new zealand on a budget

[Annie456]

big holiday planned for next sept including hong kong, fiji and 3 weeks in new zealand. I need to cut costs - whats the best way to do New zealand on a budget without joining an under 26 coach tour! I was thinking about doing one island in a camper van (south?) and one hiring a car and staying in budget hotels. Any advice please!

[Gef]

I spent 5 weeks in New Zealand this summer. For 3 weeks I travelled with MagicBus and thoroughly enjoyed it.. I'm 54 and although most of the other passengers were a lot younger than myself I made a lot of good friends and I can assure you that it wasn't a drunken, sex mad trip. I stayed in Backpacker hostels and usually paid $40 to $50 per night for a room to myself. Rooms in dorms are much cheaper.

Please ask if you want any more info or post an email and I will reply privately.

[dzug]

Once you get there New Zealand is fairly cheap.
Hiring a car (if you avoid the main international companies) is very cheap - go to one that specialises in hiring to backpackers. It will not be the latest model and will have zillions of miles on it but it will be cheap and reliable (they can't afford to have many breakdowns....).

Try motels (the word is plural in NZ - each individual unit on a site is a motel) and cabins on camp sites as well as budget hotels. But even quite good hotels are not that expensive by UK standards..

[jno]

yes, bear in mind that prices are in dollars - but the NZ$ is a lot smaller than the US$ - nearly 3 to the pound at present, so your money goes quite a way

[Pomp]

When I was in NZ a couple of months ago. We were there for three weeks. We spent a week on north island and two weeks on south island. We hired a car from EZ Car, who were cheaper than most of the big companies. Most of the body panels had scratches, but it got us round.

I know of people who have bussed it around NZ. If you want the younger crowd (and I mean 18yr olds) go with KiwiExperience. If you want to avoid the younger crowd go with MagicBus. There was another company but I have forgotten it.

The thing to remember about the buses, is that they will try and sell you side excursions, and when they go from one place to another, they will stop at an attraction. If you are not interested in that attraction, you may not have an option but to sit on the bus, and wait until everyone comes back.

Essentially there is a pretty defined route which you follow. We actually got the brochures from the bus companies and drove around it ourselves. The benefits being, a) we would leave the hotels later than the buses, b) we left when we wanted, c) we could take whatever route we wanted, d) we visted the attractions we wanted e) we would normally get to the hotel before the bus!!

In terms of accomodation. Get a Youth Hostel Association card (called Hostelling International, in the rest of the world). The other thing to get is LonelyPlanet. The list Budget accomodation in towns where you are going to be. The YHA card gives you access to other hostels and somethimes a discount.

[matt_london]

This is a cheap camper van that me and my gf used when we toured NZ www.spaceships.tv . We were on a year out trip so had a tight budget and this was fine. Also,there are loads of places you can camp for free, especially in the south island which can cut down your expenses! A good idea is to try to free camp on alternate nights, that way you still can shower once each day! Also join Top Ten camp sites http://www.topparks.co.nz/ for discounts on camp sites.

[Gef]

Pomp wrote,

"The thing to remember about the buses, is that they will try and sell you side excursions, and when they go from one place to another, they will stop at an attraction. If you are not interested in that attraction, you may not have an option but to sit on the bus, and wait until everyone comes back."

This is not strictly true although I can only speak about my experiences on the MagicBus. Yes, we did stop at attractions but with one (worthy) exception they were free. They are usually 'photo opportunities' lasting 15 minutes max. However they do have links with various other companies (bungy, freefall, etc,etc) and will book for you at discounted rates so that you can take part after you have arrived at your destination.

The one worthy exception was the Mount Bruce wildlife centre north of Wellington. This is a breeding centre for tuatara, kiwi and other endangered species which is supported by MagicBus. You can see some of the rarest species in NZ and it costs $8 (less than �3) to get in.

A couple of other points which attracted me to the bus. Someone else is driving so I could relax and enjoy the scenery. In the Queenstown and Milford areas many of the roads are icy and snow covered in July and snow chains are sometimes needed. We got stuck in a blizzard on the Haast pass for two hours - I'm glad I was on a coach and not driving myself.

However, in the north island I did hire a car (from A2B in Auckland) and it was cheap at $150 for 4 days including the damage excess waiver.

Whatever you do you will love it as it's a wonderful country with so much to see and do. I've already booked for next year!