Renting a van and saving money in New Zealand

When traveling around New Zealand, there is really no substitute for having your own wheels. Most people coming for a few months or more buy a van or station wagon to live in. But if you’re here for a short time (like us), you’re better off just renting one. Since we were here in the off season, we got ours for $NZ 38/day ($US 27) for a brand new Toyata Hiace with full kitchen and convertible queen size bed. In fact, when the average double hostel room costs over $NZ 60 a night, you’d be stupid to not get one.

For many backpackers, having their own transportation and place to sleep every night can be quite the change, so here are our tips for travelling New Zealand by camper van.

• Don’t get one with a toilet – You can’t trip without landing into a free, immaculately clean public toilet in New Zealand. If you need a shower, ask at a holiday park and they will probably let you use one for $5.

• Don’t get a guide book – In just about every town there is an i-Site, travel centers staffed by amazing friendly people willing to answer any question you might have and make commission free bookings for anything in the area. In most places there is so much to see, the only way you can get a grasp on it is to ask what shouldn’t be missed. We did this in every town we went to and it paid off time and time again.

• Skip the holiday parks – You can park and camp almost anywhere, regardless of no camping signs. There’s a much different attitude here than other western countries, people don’t feel the need to rain on your parade just for the sake of it. Easy going kiwis are extremely unlikely to bother you unless you’re doing something to deserve it, even police. Feel free to ask any local where the good places are to park and they’ll be happy to tell you. The exceptions to this rules would be in very busy tourist area’s like Queenstown and Wanaka.

• Don’t leave a mess – We hung out with some vagabond kiwis, those that live and travel around in their own pimped out custom campers. They told us that the “no camping” signs were new and a result of tourists like us that leave toilet paper and trash at all the nicest places. If you do relieve yourself outside, take your toilet paper with you and bury your shit. Pretty basic stuff.

• Cook your own meals – Eating out in New Zealand can be expensive, and it’s really nothing special. At the same time the local produce you can get in the market is almost unmatched in quality. Your campervan should have a stove, so use it!

• Stop at every brown site of interest sign you have time for – It’s crazy how well marked every site is in New Zealand. There are little walks to waterfalls, around lakes, and cool things to see along every road. Some of our best adventures came from these random stops, so don’t be tempted to rush from one big site to the next, leave yourself time to see all the little stuff.

Have fun and watch out for petrol costs (very expensive)!