Advice to Travellers

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Kiwi Comments:
New Zealanders are practical, friendly and down-to-earth people. In public places, including beaches, behaviour is quite restrained. They take a tough stand on public drunkenness - Liquor Free Zones are everywhere & lots of supermarkets have no licence to sell booze. 'No worries' (which is counter-intuitive to me) is still the favourite phrase. Where available, drink is pricey.
Public Transport isn't brilliant and parking can sometimes be expensive. Free street parking is usually quite easy, though you have to be careful to move your car before the no of minutes indicated on the parking sign has expired. Roads are generally well-surfaced and road signs usually easy to follow (though sometimes, in towns, signposts and street signs are too infrequent and strangers can get lost). Speed limits are clearly shown and nowhere did I find more than 100 kph officially tolerated.
On most roads, bends have an advisory max speed displayed as you approach - a good guide to the severity of the bend. And main roads have frequent sections with an extra lane for overtaking. Auckland has traffic lights restricting the cars feeding on to the motorways at rush hours to one car per lane every ten seconds or so. (ie the green light flashes on for about a second every ten secs.)
Every town has the route to its cemetery carefully marked and the drink/drive and speed warnings are the most blunt I have ever seen (eg. 'DRINK & DrIvE', 'GET THERE FAST ✝' (ie a crucifix)).
Fuel is much cheaper than in the UK.
NZ has a lot of small towns, so there is more scope for corner shops, hardware shops, novelty shops, greengrocers etc. Even in the cities, supermarkets seem to be accommodated in shopping malls, alongside lots of other shops.
The countryside is very attractive with many outstanding beauty spots. We were thrilled with many of the sights we saw. Bay of Islands, Muriwai, Goat Island, Kauaeranga, Mission Bay, Auckland Domain, Achilles Point, Rotorua, Lake Taupo, Wellington Museum, Queen Charlotte Sound, Cloudy Bay, Whites Bay, Kaikoura, Cathedral Square (Christchurch), Akaroa, Lake Tekapo, Mount Cook, Queenstown, Otago Peninsula and many, many other places were a delight to see, especially as we were so lucky with weather. However, the best scenery/points of interest etc are not available to the general traveller unless he/she pays a substantial admission charge. Also, refreshments are hard to find at beauty spots with food and drink bans in many areas. (So, they intend to keep the countryside pristine.) North Island is more lush and volcanic than South Island (which is quite parched east of the high mountain ranges in summer). We enjoyed both immensely and the standard of our accommodation was excellent.

Singapore and Malaysia:
Very warm countries. The people were also friendly and helpful. Langkawi was a magical island. The standard of living seems quite high, especially for SE Asia. But flying directly to Singapore is physically difficult to handle because of the upsetting, immediate jump of eight times zones.

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