# New Zealand Touring



## impala666 (Oct 26, 2007)

We are planning a 6 week trip to New Zealand in 2013 probably hiring a 2 berth motorhome with shower and toilet. (Similar size to AS Nuevo) Would be like to hear from members who have done this and who can recommend MH hire companies. Will visit N & S islands in their Spring & Summer. & be looking for cheap flights from UK and whilst we are there may also visit Australia for 2 weeks
First googled look has been at Discovery Motorhomes NZ

Brian


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## ttcharlie (Nov 29, 2011)

We did the south island and hired our MH through Maui, who are a big hire company, with lots of vans but cost alot more. I would look on the web for smaller hire companies if I was after a 6 week break.

I would recommend going to the Kaitlins national park on the south end of the island, and visiting Taeanau, at the end of Milford Sound.

Just remember you waterproofs.

Lovelly place, great for exploring.


PS Sorry for incorrect spellings on place names!


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## goldfinch (Oct 21, 2007)

Hello Briain,i have been twice to New Zealand touring in a motorhome,it was fantastic!Personally i only done the North island and that was only quarter of the island ,so if you want a slight lick of new zealand in a rush your time scale is doable,but i feel to get the feel of the country i think you should slow down which is far mor enjoyable.But! I would skip Australia and spend more quality time in New Zealand or vise versa?
I went with maui which are most probaly the most expensive but are good
there are many companys doing it but i would thing, if somethink went wrong what is the back-up like?.Sometimes they do promotions in the papers,for people living there.I saw a promo in THE HERALD paper my brother booked it who was living there at the time and i got a discount.GOOD LUCK!


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## Bill_OR (Feb 6, 2010)

We spent 5 weeks touring NZ (north & south islands) last year and it wasn't enough time! We had to cut out some big sections of the country that we had planned to visit. Pick the places you particularly want to visit and then ignore the rest! Better to take your time and see the places properly.

We hired from Gateway Motorhomes http://www.motorhomehire.co.nz/
run by a husband & wife team. Very friendly and helpful. Motorhomes in NZ tend to be lower spec than we are used to in the UK but are perfectly adequate.

We stayed on 'proper' sites the whole time so didn't use the on-board shower at all. We also hired a satnav but only used it to find a couple of specific addresses in Auckland so we wouldn't bother with one if we get the chance to go again.

You'll have a brilliant time!!

Bill


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## 96706 (Nov 13, 2005)

Have done several trips to NZ as our son lives there. 
Will get Mrs D to reply in full as she keeps all the notes. Twice used motorhomes and stopped on DOC sites as well as full sites ( mainly Top10 ).

Covered both Islands, but looking forward to the time when we can spend more than just a month there!


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## kenny (Jun 4, 2005)

*n z*

hi we hired a van and did both north &south first south &north last the ferry between the islands is not to be missed, we did not do milford sound long way there and back on same road, same with the north a lot go up to 90 mile beach waste of journey, go no further than the bay of islands we have hired vans from Mary at campervans in uk for aus nz usa have had no problems Mary knows nz her family live there plus you pay in the uk if you need more pm me kenny


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## Razzo (May 1, 2005)

Hello Brian,

We hired from Britz and easily spent 6 weeks touring. We picked up in Christchurch and returned in Aukland. We are Australian and were living there at the time and flew to one out the other. Our good friends from the Uk who we travelled with did it for 3 months. We had a Mercedes van conversion and our friends had a small coachbuilt. Both are low end compared to Europe.

It seems that Maui, Britz and Backpacker are all owned by the same company. The new vehicles start off with Maui and then get rebadged to Britz and down to Backpacker. We often saw the old painted name showing under the new one. They are expensive especially once you take in the insurance requirement. We opted out of having the expensive daily cost on damage waiver and took the risk but they still took a substantial sum on our card and credited it back to us at the end. I was worried we would get screwed but it did not happen. 

NZ is easy to visit than Australia and that just relates to distance between sights. If you can only do one, and this hurts, do NZ. If you have relatives there then that is a different matter. I would recommend that you spent all your time in NZ and then save up holidays and money and go to Australia another time for 8 weeks. If you still wish to go for two weeks then pick just two places and do that. ie Sydney and Cains, or Melbourne and Kakadu, Brisbane and Ayres Rock. ie pick one city and one national icon. it will not matter which ones. Organize your internal flights from here as they are expensive within Aus.

