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INFORMATION, MAPS AND INTERNET SITES |
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New Zealand promotes itself heavily and enthusiastically abroad
through the New Zealand Tourism Board , where enquiries will trigger a
deluge of glossy brochures. Much of it comprises inspirational, if rose-tinted,
images of the country but is of limited practical use; specific requests
can prove far more fruitful.
Many of the information centres listed below, as well as some cafés,
bars and hostels, keep a supply of free newspapers and magazines
orientated towards backpackers and usually filled with promotional copy,
but informative nonetheless. Two of the best are the New Zealand
Backpackers News and TNT (which has stacks of information available on
their Web site at www.tntmag.com.au ).
New Zealand tourism board offices
The New Zealand Tourism Board head office can be contacted at PO Box 95,
Wellington, New Zealand (tel 04/917 5400, fax 915 3817, www.purenz.com
).
Australia 8/35 Pitt St, Sydney, NSW 2000 (tel 02/9247 5222, fax 9241
1136).
Canada Use USA offices; Canada Information Line tel 1800/888 5494.
Germany Rossmarkt 11, 60311 Frankfurt am Main (tel 069/971 2110, fax 971
2113); handles Western European and Nordic enquiries.
Japan World Trade Centre Building 12F, 2-4-1 Hamamatsu-cho, Minato-ku,
Tokyo 105-6112 (tel 03/5400 1311, fax 5400 1312).
South Africa Holiday House, 158-169 Hendrik Verwoerd Drive, Randburg
2125 (tel 011/289 8186, fax 289 8023).
United Kingdom New Zealand House, Haymarket, London, SW1Y 4TQ (tel
020/7930 1662, fax 7839 8929, premium rated information line tel
0906/364 0650); also handles enquiries from Ireland.
USA Suite 300, 501 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90401 (tel
310/395 7480 & 1800/388 5494, fax 395 5453); 780 3rd Ave, Suite 1904,
New York, NY 10017-2024 (tel 212/832 8482, fax 832 7602).
Visitor centres
Once you arrive you'll soon be weighed down with leaflets advertising
just about everything in the country. Every town of any size will have
an official visitor centre , signified by the green Visitor Information
Network (VIN) logo. These are invariably well-stocked, staffed by
helpful and knowledgeable personnel and sometimes offer some form of
video or slide presentation on the area. Apart from dishing out local
maps and leaflets, they'll book you into accommodation, get you on trips
and activities, and book onward travel, all at no extra charge. In the
more popular tourist areas, you'll also come across all manner of places
presenting themselves as independent information centres , which always
follow a hidden agenda, typically promoting a number of allied adventure
companies. While these can be useful, it's worth remembering that their
advice won't be impartial.
Other useful resources are the Department of Conservation (DOC) offices
and field centres, usually sited close to wilderness areas and popular
tramping tracks, and often serving as the local visitor centre as well.
Again these are highly informative and well geared to trampers' needs,
with local weather forecasts, intentions forms and maps.
Finally, drivers who are already members of motoring associations at
home can generally make use of New Zealand's Automobile Association (AA),
which provides many useful services to drivers and supports a nationwide
network of offices , stocking excellent maps and providing information
on accommodation.
Maps
Specialist booksellers should have a reasonable stock of maps of New
Zealand . The best available is the two-sided 1:1,000,000 edition
produced by International Travel Maps , with all the important roads,
and an attractive and instructive colour scheme giving a good sense of
the country's terrain. The 1:2,000,000 maps produced by GeoCentre and
Bartholemew come a distant joint second. Road atlases are widely
available in New Zealand bookshops and service stations; the best are
those produced by the AA, all of which indicate the type of road surface
- though some roads marked as unsealed have since been tar-sealed. The
AA also provide their members with simple but effective strip maps of
major touring routes free of charge.
With a road atlas and our city plans you can't go far wrong on the roads,
but more detailed maps may be required for tramping . All the major
walks are covered by the Trackmap and Parkmap series, complete with
photos ($13.50 from DOC offices and bookshops in New Zealand), or go for
the larger scale Topo maps ($12.50), which cover the whole country.
New Zealand on the net
Perhaps because of its geographical isolation, New Zealand has embraced
the Internet with a vengeance, so a little time spent surfing is a good
way to familiarize yourself with the place, book transport and
accommodation, and gather travel tips. Throughout the guide we've listed
relevant Web sites ; listed here are some of the most useful general
sites. |
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