What New Zealand Campervan experiences have you had?

November 11, 2009 1:19 PM

New Zealand Campervan advice -- anyone done NZ by campervan?

We're heading to New Zealand in the middle of February for a month and want to rent (hire) a campervan to get around. We want to start our trip on the South Island so we're planning to pick up the van in Christchurch. We'd appreciate advice on which company to go with, which options you took with your van, what your experience was like in the various camping parks, and whether you took the van over on the ferry to the North Island. We will be leaving from Auckland at the end of the trip but only want to spend about a week to 10 days on the North Island. We're a little undecided about whether to take the campervan over on the ferry or do the North Island by car.

I should add that we are experienced RV-ers here in the US having travelled and camped for 5 years and over 60,000 miles in various motorhomes. The camper and camping won't be new; only the country. Also, we know we'll be driving on the opposite side of the road. That too is not a new or daunting experience.

Thanks very much for your advice and experiences.

posted by birdwatcher to travel & transportation (17 comments total)

My wife and I did this 2 years ago in May and it was the most amazing vacation ever. Just like you are thinking, we flew into Christchurch and spent a majority of our time on the southern island and then took the ferry to the north island and left from Auckland.

We rented a 2 birth + toilet Camper from Kea Campers. Service was great, the camper was in very good condition. I think they even arranged the ferry, which was super easy...drive on drive off. We had no real itinerary and I think all we had to do was call the ferry company the night before.

The camper parks we're great, most of them were within walking distance to attractions and town.

This was our first experience with RV (in fact, it was my first experience with a manual transmission even).

One thing I do regret is buying a tomtom + maps specifically for the trip. The tomtom worked great, but Kea will rent you one and its way cheaper.
posted by rickim at 1:52 PM on November 11

Yes, I've thought about downloading the NZ road map to my Garmin but I realized if I never went back I'd have a useless piece of software. Most of the companies we are looking at will rent one for about $100 for the month.

Kea isn't on our short list for a rental. Their fleet gets a lot of use and apparently it has hurt their ratings. Thanks for the encouragement to camp. We went back and forth about b&bs and home stays before settling on the RV. You had guts driving a stick AND on the wrong side of the road for the first time.
posted by birdwatcher at 2:18 PM on November 11

I did this last year, hired from Alpha Campervans, one-way from Christchurch to Auckland. No problems at all with the company or the van, reasonable value (not cheap, but cheaper than hiring a car and staying in hotels), and generally very good fun.

They'll give you a book full of commercial campsite listings, and any decent NZ guide book will have those too. What's a good idea to take along is listings/maps of DoC camp sites which are super cheap, generally have no showers, electricity or other facilities, but are refreshingly devoid of people and noise and often in great locations. I tended to alternate nights between big campsites with power/wifi/etc and DoC sites, which worked well. Just stopping by the side of the road and staying there overnight is frowned upon, which is understandable given the vast number of tourists in camper-vans. Don't worry about calling ahead to book places in campsites, I generally just rolled up to the nearest place in the evenings and didn't have any problem getting a spot (except in Wellington, and if I was going to arrive somewhere very late).

I'd put NZ maps on my GPS (TomTom) so I didn't need a pile of maps or to hire a GPS, which took away all the stress from driving.. And actually, I saw a bunch of nice scenery I would otherwise have missed just by telling it to drive me via interesting-sounding "scenic locations" it happened to know about.

I did hire a mobile phone from the camper van people for not-much-money.. It got used, but not very much. Convenient, not necessary.

You're right to spend most of your time on South Island.. Whether it's worth taking the van to the North, I don't know. Suppose it depends on whether you're intending to spend a lot of time in cities where it'd be a pain in the arse, or in the wilds (which is still possible on North Island - Tonganiro, Northland, ...). Obviously if you want to spend any time in Auckland (2-3 days is enough) you don't need transport so do that at the end after you've returned the car/van.

Will add more if I think of anything. :)
posted by dickasso at 2:33 PM on November 11

I traveled a month in NZ but rented a subaru wagon and stayed in hostels. So this isn't a direct answer to your question but your metafilter name is birdwatcher so I'm going to give you some unsolicited birding advice :)

- see if the yellow-headed penguins will still be nesting at Dunedin when you are there and if they are, don't miss it
- you can take a ferry from the south island (invercargill I think) to Stewart Island and see kiwis feed on the beach at dusk. I didn't get there, but...KIWIs! That's gotta be worth a boat ride.
- the great walks (Routeburn, Milford) on the south island offer outstanding birding opportunities.
- abel tasman near Nelson is a really cool spot as well
- there's some weird birds (introduced aussie parrots and the like) that hang out in some of the city parks in Wellington (Wellington is a great city, btw)

