Kopinga Marae: Camp Travel Options
Travel options, to and from mainland New Zealand
What is the most cost-effective way of travel for a School Camp group, to and from Rekohu?
Air Chathams are the only airline that service the islands, either from Auckland Christchurch, Wellington and seasonally, from Napier.
We believe that the most cost-effective options for travel with a school group to Rekohu is to charter the plane from your nearest airport one way and fly on a scheduled flight the other. Your chartered flight could take you direct to your home town, depending on the airport facilities.
Dont panic! Chartering a plane for a school camp isnt quite as forbidding a task as you may well think and there are very good reasons for it. If you live in Hamilton, for example, Air Chathams dont normally go there, but they will if you charter them. But you dont want to charter them both ways as they would be left with an aeroplane sitting at an airport that they dont normally service and they would have to pass on the cost of re-locating it to you. Sounds complicated? Its not. If they know in advance that they have a chartered group to uplift from (lets say) Hamilton, they will do that with one of their larger planes, probably based in Auckland and deliver you to Rekohu. Then that plane would do the normal, scheduled flight the following day. At the end of your stay, that plane would do the scheduled flight that arrives on the island the day before your departure and would take you back out to Auckland (or perhaps Hamilton) and you could make your own way by bus or cars back to Hamilton.
However it happens, or whether you charter the plane in or out, chartering the plane to fit in with a scheduled flight such as in the above example does work out cheaper than simply flying on a scheduled service. Also, booking your flights months ahead and through School Camps@Kopinga Marae can also save you dollars,.. lots of them.
Give School Camps@Kopinga Marae a ring today to see just how we can make your flights work for you. All we need is an indication of numbers, rough dates and the departure point. We will talk to the managers of Air Chathams and see if we can't come up with a deal that works for you.
The other advantage of chartering the plane on the way to Rekohu, is that you are able to bring in extra freight, such as all of your foodstuffs,at no extra cost. That means that you are not penalised for the extra weight. Some airlines charge through the nose for additional weight over the allocated 20kgs per passenger.
Please note: If an adult passenger rocked up to an airport and booked a one-way fare to Rekohu, they could expect to pay as much as $580.00 for their ticket. With Rekohu Experience, we can organise that same travel, in advance, for a lot less and pass the savings on to you.
On-Island Travel
So.. we've sorted out a really fantastic deal with Air Chathams for you and you are definitely coming to Rekohu for your next school camp. ...... NOW, .....How are you going to get around while you're here?
There are a number of licensed, charter buses on the island and we believe that the best and cheapest option is for you to work in with the owners of these. Most of these buses are used as school transport during school days, so are only available between 9.am and 2.30pm and from 3.45 pm onwards. Those times shouldn't be a problem and in they fact allow generous timing for attendence at the many attractions around the island. Also, to save money, it is advisable that at least two of the accompanying adults on your trip has the appropriate license (P class) to operate a passenger vehicle. The other good thing about this is that you then could save money by not having a hired bus (or two) in attendance all day long. It is however, advisable to hire a minibus, which enables you to still get around, in smaller groups and to deliver drivers to "fetch" the buses when required and it can be used in the unlikely event of an emergency. One recent school group arranged all of their own on-island transport themselves by visiting the island 3 months before their actual trip. This may be unneccessary, as we can also organise all of this for you, once you (or "we") have worked out an itinerary for you.
We have a preferred provider of buses but we can leave that up to you as well if you wish.
Send us an email, or give us a call and give us the details of your proposed School Camp, and we will see what we can work out for you. We are certain that you will be surprised by how cost effective it is.