Just got back from a 3 week visit there. What a great place, in all respects. Put on 5500 kms, 2 weeks on the South Island, and 1 week on the North Island. Sure is a beautiful country. Clean everywhere, no garbage or trash (rubbish as they call it) anywhere. During a walk, saw a jogger stop and pick up a candy wrapper and deposit it in a nearby rubbish bin. And no homeless tents or druggies, that we saw. Heard there were some sketchy people in Auckland, but we didn't see any. Variety of scenery but never boring. Highlights for us were Milford Sound boat tour, never saw so much water in my life coming down off the mountains. 10 km Hooker Valley hike to the Mt Cook glacier was exceptional. Loved the Abel Tasman Seashuttle tours (hopping off and on the beaches there). Seeing the live volcanic craters and geyser at Rotorua was interesting. And many more unique and interesting sights... People are wonderful, very friendly, and very genuine. Very trusting, too, like filling up your car and then going in to pay, or after eating going up to the till telling them what you ate and drank and then pay. And oh, no tips. Haven't seen that since I was a kid growing up in the country. KiwiME et al, you are very blessed to live there. As for EVs, didn't see too many, not sure why, as lots of charging stations as per Plugshare. Especially rare on the South Island. Saw a few Teslas, but they are not as dominant as here. Saw quite a few Kona EVs, a few Ioniq 5s, 1 Ioniq 6, and 1 Mach-E. Lots of Ford Rangers and Toyota Hiluxes. Folks do like their diesels down there. Lots of campers and trailers, too. Anyway, for those that haven't been there, be sure to put it on your bucket list. I thought accommodations and food were quite reasonable, similar to Canada and BC here, and a way less than in the US. Gas was a little more, but diesel was cheap. Not sure what the home electricity rate is per kWh, but was mostly .80 at the fast chargers.
Yes, we stayed with a pilot friend there for a couple days, and he said the same thing. I was surprised by how much he knew about Canada, and BC.
