New Zealand travel tips, visitor information and Kiwi News.

KiwiNewZ NewsZine - October 1999

Fellow friends of New Zealand.
This issue is dedicated to Finn, one of NZ's national icons and better known as The Dog in Murray Balls popular Footrot Flats cartoon series. Idolised in papers, books, a feature movie ( A Dogs Tail ) and song ( Slice of Heaven ). Buried under a scarlett Manuka with the words from her master, " So long mate. We won't forget you".
>====================== Kiwi keyring winner
This months lucky winner of the feathery kiwi keyring was Clare Ramsey from the UK. Good on you Clare and sorry to all those others who entered but were not successful.
So what you ask is a feathery kiwi keyring? Well being kiwi type of people we searched high and low to get a nice little example of a take home kiwi. It fits nicely in the palm of your hand, feels pretty feathery and when you squeeze it makes a noise remarkably like the real thing! Attach one of our funky KiwiNewZ tags and you have a totally cool keyring that all your friends will be super impressed with.
More importantly how do you win one? If you have a friend or friends who are interested in New Zealand then you are half way there. To go in the monthly draw for a free Kiwi keyring just send us an e-mail with FRIENDS as the SUBJECT and two or more email address of people that you think may like to receive KiwiNewZ. Now thats easy!
>====================== Thanks to our ROCK sponsors
This issue is bought to you by The Riverton Rock Guesthouse, a restored historic hotel in the classic fishing village of Riverton on the Southern Scenic Route between Milford Sound and Dunedin. Riverton provides a perfect base from which to explore the Catlins, Stewart Island and Fiordland National Park. Many locals will tell you that Riverton is the oldest settlement in New Zealand and the Wallace Early Settlers Museum certainly lays testament to the areas rich history.
Rooms at The Riverton Rock range from The Scarlet Bath Room featuring a large Victorian bath to The Fireside Forest with a stately open fire. Relax in the warm lounge while the sun sets over the Aparima Estuary or cook up a crayfish or whitebait fritter in the modern kitchen. The whitebait season runs for two more months so you better be in quick!
The Riverton Rock - comfortable lodgings and warm southern hospitality for the modern traveller.
Click here for photos and info.
>====================== Pauline doesn't cut the mustard
We had heaps of feedback from our July KiwiNewZ article about Pauline Hanson and her redneck policies in "Ostraya". Well the elections have been and gone and Pauline's One Nation Party got only one seat after having dominated the headlines for most of the electioneering manoeuvers. What's more, it wasn't Pauline who got the seat!
Seems like she's not the pick of the Australian populous after all, even though her party polled 14.5% of the vote in Queensland. Click here to see our article about Pauline in our July issue.
>====================== Another New Zealand travel ezine!
Tourism Online is a homegrown ezine that provides practical tips on web marketing and web site design as well as online travel news and trends from New Zealand and overseas.
The aim of the newsletter is to build up the level of knowledge of Web marketing amongst tourism operators and help them to get more out of the Internet for marketing their business. Now we can agree with that philosophy! It focuses on ways to increase the number of ‘qualified’ visitors to web sites through effective marketing and promotion, using both online and traditional techniques.
Sue Dorrington is the enthusiastic editor of Tourism Online. She has been actively involved in travel and tourism in New Zealand for over 20 years both in the retail travel and inbound sectors. She has assisted several tourism companies with the content development and marketing of their Web sites, including the Jasons New Zealand Travel Channel.
To subscribe to Sue's informative ezine send an email to with SUBSCRIBE TOURISM in the SUBJECT.
>====================== AJ Hackett flys again in godszone
Not many people would know that AJ's bungy career actually started on a bridge over the upper reaches of the Waitemata harbour in .... Auckland. "Auckland" you all shout! "I thought it was the Eiffel tower! What about Queenstown?" Well sorry folks, that's the truth. But the good thing is, he's back!
This time AJ and the crew have jumped from Auckland's new "photo prop" the sky tower. Oohhh, and its big.
