New Zealand is an incredible part of the world and in my opinion one of the best ways to see the country is by road, in a campervan. There are many reasons why this might be the case, but let’s assume you have already made the decision to hire a campervan.
I spent three weeks in May of last year driving around the South Island of New Zealand, and while I had an incredible time, had I known some of these things below, it would have made the trip a whole lot easier.
If going in winter (or spring or autumn), ask for an extra duvet. Once all the money is paid they are pretty keen to get you on the road, so for additional things like this they are unlikely to charge you for. This is especially true if they are busy or approaching closing time (and probably also applies to other little add-ons like table and chair, heater, etc).
Tip Bagaimana Saya Travel Sendiri Dengan Keluarga Di New Zealand
Alternatively (or if you forget), you can always find a department store in a city and buy a cheap one. Then you can donate it to someone picking up their van as you return yours.
As I mentioned above, I went in May, and because it was pretty cold outside, we were happy enough to eat most of our meals inside the van. In the occasional time we did eat outside there were generally picnic tables at the campsite or RV park we stayed at. We literally did not use the chairs or table once.
You may be different to us and are going in summer and are planning on staying in really remote places where there will not be picnic tables. That’s fine and if that’s the case go for your life, just make sure you really will need them because they take up a fair bit of space.
Planning A Campervan Trip In New Zealand
Buy SIM card for your phone instead of renting a GPS with your van. The roads are well marked and even though your sim won’t have service everywhere, the places it won’t have reception are through the mountains where there is only one road anyway. And that one road is well signposted.
The bonus of having a SIM card is that you can then tether your tablet or laptop to it and research places on the go if you want to, and can call places ahead of time to make bookings. You will feel so much more self-reliant by doing this.
Most convenience stores in the cities will sell SIM cards and if you have a reasonably new iPhone, it should not be locked to any network so you can just plug and play (not sure about other brands sorry). If the store isn’t busy, ask the operator to set it up for you.
Tentang Diri Ini ♥: :: Percutian Bajet Ke New Zealand (part I) ::
We had a horrid experience with Cheapa Camper. So much so that I could probably write a dedicated article on why you shouldn’t go with with them.
The Cheapa vans are just old Apollo vans at the Apollo depot that should probably be retired, (there is actually no Cheapa branding on them at all). The vans are older and less reliable and although this shouldn’t be a problem in theory, we had a few problems with ours specifically because it was old. I was on the phone most days to Apollo trying to get them to book us in to have a mechanic look at it.
Thankfully we didn’t have to pay for any of this but it did take time out of our holiday to find mechanics to fix stuff.
New Zealand South Island Camper Van Trip
They are not actually much cheaper than Apollo, the big difference is the bond you lay down is half (NZD$2500) of what you pay for for Apollo vans and most other providers (about NZD$5000), which is refunded on return.
Ok shameless self plug but it’s true. I whipped together a free ebook on where to go if you have 3 weeks in a campervan. It’s just built with previous blog posts I have written, but its in a handy PDF format so you can take it with you. (It’s only for the South Island by the way). Click here to download.
…or buy some on the road because the ones Apollo provided are very thin. You might even be able to ask for a couple of extras and stuff them together to make one improved pillow.
Panduan Jelajah Selandia Baru Pakai Campervan Seperti Ringgo Agus Rahman
Now this might sound like a lame recommendation, but in winter it gets very cold at night so unless you are lighting fires throughout the country (not sure if this is legal or not, probably allowed in some places) or hanging out in common areas in holiday parks, the evenings might tend drag on if you don’t have anything to do.
The reason I suggest a USB is that the TV in the campervan will most likely have a usb port, which you can just plug in your USB and away you go. This obviously saves space in carrying actual DVDs.
Your van will have gas and electric heating so If going in winter, don’t worry too much about being cold. We had one or both of these heaters running during the evenings and they made the van toasty and warm at all times.
Tip Bercuti 14 Hari Di New Zealand Bersama Anak Kecil Dengan 'motorhome' Sesuai Cuti Cuti Bersama Keluarga Cara Jimat
We spent 3 weeks without a working water pump because I didn’t know what to check was working before we left. The staff were also over-busy so they rushed us out without giving us any time. Things to check are in working order:
In New Zealand unleaded petrol is incredibly expensive at around NZD$2.00 a litre (~NZD$7.40 a gallon). Whereas diesel was only about NZD$1.30 a litre. Now I’m the sure the prices have fluctuated since I was there but diesel always seemed to be cheaper (unlike in Australia) so I’m very glad our van was a diesel.
