Traveled: September 2014

The Campervan: An Adventure of a Lifetime

When my husband and I decided to vacation to New Zealand, on a very tight budget, I knew we were in for a challenge. New Zealand is EXPENSIVE. Unless you love nature and roughing it. Then it is just mildly costly. So how were we ever going to afford it? Campervans!

Campervan Variety

There are SO many options for campervans in New Zealand. They have a similar range to hotels. You can stay at the 1 star and have basic amenities and things may break, or you can have the 5 star, with every luxury you didn’t know existed. We were on a tight budget, so we went with basic. The only way we could have gone cheaper would have been doing a relocation. Many of the companies offer free (some even include gas money) vehicles if you will pick it up here and drop of there. They are date restrictive, but definitely worth looking into. We went during the off season so our rental was much cheaper and I did not find out about the relocation till after booking.
We rented our vehicle through Spaceshipsrentals.co.nz. Overall, I am very happy with the experience. We had total freedom. We didn’t have to worry about spending too much time somewhere we didn’t like or not enough somewhere we did. Besides a wish list of location we wanted to visit, we didn’t really have a plan for this trip. We just drove where we wanted, when we wanted.

There were downsides. For one, our rental was bright, in-your-face, hello I’m a tourist, orange. While in most countries I would be highly embarrassed, it turns out New Zealanders are ridiculously nice, even, if not especially, to foreigners. So our eye-sore of a vehicle got us more help than hate.
It was also old. Not in a falling apart sort of way but in a guzzling fuel sort of way. While it was old, it was very well maintained inside and out. But the projected gas mileage, while not great when new, was overrated. This resulted in us spending almost double our budget on fuel.

Fuel

Fuel is expensive. We should have factored more in the budget for gas when making the decision to drive (versus bus) everywhere. I would still say it was worth it for the freedom and no need for public transportation. But if you do choose to go this route, make a budget for gas and double it. Also factor this in to deciding on a campervan. We did not opt for the more fuel efficient model in an attempt to save money.

Food

Another expensive item in New Zealand is food. We were able to hit the grocery store and ate out only two times during our two weeks. The camper came with a cooler, a camp stove and all the accessories. Ask around for the best grocer. We found out too late that the first place we went to (to do our major purchase) was like going to QFC when WinCo is next door.

Parking

This is the biggest challenge with campervan living, on a budget. New Zealand used to allow vans to park overnight just about anywhere. Unfortunately disrespectful, unthinking tourists have kind of ruined that. Now most places want you to be self sufficient (including toilet). If you have a campervan with toilet your options will be better. We did not. Also, if you are willing to pay just a small amount ($5-$10) there are more options. But we wanted free. Luckily there is an app for that. We used CamperMate for iPhone (also available for android). It showed where we could stay and the price and did not require internet. This was an absolute must! While there are several tourist information sites (also found with the app), they are not always open and don’t always know the free spots.