cashmeremist

Hi all...

Wow...that's quite a list! I wish I had the time to do what you're doing. Unfortunately I only had barely a month in NZ at that point of time. But I've been to a couple of places in Asia, too.

RTW tickets, I heard that they're very cost-effective. Though I'm not particularly sure how they work...I reckon the timing's pretty flexible?

Well, if you have MSN, you may add me: swilarok13@hotmail.com. We can talk more!

Hi Franzi

I was in New Zealand....AMAZING country! :)

Well, I would say that I didn't exactly put in too much time feeling nervous at the thought of travelling solo before leaving. I was more excited than anything else! And I guess that it kinda helped that I was too busy with work till the hour before I checked in at the airport to even think about the trip, apart from making the bookings and confirmations.

For me personally, I just felt the need to assure my folks (they're more nervous that I was!). So I made the effort to find out the embassies and stuff (geek, I know ;p).

At this point, I reckon that things will just fall through naturally when you're there...so there's not much necessity for you to plan too much. But of course it helps that you roughly have an idea on what to do so that you don't spend too much time planning when you hit the road :)

Have you been solo travelling, too?? Where to?

Why not go on a bus pass?

I was with Kiwi Experience last year in NZ (I heard they have Ozzie Experience, too). The buses basically take you from point to point...and you'll be free to choose to stay at the location for as much time as you want (passes are valid for a year though). One thing I love about this is that it's not exactly like an organized tour...but there's always the option for you to join one of the tours available if you feel like it. Otherwise, you can always choose to take some time out to roam around the pit stops. Like when in Rotorua, me and this Canadian chick just went around getting lost in the township just before dinner. That was hillarious!

There're also other companies operating like Magic Travellers and Naked Bus. But I'm not too familiar with their routes....so you might want to google them.

Having said this, I'm planning on returning to NZ someday and go campervan-ing throughout the whole trip since I now know which places are worth going to ...
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