timdy

Hello all!!!

My wife and I are hoping you LOVELY people (creep creep) can help. We are heading to NZ for 3 weeks in august to see friends just to see if NZ is for us with a view to moving there.

The only issue for us is do we hire a car and stay in motels/lodges/campsite cabins etc or a campervan. i guess it's a case of will there be a big difference in the overall cost between the 2 and is aug going to be too cold for a campervan?

Many MANY thanks and we are already VERY excited.

ttfn

tim & wendy

welshwales

We used car and motels.
The benefit is that you don't have to pack up the campervan every time you want to go down the shop.

Maz

I concur. Never even considered a campervan when we came this time last year. Would have felt too much like being on holiday, and we wanted to actually, for example, stay *in* Wellington, stay *in* Auckland, etc. e.g. we stayed in an apartment hotel in Welly, went out, bought groceries, cooked in the apartment, etc. Made us feel "more" like we were living there.

Not to mention every now and then, you want to be pampered.

whitesand

Definitely a car and motels or holiday parks. The roads in NZ are bad enough for a car never mind a campervan driven by someone who has just got off the plane! Also, many of the access roads to the beaches are difficult or impossible to reach, or too steep for a campervan. I've seen many folks on the roads driving a campervan who look as if they've just arrived, having difficulty with the road system here. Campervans also appear expensive to rent.

timdy

many thanks to those that replied. yes, our friends in NZ have also said they would do car. I dont suppose you could suggest a good guide or web site to look for best value places to stay? we are starting at queenstown and ending at auckland.

jackietyfry

We also used a car for our recce - much more flexible

We stayed at a few Top 10 motels - these are holiday parks with a huge variety of accommodation from tent pitch's to apartments. Not total luxury but very clean, comfortable and good value for money.

We stayed at Top 10's in Kaikoura and Papamoa Beach - would definitely stay at either again.

It's also nice to stay somewhere where Kiwi's might stay too - we met a good mix of tourists and natives when we went.
Happy travelling!

Kaffy Mintcake

Thanks for starting this thread Tim and Wendy! We will be touring the South Island for 2 weeks in November and have many of the same questions.

alice goodwin

I can't believe what I've just read ! We're going to NZ in October & we've hired a campervan!!! I was really looking forward to it - now i think we may have dropped a boo-boo !!

Has anyone out there done the campervan thing? PLEASE tell me it's not going to be that bad !!!!!!! Love Alice xxxxx

happynz

It's not that bad.

AndyRuth

Hi there , please don't worry Alice , we did the campervan thing for a month last May ( 2 adults 2 kids under the age of 2 ) , great adventure , we all loved it , suppose the decent weather last May did help. We had no problem with roads , most a lot better than here in Cheshire !

Just a couple of points though , stay fairly handy to your arrival point in New Zealand for a couple of nights ( jet lag hit us with a big stick but soon recovered ) and get a Big enough van i.e for 4 of us we got a 6 berth , just enough room.

We stayed at Top 10 sites , as previously said clean and comfortable.

You will have a wonderful time , weather should be warming up a bit as well.

bourbon-biscuit

We were in a camper for a couple of months some years back with one kid and I would say we found it restrictive (both in terms of 'nipping' about cities and in the evenings when little one was sleeping), uncomfortable and expensive. Every now and then we booked into a motel and there were invariably several campers parked up outside! Campers can be cold in winter and hot in summer and cost a fortune each day plus the cost of the site. We were in a budget camper though, so the discomfort and cold might not apply to you, although October can still get chilly at night. What sort of camper have you hired?

karron

when we arrived in the airport at auckland we picked up a guidebook,i think it was jasons,for free and when we hired the car we got an aa book as well.plus travelling around we were able to pick up local versions at info centres.they list all sorts of accommodation along with descriptions and typical prices.papamoa top 10 was nice ,my wife loved it because we were on the beachfront,and waitomo top 10 was also nice.

Ted Logan

We did the campervan thing 4 years ago on holiday. Loved the idea about parking anywhere (Akaroa main street) and sleep.

just remember to book into some campsites for waste disposal and refill of water as well as showers. It can also get cold in them during the night.

Agree on getting a bigger campervan than needed, space is valuable.

Good point about the jet lag, have had a few deaths here from accidents because of that.