Finally, This is your bird guide
posted by mcstayinskool at 2:55 PM on November 11

Seriously? GPS? South Island has like 3 roads! :)
posted by lundman at 4:21 PM on November 11 [1 favorite has favorites]

mcstayinskool: Thanks for the birding tips. Yes, we are going to focus on some of the birding hotspots but Mrs. Birdwatcher is not as keen on birds as I am. Dunedin, Stewart Is., Fjordland/Milford, and Abel Tasman are in our itinerary. And a friend has loaned us his copy of your suggested 'Birds of New Zealand'. If it wasn't so pricey I'd buy my own.

lundman: I agree that we probably don't need a GPS to find our way around New Zealand. However, we like the POI functions and the estimated time feature to help us with our planning. We may reconsider and not get that option and just go with the old fashion maps.

dickasso: Thanks for the camping tips. Your experience with 'winging it' without campground reservations jibes with what I've heard and read. That's very freeing when you don't know how long you're going to be on the road in a day.
posted by birdwatcher at 4:41 PM on November 11

you can take a ferry from the south island (invercargill I think) to Stewart Island

The ferry to Stewart Island departs from Bluff.

And just in case there's any confusion, you can't take your camper van.
posted by HiroProtagonist at 5:30 PM on November 11

A couple of things:

I know a few people who tried to see kiwis and didn't. Might have been the time of the year (met all the people at around the same time too), but it may be worth looking into if you're thinking of making a special trip.

I just rented a car and drove around myself, picking up the occasional hitchhiker. I'll second the "no GPS necessary" thing. Either my rental came with the map, or I picked up a free map in the airport (probably for YHA hostels) that had a list of the times between destinations. It was quite accurate. There is also this:

New Zealand Travel Time Calculator.

The kea bird was pretty cool. Common enough in the mountains, I think.

The nicest rentals I saw on the roads were Keas. This was two years ago, so who knows what it is like now. It seemed like a very very common thing to do, so I don't think you'll see much of a difference between camper parks there and in the U.S.

Have fun - New Zealand is beautiful.
posted by backwards guitar at 6:27 PM on November 11

I'd recommend the Catlins, southeast corner of the South Island (note definite article - noone here ever calls it just 'South Island', weird but there you go) between Dunedin and Bluff. Get to Stewart Island if you can, it's amazing and very few people ever manage it, but make sure to book ahead - transport is limited.

In fact you really can't go wrong camping in the S Island - apart from a dull stretch between Blenheim and Christchurch the whole place is just stunning. Good time to go there too, should be nice and warm.
posted by Sebmojo at 6:32 PM on November 11

We did it a couple of weeks ago and it was awesome! Roads are narrow and windy, and constantly being worked on so expect to travel slowly -- but it's so beautiful that you won't want to go fast.

We only did the North Island due to time constraints, but I'we went north from Auckland to visit the Bay of Islands (didn't make it to 90 Mile Beach, unfortunately). Then to through Lake Taupo to Napier and around in a big loop.

We rented an Escape Van which was a cheap, colourful and practical way for us to get around, staying at holiday parks etc. We loved it, and plan on using them again (excellent service and great facilities). However, it's a bit basic for some people so it depends on what you want.

Plus they have automatic vans which you can't always guarantee in Australia (most people can drive manual/stick here).

I didn't do much of the driving so I will ask The Official Driver to chime in here too and share his thoughts.

Have fun!
posted by indienial at 12:49 AM on November 12

If you are interested in birds a swing by the Karori Wildlife Sanctary and the Mount Bruce centre would be must-do events if you're in the lower part of the North Island. Staglands, north of Wellington, is the only place I know of where you can easily get close to the New Zealand Falcon.

Cape Foulwind, toward the top of the West Coast of the South Island, has a great spot for seeing Weka.

If you're in Dunedin at the right time of year you can visit the Albatross colony but you *must* book ahead to get the visit. You can't just show up on the day, as I discovered.

When visiting my parents we normally get on the ferry in Wellington, where we live, and do a circut of the South Island, usually heading down the east coast, bypassing Christchurch to head up into the McKenzie Basin, and then cut down south towards Dunedin via the Cardronas; on the way home we cross at Haast Pass in the south, head up through the glaciers, and then continue up the West Coast until we get up past Greymouth and then cut over to Blenheim.

We go by car, but it'd mostly be a great route for a camper van - some parts of the Cardronas are too steep and the roads are unsealed gravel to be comfortable in a van (and the same applys to the Caitlans, mentioned above) unless you know what you're doing, and much of the West Coast can be slow, narrow roads, but it affords some magical opportunities - we've pulled in for a night and slept under the shadow of Mount Cook, and there are plenty of places around the Southern Lakes where you'd wake up to the most amazing views if you pulled into a random carpark.

