Enjoy a good night's rest in this nicely decorated 3-star hotel on a quiet location. Some hotel rooms offer a lovely view of the river Zaan.The hotel lies on a...
Postage & Packaging: refer to website Availability: Price is per double room per night and may vary depending on date booked...
Fletcher Hotel Huis te Eerbeek in the province of Gelderland is a 3-star hotel with a beautiful location near Apeldoorn, Zutphen and Arnhem. It is an...
Postage & Packaging: refer to website Availability: Price is per double room per night and may vary depending on date booked...
Advantages: Fun, educational, entertaining, hands on Disadvantages: Very big (can't see it all), can't take pictures of exhibits
...!
The building hosts a mixture of permanent and temporary exhibitions, various cafes and shops (including a shop ostensibly for children but which, to my delight, also contains a lot of Lord of the Rings merchandise) and two flight simulators. Late night opening is Thursday (until 9pm) - other days it is 9am- 6pm.
The name "Te Papa Tongarewa" is Maori and, according to our guide, a short translation of the name meant "container of treasures", but apparently, this is only a part of the full name, which was much more complicated and related to the Maori people's respect for the Earth Mother and for their homeland. As with the rest of NewZealand, the museum is bilingual in English and Maori. Many of the exhibits relate to the rich history of the country and of its people. The other main theme of the exhibits relate to NewZealand's extremely high level...
Advantages: Beautiful city Disadvantages: Not very Kiwi
...Christchurch is in the Canterbury region of NewZealand's South Island and is the largest city on this island. Like the North Island's Auckland, it is a key arrival point and hub for international travellers.
Christchurch is situated close to the East coast and to the West lie the immense flat sweeps of the Canterbury plains. These vast plains feel flat, even to me, a native of East Anglia. Their main use is farmland and they require regular wind blocks of tall fences of trees to stop the topsoil from blowing away.
Named by the after Oxford's Christ Church (a college that one of the Canterbury Association went to), it was a colony sponsored by the Church of England about 150 years ago. Even today, the city centre has an extremely British in feel to it and even has a river Avon upon which you can go punting!The centre itself has...
Advantages: Wonderful way to see New Zealand way of life, past and present Disadvantages: None
...before and since settlement.
The Maori influence is extremely accurate and reflects the part they have played in the countries history. You can move around in the Maori marae where culturally their way of life is well worth experiencing.
Artwork depicts NewZealanders lives in many forms at Te Papa and expect to be a little surprised at the creative corrugated iron pieces alongside more formal creations.
Motor bike enthusisast will love the iconic Britten motorbike of the late Christchurch inventor, and racer, John Britten who was and still is well loved inNewZealand.
Individuals flock to Te Papa, indeed whenever I've been there it is ``Crowded House'' but groups are welcome to take part in seminars, lectures and other events which you can pick up information about either from the museum or, I believe, on the internet.
Kids...
Advantages: Friendly, good luggage allowance, friendly staff Disadvantages: More expensive than many
...Air New Zealand are towards the upmarket end of the non-luxury airlines. Reliable and professional, they aren't by any means the cheapest, but the Economy class is comfortable, the service excellent and gets you where you need to go. Book well in advance for the cheapest fares - if you decide to go at the last minute like we did, it's pricy (around 1700 pounds if you book 2 weeks before you go).
When I went to New Zealandin April 2009, I flew economy class with Air NewZealand. Our route took us from Heathrow to Auckland via Hong Kong, with the return journey starting in Queenstown and a stopover in Los Angeles.
My first encounter with the staff was at the checkin desk in Heathrow. The staff there were polite and friendly. They had an additional member of staff in the queue verifying that we all knew about the new requirements...
Advantages: Great Scenery, lots to do Disadvantages: long bus rides to see the whole area
...New Zealand is the youngest country on earth, it was the last major landmass to be discovered. Its history has both Maori and European heritage. There are still amazing Maori historic sites to be found some dating back almost a thousand years.
When I visited New Zealandin July I decided to take an organised tour as I had limited time. I travelled with a group of other like minded travellers and we were transported around on a bus with two tour leaders who gave us loads of information along the way. They organised my accommodation and recommended tours to go on in each place we visited. Also most meals were included. The tour overall cost me
The Advantages on taking a Connections Tour
• It took hassle out of having to navigate and plan the trip.
