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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not What I Expected, October 24, 2000
This review is from: Australia and New Zealand by Campervan And/or Car With Stopovers in the Cook Islands, Fiji, Hawaii, and Tahiti (Hardcover)
This is nice little book, but it is not at all what the description led me to believe it was and it is certainly not worth the cost. This is not a true guidebook at all. Rather, it is a very brief (only 128 pages total, with wide margins on all 4 sides of the page) account of the Hostrop's personal travel experiences with little tidbits of advice tossed in. I have visited Australia twice and am planning a third trip, which is why I purchased this book. It will not be of use to me in planning my next trip, nor do I believe it would have been especially useful in planning my previous trips, even though my last trip was made in part in a campervan. I also found the repeated urgings to make use of Newmans (a travel agency) a bit disconcerting. Was the Hostrops' trip underwritten by Newmans? My advice: spend your money on the Frommer's and Lonely Planet guides. They will be much more useful.
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Australia and New Zealand by Campervan And/or Car With Stopo, May 7, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Australia and New Zealand by Campervan And/or Car With Stopovers in the Cook Islands, Fiji, Hawaii, and Tahiti (Hardcover)
I bought this book before our trip to New Zealand to provide detailed/specifc information about using a Campervan to see New Zealand. We took the book with us and referred to it several times during our vacation there and found it to be neither helpful or accurate. Using a campervan to visit New Zealand had many serious considerations that I do not feel were adequately detailed in this very small, non detailed book. One of the funny things was that the book mentioned how patiently and how detailed the instructions would be by the campervan company. To the contrary was our experience, there was minimal information provided, just "You refuel here, the spare tire is here, you turn it on there. Any questions? No?, Well have a good day mate." Once out of the parking lot, the fun begain with trying to drive a stick shift situated on the "wrong" side of the vehicle and driving on the "wrong" side of the road. Had the book specified some of the problems associated with this, and the dangers, we would have had more realistic expectations. Since this book was a "Campervan" book, my expectations would be that the book would spend much more time on how to deal with such a "beast", as we came to consider our campervan. In addition, the book gushed about the great roads, which were not great once outside of Auckland, and the lack of graffetti and trash, which we saw much of in Auckland and even in the rural settings. Many other details mentioned in the book we found not be be the case. The various sites to see were not discussed in enough detail to be either intriging or edifying. This is not to discourage anyone from going to NZ, but I felt that the book did not cover the reality that a traveler meets. One would do much better with getting a general travel book of New Zealand, which be did, and use that for planning and executing his or her trip.
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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A "Must Book" for Adventurous Travelers, July 4, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Australia and New Zealand by Campervan And/or Car With Stopovers in the Cook Islands, Fiji, Hawaii, and Tahiti (Hardcover)
Though my wife and I had a general guide to Australia and New Zealand, surprisingly, we felt that the Hostrops' book gave all the sightseeing information needed as most sites also had their own detailed literature. We appreciated the emphasized suggested itinerary given which took us to the most important sites and to the excellent recommended lodgings and campgrounds. We also appreciated the excellent information on the "free" stopover islands. On the way over, we stopped in the Cook Islands and on the way back we stopped in Tahiti. This a gem of a book which goes to the heart of what independent travelers need for a most enjoyable journey to Australia and New Zealand. Highly recommended for independent travelers.
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