Frommer's New Zealand (Frommer's Complete)

Skip the big cities. Auckland is ok. But the pearls in this vacation are found when you travel by car. To the small cities. Across this geographic treasure. Here's better advice than Frommer can give: stay with the locals and learn the culture.

Kiwis love Americans. While staying on a ranch B&B, our hosts grilled fresh fish, created an incredible smorgasbord of fresh meats and served local brew. They invited their neighbors (about eight in a 10 mile radius) and asked my wife and I to "talk about the States." Price of the dinner for the two of us: $25 US.

At another small home, our hosts provided us with a five course meal, dessert and wine for about $20 each. While we ate our scrumptuous meal, we listened to our seasoned hosts as they recalled childhood stories of growing up "just over that hill." There was a large picture window overlooking their personal rose garden. About a mile away, a series of rolling green hills. Sheep grazing. The view was as pristine and peaceful as any I've seen in all my travels. When we were done with dinner, our hosts took us into their rose garden and proudly gave us a tour of their aromatic flowers.

Our hosts were 75 and 77 years old.

Frommer doesn't give much credit about the B&B's in NZ.

You'll need at least two weeks to enjoy the country. We stayed two weeks (one week on the north island and one week on the south island), then finished up with a flight to Australia to dive the Great Barrier Reef.

The south island is best. Aside from our bungee jumping (269 feet) near Queenstown, we took an exciting raft trip in Dunedin, saw the Yellow Eyed Penguins in Otago Peninsula, and were entertained by the flying Albatross at the Kaikoura Peninsula. Spectacular!

The New Zealand Bed & Breakfast Book by James Thomas offers more opportunities to enjoy this beautiful country. In the best possible accomodation - the New Zealand B&B.


Handy and useful guide   October 28, 2005
Eileen Galen (USA)
32 out of 35 found this review helpful

Frommer's guides don't get a lot of respect from a certain sector, it would seem. They do not invite you to be an edgy traveler, nor do they indulge the conceit shared by some US guide books that your trip must wholly original (never mind that many others will tread the same off-the-beaten path) in order to be fun and worthwhile.

This edition enables you to travel comfortably, adventurously, and happily - without spending a fortune. You will learn a lot and have a great time doing so.

It was a dependable resource for my husband and me as we drove (rental car), sailed (ferry) and flew (Dunedin to Wellington) for two weeks through the wonderful country of New Zealand. We wanted inexpensive ($65 a night, tops) motels that were clean, quiet, cheerful, and well-located, with an occasional splurge. We wanted to have fun but we did not want to surf, bungee-jump, hang-glide, or parasail, preferring cultural and historical sites, endless green meadows, the fine small towns, natural wonders (boiling mud, snow-capped mountains, steaming ponds and streams, glowworm caves and more) in addition to the exquisite and distinctive cities of this great country, and visits to friends.

New Zealand motels are great. They are mostly family-owned and their owners are on-site and try hard. Ours (all mentioned in this book) were consistently clean, comfortable, have mini-kitchens (microwave, electric kettle, small, quiet refrigerator, dishes and utensils and a work space plus coffee and tea) and you get your own little bottle of milk for your coffee or tea the next morning. Coffee is "plunger coffee," NZ for "French press." You make it with an electric kettle and ground coffee, included in the price.

The Pandora's box "mini-bar" has not completely infiltrated New Zealand. This was nice, too.

Several motels had unlimited hot water (in geothermal districts) and huge, fabulous, spotlessly clean two-person bathtubs as part of an inexpensive room.

We got terrific restaurant and other tips from the owners of these motels.

If you are in a hurry, Frommer's supplies you with especially useful "If you have only one day," "two days," etc. ideas. From these compact lists you can get a good idea of what is out there, and pick and choose as you wish. It's inevitable that you'll make your own discoveries along the way.

We tried more than a few of the restaurants, neighborhoods, motels, B and Bs, and historical and natural sights that this book recommended. No misses.

A curious tourist will find a lot that is helpful in this book. It was a handy and helpful resource, down-to-earth but not pedestrian, and I'd recommend it to any friend traveling to NZ.





Good insights from a native   February 17, 2007
M. Waring
12 out of 12 found this review helpful

I thought this book had good coverage of the major locations most Americans would visit in New Zealand. More importantly, the author is a native of NZ and as such, she seemed to have some good insights into the local viewpoint. I had no difficulty finding the information I needed about every location we wanted to visit and every major hotel or restaurant that interested us. This book is probably not well suited to those who want to backpack through NZ on the cheap. It's aimed at the middle-class traveler who wants to stay in an actual hotel and eat in restaurants.


Don't Depend On This Information Alone!   October 11, 2000
Debby Ramsey (DC)
10 out of 14 found this review helpful

This book touts itself as being the most comprehensive up-to-date with exact information and prices. Not so! It may have been published this year but we found many of the places reviewed had closed, moved or were renamed & under new management. Several other places of interest to travelers were totally ignored: for example, the coverage of the botanical gardens in Christchurch fails to give any information at all about the Carter Observatory located there. And don't think that all those "free" museums are really without cost! Several had suggested "donations" posted at their turnstile entrances that would take a lot more chutzpah than I possess to bypass without paying. Frommer's idea of moderately priced facilities would give most travelers a heart attack and the restaurants reviewed are hit or miss. For example the highly praised Saugero Mexican Restaurant in Queenstown puts broccoli and carrots in their chicken burritos which is only to be discovered after a shocking first bite; neither the menu nor the guidebook gives warning to these unusual ingrediants. Do yourself a favor and consult several guidebooks to give yourself more options and always trust the locals over anything your travel books may say.


Frommer's New Zealand   May 10, 2002
10 out of 11 found this review helpful

As a first time vistor to New Zealand, I found this book to be extremely helpful. It provided an informative overview of the country, and the various recommendations for accommodations and travel services were, for me, very reliable. I used it constantly both before and during the trip.