New Zealand - Driving Holiday
Discussion
hornetrider said:
rossub said:
Also totally agree about Motorhomes being impractical - everywhere you want to go, you've no choice but to take the big lump with you.
Yeah but there's a happy medium. Something like a Hiace or Bongo is ideal.My two pennies is that the roads in NZ are too good to be crawling around in a shed on wheels or a kia picanto. Rent something half decent and stay in hotels/motels/airbnb.
djc206 said:
I'm not sure that's a happy medium just a massive compromise. Not really any good for living in and not really any good for driving.
My two pennies is that the roads in NZ are too good to be crawling around in a shed on wheels or a kia picanto. Rent something half decent and stay in hotels/motels/airbnb.
People's budget's are different along with thier preferences.My two pennies is that the roads in NZ are too good to be crawling around in a shed on wheels or a kia picanto. Rent something half decent and stay in hotels/motels/airbnb.
I was there for two months. Drove over 8,000 klm's. Stayed a night in a hotel on arrival and one when leaving.
Had the time of our lives.
magooagain said:
People's budget's are different along with thier preferences.
I was there for two months. Drove over 8,000 klm's. Stayed a night in a hotel on arrival and one when leaving.
Had the time of our lives.
This. We couldn't give a stuff about the actual driving, NZ is all about everything you can do whilst you're there. And when you're there for three months a camper is the perfect choice.I was there for two months. Drove over 8,000 klm's. Stayed a night in a hotel on arrival and one when leaving.
Had the time of our lives.
hornetrider said:
magooagain said:
People's budget's are different along with thier preferences.
I was there for two months. Drove over 8,000 klm's. Stayed a night in a hotel on arrival and one when leaving.
Had the time of our lives.
This. We couldn't give a stuff about the actual driving, NZ is all about everything you can do whilst you're there. And when you're there for three months a camper is the perfect choice.I was there for two months. Drove over 8,000 klm's. Stayed a night in a hotel on arrival and one when leaving.
Had the time of our lives.
One of those things you can do is drive some of the best roads in the world between beautiful places and fun activities. I actually really enjoyed most of the driving, to me it added to our trip immensely. The cost of hiring a car and airbnb is probably roughly the same as campervan hire and site fees. I've merely stated my preference and this is from someone who has owned a campervan.
djc206 said:
rossub said:
There's worse - our first meal in NZ was breakfast in Denny's, just down from the Sky Tower Hotel where we were staying. 5 star accommodation with a fast food brekkie - win 
Oh dear god. We stayed in the SkyCity Grand near the tower and within 50 yards you've got Depot, MASU (the manager knows his stuff about wine and saki) and the Federal delicatessen.
rossub said:
Yes that's the one I meant, Sky City Grand. We didn't compromise much on the hotels on NZ but something had to give and it was cheaper food for us
We got a cracking deal on the place the first couple of nights but on the way back home we stopped in Auckland for a night and they wanted something insane like £400+ for a night. Apparently there was a rugby tournament on, weird because we stayed in the DeBrett and got a great price on it, clearly the owners of that place aren't big rugby fans!I do appreciate what people are saying about being there for a long time. It is not a cheap country and as I found out the hard way temptation can easily end up scoring you a lot of airmiles!
Motorhomes are about the experience I think, if you are just a couple then having a car is probably better, by the time you pay for the motorhome and any camping site charges it's pretty much the cost of a 4/5 star hotel every night. Guess packing and unpacking, checking in etc every 1-2 days is a pain though.
Every time I look at camper vans I am appalled at the costs and thats here in NZ with NZD...
Far cheaper to book accom and rent a dent, less flexable if you have to book ahead.
And for any kind of busy period ( aka most of the year) some places like Queenstown are mega booked.
Last April (usually a quiet time) I was shocked how busy central s island was.
Anyhow the roads are usually good and mostly free of traffic compared to Uk but take it steady we have 100km hr limits and the police will be looking for you over summer...
any q's fire them over my way.
