New Zealand

[kib]

We've finally solidified our 'twice a decade' trip, to New Zealand - no stopover in Fiji. Will go late October for about 3 weeks, starting and ending in Auckland. Other than that no solid plans yet. I have been once before and enjoyed it ... a little blandly. In my case the old joke, "what's the difference between NZ and yogurt? Yogurt has culture," seemed relatively true, I'm hoping it was my choice of itinerary and not the destination.

So! All comments about NZ, or for that matter about making travel exciting and enjoyable, cheerfully accepted.

Also, we have the layover from hell: nine and a half hours in LAX. Please please please if anyone has good advice for what to do not too far from the airport or how to get there, feel free to contribute! Funny, it's perhaps the one city in the US I'm not comfortable with, too big and sprawly and this perception that if you get stuck somewhere in traffic, it could be for hours.

[Greg44]

I just googled "things to do near LAX" apparently your situation is not all that uncommon - I was surprised all the
things that came up. Now I am thinking you might want longer than 9 hours!

Have a great time in New Zealand. We spent a couple days there coming back from Australia - such a beautiful place.

[bae]

New Zealand has been producing some wonderful films, this one is a must-see:

[Greg44]

I just googled "things to do near LAX" apparently your situation is not all that uncommon - I was surprised all the
things that came up. Now I am thinking you might want longer than 9 hours!

Have a great time in New Zealand. We spent a couple days there coming back from Australia - such a beautiful place.

[kib]

Oh snort, I've actually seen Black Sheep. So Baaaaad it was almost good.

Thanks Greg, I'll google.

[iris lilies]

New Zealand is a place I could move to and I know I would like it without ever having been there. South Island, please.

kib, you were probably gone during the time when zoebird was posting here. She and her husband emigrated to NZ and ran a business for a while, then came back, not by their choice.

I hate the idea of L.A. and have no suggestions. I might figure out a cheap way to get to Venice Beach which is interesting with all of its canals and billion dollar houses on those canals, plus the beach. It's the only place I've been in L.A. Also, for me, if there is an "architecture of film" tour, I would take take. I would like to see houses and buildings used in movies.

[sweetana3]

We have had long layovers in various places. Never left the airport. Too much chance of issues and we always had things like carryons to lug around.

Suggestion: buy the access to the lounge. Check reviews for the airport lounge you can get into. Ours had all the alchohol you could drink (no wonder there are drunks on planes), food, magazines, comfortable chairs and tables, good wifi, clean bathrooms and showers. Oh, and it was very peaceful.

[Gardnr]

I have an online friend in NZ. She recently posted this travel "itinerary" to our group so we could get to know her homeland:

I promised to tell you of some interesting places to visit whilehere in NZ’s capital city, Wellington. There’s quite a lot, actually and I knowI’ll have forgotten many of them.

If you’re into adventure quad biking, then there’s a great placejust across the road from my home, where you can scale up into the ruggedRimutaka Forest Park ranges down to the Wairarapa Coast seal colonies, withjaw-dropping views over Wellington and over to the South Island across CookStrait. Fishing and snorkelling are things you might like to do, or would keepthe men-folk happy if they were to accompany you.

A tour of our Parliament Buildings is a popular pastime. You getto walk all around inside this magnificently restored stone building, learn thehistory of our parliament, watch parliamentary sessions in the visitor’sgallery, gaze at lovely artworks, shop for souvenirs and send postcards homewith the parliamentary postmark on it.

A Weta Workshop tour is an absolute must see for film-buffs.Here you can see where special effects for films such as Lord of the Ringsseries, X-Men, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Hunger Games, King Kong, VanHelsing, The Lovely Bones and many, many more are created. Weta Workshop is apartnership between Sir Richard Taylor, Tania Rodger and Sir Peter Jackson, andhas won many Oscars and other awards for its work.

Te Papa (Our Place) Museum and Art Gallery on Wellington’sbeautiful waterfront will take up at least half a day of your time. One of themany exhibitions showing at the moment is the Gallipoli one which is well worthseeing. It tells the story of this WW1 battle through the eyes of eightordinary New Zealanders. Each person is captured in a moment of time in theform of a sculpture 2.4 times human size. The giant sculptures took 24,000hours to create and countless hours to research. The exhibition is apartnership between Te Papa and Weta Workshop. Te Papa is considered a hands-onmuseum with many of the exhibits being interactive. Well worth a visit.

A trip up Mt Victoria will give you a magnificent view ofWellington City. Take some fish and chips and enjoy watching the sun go down onwhat is arguably the world’s coolest little capital. Wellington is said to havemore restaurants and bars per capita than New York City, so you’re bound tofind lots of delicious eats – I know you won’t go hungry. Being a small city,you can walk just about everywhere in it, and there are great transport linksto make use of.

Quilters are not forgotten – there are some wonderful quiltshops in the Wellington and Hutt Valley areas, including Thimbles and Threadsin Upper Hutt, The Sawmiller’s Quiltery, also in rural Upper Hutt (where youcan relax in their charming garden over a Devonshire Tea with freshly out ofthe oven scones and artisan teas and coffees). The Busy Bee Quiltshop inKilbirnie has a glorious range of fabrics as well as lots of quilts on display.A visit to the wonderful Minerva Bookshop in Wellington’s Cuba Street, whereover 3000 quilt, craft and textile books will keep you occupied should also beon your list. You’ll be able to pick up the latest edition of NZ Quiltermagazine to browse over a wine.

[Float On]

My brother and niece have been in NZ the last 2 weeks and have a week or so to go. They are doing a lot of winter hiking and having a great time.

[kib]

We have had long layovers in various places. Never left the airport. Too much chance of issues and we always had things like carryons to lug around.

Suggestion: buy the access to the lounge. Check reviews for the airport lounge you can get into. Ours had all the alchohol you could drink (no wonder there are drunks on planes), food, magazines, comfortable chairs and tables, good wifi, clean bathrooms and showers. Oh, and it was very peaceful.

I've decided this sounds like the easiest thing to do, but which reviews are you referring to? We're traveling economy on a budget airline that doesn't seem to have its own lounge. I see mention of day passes but when I try to get specific info I wind up looking at annual memberships, serious overkill!