Portal about Study and Tourism in New Zealand

   Español     Português    

PORTAL OCEANIA 

  Few years ago to travel inside New Zealand by plane, was rather expensive. Now the rates have dropped, and prices are much more accessible making it a great option. Although there is little advantage in travelling by plane, as the view from ground level landscapes are fantastic, but in certain parts, New Zealand view from the top is even better.

  One of the best things a plane can do for you is to save time. For those who are going to rent a car in NZ and travel the two islands for example, it will not only save you money but also a lot of travel time. Explaining: the road going back and forth is the same (except in the North Island where there are alternatives), so why spend days in the returning trip, if you could simply fly in a couple of hours? New Zealand is not a big country in width but the length is over 1,500 km. In a return trip, the tourist may have to drive more over than 3000 km from Auckland to Milford Sounds and back.

A flight from Auckland to Christchurch - going from North Island to South Island, is about 1 hour and 20 minutes and costs around NZ $ 100. You may get special low prices if you buy the ticket in advance- there are many promotional prices, look for online directly with Air New Zealand - they called Smart Saver fare. The closer the flight date, or during school holidays, end of the year, etc more expensive the ticket is. Going from Auckland to Wellington in the North island the tickets would cost something around NZ $ 90.

With such good prices to fly on offer, is much better, in our opinion (and mainly for those who have limited travel time) to fly directly to the location further south as possible (eg Queenstown), and then rent a car or tour in bus to get around the areas and slowly returning to the last location before leaving the country -  Auckland. We will describe here two situations: first to those who have very little time to travel, staying only in the North Island. In this case, fly from Auckland to Wellington, rent a car or get a tour in a bus back to Auckland visiting the places of interest. The same going only to the South Island or  both islands. It is best to fly to Christchurch or Queenstown and by car, bus or train, explore the cities and regions along the road.

A very interesting flight you can do in New Zealand if you are visiting the South Island, is the crossing of Cook Strait by air ( but leave one-way to cross by Ferry Boat because it is very good too). The flight takes only 20 minutes instead of over three hours with the Ferry. The fare is only slightly more expensive than the Ferry, with the advantage of having a beautiful aerial view of Wellington, Cook Strait and Queen Charlotte Sounds.

Another flight not to be missed is the Fox Glacier also in the South Island. You can choose to go to the Glacier by plane or helicopter, both equipped with skis for landing on the snow. Prices are about NZ $ 175 per person, but if you could, make the sacrifice and pay around the double and do the whole tour, visiting the two glaciers (Fox and Franz Joseph) plus you will get the impressive view of Mount Tasman and Mount Cook. Some of the differences between helicopter and airplane are as follows: the helicopter flies lower (well above) the Glacier, and when he gets there, sits about 10 minutes, but does not disconnect the motor. The plane will land and the engine will be off, and the silence is absolute, with only wind noise through the snow peaks around. These flights are not cheap, and of course, should be made only with good weather.

 

Luizón is afraid of flying and has no money, so he decided to travel by bike and found many obstacles on the road. We do not know if he fell going forward or backward from the side of the mountain in the photo, but we know he was all busted.