Adventure South

Placement organization

Name of organization: Adventure South
Town/city: Christchurch
Country: Nieuw Zeeland
Website: http://www.advsouth.co.nz

Name of student: Kim Keding

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2014-2015

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tour Operator
Organization’s activities: Phone calls
Client bookings
Bus departure scheduling
Website and Facebook updates
Bike/Bus/Equipment wash
Financial, Sales, Marketing, Operations, Accounting
Guiding
Emailing
Trip preparations
Target group of the organization: Middle-aged people, mainly from NZ,Australia,USA
Company culture: The company culture is informal.
The employees are my friends now, we joke around, do stuff together in our free time, and they are all very helpful and fun to be around with.
The boss explains everything you ask him very thoroughly and it is easy to understand him.
Even living with my boss and his wife is easy going, relaxed, and lovely.
The guides, the office staff, and the boss include me in meetings, ask for my ideas or help, and just overall see me as a member of the company. They appreciated the helpful hands and are always there to answer any questions or help me out.
Number of employees: 6 office staff, 2 depot staff, over 10 guides
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes, they did.

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? I have mainly worked in the financial department of Adv. Sth as an Admin.
However, if you show interest towards the other departments, they are more than happy to explain their tasks and might even give you some of their tasks to help them out. But this is really up to you, whether you are open to do extra tasks and some challenges.
Brief description of your daily activities: Paperwork from returned trips (money, cash, statistics, spreadsheets, document filling, client review forms, daily log, vehicle details)
Mainly working with the programs MoneyWorks, FileMaker, and Excel
Establishing spreadsheets, charts, tables, emails, and summarize outcomes to Geoff and the team.
Brief description of your company assignment: I establish a Business Plan introducing Road Cycling for the next season.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Kaye was my main supervisor throughout my internship. She is helpful,very friendly, and also funny. Whenever I had a question or got stuck with a tasks, she was there for me. Geoff mainly helped me with questions relating my uni assignments and we had meetings discuss each of the points I needed answers for.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Social, independent, creative, flexible
Additional company requirements for this placement? Microsoft Excel/Word/Outlook, Social Media, writing skills
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? My boss helped me. Be aware that rooms are expensive in Christchurch. The earthquake damages from 2011 are still not fully repaired yet. Use Facebook to find an accommodation. Be prepared to pay between $150-$200 a week
How did you go to work every day? I bought my own car, but the company gives you a bike + equipment first thing you arrive.

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, you need a work visa.
Do you need a work permit? No.
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Go to the immigration website of New Zealand and apply online. Take at least 1 month into account for organizing your visa.
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? If you sit down, concentrate, and have a parent to help out, you will be done in a few hours time. I had questions towards some points in the documents, so I had to ring the embassy in London a few times, so it took me a couple of days.
Did you need certain vaccinations? No
How long in advance?

Language course

Did you take a language course before you started your placement? No
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? If you don’t have good English writing skills and can’t speak fluent English, than YES!

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € €1400
Accommodation (monthly): € I was lucky to find something for € 260 per month, but be prepared to pay around € 520+ per month.
Local transport (monthly): € €2, but I would recommend to buy the bus card, in the end it is much cheaper.
General costs of living (monthly): € € 260
Costs of visa: € around €150
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? $100 per week
Bike + Equipment
One of their cycle trips on the South Island
Tea, Milk, and Coffee at work

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
Since I have lived in New Zealand for 3 years already, I did not have to prepare anything.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? No.

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: kim_keding@yahoo.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Be yourself, go and explore the country between your working days, and just enjoy New Zealand because everybody is so open and the landscapes are fantastic. I would recommend to buy your own car while you are here, because from Mai onwards it is cold and you appreciate to hop into a warm car in the mornings to drive to work. You can also drive around the south islands on the weekends and public holiday days, because taking a bus or rental car will be very expensive! Having your own car makes you so much more independent.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Beach is 25mins by car (New Brighton, South New Brighton)
Port Hills is just on the hills, you will have an amazing view, there are great mountain bike trails,
but also streets for normal cycling
You can visit Kaikoura, Akaroa, or Timaru for a day or as a weekend trip
There are 5 big shopping malls in Christchurch
Botanical Gardens are worth to see (February/March)
Here are many parks and rivers to relax at

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link