icklepickle

Wehve booked out plane tickets for NZ in August. It is meant to be a holiday as well as a fact finding trip. It will be myself, my husband and our two girls (aged 3 and 5) going.

So far we have book flights, we have a stopover in Singapore on the way there and are thinking about staying in an apartment in Auckland for a few days and then hiring a camper van to do some touring.

So here are some questions

1) Has anyone used the Singapore stopover package offered by Singapore airlines or can anyone recommend a hotel in Singapore.

2) Can anyone recommed a hotel or apartment in Auckland.

3) Has anyone hired a campervan for touring and if so was it a good idea and are the campsites in places useful for looking at various towns and tourist attractions.

Any recommendations for routes, we will be looking at moving to Auckland or Wellington because we are in IT.

Regards

alilandeg

[Hi

When abouts in Aug are you going we tried to book to go on singapore airlines as we have frequent flyer programme with them but could not get any seats in Aug. We are now going with malaysian stopover in KL. We leave 23 aug from heathrow. Best of luck with your fact finding.

icklepickle

We are going on 16th August and reserved the seats on Sunday. I spoke to Singapore airlines on Sunday and they had seats for that date then although for more than travelbag. I was suprised because it is the first day of the cheaper prices and it is a Saturday so i had expected it to be booked up given the free child offer.

Enjoy your trip as well.

I have just spotted an important difference, we are flying from Manchester whereas you are flying from Heathrow.

Regards,

Pastor Flaps

Jan

We will watch this thread with interest because we are looking at doing exactly the same as you and going out in Aug on a fact finding trip.

We have two children aged 20 months and 5 1/2. I also work in IT, in the e-commerce area for online shopping.

We have been to Singapore and stayed in the Concorde Hotel. I can highly recommend it for great views and very central.
Make sure you dont miss Clarkes Quay. ( I think thats the name) the food is amazing.

Paul

icklepickle

Hello Paul,

I write plugins for Actinic Catalog for a living (which is the leading ecommerce package in the UK for those that haven't heard of it). So we are in similar businesses as well.

Thanks for the hotel recommendation - as it happens it is on the list for the cheapest hotels on the Singapore stopover - so we may well end up staying there (cost will be £36 a night for a couple of (£63 for our family of 4) including airports transport and loads of free attraction tickets.

Regards,

Pastor Flaps

I've never heard of what you do.
I manage the product side for Sainsbury on the home shopping website. I use Blue Martini for the product segmenation and merchandising.
I am writing to retailers in NZ selling my commercial skills, aswell as a strong background in Supply Chain, Retail, Marketing and Trading. Here's hoping someone will want those skills.

You will love the concorde. Take the kids to the top of the hotel which is hollow in the middle so you can look down.

PF

icklepickle

Sorry pastor, I correct myself, I work with people at the lower level of the ecommerce tree and you are at the top.

I recall your thread now asking for contact details for one or two of the retail chains.

Regards

travelling_kiwi

2) Can anyone recommed a hotel or apartment in Auckland.

http://www.eworldhotels.net/newzeala...oakshotel.html
here is an example hotel, decent rates, 20 min walk to either harbour area or newmarket shops, easy access to motorway.

3) Has anyone hired a campervan for touring and if so was it a good idea and are the campsites in places useful for looking at various towns and tourist attractions.

i haven't used a campervan, you should definitely to talk to someone who has but i'd say bear in mind campers can be expensive and obvious crime target, then again you avoid cost & hassle of booking hotels, & convenience of parking/camping where you like.
yes most campsites are camper-friendly & are often either in town eg wanaka, christchurch(brighton) etc. or on town outskirts.


Any recommendations for routes, we will be looking at moving to Auckland or Wellington because we are in IT.

route-when driving south avoid the dangerously fatal road to hamilton by taking highway 2 to coromandel (after pukekoe) about 45 mins south of auckland and check out hahei beach on coromandel, there is a campground at near beach. http://www.vnz.co.nz/photos/coast/020h.shtml

Don

My rec would be: don't worry. You can positively count on finding motel rooms available anywhere you wish, not just low season now but SARS too. Take it easy, play it by ear, take each day as it comes, don't worry about pre-organising the whole trip.

Cheers - Don

icklepickle

Don - pleasanceFamily

> don't worry about preorganising the whole trip
Darn, that is what I have been looking forward to.

Thanks don, I am so excited by the prospect of the trip but am determined to make it a great holiday as well as a chance to look at places to live etc

travelling_kiwi

Thank you very much for that info - it will be very useful, camper vans are pricing up at about £40 a night for a posh one which seems fairly reasonable to me. We will definately visit your beach - although I expect that we will be the only ones there given that it is winter time.

I have found a two bedroomed apartment in the harbour area that is approx £40 a night, the block has a gym and swimming pool so it sounds really nice. It seems a bit to cheap to me and I have been wondering whether it might be a scam. What do you think?

General :

What is the public transport like, if we stay in central Auckland will we be able to look at the suburbs or do we really need a car to do that?

Regards

Don

That's fair - if you like doing it that way, do it!

We went to NZ for 3 weeks in March and didn't pre-book anything (except rental car). Was NEVER a problem finding accomodation at reasonable rates.

Cheers - Don

icklepickle

Don,

Just out of interest, what did you do on your trip (and if you don't mind, what did you end up paying per night - ish for accomodation).

Regards,

Don

Averaged about NZD100/120 or so a night for 4, price didn't always reflect quality, ie sometimes the cheaper motels were better quality, though AKL was definitely very expensive/ poor value. We went around Northland and the top half of North Island, luckily we were bound by 2 young kids so couldn't travel too much, will check out the rest later. Loved loads of it that we saw.

Cheers - Don

Scarlett G

Good, reasonable hotel in central Auckland is the New President Hotel, it was good for families as there was a fridge etc in the roomCampers can be expensive but as Don said there is an abundance of motels available and very easy to find.
Buses are ok in Auckland but a car is easier with kids...good luck!!

travelling_kiwi

"[QUOTE]Originally posted by icklepickle Thank you very much for that info - it will be very useful, camper vans are pricing up at about £40 a night for a posh one which seems fairly reasonable to me. We will definately visit your beach - although I expect that we will be the only ones there given that it is winter time."
of course-you're going in rainy season-don't forget your raincoats & umbrellas. in that case, on the coromandel, actually 10mins drive from hahei beach is hotwater beach, take a spade & dig a hole in beach for a geothermally heated soak.

"I have found a two bedroomed apartment in the harbour area that is approx £40 a night, the block has a gym and swimming pool so it sounds really nice. It seems a bit to cheap to me and I have been wondering whether it might be a scam. What do you think?"
as long as the fine print doesn't bind you long-term it sounds fine. converting to pound will confuse the true local value of such purchases. NZ$120-130 p/night sounds about right to me, except that it's an apt which seems odd they'd rent it on a daily basis.


"What is the public transport like, if we stay in central Auckland will we be able to look at the suburbs or do we really need a car to do that?"
buses go everywhere usually the main roads but if you want to get into quiet suburban sts, car may be better-just imagine doing it in manchester, probably similar scenario.
then if you're keen you could always buy a car & when you leave either store it with someone you know or sell it thru one of the auctions, the loss may be much less than cost a rental.