should be ordered.

- From a Declaration of Principles which was accepted and approved equally by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations.

In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.

The information provided herein is stated to be truthful and consistent, in that any liability, in terms of inattention or otherwise, by any usage or abuse of any policies, processes, or directions contained within is the solitary and utter responsibility of the recipient reader. Under no circumstances will any legal responsibility or blame be held against the publisher for any reparation, damages, or monetary loss due to the information herein, either directly or indirectly.

Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.

The information herein is offered for informational purposes solely, and is universal as so. The presentation of the information is without contract or any type of guarantee assurance.

The trademarks that are used are without any consent, and the publication of the trademark is without permission or backing by the trademark owner. All trademarks and brands within this book are for clarifying purposes only and are the owned by the owners themselves, not affiliated with this document.

Auckland

Popular Attractions and Destinations

This part of the book will focus on exciting and popular places to visit in Auckland. You will require 7-8 days to properly take in the sights and exhaust the destinations covered here. Let us get started:

Day 1

Explore Auckland Zoo

Whatever you do, you have to visit Auckland Zoo. There is no way your tour will be complete without taking in the hundreds of animals in there, some of them extremely rare.

Auckland Zoo is home to multiple national as well as international species. You will find everything here from New Zealand Fur Seals, North Island Brown Kiwis, Otago Skinks and New Zealand Long-fin Eels, to giraffes, lions, Tasmanian devils, Greater flamingoes, Galapagos turtles, emus and even American alligators. This place has it all!

Opening Hours

Summer (From September 1 to April 30): Monday to Sunday; 9:30 am to 5:40pm (The last admission is at 4:15pm)

Winter (From May 2 to August 31): Monday to Sunday; 9:30am to 5pm (The last admission is at 4:15pm)

Getting There:

By Car: There is free onsite parking as well as accessible car parking

By Bus: You will alight at Stop 8124, which is located close by the zoo

Admission:

Child (Anyone under 4yrs): FREE

Child (4yrs to 15yrs): NZ$12

Adult (15yrs and above): NZ$28

Day 2

Visit Auckland Museum

Auckland Museum is one of the most intriguing places not just in NZ, but in the entire world. The exhibitions are a thing of beauty too, it has to be said. Past exhibitions in the museum have included Air New Zealand 75 Years, TakuTāmaki - Auckland Stories and Auckland 1886.

The museum is also host to multiple concerts throughout the year as well as programs and lectures. If you have an artistic edge to you and are interested in these, just use the hyperlink above to visit their site and see what they have for you.

Entry into Auckland Museum is inclusive of access to the travelling exhibits taking place there, unless otherwise stated.

Opening Hours:

Museum: Daily; 10am- 5pm (Christmas Day is excluded here)

Library: Monday to Saturday; 10am-5pm

Store: Daily; 10am-5pm (Christmas Day excluded)

Cafe: Daily; 9:30am-5pm (Christmas Day excluded)

Getting There:

By the LINK Bus

You will be best served by the Outer LINK bus to get around the inner suburbs-

The buses are colored bright amber and start from Wellesley Street, past the Universities, through Parnell then Auckland Museum followed by Newmarket then Epsom along with Balmoral, St. Lukes, then Mt. Albert then to MOTAT, where you go through Westmere then Herne Bay and then to where you started i.e. Wellesley Street.

The Explorer bus

With the Explorer bus, you can go on a Hop on- Hop off sightseeing tour of Auckland where you will visit Aukland’s 14 biggest attractions. You make a stop outside the Museum entrance. There will be a bus leaving every 30 minutes from the Ferry Building (one per hour during winter).

Via the Grafton Train Station

If traveling by train, the Museum will be about a 15-minutes walk if you are coming from the Newmarket Station (Southern/Western lines) and about 10-minutes walk if you are coming from the Grafton Station (Western line).

The Museum Car Park ($0-$27)

Museum car park

The Museum offers secure paid parking starting from 6.30am to 6.30pm, with the first 30 minutes being free. The car park usually accepts EFTPOS, cash (up to NZ$20 notes), Visa and MasterCard.

The Aukland Domain offers free parking, which is subject to availability.

Museum Entry

NZ Residents: Donation invited

Child (Below 5yrs): FREE

Children (6 to 14yrs): $10

Adults: $25

Family (2A + up to 4C): $60

Day 3

Relax in Auckland Domain

This is spread over 75 hectares of land in the Auckland CBD. It is Auckland’s oldest park, and it is especially ideal if you just arrived and would like to ease into the place. Some people call it the ‘perfect beginner stage for the NZ tourist.’ It is hard to argue with them.

There are multiple attractions here; the Winter Gardens, Formal Gardens, Band Rotunda and Duck Ponds are just a few of them. You can do anything you want here; you can stroll around and banter locals, which will be a fine experience seeing as locals LOVE to banter with tourists, or just sit back and soak in the culture.

Entry is free, and the place is open at all hours of the day. You could use this park as a pit-stop of sorts, in between your runs around the city.

Opening Hours:

All week long

24 hours a day

Getting there

By Bus (Use the Outer Link bus, as it will make a stop at the park)

By Foot (an easy 2.5km walk from downtown Auckland)

By Car (vehicle entrances include Stanley Street, George Street as well as Titoki Street)

By Train (The Grafton station is nearby so be sure to check it out)

Facilities:

Clean public toilets

Water fountain

Playing spaces and sports fields

Ample area for dog exercise

Day 4

Cycle along the Waterfront