Latest / The Discussion Podcast / Talkin' Travel - New Zealand, Fiji and South Pacific Stories with ANZCRO Holidays

Transcript

Talkin' Travel - New Zealand, Fiji and South Pacific Stories with ANZCRO Holidays · The Discussion Podcast

0:11
And a very good afternoon to you too on this muggy afternoon,
0:14
I'm going to say today. And I'm welcoming myself back from three weeks away.
0:19
I missed you all and I hope you miss me.
0:21
And I'm going to bring you some holiday news.
0:24
I was away in, where was I? Let me get this right.
0:27
I was in Toronto, Niagara Falls, followed by a cruise around the Caribbean down
0:31
to Fort Lauderdale, then off to Cozumel, Belize and Honduras where I did 11
0:37
zip wires and I still survived.
0:39
However, my guest today, we're still talking travel, and this is Luke from Anscroe
0:44
Holidays. Good afternoon, Luke. Hello, Ken. Hello, everybody.
0:46
Great to be here, as always. Yeah, this is your second or third time now?
0:49
Second time now, yeah. Is it? And you came back. I came back, yeah.
0:54
And what are you going to tell us all about today? So, yeah,
0:56
so I've been fortunate to live in New Zealand for 12 years, worked and travel
1:01
over there, so I've travelled extensively Australia, New Zealand,
1:03
and some of the South Pacific Islands.
1:05
So, yeah, hopefully I'll give a bit of inspiration, a few stories from my time
1:08
over there. We're going down under, as I say, today, and my guest is Luke from
1:12
Anscroe Holidays. And Luke, how have you been?
1:15
Yeah, I've been good. Yeah, it's been busy. Obviously, a few challenges over
1:19
the last few months in the industry, as we all know. Tell me more about that.
1:24
But hopefully, hopefully crossing fingers and not saying too much because you
1:28
might upset people, but they've signed something.
1:31
It doesn't mean a thing to, unless they put it into action.
1:34
So maybe the oil will start flowing and the prices come down.
1:37
Yeah, there seems to be a lot of optimism. out there at the minute,
1:39
and we're seeing that with people booking.
1:42
You know, the bookings are still there, you know, given that they've,
1:45
you know, we are still starting to book through the Middle East.
1:47
But people are booking at least 12 months in advance for a lot of cases.
1:52
And it's quite often out of date range as well.
1:54
Great. That means we're more than 12 months in the future because computers
1:57
in the travel industry are, I think, 11 months ahead. It's normally about 11
2:01
months, but, you know, but a lot of like tour operators like ourselves now we're
2:03
offering out of date range so you can book way more in advance.
2:06
And you're using the word guarantee on the price? Guarantee, yeah, absolutely.
2:09
Yeah, absolutely. So guaranteeing as well. So, which is, it helps everybody,
2:13
you know, these destinations that we sell, you know, the bucket list destinations,
2:17
people are wanting to plan more than 12 months in advance.
2:20
So, this just gives them the flexibility, a little bit more time to,
2:24
and the trends are showing that, you know, because they are bucket list destinations,
2:28
people are spending a little bit more because it's a once in a lifetime place to go.
2:31
And have you noticed increase in premium and business? Absolutely. Yeah.
2:36
You know, there's no hiding the destinations that we represent,
2:38
the complete other side of the world. Yeah. They are a long, long way away.
2:41
So if you are wanting to do it, you want to do it in absolute comfort.
2:44
So people are, you know, they are willing to pay a little bit extra for the premium economy.
2:48
And it does make a big difference. Well, so they tell me I'm not fortunate enough to do it myself.
2:54
Apparently it does. You're like me looking for the bargains,
2:56
aren't you? How can I afford to go off to Australia?
2:59
But tell me, I'm going to call it the Middle East upset.
3:03
That has disturbed the traffic through the Middle East, hasn't it?
3:06
Yes, it has, you know, absolutely. And I think it's just more people being hesitant,
3:11
especially at the minute. So with everything that's going on,
3:13
and quite rightly so, you know, there's uncertainty there.
3:17
You know, we are booking people back through that way. And like I say,
3:20
what we have sounded, you know, over the last three or four months has been
3:22
a shift that people are still booking to go long haul, but instead of the Middle
3:26
East, if there's a bit of uncertainty there, we're looking to put them through Singapore or Hong Kong
3:30
or obviously the direct flight to Australia with Qantas that is available as well.
3:34
So there's other ways of getting there if you are feeling a little bit uncertain.
3:37
Exactly. And I noticed that Singapore Airlines is now going daily from Manchester
3:41
from July. Which is fantastic. Yeah. And Cathay have put a larger aircraft on.
3:44
Yeah. So they're obviously picking up the traffic.
3:47
But the news from Middle East is, I think, 80% of traffic is now back on line with Emirates.
3:53
Probably 50% between Qatar and Etihad.
3:57
But they're building up because obviously this news is great for everybody.
4:01
A bit more confidence in there.
4:03
Have you noticed there's a trend now? Is it anybody looking for either New Zealand
4:07
or Australia or is it just growing anyway? Yeah, I'll be honest with you.
4:10
So, you know, when I first started with Anscro just over two years ago now,
4:15
Australia was outselling New Zealand quite considerably.
4:18
However, especially in the last six to eight months, New Zealand's kind of overtaken.
4:24
Which is amazing. They're both absolutely fantastic countries,
4:27
but we do often find it's quite cyclical as well. Do you know, obviously...
4:30
Australia will be influenced a lot by some larger events so you know last year
4:34
there was obviously the ashes there was oh yeah yeah the British and Irish lions
4:38
are over in Australia so that kind of drives a lot of people that way but
4:41
it just seems that New Zealand seems to have gone off at the minute and you
4:44
know I think that's a huge credit as well to the likes of Tourism New Zealand
4:47
that are doing some fantastic campaigns to try and get people there.
4:50
But it's a visual effect as well you know you see the lakes and mountains brilliant.
