A visitors guide to New Zealand

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 Zealand in 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 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 sights you might have missed.

* You travelled in comfortable buses which were very clean

* Stayed in great accommodation and you didn’t have the hassle of booking and choosing yourself.

* Gave you budget activities to do during the day sometimes even free things for example the best walks to do in an area.

* They explained activities thoroughly to us and quite often had done them themselves. The leaders gave us honest and frank accounts.

Disadvantages of the Connections Tour

* Some of the other passengers were rowdy.

* It was geared towards people who wanted to do extreme activities for example skydiving, kayaking, bungy jumps etc. As I am not into these activities it was boring having to listen about them.

* The additional activities were quite expensive.

* As I am a fussy eater I didn’t like most of the meals they had made and had to go buy more food even though I had prepaid for the meals.

* There are long bus journeys however this is to be expected.

* There are very early starts in the morning!

* Had ‘introductions’ were you had to stand up in front of the bus and talk about yourself. As I’m shy I hated this. You didn’t have to but felt very awkward if you didn’t. Travellers who you are travelling with are constantly jumping on and off the bus and finishing at different stages. This meant more introductions. So you had to do it more than once.

* Had to pay extra to not be in share accommodation.

The North Island of New Zealand (115,000sq km) and this is where we arrived at. Our tour started in Auckland which is a cosmopolitan city. We met the bus outside Base Backpackers hostel where we were staying it is very central and clean. We were greeted