Looking for New Zealand's best business hotel? The Australasian World Travel Awards 2008 voted Auckland's Stamford Plaza Hotel as New Zealand's leading business hotel. In addition, its Kabuki Teppanyaki restaurant was voted one of New Zealand's best by Metro magazine.

Stamford Plaza has its own events team and six versatile functions room, with state of the art audiovisual equipment. With a central city location, and a capacity of up to 300 guests, Stamford Plaza is ideal for creating a great impression at any event you sponsor is. At the other end of the scale, it can also provide an intimate boardroom setting, with dedicated staff assuring you of complete attention to detail.

The Stamford Plaza hotel is in the centre of the business district, just a block from the famous Auckland Waitemata Harbour, and ideally situated for shopping trips either for yourself or for a spouse accompanying you on a business trip. It is also easy walking distance to the harbour precinct and Vector Arena.

All rooms are upmarket and enhanced with natural New Zealand timbers and a decadent luxury. Large desks provide business travellers with ample working space, together with broadband internet access. The Stamford Plaza has 283 contemporary guestrooms, including 14 suites. It has a fully equipped recreation Centre with a state of the art gymnasium. Large marble bathrooms provide separate baths and Showers.

To find out more about the Stamford Plaza Hotel and compare New Zealand Business hotels, please visit http://www.Touring.Asia - which can also provide information on last minute Auckland hotel deals

So, my latest news is that I've got a friend who has just come back from a short stay in a town called Mudgee in Australia and he recommends a Guesthouse there. I wish my family could get there someday 'cos it sounds beautiful.

Mudgee is a compact town in New South Wales and it turns out that there are a surprising number of places to stay in that area. He recommends this Mudgee Guesthouse if you want a friendly, not to say, amazingly hospitable welcome as well as good quality comfortable accommodation at a sensible price. Accommodation in Mudgee is generally of a pretty good standard as it happens.

Why on earth do people go to Mudgee in the first place was something I wanted to know (I mean have you heard of Mudgee town really and was first settled in about 1820 by some people from the UK. What my friend was looking for was a place to stay that was near the town yet peaceful. There are quite a few Mudgee Getaways in fact ("Getaways" is a local term for places to stay) and they are becoming very popular.

Other local towns include Gulgong, Kandos, Rylstone, Hargraves, Hill End. Lue, Windeyer and Wollar and they offer different sorts of accommodation.

One thing to bear in mind that applies to things Australian is that the word "local" seems to have a different meaning down under. So your neighbour may in fact be several kilometres away and I have an idea that getting from Mudgee to Kandos could take a while. According to Google Maps the journey is around 70km.

So if you need Mudgee accommodation you want to make sure you have found somewhere good to stay or you could find yourself travelling another hour or two!