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YOUR NEXT TRIP
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Awesome Aotearoa Opens Again
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After two very long years, New Zealand has just this week opened its borders to vaccinated tourists from 60 ‘visa waiver’ countries, including the UK. However, NZ isn’t the cheapest country at the best of times - Budget Your Trip estimates an average cost of £1,332 per couple for a week spent there - and as The Guardian reports, the nation’s cost-of-living has skyrocketed since the pandemic began, with inflation that’s nearly as high as ours here in the UK (pained chuckle). So. How do you plan an incredible trip to the Land of the Long White Cloud without breaking the bank? Let’s do a deep dive and help you plan your very next visit… Roy’s Peak, overlooking Lake Wanaka
Getting there for less To visit New Zealand without a visa, you’ll need to request an NZeTA - that’ll take about 72 hours to be processed, and it’ll set you back £24 per person (including the tourist levy) via the New Zealand government’s site. However, you can shave off a few quid by downloading and applying via the NZeTA app instead, which is cheaper - look at that! We’re saving money already. You’ll need to pay for a pre-flight PCR test, too: on arrival into New Zealand, you’ll also be handed a couple of antigen tests. One of them should be taken on Day 0 or 1, and the second on Day 5 or 6. (You shouldn’t have to pay for these, which is nice.) Flight costs, however, are likely to make all of that feel very much like small potatoes: your return plane ticket to Auckland could easily set you back £1,000+, depending on the season. Summer is December - February and the country gets particularly crowded just after Christmas, with prices usually rising accordingly. If you’re not planning for a beach break, you’d be strongly advised to consider a less costly visit in autumn or spring. Since you’ll be on the plane for a solid day anyway, you may also want to be brave and book that cheaper flight at an unreasonable hour - unless you’re a seriously good sleeper, you’re going to be frazzled by the time you land no matter what. Investigate stopovers which could bring the price down in halfway-house destinations like Singapore and Bangkok, and stay vigilant: a good price would be something like £600-800. In fact, if you’re one of our lucky Premium members, check your inbox: we’ve actually just found you a cheeky deal to New Zealand in high-season. ;) Staying for less If you’re aged 18-30 (lucky thing) you can once again apply for a working holiday visa in New Zealand, which should last you up to 23 months. This does quite handily take care of a lot of the costs for you, as you can then participate in one of the nation’s working-for-accommodation schemes. (The global WWOOF volunteering scheme - Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms - is incredibly popular in NZ, and offers plenty of chances to muck in around the country while getting bed and board for free.) If you’re over 30 or you just aren’t looking to spend your adventure time toiling away on a farm, you still have options. New Zealand has a number of popular house-sitting and pet-sitting schemes (Kiwi House-sitters sees about 150 sitter requests per week at present). Alternatively, there’s always the good old camper-van rental. As a word of warning, this isn’t always quite as cheap as you might think - camper-van prices fluctuate depending on the season, and we’ve seen winter costs for a mid-size vehicle hovering around the £30-60 per day mark and approaching £100-150 in the summer. (And then you need to factor in campsite and petrol costs, as well as insurance…) It should still be a decent saving, so long as you’re savvy about where you rent from: Two Soles Wandering offers some sensible advice to get you started. New Zealand also has over 500 ‘freedom camping’ sites where you can stay for free, although of course these won’t have basic amenities of their own. (Also make sure you read up on the rules and regulations of the local area - if you break the law, you could be fined up to $1000, which is a bit of a silly price to spend on a night without access to running water or a loo.) Lake Tekapo - renowned as a spot for stargazing
Jack’s tips: Haka Lodges operates well-regarded and award-winning hostels in Auckland, Queenstown, Paihia and Taupō, with a mix of private rooms, women’s-only spaces, and dorms. They also operate a tour service and a ‘Haka Passport’ which gives you 10% off on stays at all of their properties, as well as some extra discounts on local eateries - so it’s a smart option if you have an itinerary in mind and want to save some cash! Sight-seeing for less New Zealand is a country of natural wonders - and thankfully, these tend to come cheap. But even in uber-expensive Auckland, you have options. For instance… #1: See the cities on foot (or by bicycle) You’ll probably want to make use of a bus or car to really travel across New Zealand, but save a few extra quid by seeing the cities on foot as much as you can. There are a ton of hiking trails in Wellington and in Auckland (including walks up the city’s neighbouring 53 volcanoes, which will give you an incredible view for a good bit less than a ticket up the SkyTower) and cycle paths, including the groovy pink Nelson Street Cycleway. One sad victim of the pandemic is the free outdoor movie nights that are usually run by Auckland Council in parks across the city - but look for them to return in January-April 2023 for a fun evening out at no charge. Jack’s tips: In Auckland, museums tend to be free for local residents but charge for tourist entry. In Wellington, however, the awesome, interactive Te Papa national museum - one of TripAdvisor’s top 25 museums in the world - is free to everyone. The view of Auckland from Mount Eden
