Posted by Kathryn Pisco on Feb 28, 2013 in Countries, Featured, New Zealand | 5 comments
“No worries”… The phrase that Mike and I have noticed added to almost every sentence spoken by the Kiwis. We have found that this is not only a colloquialism but a way of life. From campsites where you pay on the honor system to friendly locals that take time out of their day to make travel recommendations, the South Island of New Zealand has been a fabulous way to start our 9 month journey around the world.
Mike and I bit the bullet and opted for the popular form of New Zealand travel and decided to rent a campervan for two weeks and drive around the South Island. When we planned this weeks ago in the states, I will admit that my thoughts and impressions were about as far away from ” no worries” as possible. ” Where would we park our van to sleep? What about showers and bathrooms? Is it safe? And how will Mike be able to learn and drive stick shift while behind the wheel of a large, left handed, manual transmission van on the ‘wrong’ side of the road?!” You can see I was just a tad bit hesitant to embark on this leg of the trip.
Read More
Posted by Mike Pisco on Feb 28, 2013 in Featured, New Zealand | 1 comment
We’re city people, but love the outdoors. So when it came to planning New Zealand, we immediately became enthralled with all the chatter about its natural beauty. There is plenty of debate as to how and where to spend your time when visiting New Zealand (this country truly deserves 3-4 weeks or more). Should you split it up evenly between both the North and South Island or just focus all of your time on one? After a little bit of research and a number of recommendations, we ultimately decided on renting a camper van to traverse the South Island for two weeks.
Although mostly all of our time would be spent on the South Island, the easiest way for us to get to New Zealand was via Auckland, the biggest city on the North Island (and the entire country). Due to our connection times from Auckland to Christchurch, we ended up spending two nights, with the day in between to explore. To be quite honest, our expectations were low, but we were happily surprised. Insight from friends and online research turned up poor reviews, but “The City of Sails” did not disappoint. We quickly learned why almost 1/3 (1.4 million people) of New Zealanders choose to live here.
Read More
