2 comments about Driving Scenic New Zealand: A Guide to Touring New Zealand by Road.

1. If you tour New Zealand, you will probably spend many hours in a car on rural 2-lane highways with lots of opportunities to stop and meander. Unlike most guidebooks, which focus on destinations, this book tells you what to look for while you're getting from one place to another. During a 4-week tour I found the author to be a consistently reliable guide and I saw and did a lot of great things that I would have missed otherwise. This book is also tastefully and intelligently designed and spiral bound for easy use. It was published in 2001, so I hope the publishers will eventually put out an updated version.



2. My wife and I recently made a two week motor-home road-trip across the North and South Islands of New Zealand. I'd picked up a copy of "Driving Scenic New Zealand", second edition, quite by chance at a small book-store in Auckland just prior to beginning our road trip. I didn't fully appreciate it until we were on the road.
   
   The book focuses on, in addition to popular destinations, road routes, and invaluable details such as rest stops, information centers, and other amenities along the way. The color maps and travel time estimates are extremely helpful. The author displays a good knowledge of some of the roads less traveled and a genuine love for the scenic beauty of New Zealand.
   
   New Zealand is a country best traveled by road and this book is absolutely essential for anyone who plans to do so. I highly recommend it.

1 comments about Independent Travellers New Zealand 2005: The Budget Travel Guide (Independent Travellers - Thomas Cook).

1. I have the big name guides like Lonely Planet, and they are very informative, but they seem to be pointing me toward where to find every other American tourist in the country. This book is different- It tells me how to get around- breaks it down into method of travel: car rental, rail, fairy, public transportation and backpacking (tramping). This book has schedules and routs for excursions which I have confirmed are current, and even includes walking route tours around towns. I find lots of information in each of the guide books I have picked. I am feeling well prepared for my trip and once I get back I can tell you for sure which guide was most helpful, but based on the information I have gotten from this book I am sure it will be something I rely on to live out my dream for this trip to New Zealand! If not your ONLY guide, it's a great compliment to any guide.

No comments about The Sky Travellers: Journeys in New Guinea 1938-1939 (Miegunyah Press).

1 comments about Bug 2005 New Zealand (The Backpackers Ultimate Guide).

1. The BUG guides are simple to read, a lot thinner, less bulky and heavy than their competitors who keep adding fine dining, five star hotels and other stuff we backpackers never use (which makes a lot of difference when you have to lug the thing around an entire continent, or even in this case just New Zealand) and much better value. They give a description and rating on each hostel (they claim they do not accept free nights or money but who knows), as well as maps of hostel locations and travel company information.
   
   You obviously won't agree with all their reviews of the accommodation but that's the backpacking scene. You can have a terrible experience at somewhere where someone else had one of the best stays of their life. Don't rely on this guide alone, ask other backpackers who have been to the destinations you are going where they stayed and what it was like. The more opinions you get the more likely you are to get a clearer picture.
   
   Definitely get this over Lonely Planet and Let's Go, at least until they clean up their acts.

No comments about From the Frontier: Outback letters to Baldwin Spencer.

1 comments about Walking Wellington: 23 Walks of Discovery in and Around Wellington (Walking (Struik)).

1. This book has been so valuable to me when planning outings in the greater Wellington region. I take it along with me on walks too.
   It is very well organised with clear information about what to expect on each walk, as well as interesting history and nature insights. Great maps too, which I find clearer than the "official" ones sometimes available.
   Good variety of tracks from all around the region, including the central city.
   This is good for visitors to the city as well as locals.

No comments about Unwilling Emigrants: Letters of a Convict's Wife.

No comments about Land of the long white cloud: New Zealand with Edelweiss bike travel.: An article from: Rider.

No comments about Teed off in the USA.

No comments about New Zealand on 40 Dollars a Day (Frommer's Budget Travel Guide).