New Zealand: tour or explore?
No traveller likes to think of themselves as a tourist, with all the culture-pillaging, bermuda-shorted ignorance that label implies, but joining an organised group tour can be the best way to discover your destination without wasting days ’spontaneously’ wandering and getting fleeced by sweet-talking locals.
Judi is currently blogging about her ‘Kiwi Experience’ tour and so far she’s been dolphin spotting in Kaikoura, wine tasting in South Island, seal colony spotting in Westport and glacier gazing in Franz Josef. There are definite plus-points to being part of a tour group, such as ’some really nice people with a good mix of characters’ to share cooking and the occasional rowdy night out. However, Judi has also found that the inflexibility of the tour means she has revisited a few places and missed out on others , and ’some people hate the fact that the Kiwi bus takes twice as long to get to anywhere because of all the places it stops’.
Alternatively, Mike has also been travelling through New Zealand but naviagting his own route. Check out his updates - they’re short but accompanied by excellent photos and it’s interesting to follow his itinerary, which seems to be based around visiting places of maximum natural beauty.
Do you love group gallivanting or does the very thought inspire tour terror? Send us your links.
