New Zealand - a few tips
I write about my trip to New Zealand here. I have devoted a separate post to the Māori and to the unexpected moments when I came into contact with Māori culture.
Below are a few tips. Accommodation is expensive. A night in a tent for 3 people (including one 9-year-old child): 150 PLN. A night in a backpacker motel, in a room with a bathroom: 300 PLN.
A great many travellers choose to hire a campervan. Campervans in New Zealand are small, based on Toyota vans. Bear in mind, though, that 90% of the time you will be paying for your night anyway, because you will end up at a campsite. Practically every lay-by, widened verge and viewpoint has a sign forbidding overnight stays in vehicles. Campervans are slow to drive and noisy.
At campsites it is not worth paying for the option with an electric hook-up.
The sockets use the Mennekes system, the kind used by campervans.
Shopping at Countdown and the ban on bringing in food
Prices in the shops are around 2-3 times higher than in Poland. A good solution is to buy roast chickens at supermarkets and eat them at designated picnic spots. We paid about 13 dollars for one at the Countdown supermarket chain.
At Countdown, too, fruit for children is free. They can help themselves, choosing whatever they like from special containers on display. Meanwhile, you do the shopping.
You may not bring in food bought outside New Zealand. On the plane they show films that would make even a seasoned “food smuggler” lose his nerve. A looped video shows how many zeros the fine will have for bringing anything in without permission. Interestingly, there can also be problems bringing in outdoor gear that is muddy. This applies to walking boots and tents. Our luggage was X-rayed and the tent we were carrying was visible. However, when we declared that it was brand new, we did not even have to show it. But we did have to say goodbye to an open packet of kabanos, the thin Polish dried sausages that were our son's snack for the journey.
Fuel, road rules and parking
Fuel (91-octane petrol) costs 1.95-2.10 dollars a litre.
All offices close very early. There is no chance of using a bank or even a tourist information office after 6 pm.
Driving in New Zealand is a real pleasure, although you do need to watch out for certain things. The speed limit outside towns is 100 km/h, and in towns half that. You must carry an International Driving Permit.
With few exceptions, all bridges and viaducts are single-lane (as in Iceland). New Zealanders have developed a knack for judging the situation precisely and often do not slow down before such a narrowing: they know they will get across before the oncoming car tries to cross in the opposite direction.
Overtaking Polish-style, wherever there is a chance, is not the done thing. People usually wait until an extra lane appears.
Look out for the Eco Shop. It is a huge supermarket of second-hand goods. In Poland, second-hand shops mainly sell clothes. The Eco Shop has very few clothes but a wide range of outdoor gear, electronics, household appliances, everything you might need for the kitchen and car accessories too. Somewhere along the way we lost a hubcap, and in Christchurch we bought a replacement for next to nothing.
There is a remarkably clever and ridiculously simple way of checking whether the free parking time has been exceeded. The parking attendant marks the spot where the tyre meets the ground with chalk. If on a check a few hours later (with, say, 3 hours of free parking) the lines match up exactly, there is no chance of wriggling out of paying.
