New Zealand Travel Guide

What You Need To Know: The Bare Bones

Language: Maori and English
Currency: NZ Dollar
Politics: Constitutional Monarchy
Population: 3.3 million
Area: 268,676 km2

Getting Through Customs

Everyone needs a passport for entry into NZ. UK citizens do not need a visa; 6-month visitor permits are issued upon arrival. US citizens get the same kind of thing but only lasting for three months. These permits are renewable but you do need a passport that is current for three months after the time of your visit. You also need enough money -in any of its wonderful forms- to support yourself whilst you are there and an onward or return ticket.

Health & how to maintain it

NZ is a clean country with a modern healthcare system. No vaccinations are required. The water is safe to drink but normal precautions should be taken (boiling, filtering or treating) if drinking from streams and rivers. Take care in the sun and use sunscreen. Ensure you have full and comprehensive medical insurance.

Driving and Getting Around

Travel by car is the easiest and most flexible way of getting around. Air and bus travel are both OK but car is best. Car hire is relatively cheap though fuel is more costly. The road network is excellent and roads uncrowded. Drive on the left. The classic Antipodean mode of transport is the Camper Van (or RV), a great way to see the country and reasonably priced.

Keeping out of Trouble

New Zealand is a safe country to visit but observe common sense rules at night in built up areas. Car crime is on the rise so remember to lock up and put valuables out of sight. Do not get involved in the dealing or trafficking of drugs.

Insurance

Make sure that you have full and comprehensive insurance that covers any eventuality. You need cover for loss or theft of all money and documents, cover for theft or loss of luggage, full medical and accident insurance.

Cash and Plastic

Traveller's cheques are easily exchanged and credit cards readily accepted. Hole in the wall cash machines are widely available but check to make sure your card is supported in New Zealand, most of the big ones are.

The Best Time to Go?

The climate in NZ is comfortable most of the year round. In the south, it gets chillier during the winter and in the mountains it is always at least a few degrees lower than elsewhere.

Northern Hemisphere types tend to fly south for the winter (the Kiwis summer) but this is also the time when the locals take their holidays so it is busier. Going in the NZ winter is OK but the weather is damper and less reliable. The Ski resorts on South Island obviously get busy at this time but elsewhere it is quieter.

New Zealand (or Middle Earth as it is increasingly known) is a beautiful place. It is a little larger than the UK but with less than a tenth of the UK's population. This means there is a lot of open space and the people of these islands exploit this space to the fullest.

The outdoors is to New Zealanders what the skyscraper is to New Yorkers. The choice of landscape on offer is huge; in this comparatively small area, it is possible to see sandy beaches and craggy fjords, volcanoes, snow-capped peaks and temperate rainforest.

Polynesian islanders first arrived in the Land of the Long White Cloud in (very approximately speaking) 800AD. The Maori did not begin colonisation until the arrival of the 'Great Fleet' in 1350AD (ish). The Maori were an organised warrior race who soon disposed of or absorbed the previous settlers on the Islands.

Captain Cook arrived in 1769 but the first European settlements were temporary bases for sealers and whalers. They brought all the usual benefits of civilisation, disease, prostitution and the wherewithal to destroy each other.

The Maori population was already under pressure when the British Government, in an effort to stave off possible French colonisation, signed the Waitangi treaty. This was an attempt to co-opt the Maori onto the British side through means of a fair and honourable treaty. The treaty offered land rights in exchange for granting Britain sovereignty. This would have been fine had the incoming settlers stuck by its terms. They didn't and this led to years of struggle between settlers and the Maori culminating in the Maori wars and the decline thereafter of the Maori.

Although the Maori were better treated by the colonial powers than in many other parts of the globe they did suffer terrible iniquity. It was only in the 1970's and 80's that a revival of the Maori way of life saw an upturn. There was a renewed interest in Maori culture and language. Financial redress was made to the tribes who had suffered and New Zealand is now a fully integrated multi cultural society.

In recent years, there has been a wave of immigration into New Zealand from other parts of the Polynesian world, along with people from other parts of Asia; they make up just over ten percent of the populace.