We MnM travelled across New Zealand in December 2018 for 19 days across the length of the country, covering 4000 km in a rented Toyota Corolla. In my previous article I shared how/why we decided on visiting New Zealand, and how can you too buy RTW (round the world) flight tickets for under £1000. Here I focus on in-country travel.
TIP – 1: Fly into South Island and travel South to North. Leave from Auckland.
A lot of people as default travel into the capital city of the country, Auckland and rent cars/vans/motor-homes to travel south (one way). While less people travel south to north and hence transport companies at various time give away free days to drive their vehicles from south to north island. you can even look for cheaper rentals and negotiate with rental companies out side the peak months of Dec and Jan.
TIP – 2: New Zealand is expensive, Plan in advance.
We knew NZ is expensive so we had to keep a bigger budget. I was keen in renting a van or motorhome but it was coming out to be really expensive. The decision was to either spend £3000+ in renting a motorhome OR renting a mid size car and staying in hostels. We decided on the latter as it came out to be cheaper. We usually stayed in private rooms in hostels. We rented a Toyota Corolla from Ezi Car Rentals for £520 for 19 days including additional driver, full insurance and one way charges. To read more on our expenses and spend read this.
TIP – 3: Motorhome or not
Renting a motorhome gives the flexibility to do free camping which is very popular in NZ. Depending on the family/group size and length of the stay our advice is to go with either renting a car or van or motorhome or even buying one.
- Under 3 weeks : Rent a (car + live in hotels/hostels) or motorhome
- 3 weeks – 2 months : Rent a van/motorhome
- 2 months + : Buy a van/motorhome and then sell it
TIP – 4: Weather is unpredictable
Just like in the UK, the weather plays a key role on your experience of the places you visit. We had amazing weather at a few places, while we missed out on a few places/activities because the weather was not on our side. This is difficult to plan but if there are places high on your list, try to stay for more than a day.
Tip -5: Spend more time in South Island
South Island is where you can spend months and there would still be many things to do. Spend as much time in Queenstown and Wanaka. Do not miss Mildford Sound, Mount Cook, Franz Josepf glacier, Arthur’s pass and Able Tasman National Park.
THE ROUTE:
Below is the road route that we took. Starting in Queenstown and finishing in Auckland. I
In separate article we will share all the places we have visited more in detail. While planning it is essential to consider (1) the places that you must visit and (2) accordingly plan out the places you will sleep overnight. Sometimes these both go hand-in-hand.
Below is the direct link to the Google Maps set that we created. This captures all information: Click on the map heading to open in a new tab )or in google maps app).
- Driving Route from south island to north island
- Places we visited
- Places we did not visit, for next time
- Tongariro Hike
- Mountain Biking outskirts of Queenstown