the ESSENTIAL guide! (AA Essential Guides: Essential New Zealand - Allan Edie)

Member Name: emma_ski

Product:	AA Essential Guides: Essential New Zealand - Allan Edie
Date:	18/07/09 (95 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: lots of photos, useful and up to date

Disadvantages: none

I bought this book in the airport when heading to New Zealand for the RRP of £5.99.

The book has a small map on the front cover, which helpfully sections different parts of the country and tells you which pages they refer to in the book.

The book starts with a bit of background about the country, the climate and some famous people. This is all interesting stuff, which i enjoyed readin on the long flight!

Next is the Top Ten sights to see whilst in NZ. Each of the top ten, includes a desciption of the place, whether it is wheelchair friendly, any special points, such as when the sight is not open, where it is located on the map (at the back, more detailed) and a few colourful photographs. This is a great starting point for people new to the country and gives plenty of ideas of great places to visit on your trip! Of the places in the top ten i visited, i found all the information in the book helpful as well as truthful!

The next chapter is titled 'what to see' and includes specific places in the Upper and lower North and South islands, as well as food and drink. This details the different cities, and what to see in each city. Also a map of the city which is usful though not allways zoomed in enough, so a road map is recommended! I found this chapter very useful whilst in different cities as it gave a huge range of different places to visit, helping me get the most from my trip!

The next chapter is called 'Where to' and includes information about where to eat, stay, shop, take the children and be entertained. Personal i only used the cultural activites, outdoor activites and whats on and when from this chapter, as there are loads of restaurants and cafes to eat and such a big selection i didnt need the book to recommend any for me! This chapter is useful for detailing the events throughout the year helping to plan your trip :P

The final chapter is about 'practical matters' and gives helpful tips about planning your trip before you set off and when you arrive. This was useful for me though wish i had picked it up before i was flying over!I did find it useful such as information about health, public transport, opening hours, taxis, driving and clothing sizes. Another interesting part to this section is a handful of useful phrases in Maori. Although everyone seems to speak English it was interesting to read the Maori language and made visits to cultural places more interesting.

Overall i really enjoyed reading this handy little book, its only 144 pages but was plenty of information to give me plenty to do on my trip! It was easy to fit into my handbag and carry around and would definitley recommend this handy little book!

Published in2006, by the AA
144 pages
ISBN: 0-7495-3959
RRP: £5.99

Summary: a hand little book to have whilst traveling in nz