4:54
Oh just just stunning and like I say I was lucky enough to live there 12 years
4:57
and i say this to a lot of people ken you know 12 years living there never felt
5:02
like i lived there i always felt like i was on a constant holiday even though i had a,
5:05
house and kids and a job and bills to pay it's just the lifestyle over there
5:09
it's just isn't that a fantastic attitude to have i'm on holiday and
5:13
i got paid for it i know that's it so yeah so it's um you know he's been back
5:17
a couple years now it takes a little bit of getting used to back with my main
5:20
guest who's luke from an's crow holidays who was a resident in new How long was it for again?
5:25
It's 12 years, yeah. So, yeah, we're looking. I've got the passport.
5:29
So, yeah, so I'm kind of a Yorkshire Kiwi, because that's my original roots.
5:33
But, yeah, I've got the passport, so the door's always open.
5:36
You can go back, can you? You can go back if they let me in.
5:40
That's another story, isn't it? Yeah, that's another story. So tell me a bit
5:43
of life in New Zealand. Let's get off the holiday trail. Give me down...
5:47
Do you go to Tesco's? Do you go to Sainsbury's? Yeah, so they've got all the...
5:51
Very similar. I mean, the thing is over there, the supermarkets,
5:55
the shopping over there is quite expensive, you know, but everything is...
5:58
I don't know, it just seems it's a lot fresher. Everything's kind of,
6:01
you know, the growth, it's very seasonal.
6:03
You know, I feel like when you go to supermarkets here, no matter what kind
6:07
of year it is, you can get watermelons, you can get whatever.
6:09
Whereas over there, it's very seasonal. So it's only stuff that's in season you can get.
6:14
Oh, they don't fly in from remote countries. There's certain things you can,
6:18
but then you're paying way over the odds for it.
6:19
But it's not as readily available as it would be in the likes of the big supermarkets here.
6:24
But yeah, you know, you get used to it. The live cell out there is just incredible, as I said.
6:28
Very much laid back, very chilled. It is relaxed, isn't it? Oh,
6:31
it's, you know, it's beautiful as well. And obviously it's split over the two
6:35
main islands. You've got the North Island and the South Island.
6:37
So I lived in Auckland in the north.
6:40
Because I worked in tourism, I travelled every nut and cranny of New Zealand,
6:44
you know, some of the old hick little towns that people don't hear of,
6:48
but, you know, that adds to the beauty of New Zealand. You know,
6:50
there's so much diversity there in, you know, in landscapes and things that you can do.
6:56
And the two islands are actually so different, you know. Aren't they just?
7:00
They could be different countries themselves, you know.
7:03
And I think it's the mountains that do it, doesn't it? The Southern Alps, it's called.
7:06
Oh, yes. The South Islands just packs that wow factor. And, you know,
7:09
this is, obviously we do a lot
7:10
of advising for, you know, for the likes of yourself with travel agencies.
7:14
And, you know, there's no right or wrong way of seeing New Zealand.
7:17
But my, I would always say, arrive into the North Island and then leave out of the south.
7:22
And North Island is stunning. You know, rolling hills, beautiful beaches,
7:27
a lot of geothermal activity in the North Island.
7:29
Oh, Rotorua. So the likes of Rotorua. You know, you smell before you see.
7:33
Half an hour before you get there. Yeah, that's it. It smells like rotten eggs
7:36
because there's salt there. But, you know, absolutely stunning.
7:39
Obviously you've got like a lot of you know if you're big fans of lord of the
7:41
rings and the hobbiton movies you know a lot of dice you can you can do that
7:45
as well yeah yeah yeah so you can you can visit the movie set of her hobbiton
7:49
which is also in the north island
7:50
which is even if you're not a fan of the movies which believe it or not,
7:54
i never watched lord of the rings or the hobbits seriously honestly it's like
7:57
sacrilege if you go in uh in new zealand not watching them but i've done the
8:01
tour many of times you don't need to be a fan of movies because it's just an incredible experience.
8:05
Well they were doing the launch of one of the in fact the very first one of the Hobbit.
8:11
Trilogies and it was uh dragons coming out of hotels and fire and we were sat
8:17
in the square and this is all going on around us because they
8:20
a big promotion yes and there's so much in tourism that goes in there now because
8:25
of that incredible you know it's it is a huge draw and you know it's just such
8:28
an incredible country but
8:30
but then obviously when you come to the south island you're welcomed by again
8:33
all these alps and emerald lakes and
8:36
you know the glacier lakes are there just absolutely stunning so it just kind
8:39
of packs the wow factor from a visual perspective but
8:42
it's not taking anything away from the north island no no very very different
8:45
but i just think my preference would be to arrive into the north leave from
8:49
the i'm agreeing with you um but further north in auckland you've got the bay of islands and,
8:54
this is russell the original capital russell yes that's great so it's quite
8:57
close to the white tangy treaty grounds where the you know where that's the
9:01
original settlement where they the.
9:03
West when the white people came over and i think we got they gave us feather
9:08
no we got we gave them feathers and beads and we got the island yes because,
9:16
this is the the you've got two long boats in the original treaty house correct
9:20
yeah and the guide was going around and guess who he picked on to answer the
9:23
questions mr garrett yeah thank you very much
9:26
and i've got in my head 1885 i don't know whether that resonates yeah yeah yeah
9:31
and uh i said that and he goes oh you were listening,
9:34
thank god for that Yeah, but brilliant.
9:36
But also we did the Hole in the Rock up there as well. Yes, yeah.
9:39
Tell us about that. Yeah, Hole in the Rock is, and you know, it's kind of funny.
9:43
Kiwis, when the naming kind of experiences, they're not very creative.
9:48
You know, a hole in the rock is literally a hole in a rock, isn't it?
9:51
You go on a boat tour out there, but it's so popular. You know,
9:54
you go, no matter what time of year you go, there's people, there's boats everywhere.
9:58
All over the place just going to see the hole in the rock yeah which is quite
10:01
fascinating isn't it but then in the north line a bit further down you've got
10:04
hot water beach because it's a beach that's got hot water so again not very
10:07
creative with the names but that's another i love it incredible phenomenal have you been there ken,
10:12
yeah well we passed it you dig you dig your own little shallow hole don't you
10:16
yeah absolutely it's completely free it's just a natural the ice cream man is
10:20
back again go away go away.
