Well...I made a decision and went with a Velbon Sherpa 435 as my travel tripod.
http://www.trustedreviews.com/digita...0/28/Tripod/p4
It's fairly lightweight...and well constructed. It offers a fairly handy fully extended height with three-section legs which are solid and very stable with the camera attached.
It's got triple bubble levels...
And I got it for a pretty good price.
It was much sturdier and more stable than the Manfrottos and Slik's I looked at in the similar weight-price-features range.
I think it will serve me well in New Zealand during my upcoming three-week self-drive holiday
