Useful Tool: Calculate NZ Driving Times

I found a great website today called NewZealand.com with all sorts of information useful to the visitor and resident alike.

One of the most helpful tools I found here was the Travel Time & Distance Calculator.

Our holiday rental is going to be an apartment at the base of Mt. Maunganui (in the BoP) and we had discussed taking the Interisland Ferry to visit the South Island for a day. In my head, I'm thinking Maui-sized driving. We've done a lot of that.

So when I looked at the Travel Time & Distance Calculator, I quickly saw that a "day trip" to the South Island from the BoP isn't possible! It takes over 7 hours to drive from Mt. Maunganui to Wellington (where the Interisland ferry departs from).

I had no idea it would be that long of a drive. Certainly not Maui-sized driving!

We definitely won't be taking the Interisland Ferry this visit...much too far from our home base this time!

It does make me feel better though. I had secretly been wondering if I could live on an "island" nation. When we drive around Maui I sometimes wonder what it would be like to live somewhere that you could essentially visit everything in one day. Not that you could see or experience everything in one day. But just the smallness of an island...would that make me feel closed in?

New Zealand is much bigger than I pictured in my mind, and knowing I could drive for 7 hours and not be in the middle of the ocean made me happy. There is so much to see, experience, & explore and it's not all just a short drive away!

Goal Achieved: Bach Picked

We've decided on the bach we're going to rent! It's a great two bedroom rental in the Oceanside Twin Towers at the base of Mt. Maunganui:

The Oceanside Twin Towers are the two white buildings in the center-left of the photo,

with Mt. Maunganui in the background

This rental will be our first vacation lodging in something other than a hotel chain. I am excited to have a full kitchen, and a washing machine/dryer will mean we can pack half of what we normally would!

There are two bedrooms, so Cowgirl can have her own bedroom and space, and Little Man will either bunk with us or join Cowgirl...not sure what his sleeping preferences will be in a year!

Everything in the apartment looks so well done...

So... Goal Achieved! We've nailed down our rental, for a price we're happy with, & can check that off the list.

On a side note, I almost dragged my family to NZ next week.

I was looking at air fare prices and next week the tickets for Premium Economy on Air New Zealand were about $3,000 total less than we had seen in the past for our 4 tickets.

Well...it's so hard to pass up a deal like that!

Luckily, Big Daddy filled me in on how airlines price tickets, and we are sure to find a good deal like that again.

And you will probably never, ever again hear me call a $2,000 airplane ticket a good deal. Call me a snob. I don't want to sit in Economy for a 12 hour flight overnight :)