10:23
You know this is this is the trick of the train i hope the windows get fresh
10:27
air and what does he do get all the traffic outside sorry about that everybody
10:30
yeah yeah so meanwhile back in the,
10:33
hole yeah hot water beat yeah just just absolutely so yeah you you know you can dig your own little,
10:37
the idea is you dig it close to the water so when the water comes in the natural
10:40
hot springs under the sand heat
10:42
it so it's like you know natural bath that's right but just absolutely incredible
10:45
to things now that's on coromandel coromandel yeah that's right yeah it's a
10:48
holiday playground isn't it it is yeah and the coromandel again some of the
10:53
most beautiful beaches we ever see and
10:55
we talk about that side of the world and australia gets a lot of plaudits for
10:58
its beaches which quite rightly so you know the likes of white haven beach yeah but honestly,
11:03
hand on my heart there's some beaches in new zealand that would rival some of
11:06
those of white haven beach i think white sand beaches but and they're not very
11:10
busy there's so many different beaches there they're just um
11:13
so relaxed i think you're dead dead right there and just going down on the right
11:17
hand side of the coast there we're up to napier yeah yeah and we're talking wine now, aren't we?
11:22
Yes. Always talking wine in New Zealand, so everywhere you go,
11:25
you know, so you can, you can pretty much travel the whole length of the country
11:28
and you know, you're not far from a vineyard.
11:29
Um, but you know, you've got the likes of Wahiki Island, which is just off of Auckland.
11:33
I don't actually ever got there, Ken, but that's, that's a number one.
11:36
When anybody's arriving into New Zealand and spending a few days in Auckland,
11:40
they have to go to Wahiki Island. It's a 45 minute ferry journey where it's
11:44
not a small island, there's, you know, taxes, there's rental cars,
11:46
there's mopeds that you can hire, there's bus services.
11:49
Incredible beaches, but it's famous for its vineyards there.
11:52
So you can just go over for the day, do a few vineyards, get a little bit merry,
11:56
get the ferry back over. Get somebody else to drive. Yes, absolutely.
11:59
And get the ferry back to the city then. But there's plenty of accommodation
12:02
there, so you can spend a few nights.
12:04
Weekend breaks and that? Yeah, it gets you away. So when we lived there,
12:07
any excuse for engagements, birthdays, you name it, there was Wajiki. Yeah, so it's a great...
12:12
So again, it's just a bit of a hidden gem. If anybody takes anything away from
12:16
being here, just think if you are planning to go, So, Wahicke has to be on your
12:20
hit list fish, you are in Auckland.
12:21
All right. And then we're going to move further south and we're coming towards
12:23
Wellington. But again, vineyards just north of Wellington. Yeah,
12:26
absolutely. Like I said, I'm sorry, we didn't really talk about Napier.
12:30
Plenty in Napier. You know, Napier is absolutely stunning. It's a big,
12:33
obviously, it's a cruise port there as well.
12:35
But the Hawke's Bay region is, if you are looking at wine, in all these supermarkets,
12:39
you'll see many. Hawke's Bay? Hawke's Bay region. Yeah. Absolutely.
12:43
Obviously, you've got Wellington. And then just...
12:46
Over the cross, I know we'll talk about South Island in a minute,
12:48
you've got the Marlborough region, which is another, just because the climate
12:51
there is absolutely amazing. It's the sunniest part of New Zealand is Marlborough.
12:55
Oh, is that right? Yeah, so that's why the grapes kind of thrive there.
12:58
I miss that, but we were in Martynborough? Oh, yeah.
13:01
Just north of Wellington? Yes, north of Wellington. And that was full of vineyards there.
13:04
Correct. Some great vineyards in Martynborough as well. But like I say.
13:08
Wherever you go, and then obviously when you get to Otago, you've got central
13:12
Otago wines, which are also just as popular. So, yeah, if you are a big,
13:16
you know, if you are into your wines, New Zealand's just an absolutely incredible place.
13:19
Now, my show is all about, today is all about travel, and we're in the,
13:23
going into the South Island, New Zealand.
13:25
And my good friend here, Luke, is going to tell us all about it as an ex-New Zealander.
13:30
So, what's on the South Island for us? So, I mean, generally speaking,
13:34
when you get to Wellington, obviously the capital city, spend a couple of days
13:37
there, you're going to head to the South Island from there.
13:39
Again, as I mentioned before, there's no right or wrong way of doing it.
13:41
This is just hypothetically how I would recommend people doing it.
13:44
But, yeah, to get across to the South Island, there's a couple of options you can do.
13:48
The most popular way is on the Cook Strait, which is a ferry crossing across
13:52
there, which takes about three hours.
13:53
So if you're travelling around New Zealand on a motorhome, by car,
13:57
or even if you're by foot, there's different options you can do to get across
14:01
the Cook Strait on the ferry.
14:02
Now, here's one for you. At one time, you could take the car on the ferry.
14:05
Then they said, no, you can't. You've got to drop your hire car in Wellington,
14:08
pick the new one up in Picton.
14:10
Is that still the same? No, it's not. You can take them over now.
14:13
Right. So you can do the camper vans and you can take your cars over now.
14:15
So it saves a little bit of admin rather than dropping cars off,
14:19
picking them back up again. Okay, and just a little tip, make sure you get a nice, calm day.
14:24
Yes. Yeah, the cook's rate is notorious because, I mean, Welly is.
14:28
Again, notoriously known as Windy Wellington. It is. Windy Welly, so it can get very windy.
14:32
On certain days it can be quiet, yeah, if you get seasick, not the most ideal.
14:36
But a lot of people, you know, these are the options you can fly.
14:39
So, you know, you can fly from Wellington to Nelson, which is the closest kind
14:42
of major city in the top of the North Island.
14:44
And you know make it the south island yes yes sorry yes sorry and,
14:49
it's yeah and it's 45 minute flies you know so maybe just a little bit less
14:52
than that so these are a couple of options for you but if you do arrive by the
14:56
cook straight sorry by the ferry across the cook straight you're welcome by
14:59
the marlborough sounds when you arrive which is a,
15:02
stunning arrival when you get in there and more wine into picton yes so the
15:06
wine region and you know that you can i've done a couple of now whereas um you
15:09
do a wine cruise around the uh it was kind of wine and cheese cruise so you
15:13
You jump on a boat and they take you through the Marlborough Sounds.
