NZ Holidaymaker -- Issue #008 -- September 2006

Table of contents

1 New Zealand Cultural Portal
2 Te Papa most visited museum in Australasia
3 Have a love affair with Wellington
4 Interactive stamps
5 Tourism award for Dolphin Watch Ecotours
6 How to choose a rental camper van

New Zealand Cultural Portal

In our July issue we notified you about Eventfinder, a great website to find out about all sorts of events in New Zealand. Recently New Zealand's Ministry of Culture and Heritage has launched a similar website: www.nzlive.com. It's another great source to help you plan your holiday in New Zealand. It lists permanent as well as temporary events. For example, if you are visiting Hawkes' Bay, you might be interested in a guided walk around this art deco town. To find all the necessary details simply click on Recreation/Walks & Trails. We found the most easy way to access the information was by using the 'Browse Events' button at the left hand side of your screen. The events are categorized in ten sections: Live events, Exhibitions & screenings, Festivals, Sport, Recreation, Heritage, Conferences, Maori culture, Pacific cultures, and Asian cultures.

Te Papa most visited museum in Australasia

One of the must sees in New Zealand is the Te Papa museum in Wellington (though we have to admit we skipped it the first time we were visiting New Zealand!). This museum turns out to be Australiasia's most visited one. It was ranked number one for the fifth year in a row by the annual survey of the Council of Australasian Museum Directors. To see what's on in Te Papa during your stay, check out www.tepapa.govt.nz. The entry to the museum is free, though you might have to pay for certain exhibitions.

Have a love affair with Wellington

This catchy slogan is the title of a marketing campaign, launched in June 2005 already, to attract more visitors to Wellington during the weekends. The idea was to sell you a dream - the idea of coming to Wellington and falling in love with the city - and then tell you how to make that dream a reality. So while you're in Wellington to visit Te Papa, why not try to create your own love affair with this city with the help of the campaigns website? There's no shortage of suggestions about how to to do just that.

Do you like to take a look at New Zealand from on high? Visit http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/EarthObservatory/Christchurch_NZ.htm, where you can admire a photo snapped by the International Space Station on August 15th. It shows Christchurch and the Banks Peninsula to the south-east of the city. This photo was the 250,000th image of Earth taken by Nasa. Beautiful, isn't it? More stunning aerial pictures of New Zealand (though taken out of a plane instead of from a space station), can be found in a book by photographer Craig Potton: Above New Zealand. It contains 130 full colour photographs, with detailed captions and region by region essays.

Interactive stamps

If you're sending postcards home, add a special touch to them by using New Zealand's latest (interactive) 45-cent stamps. This stamp is part of the Gold Rush series, which commemorates New Zealand's gold rush years in the 19th century. Thousands of people went to New Zealand after gold was discovered in Otago, in 1861. The 45-cent stamp contains heat-sensitive thermographic ink - if you rub it, the heat from your finger will reveal gleaming nuggets in the pan of the prospector depicted in the stamps' photograph. The stamps are available from PostShops and the stamps website.

Tourism award for Dolphin Watch Ecotours

Dolphin Watch Ecotours in Picton has recently received an award for innovation in ecotourism by the Tourism Industry Association of New Zealand (TIA). The company combines ecotourism and scientific research in the Marlborough Sounds. The owners of Dolphin Watch Ecotours are an American couple, both marine biologists. They use the company to take people on wildlife tours and educate them about dolphins as well as gather scientific data on and photographs of the dolphins in the Marlborough Sounds. A great opportunity for tourists - how often do you get the chance to speak to the real experts? More info: www.naturetours.co.nz.

How to choose a rental camper van

People often ask us which camper van rental company we'd recommend. A difficult question, for two reasons. The first is that we've never actually rented a camper van ourselves in New Zealand (though we twice bought one), so we cannot tell you from experience. The other reason is we don't know you, so we don't know if you find rental rates more important than condition, size and looks of your campervan, for instance. But generally, we think this is the way to make a choice: First, browse our directory of camper van rental companies and make a provisional selection based on depot locations and rental rates. You could then narrow that first selection down by type of campervan offered by the rental company (not all companies offer 4-berth campervans, for example). If you feel very insecure about renting a camper van from a company you don't know, the next thing you could do, is check if they are endorsed by Qualmark. If you click on 'visitor transport', you'll find the location and status of a lot of campervan rental companies. If a company is endorsed by Qualmark, it means it has been assessed and can be trusted.

Happy travels,
Boukeline & Rob
www.new-zealand-camper-van-adventures.com