#2: You Shall (Bus) Pass The conventional wisdom - rightly - is that you want to see New Zealand by car or by camper-van. However, if you’re going to ditch the vehicle for a particular leg of the journey or between islands, you should also take a look at the InterCity bus network’s FlexiPass. You’ll pay per hour (between £3-5 per hour) for bus travel on a number of routes across the country, with a minimum spend - but more importantly, that pass also applies for the 3.5-hour Interislander ferry between North and South Island. You’d normally pay a £35 fare for that voyage, so the decision could save you a few extra quid in a pinch. Naked Bus offers $1 bus tickets, meanwhile - plus add-ons and booking fees - but do check their reviews as they’re very much a budget service. Jack’s tip: If you want to save your precioussss cash, here’s my advice: even if you’re a big Lord of the Rings fan, give the Hobbiton set a miss. It’s all very charming but you’ll pay £46 for one adult ticket and a two-hour tour. Head to one of the many all-wild filming locations instead - Sophie’s Suitcase has helpfully mapped out some of the most picturesque ones - and yell out your favourite quotes about hobbits and Gondor calling for aid without anyone around to hear you. Split Apple Rock, near Nelson - or ‘Drowning Pacman’, as we call it
#3: Consider carpooling! New Zealand is a popular choice when it comes to hitch-hiking, but of course the usual caveats around safety apply, especially if you’re travelling alone. (Pvtistes has some good tips around this.) The other cheap transport option, however, is carpooling. While some of the NZ government's own resources around the topic have vanished in the past few years, the message board CarpoolWorld is still very much active across New Zealand, and it’s a great way to travel more flexibly across the country while saving cash on petrol and toll roads. Jack’s tips: Nomadic Matt has travelled across NZ using buses, trains, hitch-hiking and more - here’s his weigh-up of the different options and what he preferred most. Other useful stuff for your adventure:
Got any tips on an ultra-cheap Aotearoa excursion? Let us know and we’ll share them in next week’s Detour! |
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IN OTHER NEWS...
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Our Pick of the Clicks |
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All the important (or silly, or strange) travel news from across the web this week.
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FAST-FLYING FACTS
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Book-Lover's Bliss |
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Over on the Jack’s Flight Club Travel Hub, our awesome colleague Marnae’s been taking a look at some of the most beautiful bookshops and libraries for travellers across the globe, from Colombia to California. You can read the entire article over on the JFC website, but here’s a sneak peek… Mafra Palace Library (Mafra, Portugal) Of all the unrealistic romantic expectations Disney has given me, being gifted a Beauty and the Beast-esque library has always been at the top of the list. Well, I’ve decided visiting this one might be close enough. About 45 minutes north of Lisbon, you’ll find this treasure trove of old-world charm (hellloooo Rococo!) and rare books, including the first encyclopedia. The palace also played an important role in Nobel Prize-winning author José Saramago's Baltasar and Blimunda. But the most interesting thing about the library is what you probably won’t see during your visit: the bats. During the day, they hide in the old bookshelves, where there are lots of perfectly dark crevices. Then they take over for the night shift, zooming around and keeping the books bug-free. No one knows exactly when or how the flying night crew arrived, but they’re happy to have them there. How do they keep the books free of…well, bat stuff? Honestly, I have no idea. |
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AND FINALLY...
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On our Facebook Travel Community group, one member is asking for recommendations on visiting Indonesia - any tips from our well-travelled readers? |
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Thanks for reading! |
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