itsme

What's wrong with using ATMs to pull out cash and avoid the usurious 3%currency exchange fee with CCs? It has worked well for me elsewhere, won't it work well in NZ too?

teezer125

hi,

I am a student in Singapore.

I intend to travel to NZ (Palmerston North) from Dec 23rd to 5th Jan.

I hope to see more of north island than just palmerston north, and I hope to extend my stay in NZ, example, I depart SIN on 17th Dec, visit places in NZ then make my way to palmerston north on the 23rd and then depart NZ on 5th jan, and be in school on the 8th Jan

1. what would u advise I can do in NZ before I make my way to palmerston north.

My preference is for some adventure or wildlife or fun stuff, not into vineyards too much, and also coming from the tropics I would love to see some snow.

2. but if I decide to just travel straight to palmerston north from singapore, what is the cheapest way you can advise. I dont mind taking connecting flights, transits or budget flights - in fact that would be more interesting.

I checked and there is no more direct AirNZ flights from SIN to Palmerston.

I want to make it a fun trip where i get to see as much as possible within my budget

thx!!

Kiwi Flyer

Its good you are thinking about travel plans now rather than leaving until the last minute, since this is peak domestic travel period so accommodation & transport sells out in popular areas.

Leaving SIN on 17th means arriving at AKL or CHC mid/late morning on 18th (unless taking SQ281 to AKL which arrives around midnight and thus forced overnight in Auckland).

There are plenty of places for adventure stuff - Taupo & Rotorua would be good places to start in the North Island, or Queenstown in the South Island. Snow is trickier since it is middle of summer. Some (most?) years the central north island ski fields open for a limited period at Christmas - but the snow wont be good quality. There is a reasonable chance again this year since this winter was snowy. The Southern Alps will still have snow on the higher parts, but to get to them you'd need to tramp, mountain climb or helicopter up.

Palmerston North is reasonably well connected by Air NZ (only) with Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch (plus a small number of other flights). Otherwise your stuck with driving there (a couple of hours from Wellington) or taking the bus (all Auckland-Wellington buses stop here).

teezer125

hi,

I have sent an email to ruapehu, hopefully i can see some snow. Lets see what they say.

what about glaciers, are they still around in north island? will there be some snow there? - coming from the tropics, it will be awesome to freeze a bit. hahah cheap thrill.

And what about bungy jumping, where can i try that in North Island.

I have confirmed on QA from SIN-SYD-WELLINGTON and then from there, I have to take a domestic flight to either Napier or Palmerston North - (have to check which is nearest to my fren's place). they are staying in Central Hawkes Bay.

coming back I am taking the AKL-BNE-SIN route.

I know its a round about way, but it will be fun and the price is the same if its less transit. I might as well catch a glimpse of BNE too. hahaha

all i have to do is pay up and the seat is confirmed. the agent is holding the seat for me.

so now if I can get the snow stuff and bungy jumping confirmed, I can get back to slogging in school till Dec.

thanks a lot ^

Kiwi Flyer

The glaciers are in the south island (which has the higher mountains) apart from a very small one at the very top of ruapehu. Most accessible ones are Franz Josef and Fox Glacier on the west coast (very dramatic flowing through rain forest valley), and Tasman Glacier on the east side of the Southern Alps near Aoraki/Mount Cook.

Lots of places have bunjy jumping. Eg in the North Island (incomplete list) Auckland harbour bridge (also sky tower jump which isnt bunjy but similar), rocket bunjy (much tamer), Taupo, Rotorua, Wellington rocket bunjy, Mangaweka (probably closest one to Palmerston North).

teezer125

hi Kiwi Flyer,

I have a booking on a QA flight to AKL, ETA 1225.

and from AKL to BNE, ETD is 1430 on the 5th jan for my side trip to BNE.

I m gonna buy the domestic tix to napier via the net at airnz.co.nz

there is the cheaper option,
ETD 110pm to Napier
(that means I have abt say 40 mins max to make it to the domestic flight)

question:
1) Will it be too much rush to take this domestic flight. the next one is at 3pm. and thats a higher price?

2) if i do take a chance and for some reason my flight into AKL is delayed and I cant make the 110pm flight, will AIRNZ put me on a later flight, even if i have bought the cheaper 110pm flight tix.

waddya think.

thks

Kiwi Flyer

What is the first flight? Domestic or international, which airline?

Flying Air NZ dom->dom at AKL 40 minutes is fine although if you have separate tickets you do have a risk of misconnecting (NZ may put you on a later flight but they aren't obliged to and you could find yourself needing to buy an expensive last minute fare).

