I am living in Australia and regularly call to NZ and make trips across the tasman often.
I use VFAU - somewhat unreliable 3G service even in metro melbourne (esp in metro melb maybe because the waves are overloaded???).
But when it comes to calling home WOW. on a contract that gave me the SGS2 for pretty much nothing ... paying AUD50/mth I get $500 worth of usage and 1.5GB data -
here's the thing: calling to NZ costs $2.50/min so you kinda get 200mins-ish ...
even better: i was in NZ roaming - ALL the calls i made were charged at AU local rates and taken off my available credit WOW. of the hours i spent talking I was charged AUD 1.50 for receiving a call made from a blocked number hrrrmmph. errr ... just don't use data or send sms though ;p
just in case this benefits someone on GZ