The route of our trip was:
Auckland - Kauri forest - Cape Reinga - Bay of Islands - Coromandel peninsula - Tauranga/Papamoa/Mt Manganui - Rotorua - Lake Taupo - Tongariro National Park - Taranaki - Wellington - - - Kaikoura - Lake Tekapo - Mt Cook - Lake Wanaka and Mt Aspiring NP - Queenstown - Te Anau - Milford Sound - Fox and Franz Josef glacier region - Nelson Lakes - Motueka - Abel Tasman National Park - Nelson - Marlborough - Kaikoura - Christchurch - Dunedin and Otago Peninsula - Southern Otago - Christchurch.
The main purpose of our trip was trekking so in between a lot of these places we spent many days off the road and on the trails.
In the north island we attempted the Tongariro Northern Circuit but abandoned after one day due to about 3m of snow on the passes. We did however complete the famous Alpine Crossing section and can highly recommend this hike for anyone visiting. It is quite strenuous at 18km in one day with a lot of incline and descent but well worth it. In the South island our Great Walks bookings for the Keplar and Routeburn tracks were cancelled due to avalanche risk but we managed the following treks; the 3 hour return climb up Mt John from Lake Tekapo, the 3 hour return trek for views over Lake Wanaka at Diamond Lakes, the trek to the viewpoint of Mt Cook including the climb up towards the hut until the snow became too deep to continue. One of the highlights was the 8-hour demanding ascent of Ben Lomond at Queenstown. We varied this trek by starting at the Moke Lake campsite so ascending from one side before descending into Queenstown itself. This was probably my personal favourite walk. Instead of Routeburn we undertook the 3 day Greenstone and Caples circuit, extending for an extra day to climb up the seldom travelled Steele Creek saddle. Another personal favourite was the 5 hour climb to Welcome Flats hut in the Copland Valley, the start of a trek from Fox glacier to Mt Cook. The highlight being the hot springs just by the hut. Nelson Lakes was a bit more low key but still some nice trails and the Abel Tasman walking path is an essential trail. Very easy walking and beautiful coastal scenery, and you end up at the gorgeous Totoranui Bay DOC campsite.
We can recommend any of these treks but there are so many to choose from especially in the Mt Aspiring national park in the South island. The best advice is to visit the local DOC information office or the tourist information office closest to the area and ask them which trails they recommend. They will also often be able to supply you with really informative and mostly free maps of the walking areas. We visited in the Spring and many of the passes were still closed, meaning treks such as Gillespie pass in Mt Aspiring and the trek to French and Liverpool hut were closed, along with our planned Great Walks. Tongariro and Taranaki spend much of their time hidden in cloud so it is pot luck whether you have good weather for those treks but the best time to visit is probably around February to March.
Visa - most nationalities receive a 3 month or 6 month tourist visa upon entry to New Zealand.
Airport - If arriving at Auckland airport then there is a shuttle bus service that will take you downtown for NZ$16 one-way. However if there are 2 or more of you then you may consider renting a vehicle from the exact time of arrival as one day extra car hire will more or less cost the same as two shuttle tickets.
Accommodation - In Auckland we stayed at Nomad Hostel as we found a good online deal (NZ$22 per bed in a dorm). The walk-in rates for dorms were much higher, NZ$45, but we did arrive at the business end of the Rugby World Cup. The hostel is well equipped with kitchens and bathrooms and even has a spa pool on the roof. There is also a popular bar and restaurant and guests receive a 2-for-1 offer on beer or house wine. On the downside it was very, very busy, often impossible to use the kitchen during the evening. A lot of guests were long-termers working in Auckland. I don't think I would like to return to the hostel every evening after work and fight for the use of the cooker! Also the bathrooms were not particularly clean, another symptom of the over-crowding, and the staff seemed more concerned with making sure guests were using the bar or travel agency rather than ensuring the hostel was clean. They were however very friendly and helpful. All in all not a bad place to stay considering the cost and location right in the middle of downtown.
