Travel | Transfercar Blog

Annoying animals across the globe

This is an interesting article from Stuff.co.nz and one I would love to hear more about from Transfercar’s readers and drivers. Post your comments here or on Facebook and tell us what your craziest/scariest or just weirdest animal experience was while travelling!

cute squirrels “Aw, isn’t it cute?”

That, right there, is the officially accepted response to any animal contact the world over. Animals are cute. They’re there to be photographed, adored, and occasionally fed.

But you know what? Not all animals are cute, or adorable, or even nice. Some of them are a rank pain in the butt.

When you travel, you come into contact with all sorts of animals you never even dreamed existed. Some of them are amazing creatures that you’ll be telling friends about for the rest of your life.

Some of them just annoy the hell out of you.

Read the full article here……..

Interesting facts about Australia: The Lucky Country

Just something of interest about one of the nations Transfercar operates out of…..

The Lucky Country
Australia has long been known as the lucky country. This is not surprising when you learn it is the world’s largest iron ore exporter and largest producer of bauxite and alumina. Australia also has the world’s largest deposits of silver, zinc, zircon and easily extracted uranium (over 40% of world resources). It also has about 10 percent of the world’s gold resources.

How Big is Australia?
Australia is the word’s smallest continent and the world’s sixth largest country. Australia covers an area of 7,686,900 square kilometres. That’s slightly smaller than the United States mainland which is 7,827,848 square kilometres (does not include Hawaii and Alaska).

Natural Hazards
Australia’s main natural hazards are cyclones (hurricanes), drought and forest fires. The biggest killer of all has been heatwaves.

World’s Biggest Crocodiles

The tropical north of Australia is home to the world’s largest species of crocodile, the salt water crocodile. These creatures are protected in Australia. Males can occasionally grow to lengths of over 6 metres (20 feet). Each year one or two people are eaten by crocodiles in Australia. aligator

Temperatures

Australia’s highest temperature, 51 degrees C (123 degrees F), was recorded at Oodnadatta, South Australia in 1960. The lowest temperature was minus 23 degrees C (minus 9 degrees F) measured high in the mountains at Charlotte Pass, New South Wales.

Biggest State

Western Australia is the biggest Australian state and covers one third of the continent. Its total area is over 2.5 million square kilometers. That makes it 3.6 times bigger than Texas, 4.6 times bigger than France and 11 times bigger than the UK. It’s an interesting fact that, despite its large size, Western Australia is home to only around two million people.

Information retrieved from australiafacts.org

Tourism NZ tells Aussies “what’s ours is yours”

aereoinsilouette “What’s ours is yours” is the latest advertising campaign currently running across the ditch in a bid to entice Australian holiday makers.

It is a joint campaign between Tourism New Zealand and Pacific Blue will see Australians offered discounted airfares and travel packages through television and print advertising.

Read the full story: TV3 News

Your guide to travelling on a budget

Even on a limited budget, you can still have a great holiday with your friends or family. You just need to put a little extra thought into every dollar you plan to spend.

Here’s some tips that can guide you while planning a vacation without breaking the bank.

Go on a local holiday

Why not check out some of the local attractions. Sometimes some of the most beautiful places are right in your back yard. You don’t always need to go and book expensive plane tickets. Instead have a ‘staycation’. Go hiking, have a movie night or a barbeque with family and friends. Another great idea is to have night-time picnics: something that’s great on hot summer nights.

Take a road trip

Another example of an inexpensive family vacation is taking a campervan or car and going on a road trip. Here is where relocation vehicles such as Transfercar’s free rental car listings come in handy. They are free and often come with a tank of gas, insurance and ferry crossing if relevant.

Avoid peak seasons

If you’re set on going overseas you can still make vacationing on a budget possible by avoiding peak seasons. Most airlines usually have very high rates during particular months of the year, so you should refrain from booking flights during those times.

Book Early

You’re more likely to save money by booking flights and accommodation early.

Book Online

Often discounts and the best deals will be offered for booking online.

Subscribe

Subscribe to travel related newsletters or websites so that you know about sales before they happen. Often, you can sign up for promotional emails as well. If you sign up for these, the companies will email you with discounts and deals.