Brian


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## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

My blog and photos are already on MHF, just search or look in the correct forum.

My personal advice is 1 month minimum for each island. Anything less and you'll either knacker yourselves or miss too much and will regret it.

Dave


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## elldwin (Dec 3, 2009)

We went over a couple of years back and managed to do both islands in 7 weeks, we intend going back one day to see a few things we missed.

We used Wilderness Motorhomes who were top of the ratings at the time and we found them on 
http://www.rankers.co.nz/tags/motorhomes-campervans-rv

Hope that helps.

Jan


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## Stanner (Aug 17, 2006)

*Re: n z*



kenny said:


> hi we hired a van and did both north &south first south &north last the ferry between the islands is not to be missed, we did not do milford sound long way there and back on same road, same with the north a lot go up to 90 mile beach waste of journey, go no further than the bay of islands we have hired vans from Mary at campervans in uk for aus nz usa have had no problems Mary knows nz her family live there plus you pay in the uk if you need more pm me kenny


You missed 2 of the best bits BUT do not try to do the 90 miles beach in your own vehicle as you WILL NOT be insured.

Stay at a campsite at the south end of the beach and take one of the coach trips. Even for 2 people it's cheaper than the fuel + Road user KMs you get a packed lkunch and access to activities like dune sledging as well. 
Cost was something like £25-30 each for a full day going right up to Cape Reiniga and then back down the beach.

Milford Sound is a long drive through some of the most boring scenery in the world bar none - it makes the Fens look exciting!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But Te Anau onwards helps to redress the balance and overnighting on the Sound on the "Milford Wanderer" was a highlight of the trip - that was a tip gleaned from MHF. Don't bother with the daytime trips the overnights are waaaaaay better value. You don't need to come all the way back the boring way.
From Te Anau head down to Invercargill and see "The Worlds Fastest Indian" on display in a shopping mall. Then come back round on the South East Coast up to Dunedin.

As said 6 weeks isn't enough to do either Island fully we should be going back next March to finish off the North Island.

No hire for us we have arranged a m/home swap, much the best solution if you can sort out the insurance.


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## Dogwalker (Mar 14, 2007)

We hired from Wilderness Motorhomes. Excellent service. Picked up in Auckland, dropped off in Christchurch. Their suggestion because it saved the interisland ferry return - quite expensive. Booked Jetstar return to Auckland - fairly cheap.
Look into joining the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association. You get a discount if you are a CC or CCC member. They have an excellent book giving sites details, their own sites and a stopover scheme with other members. Also discounts on the ferry.


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## Bill_OR (Feb 6, 2010)

I forgot to mention that we used a Vodafone NZ wifi dongle to stay online while on the road. We picked up the dongle at the Vodafone shop at the airport and were online straight away.

The dongle cost about $NZ70 I think (about £35) and I sold it on eBay (with no credit) for £20 on our return. Looks like the dongle is only $NZ50 now - http://www.vodafone.co.nz/mobile-broadband/all-plans/ - see the pre-pay section.

Bill


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## ukgreynomads (Jan 19, 2008)

A wonderful country to visit. 
Take a look at our web site www.ukgreynomads.co.uk for a day to day diary of our journey. 
We used a small company for our motorhome hire New Zealand Frontiers and the help that Kendrick Mitchell the owner gave use prior to our trip was invaluable.

Alan & Jenny


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## FDB (Oct 29, 2007)

We have used Maui (brand new Merc Sprinter) and Gateway. First van from Maui was an old shed which we took back, as did our friends.

Look at this site

www.rankers.co.nz

We found it very useful. Catlins (S Island) and Kaikoura for the whale watching &Coramandel ( N Island) were our high spots but everywhere we went was beautiful in different ways. DOC sites were great.


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## trevorf (May 16, 2005)

Click on my "blog" button below for details of our tour of south island.


