Archive for July, 2009

5 free things to do in Auckland in your cityhop

Friday, July 31st, 2009

Some of the most enjoyable things to do in Auckland won’t cost you a brass razo! And if you are smart enough not to own a car but use cityhop , New Zealand’s only car share company, here are some ideas for a ‘free’ weekend of activity. Drive a cityhop from only $15 an hour or $75 for 24 hours. Find out how easy it is to be car-less ansd save money. Car share is the smart person’s way to having access to a car without the cost. Locations all over Auckland City and Wellington to pick up and drive.

1. Visit Cornwall Park. At the weekend, we went for a walk in Cornwall Park, one of the big parks in Auckland City. There were lots of people enjoying the first signs of spring. The cherry trees were starting to blossom, the daffodils sprinfing up along Twin Oak Drive and the magnolia brilliant white blooms are appearing. Cornwall park has loads of places for picnicing, walking, exploring, playing and eating. The view from the top of the Summit is a great view of Auckland.

2. Go for a walk along our magnificent waterfront. Walk for as long or as short as you can. Plenty of places to stop for an ice cream or coffee. Watch the boats, enjoy the scenery.

3. Go and sit at the Viaduct and people watch. There’s also lots of restaurants!

4. Visit the Waitakere Ranges – the Arataki centre has the most stunning views of the West Coast; see the airport and  the jets coming and going; learn a little more about the NZ bush.

5. Then there is the beautiful Domain -where the Auckland War Memorial Museum is.  There are the fabulous Wintergardens with their wonderful of array of plants and wildlife.  Check out the huge lily pads.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Milford Sound the 7th wonder?

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009

Cityhop doens’t always want to write about eco-friendly transport solutions! We found an interesting new clips recently that is raising the awareness of some of the world’ more special natural sites. And guess what, one of them was in New Zealand!

The Milford Sound is one of the 25 spectacular natural landmarks in the final phase of a global poll to choose the seven wonders  of the world.

Go to theNew 7 Wonders  website link here  and make a vote for NZ’s most amazing Fiord. People can vote on this site so spread the word and get your friends to vote. A panel of experts chose the finalists based on geographical balance, diversity and the importance to human life.

Otrher finalists are the Great Barrier Reef, the Amazon and Uluru.

Milford Sounds is in the south west of NZ’s South Island. Cityhop is part owned by a company JUCY, that is NZ’s funkiest and most affordable car and camper company. Better still JUCY part owns Cruize Milford. Rent a car or camper from JUCY and get a two for one offer to see Milford Sound on Cruize Milford.

History! Milford is named after Milford haven in Wales. It runs 15 kms inland from the Tasman Sea and is urrounded by sheer rock faces.Lush rain forests cling to these cliffs while seals, pengiuns and dolphins are often spotted in the waters.

The New 7 Wonders campaign isn’t alone in thinking Milford Sounds is special. Rudyard Kipling called it the 8th wonder of the world! It’s also been judged as the world’s top travel destination in an international survey. It is in a world heritage site. (By the way Barcelona has lots of these too!)

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Environment | Comments Off

London’s mayor goes electric

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

Talk about jumping on a fad wagon! Boris, the Mayor of London has decided to pinch the French bicycle idea and apply it to public electric cars!

Don’t tell Banksie about it – actually it’s his officials who shouldn’t be told. They already show signs of wanting to run everything despite limited or no business experience.

Anyway the electric car project would allow casual users to pick up a publicly owned battery powered zero carbon car in one part of the city and drop it off in another. Zipcar or Streetcar should sign him up quickly for car share. Then he might understand why car share doesn’t let members do this one way trips. The reality is most people do a trip and then want to return to their start point. One way rides don’t work for a business.

Johnson wants London to be the ‘electric capital of Europe.’ Cityhop, NZ’s first car share company can’t help wondering whether it mightn’t be more effective to give Londoners a discounted car share membership and discounted public transport rides to persuade those who still think their car is king to change their driving habits.

The Parisian scheme is planned to begin later this year with 700 cars. Ironically car share hasn’t taken off in Paris perhaps because private enterprise can’t compete with Governments who want to give away electric cars!

We’re not knocking electric cars. We think they are great. We do think it might be smarter for local Government to use the infrastructure already developed by car share companies, Streetcar and Zipcar rather than trying to compete with them.  We have not seen any examples of a Government running a business better than private enterprise!

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Transport | Comments Off

Bad smell in your car?

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

Luckily cityhop members know they will be fined if they smoke in our cars. For a non smoker like me, whether it’s a hotel room or a car I can always tell if someone has been smoking. Recently while I was overseas reading a local paper I read something interesting. I love reading newspapers and usually come home with a suitcase full of clippings.

I read how to rid your car of a cigerette smell. The idea was no novel I had to share! Having spent the weekend getting rid of the fag smell from a teenager’s room this is worth trying. The teens room now smells of lavendar! But this might be quicker!

Fill a cardboard box with grass clippings and allow them to dry. Store the box on the back seat for a few weeks and the smell will vanish.

Another alternative is to try the old fashioned cure that was used to take the mustiness our of churches before central heating.

Pull up some foilage from a sweet woodruff plant, (also known as galium odoraturn) it is a groundcover with dark green foliage with small star-shaped flowers. Good for dry shade and it grows to 25 cm according to a Christchurch gardening site. Leave it in a box. After about three weeks it will eradicate the smell. Apparantly both lawn clippings and woofruff release the chemical coumarin which also gets rid of dog stench!

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off