[Default] On Sun, 07 Jun 2009 08:50:48 -0400, Joseph Coulter
offered the following words of wisdom:

On Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:15:09 +1200, lid wrote:

On Sun, 07 Jun 2009 07:02:50 GMT, "Kathy and Steve"
wrote:

What company would you recommend? I am not interested in the Britz as it is
way over priced when you look at what else is on offer on the net.
Thanks


Whatever you hire, please please DO NOT drive along our woefully
inadequate and poorly maintained roads - be they "highways" (a joke)
or "roads" (another joke) - casually looking at the scenery without
keeping a eye on the rear vision mirror to see all the vehicles stuck
behind you.

Don't be a jerk and pull over to let them pass. Locals DO NOT like to
be held up by inconsiderate tourists. After all, we're the ones paying
for the roads and, frankly, we're bloody sick and tired of
inconsiderate guests.

Although seaeagle sounds pretty snarly there is some truth in the
post. New Zealand is a country of incredible beauty, but the roads are
often narrow and twisty. Camper vans and trucks are a particular
nuisance as they tend to block traffic and make driving a headache.

The suggestion to go with a car and motel makes sense-parking in the
cities will be easier and getting ofver the mountains and around the
curves much less work and more holiday.

Snarly is one way of looking at it. Another would be feed-up with
roadhog campervans driven by idiots.

We live in Northland in a rural-coastal area around a 35 to 45 minute
drive from Whangarei. Our local roads are narrow, winding and poorly
maintained.

To get stuck behind some fool in a campervan (or a convoy of
campervans) who won't pull over can add another ten minutes and a lot
of frustration to the journey and it's not as if we benefit in any way
from the influx of visitors to our area over a four or five month
period each year.

But we're willing to be good hosts to these uninvited visitors as long
as they are willing to be good guests. Unfortunately, many of the
Europeans who visit - especially Germans - treat local amenities and
residents as if they were created to serve them and their needs. And
they're noisy beyond belief.