Package deals

Book your flights and hotels together. Package deals will save you money.

Fees

Make sure you keep an eye on extra fees when making bookings. More times than not, cheap deals will be compensated with extra fees.

Buy food at the supermarket

Avoid spending large amounts of money on takeaway food and use the best weight loss pills which help as natural appetite suppressants to avoid cravings and save money on food. Buying at the supermarket will not only save you money but will be much better for your health.

Happy and safe travelling!

Rugby World Cup Car Rental Fever

New Zealand Rental car companies have joined the multitude of Rugby World Cup hopefuls as the hype and anticipation of this global sporting event continues to rise.

With the RWC looming ever closer (9 September – 23 October 2011), rental car companies are pushing for customers to book cars and campervans early, touting the issue of lack of car availability due to the estimated 85,000 international visitors expected to arrive in New Zealand specifically for the event.

This is a good sign for Transfercar as many visitors are expected to travel around the country during this time with a number leaving their cars at major airport locations. These cars and campervans will need to be relocated back to their place of origin and we will be there ready to fulfill this need…..

For those interested, here’s the RWC schedule:

Auckland

09 September 2011 NZL – TGA
17 September 2011 AUS – IRE
24 September 2011 NZL – FRA
25 September 2011 FJI – SAM
01 October 2011 ENG – SCO
15 October 2011 WQ1 – WQ2
16 October 2011 WQ3 – WQ4
21 October 2011 LS1 – LS2
22 October 2011 WS1 – WS2

Christchurch

10 September 2011 ARG – ENG
11 September 2011 AUS – ITA
18 September 2011 ENG – EU1
25 September 2011 ARG – SCO
01 October 2011 AUS – EU2
08 October 2011 WPB –
09 October 2011 WPA – RUB

When it is actually ok to use a tourist bus

Regardless of what form of transport you use in New Zealand, there will always be areas where you can’t bike or drive a motorised vehicle. There is simply no other option than to hoof it. And that’s ok.

Take for example the Coromandel; it’s not possible to drive the full circle around the top of this peninsula. To the west from Coromandel Town the road heads North through Colville, along the Hauraki Gulf, and stops just past Port Jackson. To the east it curls its way up the Pacific coast to come to a halt at Stony Bay. In between lays the Garden of Eden: Cape Colville Park, a DOC owned sanctuary -to say the least- with a world renowned walking path that connects Stoney Bay with Port Jackson in a truly spectaculair manner.

Walking is good though, and fun-apparently. So this is not the problem.The problem is getting to these remote sanctuaries in one piece and good health.

Should you for example be renting a car during your holiday, getting up the Far North of the Coromandel is, to say the least, a bit challenging for the international and national out-of-towners. Not only are you usually not allowed to drive on gravel roads with your rental-from Colville on everything is gravel road-, in this particular case you would be in need of some serious four-wheel-drive-activity at times as well. Your rented 1.3L stationwagon is not going to be cute for this.

Not to mention that the roads themselves are quite……tricky. Imagine extremely small winding gravel roads going up and down steep hills with, just on the side of the road, sheer drops of hundreds of meters to ocean pounded rocks far, far below. And now imagine you and your rented sleeping-4-campervan creeping up these narrow roads. Not pretty.

So, what to do if you’re driving a no-go car or campervan? In this case, contact the Coromandel Strongman Coachlines, ask for the feisty sixty-something driver and co-owner Jocelyn with her big smile and even bigger wrap-around sunglasses to book you on one of their coaches going up the Far North. They have a regular service dropping people off at one end and picking them up at the other. And this type of service will be provided by others in many other remote areas throughout New Zealand as well.

Now, you might have to share a ride with the occasional corporate Aucklander out on a bonding weekend, but try to keep the bigger picture in mind while enduring this phenomena. Think of it as a mantra-hear the ‘hummmmmmmmmmmm….’ And here we go….Your doing this because: You can leave your precious rented car/campervan behind, enjoy the ride to and from safely, take as many photo’s on the way as your 64mb memory card can possibly store and, last but definitely not least, you don’t get into trouble with your rental company.

“hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm….everybody wins!”