Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Travellers Cheques
Amex, Travelex and other international brands of travellers cheques are a bit old-fashioned these days, but they're easily
exchanged at banks and moneychangers. Present your passport for identification when cashing them; shop around for
the best rates.
PRACTICALITIES
»
News
Leaf through Christchurch's
The Press
newspaper or Dunedin's
Otago Daily Times
. Online see
»
TV
Watch one of the national government-owned TV stations (TV One, TV2, TVNZ 6, Maori TV and the
100% Maori language Te Reo) or the subscriber-only Sky TV (
www.skytv.co.nz
)
.
»
Radio
Tune in to Radio NZ National for current affairs and Concert FM for classical and jazz (see
www.radionz.co.nz
for frequencies). Radio Hauraki (
www.hauraki.co.nz
)
cranks out the rock, and the most im-
passioned talkback bubbles away on Newstalk ZB (
www.newstalkzb.co.nz
).
»
DVDs
Kiwi DVDs are encoded for Region 4, which includes Mexico, South America, Central America, Aus-
tralia, the Pacific and the Caribbean.
»
Electrical
To plug yourself into the electricity supply (230V AC, 50Hz), use a three-pin adaptor (the same as in
Australia; different to British three-pin adaptors).
»
Weights & measures
NZ uses the metric system.
Opening Hours
Note that most attractions close on Christmas Day and Good Friday.
Shops & businesses
9am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday, and 9am to 12.30pm or 5pm Saturday. Late-night shopping (un-
til 9pm) in larger cities on Thursday and/or Friday nights. Sunday trading in most big towns and cities.
Supermarkets
8am to 7pm, often 9pm or later in cities.
Banks
9.30am to 4.30pm Monday to Friday; some city branches also open Saturday mornings.
Post offices
8.30am to 5pm Monday to Friday; larger branches also 9.30am to 1pm Saturday. Postal desks in newsagen-
cies open later.
Restaurants
noon to 2.30pm and 6.30 to 9pm, often until 11pm Fridays and Saturdays.
Cafes
7am to 4pm or 5pm.
Pubs
Noon until late; food from noon to 2pm and from 6pm to 8pm.
Post
The services offered by
New Zealand Post
( 0800 501 501;
www.nzpost.co.nz
) are reliable and reasonably inex-
pensive. See the website for current info on national and international zones and rates, plus post office locations.