Flying QF dom->NZ dom at AKL, 40 minutes is cutting it too close in my opinion (and also less chance the airline will be sympathetic of misconnect). While QF and NZ domestic terminals are right next to each other there is still the wait for bags (if you have any checked), a few minutes walk to the other terminal (this may be slightly less next year once the domestic terminal redevelopment first stage opens which connects the 2 terminals), and you have to complete check in on NZ by 30 minutes prior to departure. Doable but wouldn't take much delay (or queues) to miss.

If international->NZ domestic, then no chance at all of making the flight unless your international flight arrives early. Furthermore this is definitely an illegal connection.

teezer125

Hi Kiwi Flyer,

this is my flight schedule:

20th DEC;
QANTAS AIRWAYS, QF 0006
SIN-SYD

QANTAS AIRWAYS, QF 0163
SYD-AKL
ETA at AKL @ 1225pm

(I need to get a domestic flight on 20th Dec from AKL to Napier and then on 3rd Jan from Napier back to AKL to catch my flight to BNE)

right now, the options open to me are

Cheaper option:
AKL-Napier ETD 1310

the alternative:
AKL-Napier ETD 1640



Jan 3;
QANTAS AIRWAYS, QF 0126
AKL-BNE

ETD from AKL @ 1955


so for the 3rd Jan flight to BNE, I want to buy the below flight from Napier:

Napier-AKL
ETD 1625 and ETA at AKL is 1725.

Jan6;
QANTAS AIRWAYS, QF 0051
BNE-SIN



I am buying the int'l tickets (SIN-SYD-AKL-BNE-SIN) in Singapore,

but for the domestic AKL-Napier-AKL, I have to buy it online at www.airnz.co.nz.


so shld I take the alternative to be on the safe side?

and what do you mean by illegal connection?

pls advise and thks a lot for ur help
^

Kiwi Flyer

The 1310 flight is way too risky - a very high chance you wont make it since it can easily take that long just to get through immigration, customs and agriculture screening.

For going back you should be fine except in the unlikely event of flight cancellation or major delay (since there will be no other alternatives that you could take). Very low risk, but not zero.

Illegal connection refers to connection time is below the minimum connection time and thus you wont be able to ticket all on the same ticket. While strictly it refers to having all the flights on the same ticket, I think your chances of the airline helping you out on a misconnect on separate tickets goes down to near zero if your transfer time is less than this.

teezer125

yeah, I figured as much, and settled on a later ticket for AKL-Napier-AKL even if its a bit more expensive.

now I have a 4 hr gap between arriving at AKL and then the domestic flight to Napier.

thanks for your advice

billydusty

Hi guys,

I'm flying WEL-AKL-MEL (Air NZ flights NZ402/NZ5) in November and I was wondering it was possible to make the 1 hour connection between the auckland terminals. I don't have to worry about my check-in baggage because I'm checking in in Wellington but since I arrive at 7:30 am in Auckland on Wednesday I reckon the international terminal should be rather busy.
60 minutes to get off 737, run to international terminal, pay tax, clear customs and board plane.

Do you think I can pull this?

itsme

Sorry, I can't help, but welcome to FlyerTalk, billydusty!

Kiwi Flyer

Welcome to Flyer Talk billydusty

Its possible but risky. Assuming you have checked your bags through, and issued AKL-MEL boarding pass in Wellington, and flight arrives on time. Then you can walk to international terminal (takes about 10 minutes from your arrival gate), then queue to pay departure tax (or use the machines with credit card or NZ-issued debit card), then queue at immigration (can use NZ premium check in immigration to save time if flying business class or are *Gold), then queue at security. By the time done all that your onward flight will just about be closing the gate.

Is this all on the same ticket?

billydusty

Thanks for the welcome guys

Yeah the flights are on the same ticket. I assumed it wouldn't be a problem because Air NZ wouldn't book me on those flights if the connection was impossible, would they? (I bought my ticket from the Air NZ travel centre).

The lady said it would be okay, but I am just slightly worried because I will fly to KUL then LHR later that day. I guess it's going to be a mad dash for me at the airport.

"then queue to pay departure tax (or use the machines with credit card or NZ-issued debit card)"

Does this mean the machines accept EFTPOS cards?

Thanks again, cheers!

Kiwi Flyer

yes the machine accepts eftpos cards (either credit card with pin or NZ-issued debit card).