Reply To: Is that necessary to get travel insurance while travel in NZ?

[Nichole Lenton]

I was in Queenstown last week, and I fell and broke my leg and ankle. I was treated in emergency (Australian, so that was covered under the Reciprocal Agreement) but was put on crutches and told I couldn’t weight bear at all. The beautiful house that I had booked for us in Fernhill had A LOT of stairs… approx 20 to get from the road to the house and then another 6 – 10 per level spread over 5 levels (lounge room on one level, kitchen on another, bathroom on another etc). Within a few hours of being discharged we had found a unit in Arthur’s Point that was all on one level with lift access and the travel insurer agreed to pay for the new unit as the first place was no longer suitable as there was an increased risk of injury and if there had have been an emergency, there is no way I could have gotten out. I need to have surgery on my ankle next week (I’m back home now) and as the injury happened overseas, I’ll be claiming any out of pocket expenses from the surgery on my insurance. There was talk initially when I arrived at the hospital in Queenstown that I might need to stay there for the surgery which would have meant an additional 3 weeks or more in Queenstown, and the insurance would have covered accomodation, meals etc while there.