Car rental New Zealand
Car rental and transport in New Zealand
There are several airports in New Zealand where the international flights arrive, such as Auckland (AKL), Christchurch (CHC), Wellington (WLG) or the Queenstown International Airport (ZQN). Air New Zealand and Qantas operate regular domestic flights between these airports.Traveling by car is perhaps the most attractive way to explore the country, but due to the long British presence in New Zealand they drive on the left. The road is well maintained everywhere, main roads are paved but there can be some quieter roads which are not. All international car rental companies and local car hire agencies have offices at the airports and they are also represented in most major cities and towns in New Zealand.
About New Zealand
The island of New Zealand lies in the Pacific, at about 2000 km southeast of Australia. New Zealand is 1600 km long from north to south. The country consists of two large islands and several smaller islands scattered around the larger. The North Island is 115.000 km2 and the South Island has an area of 151.000 km2. New Zealand has a beautiful natural landscape with different forms, ranging from ski resorts to beautiful white beaches. Thus the climate also varies from subtropical to subpolar. The capital of New Zealand is Wellington, and the klargest city is Auckland. The total area of New Zealand is 268,680 km2 giving home to a population of approximately 4,2 million. Since 1967 the currency of New Zealand is the New Zealand dollar (NZD). More information about New Zealand can be found on Wikitravel:
http://wikitravel.org/en/New_Zealand and
www.google.com
Political situation
Since 10907 New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy. Officially the head of state is Queen Elizabeth II since 1952, but she is represented locally by Governor-General Anand Satyanand since 2006. The parliament consists of only one chamber called the House of Representatives and it is normally 120-seated. The government consists of members from the largest party. The party leader is appointed to be prime minister. The current prime minister of New Zealand is John Key since 2008. New Zealand has 12 regional councils handling the regional environmental and transport related matters. In addition there are 73 territorial authorities (57 district councils, 16 city councils and the Chatham Islands council) who administer roads, sewerage, building consents, and other local matters.
Economic situation
New Zealand is a modern industrialized nation with a free market economy. It relies heavily on imports and exports. The main source of income comes from the exports of agricultural products, mainly meat, dairy and wool products. New Zealand has about 45 million sheep and this is the third buggest wool-producer and the second largest wool-exporter. Kiwi fruit, passion fruit, apples and pears are also popular export products worldwide. The main import and export partners are Australia, the United States and Japan and in 2004 New Zealand began discussions also with China on free trade between the two countries. Strong, emerging market is the tourism, reppresenting 8.9% of New Zealand’s total GDP and giving workplace to almost 10|% of the people. Since 2000, New Zealand's fashion industry has grown significantly with approximately established labels. New Zealanders have a high level of life satisfaction and they are generally ranked between the top 5 on surveys about life satisfaction and overall prosperity.
Society
The majority of population is people of European descent, most of them are British and Irish but also Dutch, German and Italian . The original inhabitants, the Maoris, give only the 10% of the total population. New Zealand has two officially recognized language: English which is predominant in most areas and Māori since 1987. Auckland, with over 850,000 inhabitants is the largest city. The capital Wellington has only a little bit more than 350,000 inhabitants. New Zealand is an urban country, about 3/4 of the inhabitants are living in 16 main urban areas and about the half of them are concentrated in the four largest cities such as Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Hamilton. Christianity is the main religion in New Zealand, held by 55.6% of the people, but 34.7% of the population indicated that they held no religion. New Zealand has a very unique culture which is the mix of the culture of the indigenous Maori people and European immigrants. New Zealanders are often called “Kiwis”. The nickname derives from the kiwi, a flightless bird which is native to New Zealand and become the national symbol of the country. Sport is an important part of education in New Zealand. Popular sports include football, cricket and rugby and every sport related to the water such as fishing, surfing, etc enjoys great popularity.
Cuisine
New Zealand has developed a unique cuisine, the Pacific Rim which combines the flavors and cooking techniques from different countries in Europe, Asia and Polynesia. Furthermore, the influence of England is also noticeable in the New Zealand kitchen. The large number of immigrants in New Zealand brought their traditional dishes and it results in very varied food consumed in the country nowadays. Real traditional meals you can eat when you visit the Maori's area. During summer seasons many people like eating outdoors in cafes or at barbecues where the favourite dishes are made of lamb, venison, lobster or any kind of fresh fish. There are various wine regions in New Zealand. There are more than 375 wineries in the country, and the loval wine producers pay exteremly high attention to the good quality and they built the reputation of the wine year by year.
Accommodation facilities
New Zealand offers a wide range of accommodation options to satisfy the need of all travellers. There are several top-class hotels but also reasonably priced motels. Rates are cheaper in rural areas, but in every city you can find budget hotels and motels. Hotels are graded from 1 to 4 stars, 1 meaning the basic facilities and 4 the excellent quality, while motels are ranked on a scale from 1 to 5 stars.
Climate
The North Island of New Zealand has a warm and subtropical climate while the climate is temperate on the South Island. Therefor the average temperature varies between 8 and 23 Celsius. The cold season is during the months from June to September. The hottest period in New Zealand is in the months from October to May. The wettest season is between January and March. Despite these variable weather conditions, New Zealand’s climate is moderate. On more than 200 days of the year the sun is shining, but New Zealand also has one of the highest UV ratings in the world.
Time zone
Standard Time zone on the majority of New Zealand is 12 hours ahead Greenwich Mean Time (GMT 12), while on the outlying Chatham Islands the Chatham Standard Time is in use which is 12 hours 45 minutes in advance of GMT. During summer daylight saving time is observed and clocks are advanced one hour and the difference between GMT grows with an hour. (GMT 13 and GMT 13.45).
