I believe many other riders are quite confuse trying to find information about the next UNICON!
I have some questions, and I think everybody have similar questions too!
First: Why there’s no flatland on the Progamme on the website?
Second: There are trains from Auckland to Wellington? How far is it (Hours)? And how much?
Third: Registering! There’s and app. price? Can I expect ± the same as denmark?
5: Food My friend was in Auckland and said that I can eat pretty cheap, but how cheap? Is wellington also cheap? We will have some benefits with UNICON registering wrist things like in Denmark?
And the last: The trip is quite expensive so I hope to enjoy some New Zeland stuff :p… I know that extreme sports and cool stuff like Bungy Jump and those big inflated balls that you get into and roll down a mountain were invented in there! There’s stuff like that in Wellington or in close citys? It’s expensive?!
Well, those are my questions… For sure I’ll have to ask some stuff in the future (I’m going alone and I’m under 18)…
Post your questions too! I’m pretty sure some people have LOTS of questions
Good thread, just starting to think about this trip. Planning to go for at least 2 months so looking to do some travelling and unicycling outside of the UNICON dates, who wants to join me?
I think the ‘big inflated balls’ are called zorbing …I wonder if unicycling inside one of these has been tried yet.
I also tought about a road trip! I’ll ask some french riders if they are interested… Like One week to ride in Auckland and new Plymouth… maybe Sidney… I believe a flight to AUS is pretty cheap!
I have to wait next weeks (March), when I buy the Airplane tickets :D)
Anyone interested in a Street/Flat trip around there?!
Yes I am interested in a street/flat/trials/whatever trip around New Zealand, but not Australia. Of course here I am just talking, but I will probably be in NZ with my girlfriend for around 3-4 weeks, so it would be possible.
My questions are more about where to stay. So, will it be expensive ? Will there be places or unicyclists will be everywhere and there will be nothing left ? Do I have friends in NZ to host me ? :o
I was thinking about maybe renting a tent and camping somewhere…
About how much do your tickets cost ? For me, it looks like around 3000 $.
Hey Pedro, those are good questions!!! Maybe it could be a good idea to post them on the Unicon forum too. Just in case some of the organizers did not read this forum…
Probably I will not go to that Unicon, and that’s too bad for me because that would be my tenth Unicon. Only the plane ticket for me is about $3500US.
But I have other unicycling plans for this year!!!
Meals at an average restaurant are usually about NZ$20-25 for mains. I’m sure you can save a bit by preparing your own meals.
As for touristy stuff…I don’t think we have any zorbing in Wellington, but check out the http://www.wellingtonnz.com
In terms of accomodation…you can start booking for it now. We have three recommended accomodation providers which have very nice facilities close to the Unicon venues. It’s on the website. Book early, especially with the NZ dollar being as low as it is right now.
I already brought up the flatland comp question on the official unicon website.
Don’t worry, there WILL be a flatland competition. I’m guessing that schedual is just a draft, drawn up by someone whos not as in the know.
See what I mean, no offense Ken
Theres a great bungy jumping place about 4 hours drive away from Wellington.
If anyones staying in NZ for a while after or before unicon and want some company from fellow unicyclists, let me know!
Unicon is ten days long and has EVERYTHING to do with unicycling.
EUC is just a couple of days and only street/trials/flat (although the summer will be different from the winter edition)
Go to Unicycle.TV and download Jess Riegel’s DVD of Unicon XIV for just a taste. Matayo sums things up brilliantly at the end…
I really want to go
but don’t have a lot of money and even when I have enough money I don’t think I may go without my parents…
but I will go to EUC summer edition!!
No, they are both MUni. MUni means mountain, or rough terrain unicycling. So whereas MUni is the word for all the dirt riding, Street and Flatland are the names of specific events.
What’s needed here is a term to describe the category of riding that includes Street and Flatland. And possibly Trials, and urban riding, and maybe even the High Jump and Long Jump. Those events all use very similar unicycles. Though High and Long Jump are, in regular athletics, track & field events, for unicycling it might make more sense to run them at the Street and/or Trials venue. Same crowd, same equipment. It might save them having to go to the track events at all. Of course if everything is held close together that’s not an issue.
In answer to question number 2. From Auckland to Wellington is a long trip. You could travel by car, train or plane. I would recommend flying as the easiest option and likely the cheapest too if you get in early. New Zealand may look small on a map but it is actually a long country (about 2000km from one end to the other). Also many of our highways are not big roads and you can not drive at 100km/h the entire time. Here is some more info on each of the methods you could use.
Car
Drive time from Auckland to Wellington is about 9 and a half hours (658km). If renting a car from Auckland you should allow at least a full day to get from Auckland to Wellington and that assumes no site seeing or detours through more scenic routes. I would recommend that if you want to drive, you arrive early to give yourself a few days to travel down and see some of the country on the way. If you want to Zorb, Bungy etc, then Rotorua is one of the biggest tourist towns in the country and you can do those there. I don’t know of anywhere near Wellington that you can do those activities.
More car travel times are available at this website: http://www.aatravel.co.nz/main/index.php
Click on the times and distances link on the left hand side navigation bar.
Depending on how long you want to rent a car you may be able to get a pretty cheap deal. (eg $30NZ a day, or less). Short hires cost a lot more. Petrol prices fluctuate wildy but are currently around $1.50 NZ a litre. It’ll cost you upwards of $100 for fuel to get to Wellington, depending on how economical your car is. If wanting to road trip and you have a few friends, driving car work out not being too pricey.
Train
One of the big problems with catching the train is that the train station is NOT near the airport. You would need to get yourself from the airport to the train station (about 20 km away in down town Auckland). The train leaves from britomart station at 7.25am and takes 12 hours to reach Wellington. You can catch an airbus from the airport to downtown for $15.
Cost for a one way train ticket to Wellington is $107NZ if early or $129 otherwise. The North island train route is fairly scenic but some of the South Island routes are better.
Air
There are often cheap flights available between Auckland and Wellington, especially if you book early. You are a little less likely to find a cheap flight during a holiday period if you book late. Leave it too late and you will be looking at over $300. Currently you can get a one way flight from Auckland to Wellington around Unicon time for $68 with air New Zealand. Flight time is about 1 hour, so much quicker and cheaper than the train. To book flights try one of the following airlines:
www.airnewzealand.co.nz
www.qantas.co.nz
www.pacificblue.co.nz
Note it may be worth checking luggage allowance regulations before choosing an airline. For example, I know that Air New Zealand currently gives you an extra 10kg luggage allowance for free if you are travelling with “sports equipment”. By contrast if travelling with a “bicycle” on qantas it just counts as part of your luggage allowance and if you exceed your weight allowance you get charged at $5 a kilo. Pacific blue is a budget airline and you get a lower luggage allowance than the other airlines. That means it may cost you quite a bit extra in excess baggage charges to travel with qantas or pacific blue, depending on how much stuff you are carrying. I’m not sure on the luggage allowances you receive if transferring from an international flight.
Regarding food costs, if you buy food from bakeries or the supermarket, you can easily feed yourself for around $5 - $7 NZ a meal. Most take out places or fast food places will cost you around $7 - $12 for a meal. Cafes are around $15-$20 a meal and restaurants are around $20 plus.
My friend was in Auckland and said that I can eat pretty cheap, but how cheap? Is wellington also cheap? We will have some benefits with UNICON registering wrist things like in Denmark?
I want to do it 
Only the plane ticket for me is about $3500US.