• You travelled with like minded travellers.
• Were recommended...
DeniseKelly40
13.09.2007 (14.09.2007) ·Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of General: New Zealand
Advantages: Somewhere very diiferent, Maori culture, boiling mud and geysers Disadvantages: the smell was a little off putting, Maori evening was awful
...ROTORUA:
Rotorua is on the North island of New Zealand almost in the middle about three hours drive from Auckland and six from Wellington.
We stayed at the Sudima Hotel right beside Lake Rotorua and as we got off the bus the interesting sulphur smell of Rotorua greeted us. It is quite a strong rotten egg sort of smell that gets in to everywhere. I didn?t find it too revolting but othersin our group found it very over powering and complained constantly that it even pervaded the air-conditioning in the rooms.
The town is quite small enough to walk around the main sights, the lovely steaming lake and the park alongside it and all the way to Ohinemutu. On our first evening we went to the Tamika Maori evening ( see separate review on this one)
TE PUIA ? THE NEW ZEALAND MAORI ARTS AND CRAFTS INSTIRUTE:
The next day we were up...
catsholiday
03.10.2009 (05.10.2009) ·Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Rotorua, New Zealand
...a bright red, stunning.
The main highlight from Lake Taupo is the famous Tongariro Crossing, this is a full day hike that takes through all 4 seasons of weather conditions, it is very heavy going and not for the weak, hence why I did not participate. My friend did however and would not stop raving about it for days, so if hiking is your thing I would put this on your list of things to do.
Depending upon if you do the walk or not I would say 1 or 2 days would be a good amount of time here.
Wellington:
Wellington is my favorite city inNewZealand, it is not as crowded as the others and seemed more like a large town to me. I would advise a few days here to wonder around and get a feel for the place.
The main highlight here was actually the museum; it was so interesting full of information about New Zealand culture and history, it was...
Advantages: Kiwi welcomes you to Aoteoroa - Land of the Long White Cloud Disadvantages: Long way from anywhere, don't let this put you off
...and other more specialist lines like MDF building panels,to the world.
Colonial life was a huge challenge for both men and women and it's that sort of hardiness which has seen the nation evolve to enhance a culture of 'do-it-yourself' where a 'Kiwi' can do anything. Talk to people and they will boast of doing all sorts of repairs and maintenance with a piece of number eight wire! Well, not everyone runs around with number 8 wire to do creative things but it does show that NewZealanders give it a go when it needs a little inventive, creative approach! Just a little aside and of no real travel interest!
New Zealand welcomes visitors, while always being known as 'friendly' I feel there was a lack of the necessary levels of service in years gone by. But, tourism is a major income earner now so training is in place to ensure visitors are...
Writing321
31.01.2006 ·Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of General: New Zealand
Advantages: Beautiful scenery, friendly people, fantastic! Disadvantages: Long way away from anywhere, weather (sometimes!!)
...you are visiting for less than 3 months, as long as you can prove you are leaving within 3 months (i.e. flight ticket out of NewZealand) you are granted a 3 month visitor visa on arrival at the airport. If you wish to stay longer, you must apply for a longer stay visitor visa or a working holiday visa if you would like to work. You do not need any special vaccinations to enter the country, and customs is the same as any other country I've been so all in all a pretty simple process to get into the country.
At the moment, the exchange rate is about 2.7 NZ dollars to the British pound which is good news for British travellers! I stayed in Backpacker hostels costing $20 - $27 per night for a dorm room with shared facilities. From what I hear, the camp grounds inNew Zealand are some of the best in the world and hotels, while being a lot...
Allyalcock
10.05.2006 ·Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of General: New Zealand
...percent of its surface covered by glaciers where you may experience some of the 19 peaks over 3000 metres.
Such is its importance inNew Zealand and internationally that it has received recogniition as part of the Te Waipounamu - South Westland World Heritage Area because of its many amazing natural values. In summer seek out the Mount Cook buttercup, its bright, shiny face looks up at you from a rocky bed as do large, white mountain daisies which have been icons of the area for travellers and locals alike over many decades. If you are really lucky you may spy one of the countries rarest birds, the graceful black stilt or its Maori name, kaki. It goes without saying that I do not have personal experience of this little creature, sad to say I have never seen it in the `flesh'.
These peaks and icy caverns have attracted famous...
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