Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Long Distance Calls & Area Codes
NZ uses regional two-digit area codes for long-distance calls, which can be made from any payphone. If you're making
a local call (ie to someone else in the same town), you don't need to dial the area code. But if you're dialling within a re-
gion (even if it's to a nearby town with the same area code), you do have to dial the area code.
Information & Toll-Free Calls
Numbers starting with 0900 are usually recorded information services, charging upwards of $1 per minute (more
from mobiles); these numbers cannot be dialled from payphones.
Toll-free numbers in NZ have the prefix 0800 or 0508 and can be called free of charge from anywhere in the
country, though they may not be accessible from certain areas or from mobile phones. Telephone numbers beginning
with
0508,
0800 or
0900 cannot be dialled from outside NZ.
Phonecards
NZ has a wide range of phonecards available, which can be bought at hostels, newsagencies and post offices for a fixed-
dollar value (usually $5, $10, $20 and $50). These can be used with any public or private phone by dialling a toll-free
access number and then the PIN number on the card. Shop around - rates vary from company to company.
Time
NZ is 12 hours ahead of GMT/UTC and two hours ahead of Australian Eastern Standard Time. The Chathams are 45
minutes ahead of NZ's main islands.
In summer, NZ observes daylight-saving time, where clocks are wound forward by one hour on the last Sunday in
September; clocks are wound back on the first Sunday of the following April.
Toilets
Toilets in NZ are sit-down Western style. Public toilets are plentiful, and (to make a sweeping generalisation) are usually
reasonably clean with working locks and toilet paper.
See www.toiletmap.co.nz for public toilet locations around the country.
Tourist Information
Tourism New Zealand
The website for the official national tourism body, Tourism New Zealand ( www.newzealand.com ), is the best place for
pre-trip research. Emblazoned with the hugely successful 100% Pure New Zealand branding, the site has information in
several languages, including German and Japanese, and also lists Tourism New Zealand contact offices overseas (Aus-
tralia, UK, USA etc).
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