After a week of driving here in New Zealand, I have found it to be a pretty pleasant experience overall. The road network comprising of State Highways is pretty simple and easy to understand, with or without satnav.
In comparison to the UK, the roads in New Zealand are much less congested, and any Kiwi's view/frustration with traffic jams makes me smile when you know what we Poms experience in places like London, Manchester and Birmingham. They get so frustrated and annoyed with any hold ups. And there are plenty at the moment in the aftermath off Cyclone Gabrielle, which devastated large parts of the North Island road infrastructure.
Whilst the NZ road network is simple and easy to understand, the only comment I would make is that it takes forever to get anywhere because the roads are narrower and in rural places quite windy, making travelling long distance a fairly slow experience. Fortunately, the road have plenty of passing places to get past the large number of logging trucks and slow campervan drivers!
For example, this week I drove from Turangi to Whitianga, which is a total of 220 miles (350kms) and it took me a good 5 hours, whereas in the UK on the motorwaty network you could do that in 3.5 hours easy.
But the scenery is spectacular so there is no point rushing. I do tend to stop frequently to enjoy the NZ countryside, there are some absolutely amazing sights and views, both inland and on the coastal roads.
And finally it does help that they drive on the left hand side just like the UK, with the cars being right hand drive as well...
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