15:15
You're trying all different Marlborough wines. Oh, wow. The problem is you never
15:18
remember getting off that cruise.
15:21
But you do remember days later. Yes, I do. It's absolutely stunning.
15:25
But, you know, it's a great, beautiful park. So I'd always recommend staying
15:28
there. But the top of the North Island is also home of the Abel Tasman National Park.
15:33
Yes, I had people go around there and canoeing as well up there.
15:37
So, again, Kiwis with their creative words, they go out and see something called,
15:42
split apple rock. And it's a rock that looks like an apple that's been split down the middle.
15:46
Extremely popular but the idea is you kayak out to split apple rock from abel
15:50
taslam national park but
15:52
honest when we talk about stunning beaches that is up there with some of the
15:54
best in new zealand yeah absolutely stunning but so
15:57
definitely worth it's a great part of new zealand definitely worth spending
16:00
a few nights now we didn't mention but on the north and south and there are
16:04
treks aren't there oh there's treks all over yeah so what's the word for trekking in new zealand.
16:11
Yeah i wouldn't know it's my maori i need to brush up on my maori a little bit,
16:16
I was going to say tramping.
16:18
Yeah, tramping's a... It's the word they use over there. It's the word,
16:21
you're quite right. It is tramping. But it's a case of hiking,
16:24
tramping, trekking. Which one is it? It's all the same. Yeah,
16:27
it's all the same. And if you are into active holidays, then New Zealand's one
16:31
of the best places in the world to do it.
16:32
In the North Island, you've got the Tongarero Crossing, which takes about...
16:37
It's like an all-day trek across active volcanoes.
16:42
So you see a lot of steam coming up from a lot of them.
16:45
But you know some of the colours of the lakes when you see it there so it is
16:48
quite advanced but again no matter what kind of trekking or tramping or what
16:51
you want to do sure there's different treks for different abilities you know
16:55
and that's the beauty of the news well i did the
16:57
milford trek that was a five-day one in my day 400 pounds but it's about over a thousand yeah,
17:02
inflation yeah that's for the south which we'll come to in a minute uh in the
17:06
meantime i'm going to get one of these young lady lads to make some work on
17:10
here so we're going to go to hopefully if i get this teed up right,
17:14
we're going to go to the weather.
17:19
Radio Walthy Weather. So this afternoon will be mainly dry, with sunny spells and patchy cloud.
17:27
It will turn overcast, with some spots of light rain developing towards the evening.
17:31
Overall, it will be breezy, with a high of 23 centigrade.
17:35
Tonight will remain largely cloudy and breezy, with occasional spells of light
17:38
rain moving in from the west.
17:40
The odd clear break cannot be ruled out. Overall, a very mild night,
17:43
with a low of 15 centigrade.
17:45
So then on Wednesday, which is tomorrow, the morning will be generally cloudy
17:48
with some spells of rain still pushing eastwards.
17:52
However, the afternoon will become largely dry with sunny spells breaking through at times.
17:57
It will be staying breezy with a high of 22 centigrade and a low of 15 centigrade.
18:02
And then for Thursday through till Saturday, so Thursday, there should be some
18:06
variable clouds, sunny spells and a few light showers in spots.
18:10
It will be windier in the evening and overnight into Friday with rain edging in from the west.
18:15
It'll be breezy with blustery showers on Friday morning. These are raising by the evening.
18:19
It'll be cloudy with the odd shower on Saturday morning, then turning dry and
18:23
sunny late into the day with a high of 24 centigrade and low of 15 centigrade.
18:31
Myerson Solicitors, recognised as a top 200 UK law firm, Myerson are expert
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18:41
You may know them as the building with the Manchester Bee. For more details, visit myerson.co.uk.
18:50
Yeah, Myerson's one of our main sponsors. Thank you, Myerson.
18:53
Great barbecue we went to last
18:55
week and was there with Pete and several other people from Radio Alty.
18:59
Now, if you fancy coming on the show and you might be, say, doing media studies,
19:04
please contact Radio Alty and we'll try and accommodate you.
19:08
And today I've got two guests in and you can both say hello again, aren't you?
19:11
So, who are you? I'm Emily. All right, Emily. And where are you from?
19:15
Flickston, Manchester. And what year are you in at school? I'm in year 10.
19:19
Oh, right. Okay. And studying?
19:22
Drama, sociology, French and history. Well, you come to the right place,
19:25
the Garrick Theatre, haven't you? Yeah, of course. Have you done behind the
19:27
scenes tour? Yeah, I've been on a tour.
19:29
I've been in the workshop this morning and I've been in the box office.
19:34
Oh yeah, the box office. How are sales this week?
19:37
Good oh right good glad you said that and adam where are you studying so i'm
19:42
in year 12 uh studying at saint ambrose college in uh in hell barnes do you like it
19:47
yeah yes it's all right you live local and take it i live more like in like
19:51
the timperly sale sort of area yeah so yeah relatively local you commute do you
19:55
oh it's only like a 10 minute bus right oh that's dead easy yeah it's not bad
19:58
so are you in the same year still again then no,
20:01
one year yeah and 12 okay so you're leaving next year are you?
20:05
Yeah, so year 13 I'll do my levels and then I'll leave and hopefully go to university.
20:10
Where are you after? Do you know?
20:11
I'm after, my main one is the University of Sheffield. Why Sheffield?
20:16
Well, I look at it and I mean it's the number one ranked university for journalism
20:21
in the country and that's what I'm hoping to pursue.
20:24
Yeah, like I was saying it's media studies and you do media studies as well,
20:28
just drama? Yeah. That's dramatic anyway.
20:31
Always dramatic. Yeah. Have you been on stage? Yeah, I do drama in school and
20:36
out of school As in, you're a thespian then?
20:39
Yes What's your favourite characters, parts?
20:43
Well, we're doing Legally Blonde at the moment Say again? Legally Blonde Oh,
20:47
Legally Blonde, got it Yeah, yeah, yeah, sorry Oh, that t-shirt that's right
20:50
in front of me says Legally Blonde That one, yeah, I missed it,
20:52
sorry I've done that twice, I've done that at school And now I'm doing it out
20:55
of school Yeah So I'm playing Warner,
20:57
Who is the bad man.