Sometimes you’ll be in the middle of nowhere with nowhere to plug your power into and have little desire to do any real cooking and cleaning up. We had canned soup quite a lot on our trip because we just couldn’t be bothered cooking. It was so easy to just throw some in a saucepan and add some toast. Probably not the most nutritional, but it got the job done.
Day North Island Winter Roadie
So these are the things I learnt from 3 weeks in a campervan. If you’re planning some time in New Zealand in a campervan, you’ll want to read my 3 week itinerary to give you an idea on what’s around and how long things will take. It will be helpful even if you are doing the North Island as well or planning a different length of time.KLIA2- Gold Coast – Auckland – Christchurch – Lake Tekapo – Mount Cook – Lake Pukaki – Queenstown -Milford Sound – Te Anau – Dunedin -Timaru – Christchurch -Auckland-Gold Coast -KLIA2
1. New Zealand adalah sebuah negara cantik yang sangat selamat untuk dikunjungi. Pergilah sendiri tidak perlu guna ejen. Trip 10 hari ini hanya saya, suami dan anak kecil kami. Rajinkanlah diri buat kajian dan susun itinerari. Seperti saya sendiri, berbulan-bulan saya buat kajian tentang New Zealand. Terdapat kaunter informasi di setiap pekan untuk pertanyaan, jangan risau.
2. Ambillah travel insurans untuk persediaan takut jadi apa-apa di sana nanti seperti gempa bumi dll. Untuk penjawat awam, sila isi borang kelulusan ke luar negara dan borang perlindungan insurans. Kerajaan telah memperuntukkan RM300k insurans sekali setahun bagi penjawat awam.
How To Travel New Zealand On A Budget • The Blonde Abroad
3. Di New Zealand kami sewa campervan. Sebenarnya ada 3 jenis, caravan, campervan & motorhome. Cuma di Malaysia kita biasa sebut caravan. Caravan adalah seperti kontena yang diubahsuai menjadi seperti mini rumah tetapi perlu ditarik mengggunakan kenderaan. Campervan adalah van yang di ubah suai dengan katil, meja makan, dapur masak manakala bumbung diubahsuai menjadi hitop. Motorhome seperti yang disewa oleh Dato Alif Shukri pula lebih besar dengan bayaran sewa lebih dari RM1000 sehari jika sewaan kurang daripada 15 hari. Boleh survey di motorhomerepublic.com.
4. Flight AirAsia dari KLIA2 ke Auckland memakan masa 12 jam. Pastikan ada tiket balik. Transit di Gold Coast 1 jam (pergi) 1 jam suku (balik) untuk urusan imigresen dan kastam Australia. Ini adalah prosedur wajib, bawa turun semua barang handcarry untuk scan dan naik semula ke dalam kapal terbang yang sama dan seat yang sama.
5. Disebabkan masa penerbangan yang terlalu lama, booking makanan siap-siap secara online untuk harga lebih murah (beza RM3). Hidangan kegemaran saya nasi Lemak Pak Nassir & Sate Ayam. Pergh!
Motorhome Caravan New Zealand
6. Airport Australia dan New Zealand adalah antara yang paling ketat, siap ada anjing pengesan lagi. Pastikan siap sedia untuk segala pertanyaan contohnya datang untuk tujuan apa? Dengan siapa? Berapa lama? Tinggal di mana? Ada tiket balik?
7. Kepada yang membawa bayi, susu dan termos berisi air boleh dibawa naik ke kabin. Jika tiada air panas, boleh minta daripada pramugari / pramugara untuk buat susu. Klia2 terbaik, boleh sorong kereta bayi sampai depan pintu kapal. Masa balik mereka siap letak kereta sorong depan pintu. Yang ini tiada di New Zealand, sobs! Sila maklumkan pihak kaunter semasa check in untuk dapatkan tag stroller dan timbang.
8. Setibanya di Auckland, umumkan semua barang makanan dan ubatan (jika ada). Senaraikan barangan, kandungan dan quantity. Print siap-siap untuk salinan agar memudahkan urusan kastam. Print sekali