On-the-Road Bargains for New Zealand Visitors : The Kiwi Coach Pass allows flexibility on bus routes and ferries between major towns and sights.

Here’s good news for travelers planning to visit New Zealand this year: A 1993 Kiwi Coach Pass, honored for unlimited bus travel throughout the country, will offer flexibility by allowing travelers to make stopovers en route while preserving the number of days on their pass.

The passes can be used on the Mount Cook Landline and Newmans Coach Lines, plus other selected services, to cover New Zealand’s principal routes and to reach its popular tourist destinations. It also is valid for ferries across Cook Strait, which separates the two long islands that make up most of New Zealand.

As a bonus, the passes are honored for a 10% discount on Backpackers Express, which offers transportation right to the beginning (or pickup from the end) of popular hiking trails near Queenstown. Other 10% discounts apply to ski-plane flights from Mt. Cook, Fox Glacier or Franz Josef Glacier, or scenic flights from Queenstown to Milford Sound.

There also are discounts for island cruising in Auckland Harbour, a tour of Cape Regina and Ninety Mile Beach, and sightseeing tours in Auckland, Rotorua, Christchurch and Queenstown. On May 1, the discount will rise from 10% to 20%.

A Kiwi Coach Pass valid for any seven days of travel within an 11-day period costs $211 (or $362 if you buy it in New Zealand); 10 days of travel within 16 days costs $255; 15 days within 23 days, $321; 25 days within 35 days, $383, and 33 days within 45 days, $427.

You can purchase the Kiwi Coach Passes from a travel agent before leaving North America or at any Mount Cook Line Travel Centre in New Zealand.

One of the special aspects of Christchurch is that it is also known as the gateway to the Antarctic. Historically, it’s been the stepping-off point for expeditions to the continent. Now, international research bases in Antarctica use Christchurch as a supply hub.

Visitors can get a closer glimpse of what life is like in this unspoiled wilderness at the new $4.5-million International Antarctic Centre. It’s part of the $13-million complex at Christchurch International Airport, which provides administrative and warehousing services for U.S., New Zealand and Italian Antarctic research programs.

The center is designed to educate through entertainment, using recreated snowscapes, photographs and interactive exhibits. A 20-projector, computer-controlled theater presentation uses 25,000 images shot in Antarctica by New Zealand wilderness photographer Kim Westerskove and historical shots by Herbert Ponting, the photographer on British explorer Robert Scott’s ill-fated 1910 expedition to the South Pole.

The center also houses a polar aquarium, stocked with fish and other marine life, to offer visitors an idea of an “under-the-ice” experience.

For more information on New Zealand tourism, call (800) 388-5494 or (310) 395-7480.