Trevor


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## Turkeyman (Sep 20, 2010)

We "did" both islands in 5 weeks but could have spent 5 months!! After booking in for just one night at a site on the Coromandel Peninsula the owner said "SLOW DOWN, remember you're on holiday" How right he was! Take your time and enjoy the trip. There is so much to see and do but our highlight was a day trip to Kapiti Island to see the fantastic bird life. If we come up on the lotto we would be there tomorrow.[/code]


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## TJ101 (Oct 12, 2008)

impala666 said:


> We are planning a 6 week trip to New Zealand in 2013 probably hiring a 2 berth motorhome with shower and toilet.


A Old thread,, But how did it go ??

Doing the same,, later on this year, 
and searching for idea's and experience


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## Stanner (Aug 17, 2006)

TJ101 said:


> impala666 said:
> 
> 
> > We are planning a 6 week trip to New Zealand in 2013 probably hiring a 2 berth motorhome with shower and toilet.
> ...


We've been twice 5 weeks both times.

2010 did both islands from Invercargill up to Cape Reinga - knackered and fractious after 4 weeks.
2013 did 50% (bits we missed in 2010) of North Island and sometimes even stayed at the same place 2 nights running - much more relaxing.

Go out of the peak season and try to avoid school holidays.

You then have more chance of just turning up and getting a pitch.

We stayed at Cook's Beach the week before Easter and had the place to ourselves but for the Easter weekend he was squeezing people into the car parking areas that is the difference 2 days can make.

With less than 6 weeks I wouldn't even consider trying to do both islands and speaking personally I prefer the North.

PS if anyone wants a Vodafone dongle + SIM let me know, I have one that has 10 months life to go before the SIM expires - it has $9.57 credit left.


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## Stanner (Aug 17, 2006)

Stanner said:


> TJ101 said:
> 
> 
> > impala666 said:
> ...


PPS the SIM is set up so that it can be used for speech or data in a phone or in a dongle.


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## TJ101 (Oct 12, 2008)

Thanks Stanner 

Will be tied to dates a bit,, Nov to mid December, so 5 weeks or so

Daughter is over there on a working holiday etc, and due back for Christmas,, She should be on North by then,, so plan is to go out and have some time over there with a camper, before returning with her via somewhere interesting ?


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## Stanner (Aug 17, 2006)

If she is on the North Island by then, I'd (speaking personally) stick there for 5 weeks which should be just enough to see the best bits without too much travelling. 
The South is said to have better scenery, BUT it also has one heck of a lot of really really boring bits in between. The North isn't short of scenery either and has lots of other attractions as well.

We flew out and back with a stopover in Malaysia each way and can certainly recommend it - October/November is also said to be the most comfortable time of year weather wise - April certainly wasn't. :roll:


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## TJ101 (Oct 12, 2008)

Many Thanks Stanner

Got some time now to look at this, and start booking things  

Just going thought the hire company site's that are linked on this thread,, All seam very similar ??


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## palaceboy (Mar 9, 2008)

Turkeyman said:


> We "did" both islands in 5 weeks but could have spent 5 months!! After booking in for just one night at a site on the Coromandel Peninsula the owner said "SLOW DOWN, remember you're on holiday" How right he was! Take your time and enjoy the trip. There is so much to see and do but our highlight was a day trip to Kapiti Island to see the fantastic bird life. If we come up on the lotto we would be there tomorrow.[/code]


Would definately recommend Kapiti Island About 30 miles north of Wellington (getting the permit from DOC was a drag ) but the trip was great . Would also suggest Stewart Island right down south.


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## Stanner (Aug 17, 2006)

Going through all the "junk" I brought back I've come across a bundle of "2degrees" (a leading mobile network in NZ) "Visitor SIMS".

They are SIM cards for mobiles specifically aimed at the needs of visitors to NZ.

http://www.2degreesmobile.co.nz/nzvisitorsim

If anybody wants one, so they can avoid getting ripped off at the airport (they see you coming and sell higher priced deals than you can get later) drop me a PM and we'll sort out delivery.


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## TJ101 (Oct 12, 2008)

Sorry, slapped wrist,, I should have update this topic when we got back !!

Will try and post over the weekend,, 

But in summary Great trip, 7000km in just under 6 weeks,, and all when like clockwork !!


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