Hi travelling to new zealand in a weeks time was wondering if there are any places that offer free wifi e.g mcdonalds etc I will be travelling around the north island and I have heard that the internet connections are pretty poor there???

Haze's sister gets free wifi when she comes round to our house.

Lots of cafes offer free wifi, but on an individual cafe basis. One of the best things about NZ is that 'chains' are less dominant, so you'll just have to look at what services each town and cafe has as you travel.

If regular internet access is a 'must', you could buy a Vodafone NZ prepay card for your mobile. You can buy 100Mb of data for $10 - this should be enough for emailing and Facebook*. Tether your mobile phone to your laptop, or just browse directly from your phone. [you'll need an unlocked mobile phone by the way]

http://www.vodafone.co.nz/mobile-data/mobile-web.jsp

* On Vodafone prepay, Facebook access does not presently count towards your 100Mb data allowance, so you can go wild with the Facebooking! http://www.vodafone.co.nz/specials-promos/nonstop/

Many cafes do offer free wifi - but you can also buy a card from CafeNet which allows wifi access at many cafes.

There are very few 'free' wifi zones but the tow that spring to mind in Wellington are the airport, and believe it or not the airport bus (#91)

Hi Esquires coffee houses offer free wifi access. You will find one in most major towns just check out their website for details.