21:01
Because there's only two boys in our drama school. So we've kind of got to play
21:04
around a bit. But it's going well. Adam, you could join their drama class.
21:10
He's gone red. No, no, it's still a lot. Is that right? Yeah.
21:14
So you enjoy it, obviously. All right. Meanwhile, back with the main guest,
21:17
who I'm not ignoring, but he's involving himself, Luke. And Luke,
21:21
we're on South Island. Yeah, South Island. Did you ever do drama at school?
21:26
I don't think I did. I think we might have done it in early high school,
21:29
I think. Yeah. Yeah, I was never very good at it. No, I think,
21:31
thank you very much. No, thank you. Yeah, that's all. Yeah, so yeah.
21:34
So meanwhile, back on South Island, I'd say.
21:36
Yeah, so like I say, I mean, top of the South Island, absolutely stunning.
21:40
And then from there, obviously, you're going to be heading kind of south of
21:42
the South Island. And you've probably got a couple of different routes that
21:45
you can do. You know, you could go down the East Coast, you can go down the West Coast.
21:49
My preference would be always head down the West Coast, just because that way
21:53
you get to see the likes of Blenheim, which is stunning. but then you've got
21:56
Kaikura, which is just absolutely beautiful.
22:00
And Kaikura, actually, in Bauri, means to eat crayfish or to eat lobster.
22:05
I knew that. You knew that, didn't you? I knew you knew that.
22:09
So, you know, absolutely stunning food there. But obviously the main draw of
22:13
Kaikura is the whale watching and the dolphin safaris and everything there.
22:18
Exactly right. Yeah, which is absolutely stunning. So definitely worth spending a night or two.
22:22
The backdrop of Kaikura is stunning. It's all coastal, but then you've got the
22:25
backdrop of all the Southern Alps as well.
22:28
Yeah, I think they don't say the word guarantee, but the whales are there year
22:31
round, dolphins, that sort of thing.
22:33
Absolutely, yeah. You know, you're very unlucky not to see dolphins,
22:36
whales at any time of year, really.
22:39
So then you make your way down to Christchurch, is it? Yeah,
22:41
so Christchurch, and I always say you probably should finish in Christchurch.
22:44
So if you do get to Christchurch this time, no, I wouldn't spend too much time
22:48
there, but I would only head there so you could head across the river.
22:52
Yes, so you used the Transalpine across Arthur's Pass. Done it.
22:55
Yeah, and to this day, I'd probably say it's probably the most beautiful drive
23:00
I've ever done anywhere in the world, driving Arthur's Pass.
23:02
And like I said, there is a train journey you can do if you're not driving.
23:06
And Arthur's Pass is a trek as well, when you get there. Yeah,
23:08
you can do treks there as well, which is, you know, it is just absolutely stunning.
23:12
And it only takes about two or three hours to drive.
23:15
Same for the train journey. The train journey is not like a Rocky Mountaineer
23:19
or anything like that. It's not, you know, you don't, it's just a three-hour
23:22
pretty much public train journey. But it is scenic. But it's scenic.
23:25
It's absolutely beautiful. It's one of those beautiful train journeys.
23:28
Yeah. I think the only stop is Arthur's Pass, isn't it, if I remember correctly?
23:31
Yeah, the stop, yeah. And then there's like Lake Brunner just before it gets to Greymouth.
23:36
And you can, a lot of people, I mean, I apologize if there's a chance of anyone
23:40
from Greymouth that is listening. I know what you're going to say.
23:42
Yeah, there's not a lot to do in Greymouth apart from leave.
23:45
I think a lot of people...
23:46
Exactly what I would have said there. It's a car park with a station.
23:51
Sorry and apologies to anybody in Greymouth Yes Let me credit,
23:55
it's a nice jumping off point Correct, absolutely And the beauty of it is,
23:59
again, if you're driving there You're not going to stop in Greymouth You're
24:02
going to head down the coast then towards Franz Josef And the glacier country.
24:07
Puntacaica It's the rocks above each other.
24:13
And I think you go north of Greymouth to get there and then come south.
24:16
You do, and then come south. So again, if you were doing the opposite way,
24:19
if you wasn't going down Kaikoura, then you could head from the top of the North
24:23
Island down the West Coast, yeah, and then you obviously get to see them as well.
24:26
That's it, yeah. You can go up and down. But like I say, I do keep reiterating,
24:30
there's no right or wrong way to see it.
24:31
It's whatever you see, but this is just my preference just because I want people
24:35
to experience Arthur's past because it is so stunning, and Kaikoura is just
24:39
breathtaking for me as well.
24:40
Exactly right. Right. Now we went to Franz Joseph and we did the glacier walk.
24:46
I'm going to call it walk because you had to climb onto the glacier,
24:48
which has retreated about a mile inland, hasn't it? It's a real shame because
24:52
you're quite right. So the first time when I did my backpacking like many years ago. Yes.
24:57
Yeah. So when I was in my early twenties, I did the same. Oh,
25:01
a couple of years ago. Yeah, a couple of years ago.
25:04
We hiked all the way up to the top of the glacier, went through ice caves.
25:08
It was just absolutely stunning.
25:09
Unfortunately, the only way of getting to that top of that glacier is now by helicopter. Oh, wow.
25:13
Because it's been treated so much. Since I've been.
25:16
Yeah, so it's melted so much. So you can only do that by, but it still doesn't
25:20
take anything away. Obviously, you get helicopter ride now. Sure. It takes you to the top.
25:24
The top of the glacier is still absolutely fine. You've still got your ice caves.
25:27
You've still got your pickaxes. You can still do walks and things like that.
25:30
Yeah, we flew from top of Mount Cook in a single-engine aircraft and helicoptered back off again.
25:37
Brilliant, brilliant trip. But when you're coming down the west coast now,
25:41
this is one of the wettest coasts, isn't it? Yeah, because obviously the water
25:45
comes across the town, Trans-Tasman.
25:47
And you go across one of the passes to get across to the central area, don't you?
25:52
And the name's escaped me, sorry. Yeah, so you might be thinking of Lake Tekapo.