The rather dry comment from AJ? "It is certainly a lot harder to do legally". The Eiffel Tower jump was a lightning raid smuggling bulky gear past guards and video surveillance cameras and sleeping the night on the tower. A perfect jump even though they did sleep through the alarm! Soon after a daring and so nearly successful attempt was made to jump the Statue of Liberty in the Big Apple! Errrghh... shall we say that a couple of Kiwi's were escorted to the US border by some smooth suited men with sun glasses and a bulge on their hip!
The Sky Tower exercise has been somewhat different with everyone ducking for cover ( except AJ and the jump team ) and consultants co signing the signature of professionals on a report on the discussion about who should take responsibility! Got it? They say it cost $NZ250 000 just to get approval to do the jump! That's not including another $NZ100 000 for the two day hire of one sky tower floor. Yipppeee, lets spend some money! Hope it was a good party.
If you live in New Zealand you will have been saturated with the associated Global Plus TV campaign and you probably tuned in on Monday 5 October to watch the whole thing live on TV. If you live overseas chances are it made the news but failing that they do have a web site - www.thebigjump.co.nz - warning, I have heard that this site is really bad. Oh Well. And if you want to support the sponsors just head on over to www.globalplus.co.nz and get yourself a credit card - "its the fastest way to collect air points", apparently.
Oh, and how did the jump go? Fine. What else would you expect? AJ got a little hung up on the guide wires when he jumped a bit too far out stretching for that classic soul arch so it looked a bit jerky but apart from that, fine. Was it his best jump? Well my pick would have to be the Auckland Stock Exchange jump back in the late 80's when he did a hand touch on the roof of the building below. Now thats putting your life on the line!
>====================== Priceless Packages 65% Off
Air New Zealand has just this weekend come out with a "Priceless" package.
You can fly for 65% off the normal retail fare outside of peak time. Peak times are 6.30am - 9am and 4.30pm - 7pm, 7 days a week. The tickets must be purchased 21 days in advance, no refunds if cancelled, no change of dates but you can upgrade at a cost, subject to availability and it all starts on 9 November with no finishing date at this stage!
The best deal you used to be able to get was called a "super thrifty" which gave you 10% - 55% off depending on the sector but apparently there are a lot more seats available for the new Priceless fares.
You can be sure that the main domestic competition Ansett New Zealand will be coming out with something like this in the very near future, probably Monday! Yippee, lets see the price of travel go down!!
To hook in to one of these Priceless deals ( "You know your soaking in it" ) contact your closest travel agent, try the web site ( although I suspect there wont be anything about this package loaded up yet ) or in NZ FreePhone 0800 737 000.
An interesting travel planning technique has been put forward by one of our Australian readers Peter Berrett. He is flying in to Auckland then buying a one day, flights only Great Mystery Escape for NZ$175. Peter has also discovered that if you go direct to Air New Zealand or Ansett you can get it for NZ$153. Things are getting better all the time! His holiday is going to start wherever they mystery escape him too! Now that's playing the chance game. The airlines say that they will almost always take you to the other island ( i.e. if you start in the North Island chances are you will be taken to the South Island ) and in many cases where loadings allow you may well be able to nominate your destination .... but maybe that's taking all the fun out of it. You can play this game with a whole bunch of friends and see where you end up. Like a giant hide and go seek! Our pick. Head out to the airport with cash in hand and ask both airlines for the best deal they have!
>====================== International Travel Tips
Gosh those International specials come and go quick. I found a nice little tidbit in a recent Air Travel: Airline News Weekly about the Air New Zealand Great 'Down-Under Welcome Aboard'' fares on flights to Australia and New Zealand starting at US$898 round-trip from Los Angeles.
Good deal. Now the bad news. They have finished!!! Oh well, maybe its worth ringing anyway and trying to talk them in to it! Don't dally call free in the US on (800) 262-1234.
