The AA Road Atlas of New Zealand is an excellent resource for planning your trip and the routes you will take. The scale and detail are superb. With 4.75 miles to the inch, and terrain relief shown in detail, you can almost be there: want to swoop down a twisty road along a valley floor? No problem, this'll help you find one. For us geeks, it will also help you find Lord of the Rings film locations! At the front there are sections for things to do and see, campsite locations, travel times/distances etc., and at the back there is an encyclopaedic index of places and 'things' (e.g. the Mangatepopo Hut near the start of the Tongariro crossing, or the penguin colony in Oamaru). There are also detailed street maps for twenty of the main town and city centres, with additional maps for the suburbs of Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington. Negative points: very few. The index doesn't list street names, so finding specific roads on the town/city maps requires patience (or the internet!), and some of the minor suburban roads around Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington aren't labelled (although it doesn't set out to be an A-Z). Given NZ's very British weather, printing it on waterproof paper might have been a good idea: this could get very soggy very quickly. Also, being an atlas rather than a map, it's not exactly pocket sized (about an inch wider and an inch-and-a-half taller than A4 size, but less than half-an-inch thick). For these last two reasons, I recommend backing it up with the waterproof, rip-proof foldout Rough Guide Map.
A Travel Guide as well as an Atlas
Review Date: February 25, 2008
Reviewer: Hunter, Carmarthen
I won't go into too much detail of the content of the atlas as the previous review has done that excellently. What I would like to say though is that having used this atlas it is actually much more than just a road map. It has so many places of interest and things to do in it that it could be the only book you need to plan your trip. I would really recommend finding places to go from this atlas and avoiding the large crowds at the places listed in travel guides. Obviously this is also an ideal road map for if you driving on your holiday and has plans of many major cities (and smaller ones). Get yourself this Atlas and save the trouble os getting a travel guide too. You won't be disappointed by this.
Accurate reliable good quality mapping ideal for road trip
Review Date: September 20, 2008
Reviewer: Lewis Ross Gray,
This atlas was invaluable during my tour of New Zealand's South Island. The scale is large enough that most minor roads are marked with colour coding indicating the grade of road. This gives you a rough idea of whether or not you can drive campervan down a particular road before you get to it.
It is more accurate than a lot of the tourist board maps. One map I was given listed two Campsites with facilities for campervans in Haast. The AA Atlas correctly showed that there was only one. The other one had been granted planning permission years before but had never been built.
The only shortfall of this map is that it gives no clue as to the gradient of the roads to be traversed. Some of the roads in the South Island travel through extermely rugged mountainous terrain with a great deal of prolonged climbing and very long descents. Some of these descents are so dangerous that they have special ramps at the bottom which offer drivers whose brakes have failed a chance of survival.
I would recomend that you purchase this excellent atlas and back it up with the rough guide waterproof map for more general navigation.
The only map you need for touring NZ
Review Date: November 20, 2008
Reviewer: H. L. Bennion,
We took this map on our recent trip to NZ and it was the only map we used, it's clear to read, loved the street maps of most major towns, great for finding camp sites & points of interest. We've passed it on to friends who are travelling in December and hope they find it as useful as we did. Our 10 year old son was able to use it to navigate and find out interesting facts about the country. Highly recommended!
NZ Road Atlas
Review Date: February 16, 2009
Reviewer: Peter Carr, South Wales UK
AA Road Atlas New Zealand (AA Road Atlases)
Essential tavel aid, use before departing to NZ for planning journeys, as well as when staying in NZ, so be sure to take it with you.
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Excellent for planning your trip
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