25:57
In that way. So, yeah, so you can, it's kind of hard to get there straight across.
26:02
So, generally speaking, you head down to like Wanaka. Wanaka is the place we
26:06
came out of. Correct, yeah. So, Wanaka's stunning. And, you know,
26:09
if people have been to New Zealand or have been researching,
26:11
you've probably heard of Queenstown.
26:14
Well, that's the point where people with adventure go.
26:18
It's the adventure capital of the world. How to kill yourself in 32 different ways.
26:21
Yes, honest. And it is, you know, it's one of my favourite places I've ever been to.
26:25
And I've, one of the jobs I had in New Zealand, their head office was in Queenstown.
26:28
So I used to go down, you know, twice, two or three times a month.
26:32
I told you you were on holiday. I know, honestly. And no matter how many times
26:36
I went there, I just never got bored of it. Because again, you've got the Remarkables
26:40
mountains surrounding you.
26:41
It looks like every time you look out your hotel window, it looks like it's
26:44
a screensaver on a laptop.
26:45
Or it looks like a podium. It doesn't look real. You're thinking that's just
26:48
a backdrop. Yeah. It's just breathtaking. But every night it's a Saturday night.
26:52
And I don't mean that in the party sense. I just mean that all the restaurants
26:54
are bustling, no matter what time of year it is, what day of the week it is.
26:58
But as you mentioned, the adventure capital of the world, bungees,
27:01
skydives, jet boats. Is it J.R. Hackett or Hackett anyway?
27:06
A.J. Hackett. And who had initials. He chucked himself off with a rope.
27:09
Yeah, the world's first bungee, yes.
27:11
That's him. That's right. So that's where Bungee Jump was invented, A.J. Hackett.
27:15
And they're still very much the number one when it comes in.
27:18
They've got a few different, they've got bungees, they've got swings,
27:20
they've got a couple of different bungees around New Zealand.
27:22
As I say, 30 ways to kill yourself. Yeah, that's it. If you really want to.
27:26
And believe it or not, you know, my mum came over to see me when she was 60.
27:30
My mum's not adventurous at all. She doesn't drive on the motorway.
27:33
But when she was in New Zealand, she decided to do a paraglide off a mountain.
27:36
Whoa. And it was 10 o'clock in the morning. There was no wine involved.
27:41
But it's just to kind of say, when you do get there, you get kind of incipitated
27:44
in this sense of adventure when you're in Queenstown. So if you are listening
27:47
to this and you're thinking, oh, not for me, I wouldn't do it.
27:49
You do, don't you? Well, I'll just come back from the trip around the Caribbean,
27:53
which I'll use on another program.
27:54
11 ziplines I did. What? I don't do that here. So, yeah, but moving on,
27:59
uh, Dunedin is coming up.
28:01
You've got Dunedin. I think I can't talk about that area. Cause I was,
28:04
Wanaka's kind of just over the crown range.
28:07
It's beautiful, beautiful as Queenstown, but it's just not as busy.
28:11
It's a little bit quiet. So you can take your foot off the gas,
28:14
you know, you can enjoy a few nice restaurants and whatnot, but
28:17
I can't talk about that area of New Zealand without talking about Fjordland,
28:21
obviously the likes of Milford Sound.
28:23
The walk I did for five days. Yes, correct. Absolutely brilliant.
28:26
And then you end up in Milford Sound, which is a huge fjord.
28:29
And it's the waterfalls. Yeah. And they say that there's never a bad day to
28:34
see Milford Sound because if you see it on a sunny day, you see the peaks of
28:38
the mountains. If you see it on a rainy day, that's when tens of thousands of waterfalls come alive.
28:43
Even if you see it on a cloudy day, it's very moody and serene.
28:46
So, you know, there's never a bad day to see Milford Sound. It sounds like you
28:49
work for a holiday company. No, no, I shouldn't do, shouldn't I?
28:51
Yeah, I shouldn't work for a holiday company. Would it be Anne's Crow?
28:54
But, you know, Milford Sound is stunning. You're listening to Ken Garrity and
28:58
I've got my great friend here, Luke, from Anne's Crow Holidays.
29:01
And we're going to jump islands now. We're off from New Zealand to Fiji, aren't we, Luke?
29:05
Yeah, so it's another place that's close to my heart. You know,
29:07
again, I was lucky enough to work for a Fiji operator for three years while we were in New Zealand.
29:12
So I used to go about nine times a year to Fiji. Another paid holiday.
29:16
I know, another paid holiday. And like, you know, obviously I'm very lucky with
29:18
my job at the minute because I'll get to talk about countries that I absolutely love.
29:22
But I'd probably say it was the best job I ever had. You know,
29:24
it was hosting travel agents up to Fiji, just making sure they have a great
29:28
time up there and travelling around the different islands. Sorry,
29:31
you might get lost in the post. Yeah, must have. You never got one?
29:33
No, the postman came back with a suntan though.
29:37
But yeah, listen, Fiji is just one of them places that, you know,
29:40
it is, again, it's stunning, absolutely beautiful when you're there.
29:43
But the main drawcard for it is the people.
29:47
You will never meet nicer people in the world unless you go to Fiji and it's
29:51
absolutely stunning. We see, you know, it's a long way to travel from here. You know, we...
29:55
Historically we didn't see a huge demand of people wanting to travel to the
29:58
south pacific islands from the uk however we are seeing an increase of that
30:02
hence we've brought out a dedicated south pacific brochure well it's strange
30:06
enough i've got south pacific,
30:08
booking holidays 2026 2027 with with maps and tips and ideas which you can get
30:14
from me ken garrick travel or your local independent travel agent but i'm just
30:18
looking at the map which is the one that i used to use well,
30:22
I still use it and you go to the west coast don't you or Fiji yeah that's right
30:26
so you find the main obviously,
30:29
the main airport in Fiji would be Nandi which is fine in there but you know
30:33
Fiji has got many islands would you like to hazard a guess how many islands 400 not far off,
30:39
I know not far off 333 islands well I did the test but I always added a bit
30:43
more on yeah I had a bit of VAT on there yeah,
30:46
well the Philippines was 7000 suddenly became 7400 what.