Now this KiwiNewZ traveller has always been pretty pleased to fly in planes with a Koru on their tail but it seems other people like it too with Air NZ consistently rated among the world's top five international airlines by the readers of both Conde Nast Traveller and Travel & Leisure magazines. Got to be that tender NZ Lamb on the menu wethinks. What's more Air New Zealand passengers now earn 100 percent mileage credits in the United MileagePlus frequent flier program. They also have a daily nonstop flight from Los Angeles to Auckland taking less than 11 hours.
Meanwhile our feathery friend Kiwi International Air, not to be confused with the late Kiwi Air, has come up with some interesting deals for those of you stateside! KIWI International Air Lines has introduced a "Home Run Sale" at fares which were hit out of the ballpark by Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa. Passengers can fly between most KIWI cities for $69. Now that's a bit of classic Kiwi marketing for you.
>====================== NZ's miniature dinosaur, Tuatara
Many of you would have read in last issue of KiwiNewZ about the tuatara Juliet and her 11 eggs ( surf on over to http://www.KiwiNewZ.com/html/july1998.htm if you missed this article ) Well sad news is that none of the eggs have survived. Lindsay Hazley and his team in Invercargill had all of the eggs under careful scrutiny in specially designed incubators but one by one they died for no apparent reason! The Invercargill tuatarium has 64 tuatara, 50 of which have been bred by Lindsay so his record is pretty good. In fact this is the only place in the world where tuatara are bred in captivity.
One interesting little theory just put forward by molecular genetics researchers at several NZ universities is that the tuatara may have 4 sexes! Not fair. It has been recognised for some time that the sex of a Tuatara can be determined by the incubation temperature. 22 degC for males, 18 degC for females. No wonder the tuatara is the only surviving member of an ancient line of creatures stretching back 225 million years to the Mesozoic era.
>================ Waitutu Forest joins National Parks
The newest addition to Fiordland National Park is the 46 000 hectares of native virgin forest called the Waitutu State Forest which lies just west of Te Wae Wae Bay in the bottom left hand corner of the south island. The tall podocarp and beech forest boasts the highest numbers of Kakas in the South Island and was called " probably the most important forest in the world " by renowned conservationist Dr David Bellamy.
This National Park status has paved the way for approval for the construction of the Hump Track which is to be NZ's 11th "Great Walkway". Coastal track cut in the early 1900's for giant sawmills at Port Craig, the Hump Ridge with a sub alpine climate, tarns and thors and the spectacular Percy Burn viaduct are all features of this 4 to 5 day circuit. Construction of track and huts is expected to cost about NZ$2.5 million and completion date is 1 November 1999.
If you are keen to check out this remote area Kiwi Wilderness Walks operate a 4 day guided walk starting and finishing in Riverton. Along the coastal track, over the viaducts to the Wairaurahiri River. This is sometimes called the longest waterfall in NZ because it is so steep! Travel by jet boat up the river to Lake Hauroko and then transfer back to Riverton. If you would like more information about this trip then check out the Kiwi Wilderness Walks website.
>================ PeakCam
PeakCam proved to be overwhelmingly popular this winter with the number of new visitors "peaking" at 600 a day! Not bad for a simple system held together with a piece of number 8 wire! Seems all the keen snow bunnies love the chance to check out a live video picture of the snow and weather conditions at Coronet Peak.
Summer is rapidly approaching and the snow equally rapidly receding but PeakCam will be staying on line with a few different vistas of the Wakatipu Basin using our mobile webcam so come on over and watch a classic sunny Central Otago summer roll through our neck of the woods. We have some huge ideas for next winter which will bring the mountains in to your office and living room. Watch this space! Check out PeakCam
>================ That's all folks
Thanks for joining us see ya next month. Remember we welcome any feedback, suggestions, requests, comments etc. We do try and answer every one personally. Click here to Email us.
This newszine is assembled from our own observations and reports from others and while every effort is made to get it right we can not attest to the accuracy or otherwise. Happy tripping.
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