Originally Posted by donk. (Post 9091756)

You will be fine without cathedral, as an alternative if your schedule changes, Three Sisters, on the west coast was actually nicer in my opinion. (Need to come at low tide tho)

Nah, we arrived late to the crossing, went to Taranaki waterfalls instead. 1hr walk from the gravel carpark

Private hot tub in hotel is always worth it dawg :fuckyea:

Yeah the natural hot pools (both the ones you swim in, and just walk around) both have a fee of about 40$ per person. I mean it is a business, plus the maintenance costs and staffing ain't cheap. Some people spend 40$ in two days on cigarettes....

We went to Polynesian Spa, and Waiotapo Thermal Wonderland. I would highly suggest both.
The Spa is just a bunch of outdoors "natural" hot tubs with minerals, nice to lay around after x hours / days of driving.
The Thermal Wonderland was crazy, the colors of the pools really are neon, never seen anything like it before.

If you want to save money, there's a bunch of free thermal attractions and natural hot pools, we just didn't have time, crunched time budget for us.

At the end of the day, your blowing 1500 on flights, another 1500 on a place to sleep, and 1500 on food, PER PERSON, what's an extra 150-300$ in entrance fees.

You can pay off those entrance fees by working one extra day back home, ggnnaamm saayyyiinn. Plus, when will be the next time you get to see some of this stuff? :smug:

Originally Posted by CivicBlues (Post 9091759)

Where'd you get $1500 flights? Or flights almost cost 2K each! lol

Yeah I'll probably end up forking over for it, just weird seeing how things that would be free at home (going hiking, etc) are charged for over there - I'm mainly talking about natural features and not actual man-made attractions like hot tubs.

Originally Posted by Gerbs (Post 9091818)

Yeah, doing a quick google search, it's almost 22% higher across the board for all roles. But I presume everything is 20% pricier. The jobs that are willing to do working holiday visas are offering 30% less though lol.

Originally Posted by donk. (Post 9091827)

I would gladly take a 30% pay cut, to live in a place where its warm and sunny 80% of the year

Originally Posted by CivicBlues (Post 9091871)

it's not so great at the height of summer when the ENTIRE fucking country is on fire and it's 40 degrees out on the coast.

Originally Posted by CivicBlues (Post 9091878)

Oh hey another question for you donk.

Does NZ do that annoying thing where some places tack on a 1-3% fee for using your Credit Card like Aus? I see it's being done when I try and book the Interisland ferry in advance. What do you use for payments?

Originally Posted by CivicBlues (Post 9091823)

Sydney was very pricey 12 years ago compared to home, though I think Vancouver can give it a run for it's money these days.

Also keep in mind they force you to save 10% of your income into a "Superannuation" fund. I hired a local accountant to help me get it out when I left and settle any back taxes.

Originally Posted by blkgsr (Post 9092013)

I've got a few grand still at my bank in perth from like 8 years ago....sure hope it's still there. really need to call and try to get that sent to me. any tips?