30:51
And, you know, obviously not all of them habitable islands, but you know,
30:54
Nandy would be the first and listen, a lot of people just say,
30:58
oh, I might fly into Nandy and book a local, a very cheap hotel.
31:02
I wouldn't recommend that all. You use it as, you know, you arrive into Nandy
31:05
and you want to get away from Nandy as soon as possible, in my opinion.
31:09
The beauty of Fiji, it's not just for your honeymooners. You know,
31:13
it's not just for your families.
31:15
It's for anybody, whatever you're into. So whether you're into adventure,
31:19
you know, I've done jet boating down the Sigatoka River in Fiji.
31:23
No, I've done zip lines through the forests and the jungles in Fiji.
31:27
I can do that. You can do that. You're an expert in zip lines as well.
31:29
So again, Fiji is just one of the places.
31:31
But if you do have honeymooners, or you are a honeymoon couple that do want
31:34
to go, you can go onto the islands. And there's so many different islands.
31:38
And you've got the Mamanutha group of islands, which you can see on the map there.
31:42
I'm actually looking at them now, yes, just off the west coast. Correct, yep.
31:46
And then you've got the Yasawa Islands, which if you look just a bit further
31:50
north, they're my favourite islands of Fiji.
31:53
So there's a few different ways you can experience them islands.
31:56
Is that because they're slightly remote? Yes, correct. Off the beaten track?
31:59
They're not as commercialised, but I just feel like the true Fijian people obviously
32:03
are on there as well. And the resorts on there, they range for anything from,
32:07
I mean, there's some bloody backpacker resorts on there.
32:10
There's also then these five-star luxury that you can get up there as well.
32:13
So whatever your budget is, there's something for you. They will accommodate you. Absolutely.
32:19
Off the top of my head, three, three and a half hours out of Australia,
32:21
three hours north of New Zealand?
32:23
Yeah, so you can actually, if you get a good tailwind, you can do it in about,
32:26
two hours, 20 minutes from Auckland. Right. However, generally speaking,
32:30
you're looking at about three hours from Auckland and then you're looking at
32:33
about four hours from Sydney, give you a rough idea. Yeah.
32:36
And obviously depending on which part you go from Australia.
32:38
But it's a great add-on as well. If you are thinking of going to Australia and New Zealand...
32:44
It's a great opportunity to think, well, on the way home, why don't I do Fiji?
32:48
Because you can build a fair with Singapore Airlines, which do stop in Fiji
32:52
on the way back to Singapore, and then obviously on back to Manchester,
32:55
which would be... Oh, that's a great combination.
32:56
Yeah, so it's a great combination to do. And it is more than just a stopover
33:00
destination, if I'm being honest. But if you are doing a three or four-week
33:03
tour of New Zealand, why not add a week on the way home? Let's have a week on the beach.
33:07
I'm just going to say to you there, you've got a fantastic range of hotels.
33:10
They've got Outrigger, Crown Plazas, Fiji Gateway Hotels. Any preferences in those?
33:16
No, I mean, again, it all depends. Quite a few of them will be on the mainland.
33:20
So you've got a place called Denerau Island.
33:23
So Denerau Island, that's where your big famous hotels are.
33:27
You've got your Hilton's, your Sheraton's, your Radisson's and whatnot.
33:30
But if you are going with a family, this is probably where I would look,
33:34
either that or down on the Coral Coast, which I can talk about in a moment.
33:36
But Denerau is great because it's all you don't really have a beach the beach
33:41
there is man-made it's not the greatest beach in the world but.
33:44
They compensate that with having fabulous swimming pools, like huge,
33:48
you know, some of the places have got multiple swim pools. Sure.
33:51
And good restaurants and things. And the transfer from the airport is very quick, isn't it?
33:54
Yeah, very quick, yeah. So you're only talking about 20 minutes from to get
33:57
to Denarao. But Denarao is where the port is as well, so that's where you can
34:00
get onto the Mamunutha or the Yasawa Islands from there. Right, okay.
34:04
So I'm learning a bit more of Fiji. I've sold many people there.
34:07
And in the olden days, it used to be on part of the round-the-world trips.
34:11
Yeah. You built in on the 29,000 miles. I did when my backpacking days.
34:14
Was it? Yeah, it was, absolutely. And people still want to know if you can do
34:17
that. Yes, you can. You can still do your round-the-wheels with,
34:19
was up to eight stopovers at one time.
34:21
Rules do change, but that's the way you could do it. Up to Hawaii,
34:24
across to LA, San Francisco, and that way around. So, yeah.
34:27
So, Fiji, great stopping-off point, great holiday destination.
34:30
Great holiday destination. Absolutely stunning place, yeah. And you've also
34:33
been further north, have you, to Society Islands and Cook Islands?
34:36
I've been to the Cook Islands, yeah.
34:38
So, yeah, I spent a couple of Christmases there, actually, in the Cook Islands. As you do.
34:43
Which was interesting. But Cook Islands, again, is very, very different to the
34:47
likes of Fiji. You know, as I mentioned, you know, Fiji kind of caters for all
34:50
different markets, adventure, honeymooners, families.
34:53
Whereas Cook Islands is a little bit more laid back. You know,
34:56
you've got the main island, which is Rarotonga.
34:58
And you can stay all, it's all coastal. So pretty much where you're going to
35:02
stay on the Cook Islands is all around the kind of, around the edge of the island.
35:07
So it doesn't really matter where you stay, different properties,
35:09
different, you know, different ratings.
35:13
And then you've got Atataki, which you can see is the island a little bit further
35:16
north. So Atataki is where you've got your incredible lagoons.
35:19
This is for your more honeymooners.
35:21
This is where you're going to be stretching the budget to get pure luxury on an incredible lagoon.
35:26
So Rarotonga is absolutely incredible. Again, you've got anything from three-star
35:30
to five-star. You don't get any, there's no McDonald's, there's no Burger Kings.
35:34
It's very- It's a blessing, isn't it? It is an absolute blessing there.
35:38
And, you know, what I love about Rarotonga is there's two buses that operate all day.
35:44
One of them says clockwise, the other says anticlockwise.
35:47
And they just go around the island and there's no bus stops.