Far cheaper to book accom and rent a dent, less flexable if you have to book ahead.
And for any kind of busy period ( aka most of the year) some places like Queenstown are mega booked.
Last April (usually a quiet time) I was shocked how busy central s island was.
Anyhow the roads are usually good and mostly free of traffic compared to Uk but take it steady we have 100km hr limits and the police will be looking for you over summer...
any q's fire them over my way.
hornetrider said:
mikal83 said:
Looking to piggyback this thread and also ask advice and read whats been given to the OP.
3 yrs ago we bought a mazda campervan in OZ and toured for 3 months, selling it for a $450 loss, (bought for $7250). You can wildcamp all over the place in OZ its easy and we loved it. Now its NZ's turn, but we figured 2 months starting late Jan early Feb. Into Auckland and then fly str8 to the south. Now it becomes 1 way or t'other. Either buy a "reasonable" car and and B & B it up/ferry/up and sell it on by auction in Auckland, or spend more and buy a campervan again. renting is going to be mega $$$$$ so that's out and a mixture of wild and campsites would suit us. Any one else done that?????
Cheers Mike
Yeah we did that albeit back in 2005. Bought a pop top van from a dealer in Christchurch, spent over three months touring then sold it in Auckland for a 500 loss. Result.3 yrs ago we bought a mazda campervan in OZ and toured for 3 months, selling it for a $450 loss, (bought for $7250). You can wildcamp all over the place in OZ its easy and we loved it. Now its NZ's turn, but we figured 2 months starting late Jan early Feb. Into Auckland and then fly str8 to the south. Now it becomes 1 way or t'other. Either buy a "reasonable" car and and B & B it up/ferry/up and sell it on by auction in Auckland, or spend more and buy a campervan again. renting is going to be mega $$$$$ so that's out and a mixture of wild and campsites would suit us. Any one else done that?????
Cheers Mike
Amazing time and should have spent longer really as we had to skip a fair amount of North island after we used up two months on south island.
mikal83 said:
How did you camp, DOC's freedom/wild or mainly campsites? We like the idea of flying Auck-> CC to save biggly time on the ferry and only pay one way back.
We camped at some Doc's,campsites and rugby clubs(world cup). A few nights wild camping but not many as we were not fully self contained.Some lads got 200 dollar fines for wild camping illegally .
Wellington is worth visiting and we enjoyed the ferrie voyage.
cheddar said:
djc206 said:
It is not a cheap country
Not now that £1 only buys you $1.70, it used to get you twice that, must seem hugely expensive here coming from the UKmikal83 said:
How did you camp, DOC's freedom/wild or mainly campsites? We like the idea of flying Auck-> CC to save biggly time on the ferry and only pay one way back.
We only did a handful of nights wild, mostly we used campsites for the facilities. Our van didn't have a loo. There's sites everywhere and they were pretty cheap. Although we did go when it was 3+ bucks to the £.audidoody said:
Have they still got that crazy traffic rule where, if you turn left, you have to stop and give way to on-comng traffic turning right (into the road you are turning left into)?
No, we ditched that several years ago thankfully. Dirty free campers have made a lot of headlines recently so a lot of focus on them.
Also tourist drivers on the wrong side of the road. UK drivers are fine but keep an eye out for them as a hazard. It's top of my list around Queenstown...
Thanks for all the advice guys. We are planning to tour by car renting accommodation along the way.
We hadn't thought about January being peak season so difficult/ expensive to find accommodation. This has got us thinking about putting the trip back to March or even November/December.
We hadn't thought about January being peak season so difficult/ expensive to find accommodation. This has got us thinking about putting the trip back to March or even November/December.
RobDickinson said:
xmas is our summer holidays quite often families go on extended breaks over xmas new year and into jan so you are competing against tourists and locals then
I'm just finding that out. We have to be in the UK in February so thinking about March when presumably the NZ children will be back at school so easier to book stuff.Gassing Station | Holidays & Travel | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff