General
Information About New Zealand
The Country
New Zealand is a self-governing member of the British Commonwealth of Nations.
The government is, generally, modelled on the British system of parliamentary democracy with universal suffrage and a multi party House of Representatives. The party with the most members forms the government and its leader becomes the Prime Minister.
The Parliament is, unlike Britain, elected by a form of proportional representation known as Mixed Member Proportional where voters elect some members of parliament directly as their local representative, and some MPs are chosen from lists prepared by the various parties. The overall number of seats held by each party is directly proportional to the number of votes it receives.
You can get more info on the electoral system from the Electoral Commission site.
The last election, in 2005, resulted in two Parties, Labour and Progressive Coalition, forming a minority government. They are kept in power with the support of two other Parties, United Future and New Zealand First. These parties agree to support the Government on votes of confidence and supply - votes which, if lost, would cause the Government to fall. They are officially not part of the government, despite the fact that their leaders, Peter Dunne and Winston Peters respectively, are Ministers outside Cabinet. Translation: It's a dog's dinner of an arrangement.
Like Britain, NZ is a constitutional monarchy. The Head of State - Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the Second - is represented in the country by a resident Governor General.
Tourist Information
In all centres there is a local visitor information office, part of the Visitor Information Network. They provide excellent assistance and should be an automatic stop for all travellers.
Overseas, offices of the Tourism New Zealand can send you information.
Banking and Currency
Banks are open Monday to Friday (except public holidays) 9.30am to 4.30pm.
In some centres there are banks which open Saturdays. The Bank of New Zealand Airport Branch in Auckland is open seven days a week from first flight to last flight.
For currency exchange there are also a number of other options such as bureaux de change and currency exchange machines. Hotels will also change money, but like their counterparts anywhere in the world the rate is not sweet. All major credit cards are widely accepted. The unit of currency is the NZ dollar divided, like every other dollar, into 100 cents.
Water Supply
Tap (faucet) water is fresh and safe to drink anywhere in the country. Bottled water is available but a recent test showed that common ordinary tap water was as good or better quality than expensive bottled stuff. In fact there are several bottlers who do no more than bottle the local tap supply!!
Goods and Service Tax (GST).
There are only two certainties in life - death and taxes. Our version of the latter is GST, a value added tax that is levied on everything. Like I mean everything. Goods purchased at souvenir shops are free of GST if posted directly to your home. Duty Free goods are also free of GST. To be quite honest it's about all you do save on most stuff in the duty free shops with the exception of grog and fags. Sorry, liquor and tobacco products. Few other products have "duty" imposed on them - mostly clothes and footwear.
Electrical Appliances
Electric current is 230v at 50 hertz. This is Alternating Current (AC) and not suitable for Direct Current (DC) appliances or appliances operating on a different voltage, although most hotels and motels provide 110v AC sockets (rated at 20 watts) for electric razors only. Power sockets accept three-pin flat plugs, although many appliances only use the top two pins.
Telephone Services
Telephone calls can be made from call boxes which accept either cash or telephone cards. Cardphones are the more common. Cards can be purchased from many outlets, which display a "Cardphone cards sold here" signs. But beware of the roadside robbers, Credit Card phone boxes. There is a huge minimum charge applicable. Check out the costs very carefully before you use them. Instructions on using the telephone system can be found in the front of every phone book.
The other option, which is becoming very popular, is to hire a mobile phone for the time here. One of the major cell-phone provides, Vodafone, has counters at Auckland airport where you can hire a phone there and then.
If you have a sim-card type mobile you can buy a card here for about $NZ35. Get them from the Vodafone counter at the airport, or from any of the Dick Smith Electronics chain of stores.
Driving
In this country the left side is the right side and the right side is the wrong side. Right? And it's often the second day behind the wheel that is the most dangerous. By then you think you've got this left-side-of-the-road jazz sussed - and you switch your brain off. The next thing you'll be blithely tootling along oblivious to the oncoming lunatic on the "wrong" side of the road.
Indeed, even after weeks of being on the left of the dotted line you can still inadvertently wander back to your old ways.
One thing that helps is if the passenger or passengers also take responsibility for staying on the right side - the left side - of the road. The driver should have the white dots, and the passenger should have the green grass.
Highways
NZ highways are, for the most part, of a high standard. Most main roads are sealed and offer no difficulty to overseas motorists even though for long stretches they are two lanes wide, i.e. one in each direction. Many back country roads are, however, gravel surfaced and should be driven with caution. Go whooping around a gravel-surfaced corner and all those little loose pebbles turn into ball-bearings that will spin your car into the wall - or worse, over the edge - so fast you can't catch the slide in time.
Petrol (Gasoline)
There are two grades of petrol - super unleaded (which ranges in price from about 1.82c a litre) and 91 unleaded (which is about 5c cheaper).
The prices quoted are those in the main centres. It gets more expensive the further inland you get.
Some cars run on diesel which is somewhat cheaper at $1.25 - but you also have to pay Road user Charges, a tax of about $25 per 1000km for motor cars. Registration charges - the annual tax on vehicles - is also higher on diesel-powered vehicles.
Climate
The climate is described technically as "oceanic temperate". Which means that temperatures don't vary widely from summer to winter. But taken from north to south, Northland is sub-tropical in summer while the deep south is sub-antarctic in winter. Being a long narrow string of islands, the night/day summer/winter differences are not as fierce as in the middle of a continental landmass. Be ready for all kinds of weather at any time of year. The lush greenness you're coming to see doesn't grow without a continuous and liberal dosage of water. It rains all year round so always have a raincoat near at hand. In the evenings carry a jacket or sweater. I've always reckoned on summer starting on the longest day of the year (Dec 22) and ending about mid-March. Winter, conversely, starts on the shortest day, June 22.
What is the best time to visit? Any time, really. Even in winter - yeah, yeah there's a bit more rain but there are a lot fewer tourists and prices for accommodation and transport are a lot sharper. If you really want my advice - come here in late March and April. The weather is settled and warm and the crowds have thinned out. Not that there are really "crowds", even in high season.
Medical Services
Hospitals and the medical professionals are world class. Doctors must meet rigorous international standards before being allowed to practice. Hotels and motels have medical assistance on call. There are public medical clinics widely available. They will charge you $NZ45-60 for a standard consultation. If you have an accident you are automatically covered by a Government-decreed accident compensation scheme which will pay your medical expenses and compensate you for injuries. It also statute bars you from suing anyone who caused the injury. But be warned, the payouts are lousy. Worse, they are a criminal injustice forced upon us by an authoritarian state. Take heaps of personal injury insurance as a back-stop.
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All you need to know about a visit to the place where God set the contrast and colour and man hasn'nt fiddled with the dials.
What, hopefully, you'll get out of this mish-mash of peripatetic ramblings.
Background bumpf on the country.
Visas, customs, immigration, duty free shopping, and getting away from the airport. Bloody important if you don't want to be arrested on arrival.
Moving on . . . by road or rail, by air or by sea.
"nuff said.
What to see, what to do, and why to go there.
Diving, fishing, golf, rafting, sailing, skiing - and more.
All you need to know about a visit to the place where God set the contrast and colour and man hasn'nt fiddled with the dials.
What, hopefully, you'll get out of this mish-mash of peripatetic ramblings.
Background bumpf on the country.
Visas, customs, immigration, duty free shopping, and getting away from the airport. Bloody important if you don't want to be arrested on arrival.
Moving on . . . by road or rail, by air or by sea.
"nuff said.
What to see, what to do, and why to go there.
Diving, fishing, golf, rafting, sailing, skiing - and more.