35:50
If you want the bus, you wave to the driver, he stops wherever you are,
35:52
you jump on it and he drops you back.
35:54
Your personal bus? Yeah, your own personal bus, so yeah, it's pretty amazing.
35:58
That question, and there's a line through the middle between those two islands,
36:01
would that be the international dateline by any chance, or is that...
36:04
No, it's not. Just a line you've drawn there. I mean, the thing is,
36:08
when you do go to the Cook Islands, you do cross over at an international dateline, though.
36:12
That's what I'm trying to say, yeah. You kind of miss a day, you go back in time.
36:16
Exactly what I was trying to... When you come back, you miss a day.
36:17
That's the one. So you've got to be very careful with your airline,
36:20
with your hotel, that you don't book the wrong dates either side.
36:23
Absolutely. Day too early, day too late. Yeah, absolutely. But listen,
36:26
again, you speak of, you know, growing up in the UK, we talk about Fiji and
36:31
the Cook Islands and these places that we only dream of going.
36:34
But, you know, they are more accessible than ever now and there's different
36:37
ways that you can get there. And, you know, we are seen.
36:39
We're back in the Pacific and I'm with my great friend here, Luke.
36:43
And we're all talking about, well, actually, we were literally talking about
36:46
all things Yorkshire there. He's going back to Yorkshire next week to replenish his accent.
36:50
But we're going to move further north in the Pacific. but you're going to French Polynesia.
36:53
Have you been yet, or do you know all about it? No, I've been all,
36:56
unfortunately, it's one of the places I didn't get to when I was over there,
36:59
which I should have done.
36:59
But again, the door's always open. It's still on the bucket list.
37:02
But I did, you know, when I worked at a travel agency, I did used to sell quite
37:05
a lot of it because, as you can imagine, very popular for the New Zealand market
37:08
for people going to honeymoons and whatnot.
37:10
So I don't know it quite well. But also the UK market is getting to know the
37:14
word Tahiti, French Polynesia, and you can get there through,
37:18
well, I would say over LA is probably the way to go around it.
37:21
That's probably the best way, yeah, coming from stateside, from L.A.,
37:24
But yeah, you're quite right. You know, people refer to it as Tahiti and they
37:28
often think of it as kind of one island, but the actual correct way is it's the islands of Tahiti.
37:34
And French Polynesia, again, I think it's 115 different islands,
37:38
but the most famous of them, obviously, Tahiti, Morea and Bora Bora.
37:43
Which is, you know, I'm sure people have always heard of previously.
37:46
And, you know, Tahiti, again, Papita is obviously where you fly into. That's the main port.
37:51
And it is beautiful. again you know if you if you are looking to head to,
37:55
tahiti on a budget you kind of stay around papita there's a couple of nice beaches
37:58
there's a lot of greenery a lot of forestry i mean you can certainly do it on
38:01
a bit of a budget and again you've got hotels there yes absolutely,
38:05
a few different hotels in there which again you know in the brochure it's heavily
38:09
focused obviously fiji cook islands but the
38:11
tahiti is the other one with heavily features in our brochure yeah i think the
38:15
the actual photos sell it yes absolutely and to be honest the photos don't always
38:19
do it justice as well you know we try to do it but you know until you actually
38:22
see him in in person lots of overwater bungalows yeah in fact this,
38:26
is quite reminiscent apart from the mountains of the maldives yeah the overwater
38:31
bungalows bungalows so i think that's well they claim it the boroboros they
38:35
were they were the first people to invent overwater bungalows oh seriously right so but yes yeah.
38:41
There we go but you've obviously got you know the two two main islands of you
38:44
know kind of off of tahiti you're talking about morea and borobora and,
38:49
So Marea is, you still get your beautiful lagoon. It's a little bit more green.
38:53
It's still very volcanic.
38:55
But if you are looking again to do something on a bit more of a budget,
38:58
Marea seems to be more appealing because you can get from Papite by boat to Marea.
39:04
However, to get to Bora, you have to do a seaplane. You don't have to paddle
39:08
your own canoe though. You unfortunately can't do that.
39:11
That would save you a few quid if you could do it, but unfortunately not.
39:14
But you know, Bora, Bora again, you know, is absolutely stunning.
39:17
It's called the jewel of the south pacific i think they call that's its nickname for bora bora and
39:22
quite rightly so you see on obviously you know you'll need to google images
39:26
and you can see just how special bora bora is but
39:28
you know if you again if you are thinking of something special for a honeymoon
39:31
or you are looking to head that kind of the world then bora bora should be on
39:34
your list but if you you know again budget wise morea.
39:38
Is just as beautiful you know we used to sell quite a lot of morea because when
39:43
you compare the two pricing for bora bora and morea yeah there's still plenty
39:46
of beautiful lagoons and beaches in maria and
39:49
sometimes a little bit more to do if you're into a bit more adventure four by
39:52
four adventures you can do that in maria
39:54
so you can sort of get off the beaten track a little bit and have a bit of adventure
39:57
when you're there as well well
39:58
we've been around the pacific we are just a new zealand we didn't touch australia
40:02
this time but obviously i'm going to ask you to come back to australia absolutely
40:06
but also one thing uh in your brochure it's called the south pacific book 2026 2027
40:11
hands crow we've got fly drives and very easily to do in New Zealand,
40:15
because once you're outside of Auckland, there's nothing on the road.
40:18
Correct. Yeah. Yes, absolutely. Yeah, that's the beauty of, you know,
40:21
especially being in New Zealand, it's once you leave the main cities,
40:25
you're just thinking, where is everybody? And you've got, you know,
40:27
there's no boring drive in New Zealand. We say this every turn that you do,
40:31
a gorge, a waterfall, a mountain.
40:33
And now I get used to being on the M62 for three hours. It's not quite the same,
40:37
is it? And that's just between Junction 19 and 18. Correct, yeah, yeah.
40:41
So Luke, can I say thank you so much? And I've just kept you past your time.
40:45
But we'll ask you back. It's been a pleasure.
40:48
Despite your protesting. No, no, listen, I'd be more than happy to come back.
40:51
And like I say, I could talk till the cows come home about these countries.
40:54
So it's been a pleasure as always.