Once we had picked up our hire car and set off then we made full use of the DOC (Department of Conservation) campground brochures. The DOC operates over 200 campsites across New Zealand almost always in the wilderness areas that you really want to be in. There is a brochure for each island detailing every site available from Information centres around the country. This is invaluable, visitors should pick one up on the first day, in fact pick two up, two for each island, just in case you lose one. You can plot you journey around New Zealand staying at these campsites. Most are basic with longdrop toilets and lake or rainwater but others have toilets and showers. The cost of staying ranges from a number of free sites up to around NZ$7 per night, with the average probably being NZ$4 per person per night, or the same as a cup of coffee. Some of the highlight sites are - Spirit Bay up in Northland at Cape Reinga, Gillespie beach near the Fox glacier, Gunn Lake, between Te Anau and Milford Sound, Moke Lake, just outside of Queenstown and Purakaunui Bay, down on the southern Otago coast. When trekking you can also make use of the DOC backcountry huts. The cost is normally around NZ$15 per night for a bunk in a hut, and around $5 to camp close to the huts, if available. These fees I think are really reasonable, although for Great Walks (including Routeburn, Keplar, and Milford Sound) the fee is much higher. Either way, I really stress this point - these huts and DOC sites generally work on an honesty box system. We noticed in the many places we stayed that New Zealanders always paid, the thought of avoiding a $4 fee to camp in beautiful spot never occurs to them, and we follwed suit. However we did see a number of foreign tourists that decided to chance it and not pay. Come on, this is the equivalent cost of a cup of coffee. I think it is incredible that a government office can manage such a widespread network of services to enable people to get into the nature and I would hate to see future visitors miss out because of the selfishness of some visitors. Not only young backpackers either, we met two separate retired French couples who both said "we are poor tourists" come off it, you can afford to fly all the way here and hire a campervan for 6 weeks! Sadly we also met a few Czech backpackers who had the same attitude, but most of those had been working in the UK to save up. Please, if you use DOC services, pay for it. There is travelling on a budget and then there is just being cheap and dishonest, know where to draw the line.
There will be some places that you wish to visit without DOC sites nearby. You may find a council campsite offering a similar service, these are available near the Kauri forest in Northland and around Lake Wanaka (although we didn't find out until after!). In some areas there are no campsites - e.g. around Taranaki or at Lake Tekapo, in these places our next best option was to find a decent holiday park, where you can often find a site for around NZ$16 per person but for this you will normally be able to have a hot shower, cook a decent meal (or at least one that requires more than just a camping stove) and charge your various electrical appliances. Another great holiday park is 219 St.Johns close to Christchurch. They have camp sites for NZ$25 per site and even offer airport drop-off and pick-up if you stay for more days. It is a really friendly campsite where you feel that no request is too much trouble.
The only other time we were forced indoors was at Mount Cook village. There is a beautiful DOC site in the village but unfortunately it became hidden under thick snow whilst we were there so we retreated into the local YHA hostel. For NZ$30 we received a bed in a lovely warm dorm, access to the kitchen and basically a chance to warm up. They do have a sauna but it seems to be perpetually out of order!
Transport - New Zealand is not an easy country to travel around by public transport. Buses go from town to town but that means that you cannot stay in the DOC sites and that you cannot see the nature, most peoples reasons for visiting! There are a couple of backpacker buses that ply pre-determined routes around the country but again these restrict your accommodation options, and do you really want to spend your time on a bus with the same people for kilometre after kilometre. The other drawback is that New Zealand towns are not really all that exciting, Wellington and Queenstown are alright for a few days and Christchurch used to be before the awful earthquakes but the others tend to be nondescript and identical, the same shops on the same streets. This means the best transport option is to hire your own vehicle. This is why campervan rental is probably the most lucrative business in the tourism industry, there are dozens of operators putting various people carriers on the road from the clapped out Wicked campers, to the new style Spaceship and Jucy Toyota Previa's and up to the behemoth Apollo, Britz and Maui campervans. If you book ahead and visit in the shoulder season you can probably get a good deal on one of these. Just be careful though where you park up at night, New Zealand has introduced some tough new laws banning free camping in many areas. As there were four of us with camping gear we decided to go for a car hire and we found a great deal from Apex Car Rentals. There was no one-way fee and the hire included a free vehicle ticket for the Interislander ferry. Most rental companies require you to return the car in Wellington (or Picton) and pick another one up on the other side. Our car, a Nissan Wingroad Estate car, cost NZ$36 per day plus NZ$8 per day for the full insurance cover. Split between four people the NZ$44 total daily rental was a very modest NZ$11 per person and bought our passenger ferry tickets with the rental at NZ$69 per person. A litre of unleaded fuel in New Zealand costs around NZ$1.90-2.10. Diesel is much cheaper at around NZ$1.30 per litre but it is difficult to find diesel vehicles to hire due to the much higher road tax that is levied by the government, presumably in lieu of higher diesel prices. A full tank of fuel in the Nissan Wingroad cost around NZ$90 and lasted for around 600-700km. New Zealand is also a very easy country to hitch-hike in, probably because so many of the roads are virtually empty that the first driver thinks "if I don't pick them up, who will?". We hitched to and from trail heads when we had the car parked at the other end and never waited more than a few minutes. It would be easy to hitch around the whole country but getting to some of the more remote DOC sites might be difficult. The other option is to buy a car and sell it again when you leave. This is probably the most economical option if you are a group of at least 2 people and you will be in New Zealand for at least 2 months. Remember also to allow enough time at the start and end of the trip to buy and sell the car!
