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Air New Zealand's New 'Koru Valet' Idea is a Little Crazy, a Little Genius

Maybe a former airline CEO can wash your car?

There's no doubt that Air New Zealand is always trying to think outside the box when it comes to keeping loyal customers and creating raving fans. Now, the Kiwi airline has added even more perks for hopping on one of their planes. Something called the "Koru Valet" hit the scene several months ago and we find the benefits pretty compelling.

The Koru Valet service isn't just your traditional, "we'll park your car and take you to the terminal" kind of deal. It's a bit more and, had we a car in New Zealand and an upcoming flight, we wouldn't hesitate to use it. It goes like this: an Air New Zealand staff member parks your car super close to the terminal and then you fly off, return, and get that car back washed, serviced and with a full tank of gas. Yep, all that in one valet parking lot.

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Airfare Deals / Air New Zealand / New Zealand Travel / Auckland Travel / Wellington Travel / → All Tags

The Secret to $23 Flights on Air New Zealand

The folks over at Air New Zealand have just made travel a lot easier on the wallet with their new Night Rider fares. No, these are not trips on a talking car named KITT nor will you be seated next to David Hasselhoff—that's Knight Rider. These Night Riders are super duper cheap fares on the last flight out for the night.

Starting the first Monday in November, the airline will sell each seat on the last flight out each day between Auckland and Wellington for $29 NZD (around $23 USD). We're talking entire airplane capacity sold for bargain-basement pricing, though that only includes the seat fare. If you need to pop a bag in the belly, the cost goes up to $39 NZD. For a flight that is scheduled to take no more than 60 minutes, that's a great price!

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Shopping Travel / New Zealand Travel / Markets / Food Travel / Auckland Travel / → All Tags

Shopping Two of New Zealand's Best Farmers' Markets: What to See, Smell and Taste

Based on our recent experience eating our way through New Zealand, the country’s food scene is bursting at the seams not only with talented chefs discovering the agricultural bounty of their island nation, but also farmers' markets where the producers and purveyors of all these fabulous foodstuffs are peddling their wares and showing off the best of what they grow.

To find out just where all these tasty products are coming from and to meet some of the growers, we stopped by two of the country’s best known weekend farmers’ markets at opposite ends of New Zealand:

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Wine Travel / New Zealand Field Trip / New Zealand Travel / Eric Rosen / Islands / Auckland Travel / Winery Reviews / → All Tags

Stepping Out of Auckland and Into the Wines of Waiheke Island

All this week, Special Jaunted Correspondent Eric Rosen takes us on a whirlwind field trip to New Zealand’s Other Wine Regions. Sure, now that it’s summer down there they might be sipping on those tropical, grassy Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc’s we’re all familiar with. But as he finds out, there's much more and most if it is within an hour of New Zealand’s major cities.

New Zealand only makes about 0.5% of the world’s wines, about half of which is exported, and the majority of that is from Marlborough. No wonder we don’t know much about New Zealand wines in the U.S., so we set out to get a little education. Our first stop was just a forty-minute ferry ride from Auckland: Waiheke Island. Long a hippie hideout in the ’60’s and ’70’s, idyllic Waiheke is now one of New Zealand’s premier wine regions with 17 boutique wineries scattered across its 93 square miles, a gourmet destination with beautiful beaches, and a weekend getaway for Auckland’s affluent set.

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Destination Dissing / Auckland Travel / Travel Blogs / Blogs / Tourism Boards / → All Tags

Australian Blog Says Auckland is 'Inhabited by Hobbits'

A bit of neighborly rivalry is normal, but a couple of bloggers from Australia have taken their not-too-pretty description of next-door New Zealand a bit far, according to the tourism CEO of Auckland.

The Aussie bloggers who've just moved over to Auckland have been posting their opinions of New Zealand at their Fush'n'Chups blog and there's been quite an outrage over some of their ideas--for example, that Auckland is a "horrible soulless city" inhabited by "hobbits".

The bloggers are defending themselves by saying it's just a tongue-in-cheek blog and the Kiwis should get a better sense of humor. They even mention beautiful parts of New Zealand from time to time. The moral for the rest of us is to remember never to mistake a New Zealander for an Aussie, or there could be trouble.

Related Stories:
· Kiwis Upset By "Pathetically Rude" Aussie Bloggers [The Age]
· Fush'n'Chups [Official Site]
· New Zealand Travel Guide [Jaunted]

[Photo: mgrenner57]