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My wife and I are planning a trip to New Zealand in April and would love any tips or must see spots that anyone could recommend. We already got our plane tickets as a graduation gift from her parents and will be spending three weeks there. We are flying into Auckland and out of Christchurch since we wanted to see stuff on both islands. We are really interested in seeing as many cool natural features and animal sites as possible in the time we have there as this will most likely be a once in a lifetime trip for us. We have a couple of travel guides that we ordered and have just arrived so gonna be reading those but would love first hand experiences or local advise. Stupid Questions: We were thinking of renting a camper and traveling in that opposed to staying in lodging. Does NZ require an additional licence for one, or is a US or international drivers licence good enough to rent one? I know the costs there are higher than the US, but are the prices I see on the websites in NZ or US dollars, they are .com websites so I'm not sure.
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Jan 12, 2017 02:52
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 12:12 |
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International license should be fine. You've chosen off peak-ish so there should be plenty available. Recently we've had a big old Earthquake thats smashed the main high way along the coast of the south island. so all traffic is going through the inland route. No biggie but traffic will be slower and denser. How big of a Camper are we talking. You can get decent 2 people ones that are basically a 3/4 ton Van (Toyota Hi-ace) From Jucy https://www.jucy.co.nz/our-vehicles/ but they also have larger motor homes. The Jucy Chaser has an inbuilt shower and toilet which means you can freedom camp (You just park up someplace) in some places. however other towns have banned this practice within 10 km. These vans are NZ$183 (US$130) per day. I checked a couple of the other websites and 180 seems about right. Other companies are: http://www.maui.co.nz/ http://www.britz.co.nz/ http://www.escaperentals.co.nz/ http://www.explorercampers.co.nz/ http://kiwicampers.co.nz/ - older models, so probably cheaper http://www.ecampers.co.nz/ - camper aggregator compares 15 companies https://www.rankers.co.nz/respect - Camp site and holiday Park map. Generally includes cost If you or the wife have discounts with USA firms see if they can cross over IE Avis or Budget. Food is more expensive. Liquor is expensive. Fuel is approx US$5.40 per US gal for 91 Octane. Road ways are often Narrow and un-separated. expressways do exist but they are often nearer Auckland. The police have an incredibably low tolerance for speeding, the whole christmas period and January, anything more than 4 kph (2.5 miles) the speed limit you receive a ticket if caught. Driving places will be a bit of a drag. I've personally driven a lot of the south island as a commercial truck driver and while you can do 800 km (500 m) in a day, you are kinda missing out on stuff. Places: Queenstown is nice but can also be fairly lame as its become a sort of Aspen-esq party town. its also very far south. The middle of the north island has a lot of touristy things to do and see and look at. The west coast of the south island is also great, there are a couple of Glaciers down at Fox and Franz Josef. You will need to prebook a ferry crossing between Wellington and Picton. you cannot just rock up and get a spot. Blue bridge or Cook straight ferrys. I've really only been a tourist myself in the Rotorua/ Taupo area. You could def spend 3 or 4 days there alone. There are glow wroms to see at waitomo and lots of interesting poo poo along the way. EDIT:: Its worth paying slightly more money to get a camper with a better kitchen if you are going to cook all your own food. Cheap eats are hard to come by here in NZ and you can easily be looking at US$100 a day to eat out. Also the Coffee is stronger than America, I order a Double shot Cappuccino and generally need to order a Quad/Quin shot in USA. Anphear fucked around with this message at 09:16 on Jan 12, 2017 |
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Jan 12, 2017 09:09
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Anphear posted:International license should be fine. You've chosen off peak-ish so there should be plenty available. Recently we've had a big old Earthquake thats smashed the main high way along the coast of the south island. so all traffic is going through the inland route. No biggie but traffic will be slower and denser. Thanks for all the info, this is definitely looking like way to save more money on our trip vs car plus paying to stay places as long as we plan our trip well to account for added drive time and having limited options for overnights. The inbuilt shower and toilet is a feature I thought we would have to get smaller mobile home so that is a great option to have on a van rental.
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Jan 14, 2017 03:36
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