Hi,
On our two week tour round south island in 2006 we found NZ drivers pretty nutty (maybe we just met the ones rushing away on their Xmas hols). Noone seemed to stick to 100km speed limit on country roads and there seemed to be a strange fear of having other cars in front of you. A car would appear out of nowhere, tailgate you with 30cm to spare and then overtake suddenly (not as bad as Argentinian lorry drivers doing this!). You got used to this, until this also happened on windy mountain roads when it was anyone's guess as to who was coming round the corner. We couldn't figure out on one occassion why someone seemed to be trying to undertake us on the inside (moving over onto gravel hard shoulder repeatedly) - we finally figured out this was the NZ way of saying "you're going too slowly up this hill, move over!"
Otherwise enjoyed it. One word of advise is...try not to cover too much distance in a short time but take time to enjoy the fantastic countryside. We rushed too much and wish we had stopped more but often had to get from A to B. Also it takes longer than one thinks to get places eg over Arthur's Pass.
Have a fun trip.
Cheeky Kea
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