Odd Notes and Things We've Learned

Gas prices are 141.9 cents per litre everywhere you go, whether in a small town or large city – talk about price fixing!

If you shop at Pak N Save grocery store (like our Superstore only without the extras like clothing, housewares etc) you can purchase gas from their pumps from 2 to 5 cents less per litre – trick is, the pumps are self serve and will only accept a New Zealand issued credit card – can’t win!

Another oddity – when you check into a hotel they hand you a small container of milk – must be for your tea or coffee. So, not wanting any freebies to be wasted, we bought ourselves a box of cereal from the Pak N Save and have cereal and milk for breakfast.

The best hotel swimming pools are those heated by hot springs – the others are pretty damn cold!

They have so many aboriginal names for their cities, streets and landmarks – compared to at home where we only have a few. I find it hard to keep names like Wainuiomata, Waikanae, Tauranga, Whangamata, Whitianga, and Pukekohe straight and I’m never sure how to pronounce them. Luckily so far, we haven’t had to ask for directions – it could be embarrassing.