Some other nice spots off the top of my head: the Mavora Lakes, the Glaciers, Pancake rocks, the butterfly houses in Dunedin and Palmerston, Milford Sound (but make sure you have a full tank and mosquito repellant, because waiting for the petrol station that opens only every few hours in a cloud of mozzies rather detracts from the experience).
posted by rodgerd at 1:31 AM on November 12

(I should also add: just south of the Kaikoura there's a decent set of limestone caves, and Blenheim has quite a nice distillery that specialises in fruit brandies; Kaikoura has a decent seal colony, but Red Rocks in Wellington is better; and there's the whale-watching in Kaikoura.)
posted by rodgerd at 2:21 AM on November 12

Terrific info. Thanks everyone. We are very encouraged by the spirit of the open road that seems to infect everyone who has ever visited New Zealand. Ask anyone who has been and you get glowing descriptions like these. We can't wait to get there!
posted by birdwatcher at 10:51 AM on November 12

One completely unique place from a trip to the North Island this past July was the hot water beach - thermal water flowing up under a beach, so you dig a hole in the sand, and the hot water mixes with cold to approximate a warm bath. Amazing place, and there's a brand new, well-appointed camping ground a few hundred metres down the road.
Matamata, where in July they were putting up trees/hedges for the filming of the Hobbit.
Waitomo Caves - flying foxes in caves, 100m abseil, glowworms, beautiful formations - we did the full day trip which was exhausting, 2km walking upstream in a underground river of floodwater. But then it was also amazing to be halfway through and be walking through layer after layer of oyster shell fossil, some with pearls, and whale bones etc. One and a half days, two of us and two guides, all equipment and meals (carried underground - hot cocoa!) cost us $850NZ
We did a tandem paraglide off the west coast south of Auckland. There's amazing breezes coming off the sea, sudden grassy cliffs and the beaches are black. This cost us $240, two flights.
In the North Island, many caravan parks have thermal pools of varying quality. De Brett's at Taupo was excellent - warm waterslide, private pools, massages available - around $40NZ a night for two.
posted by quercus23 at 1:18 PM on November 12

Thanks quecus23. I will find out where Matamata and the Waitomo Caves are. We are only planning on 8 days on the North Island with stops at Wellington, Mt. Taranaki, Tongariro, Rotorua, and Tiri Tiri Matangi. If we have any time left we might make a dash for the Bay of Islands before flying out of Auckland. We are counting on local knowledge and advice to narrow list of possible stops on the North Is.
posted by birdwatcher at 2:50 PM on November 12

Hi there, it's great to see a discussion about NZ tourism on here! New Zealand is such a fantastic destination, I am sure you will have a great time.

I would like to ask Birdwatcher to clarify their comment from November 11 regarding KEA Campers - particularly "Their fleet gets a lot of use and apparently it has hurt their ratings". I work for KEA Campers and would really like to know on what this comment is based. KEA is the only campervan and rental company in New Zealand that has consistently won NZ Tourism Awards - in fact we've won so many we are a member of the NZ Tourism Hall of Fame. Our vehicles are a maximum 2.5 years old, and we have a strict environmental protection policy (we were recently awarded the Qualmark Enviro-Gold rating) which means our fleet is maintained to an outstanding level to ensure our vehicles are providing maximum efficiency.

But don't take my word for it - if you'd like to see more about the ratings of KEA and other campervan companies in New Zealand, I suggest you visit www.rankers.co.nz (this will probably be useful for you when deciding other aspects of your itinerary too). The Rankers website is designed to provide rankings - by tourists - for attractions and other tourism operators in New Zealand. The ratings on there speak for themselves!

Of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but we object to seeing negative comments about KEA online which don't appear to be based on fact.

Good luck making your travel plans, and if you need any advice we at KEA would be happy to help. I can also recommend Ron Laughlin from the New Zealand Travel Guide - Ron offers a free personal NZ vacation itinerary service: http://www.ronlaughlin.net.
posted by keacampers at 5:18 PM on November 16 [1 favorite has favorites]

Two of us spent nearly ten days in an Escape Camper. A little converted van. More than enough space for us. We could have been a bit more organised but it worked well.

It came with a gas bottle and small stove which we never used because all the places we stayed had full kitchens. A plastic cooler which we bought ice for every couple of days. We did spend more time shopping than some people would like on holidays but we actually looked forward to it. New things to eat and drink!

The biggest thing though was that the van was easier to drive around. Easy to park. Good visibility. A smaller van in New Zealand with it's windy roads and plenty of up and downs just was so much less of an issue to deal with.

Not having to worry too much about where we were going, even through the centre of Auckland, made the driving part so much less of a chore. Mind you I worry about that stuff more than a lot of drivers.
posted by dinoworx at 4:11 PM on November 17