Food and other essentials - we generally self-catered for the whole 7 weeks although we did treat ourselves to a flat white in a cafe each day, which cost around NZ$4. A camping gas canister cost NZ$6.50/11.50 (small/large). Food for 5 days for four people bought in Pak N' Save cost around NZ$200, or NZ$10 per person per day, a little bit more if shopping in New World or Countdown. Our general diet consisted of muesli with fruit (banana and kiwi) and yoghurt for breakfast with juice and filter coffee or porridge and coffee when on a trek; then something like cheese, salami and tomato sandwiches or hummus with carrot and cucumber and ryvitas for lunch, maybe with some crisps and then an easy to cook on a camp stove instant meal for dinner. Exceptions included the odd pie or ice cream, the occasional meal in a shopping centre food court for around NZ$11 or a more luxurious dinner when staying in a holiday park, normally some tasty meat with substantial sides.
A beer in a shop cost around NZ$5 for a big bottle, NZ$7 for a pint in a bar. A bottle of New Zealand wine cost anything from NZ$6 up in the same supermarkets. The Marlborough Sauvignon Blancs are obviously popular for good reason although we found the Central Otago red Pinot Noir a little bit disappointing.
When we did treat ourselves to eating out we were able to find a takeaway Indian meal for around NZ$12, fish n' chips for around NZ$8 or a lunch special (especially in places like Queenstown) for around NZ$10-15. One place that is worth a splurge is a crayfish bar in Kaikoura. There is the famous Nins Bin on the highway north of town but we preferred the crayfish meal offered by Aromas Hut, close to the town on the scenic coastal drive. A whole cray with chips and salad cost NZ$50. The other NZ specialities that we enjoyed were the real fresh fruit ice creams, a novel idea where fresh fruit is mashed up with vanilla ice cream. They can be hard to find but are always well worth it and cost around NZ$3. A more savoury treat is the Steak and Cheese Pie, a NZ tradition, around $4 to clog your arteries up a little but more!
When camping and trekking one thing that you do need is to find a regular shower. We killed two birds with one stone by visiting local swimming pools, spending an hour swimming to loosen up the tired muscles and then a hot shower to feel sparkly clean afterwards. Most pools charge around NZ$4 for entry, some of the best ones were in Wellington, Nelson, and Queenstown.
Of course Queenstown is famous for extreme sports and so if you want to jump off of a bridge with a bungee rope attached to your legs, or be hurtled around the bay in a jet boat then there are plenty of companies ready to help you do it. We have no first hand experience as we were here for totally different reasons but my observation is that these activities are not cheap and you won't get much change out of NZ$200 for any of them. One splurge we did make was to go on the Milford Sound cruise, at a cost of NZ$78 per person. There are a few companies but we picked Mitre Peak as they had the smallest boat, avoiding the coach tours. We had been told that if you arrive in Milford Sound and the sun is shining you have to go on the cruise. It was, so we did. It was OK but not quite up to the hype surrounding it, or the price in my opinion. I would have valued it at NZ$50 but this is not a judgement or criticism of Mitre Peak, they were great and I expect if I had chosen another company I would have valued it lower, it just didn't push my buttons is all.
A final word about Christchurch, the city has experienced awful luck over the past couple of years. We were lucky to see it as the positive efforts of the people were really taking shape - the container mall area was very busy and the walkway to Cathedral square was drawing people back into the centre. I think that prior to the earthquake Christchurch must have been New Zealand most beautiful city and the one in which you could spend most time, I hope it returns to this state sometime soon.
We spent NZ$2800 in 47 days between 2 people which works out at just under NZ$60 per person per day, although we were travelling in a group of 4 people for the majority of the trip. Travelling in this style you could easily reduce this down to NZ$50 by cutting out the coffees and the occassional treat such as a takeaway meal or a big meal cooked at a holiday park (i.e. steak for four people).
Exchange rate: £1GBP = NZ$2, 15CZK=NZ$1
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