Where I Live - A Glimpse of Tauranga , new Zealand

[Phantom Paragrapher]

Where I Live is a small town in comparison though it is big in terms of NZ . There is 118.200 people and we are the fifth biggest city ( urban area) in new Zealand . New Zealand is split up of two islands -The North and The South. We have a total of 4,327,401 ( sept 2009) people living in new Zealand.

Here are some pics from where I live:
I have the Mount Maunganui , The Strand , TGA at night and a picture of where I work-The Greerton Library and a Mural I organised for Matariki on the side of our library . Matariki for those who aren't aware is the Maori New Year. It happens in June 21st (the shortest day of the year) and lasts till July.

[intellectualammo]

And I just looked at what New Zealand actually looks like, here I thought that New Zealand was another name for Australia. My geography is horrible, but I blame that on the way I wasn't taught in the public school I was forced to attend. :(

http://www.units.muohio.edu/ath175/student/SCHMITA2/images/new_zealand.gif

Now I will look to see where it is at in the world...

[intellectualammo]

At least I wasn't too far off! :)

http://www.welt-atlas.de/datenbank/karten/en/karte-0-9024-en.gif

At least two Objectivists I know online are from Aukland.

[Jez]

Thank you for sharing your photos with us. :) In case your photos were larger than the forum allowed, using a free hosting site like TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting (http://www.tinypic.com) is really helpful. You don't need a membership and you can then post larger pictures on the forum.

What is the weather generally like in NZ? How is travel between NZ and Australia? Do people go back and forth often, or not much?

[Star_Anise]

Tuaranga looks quite pretty, although just over 100,000 people seems like it would be a bit cosy, but not quite country town-like.

[Phantom Paragrapher]

The weather where I live is pretty good , we are in celsius here so highest be about 27 and lowest 0. Depending though which Island you live on , controls the temp rate as the south due to being closer to antartica is alot colder in the winter and snows unlike the North Island where I am. Depending which part of Australia you want to go too it is about 3-4 Hours flight. I guess lots of people fly in between , Ive never been out of the north island yet though. Its amazing how many people think that we are attached to Australia. Flights to Aussie from NZ are about $200-600 depending on return tickets , so in the winter it can be really cheap. I guess its a bit like a cosy town , you do tend to run into alot of people you know specially at events like NYE and Christmas Fireworks.

[Jez]

The weather where I live is pretty good , we are in celsius here so highest be about 27 and lowest 0. Depending though which Island you live on , controls the temp rate as the south due to being closer to antartica is alot colder in the winter and snows unlike the North Island where I am. Depending which part of Australia you want to go too it is about 3-4 Hours flight. I guess lots of people fly in between , Ive never been out of the north island yet though. Its amazing how many people think that we are attached to Australia. Flights to Aussie from NZ are about $200-600 depending on return tickets , so in the winter it can be really cheap. I guess its a bit like a cosy town , you do tend to run into alot of people you know specially at events like NYE and Christmas Fireworks.

Huh, 3-4 hour flight is a lot longer than I had thought. Guess no day boat trips across! :p I was wondering how similar it was to, say, the US and Canada. It's common enough to take day trips to Canada if you live near the border. But it is a shared border, so it is easier.

[Star_Anise]

Huh, 3-4 hour flight is a lot longer than I had thought. Guess no day boat trips across! :p I was wondering how similar it was to, say, the US and Canada. It's common enough to take day trips to Canada if you live near the border. But it is a shared border, so it is easier.

A day trip would be pretty exhausting, as flight time from close ports on the east coast is usually closer to five hours. Weekend trips are more likely, especially if it's a long weekend. Also, travel between Aust and NZ is like domestic travel in that passports and visas aren't needed. This may seem a bit strange to point out to some (especially to those in EU countries), but remember, they're both island nations so going to another country means going overseas...

[Jez]

A day trip would be pretty exhausting, as flight time from close ports on the east coast is usually closer to five hours. Weekend trips are more likely, especially if it's a long weekend. Also, travel between Aust and NZ is like domestic travel in that passports and visas aren't needed. This may seem a bit strange to point out to some (especially to those in EU countries), but remember, they're both island nations so going to another country means going overseas...

I think we need passports to go to Canada and Mexico, at least I think you're supposed to use passports. I know we've gone to restaurants for dinner and we didn't use passports, but that might have just been effectively "sneaking in" because when I've gone on extended vacations I think we needed them.

Longer weekend trips makes more sense then, given the time it takes.

[Phantom Paragrapher]

Yea , We now need passports to travel to Australia as well , The rule was bought in about 5+ years now. We can fly around NZ etc and down to South Island without a passport but anywhere outside of NZ you need a passport , about $300 NZ Dollars

[Jez]

Interesting. So passports are needed from NZ to Australia, but not the other way around?

[Phantom Paragrapher]

I think it is the other way round as well. Not to sure as never been out of the North Island in NZ

[Star_Anise]

Interesting. So passports are needed from NZ to Australia, but not the other way around?

No, I stand corrected - I wasn't aware of the change to passports:)

[margaine]

No, I stand corrected - I wasn't aware of the change to passports:)

Yeah, that is similar to US travel to Mexico and Canada. US citizens didn't need a passport in the fairly recent past, but I'm pretty sure that now they do.