campervans in NZ

I am going to NZ for 2.5 weeks in November and want to travel around in a campervan - anyone have any suggestions/recommendations for hiring campervans and routes to take?

Can you give some indication of what would interest you ?

Hiking, wine, beaches, wilderness, mountains, bungees ?

z

we hope to see as much of the north and south islands as possible. I wouldnt be into bungee jumping but would like to do white water rafting if possible

White water rafting is pretty much available anywhere in NZ, so that won't be a problem. Come to think of it, bungee jumping is too. I guess I was really building up to pointing out that if you are an adrenaline junkie then Queenstown is where you want to be for a while.

Have a look at [broken link removed] which is the website for the main chain of campsites. We found them to be OK, but some of the non-chain ones had more character. Having said that, if somewhere has a Top 10, then it has to feature at least some significant tourist facilities so their map is a good place to start. If you do go Top 10, get their discount card as it saves you 10% off every night and pays for itself in a few days.

Also, you will not be able to do much of both Islands in the period you have available unless you spend most of it driving.

It takes 2 days (or one very long one) to get from Christchurch to Invercargill and another 3 to get back up the west coast to the ferry to the North island. And that's without spending any time seeing anything.

Wellington to Auckland (or Bay of Plenty) is another *very* long day or realistically 2 days and even then you haven't seen anything on the way.

Maybe you could say where you fly in to and where you fly out of, that would help.

z

we fly into Auckland and out of Christchurch

If you Google for Motorhomes/Campervans you will get loads of websites for Australia and NZ.

Slim 8)

I have been meaning to write up an outline route and some interesting things, but I haven't got around to it. Maybe tonight.

z

NZ

2.5 weeks is a very short time to see NZ. Is there any way you can stretch it? The cities are not much to look at, the exception I would make is Te Papa Museum in Wellington. In the North Island, I would suggest Rotorua as a good destination (touristy yes, but amazing) to see the Geo thermal activity. The South island is supposed to be more beautiful. With just a short time, I would suggest going down the West coast and possibly to Fiordland but leaving the camper van down there (Queenstown) and taking an internal flight back to Christchurch. The fares are reasonable and no more than you will spend on the van + fuel for the days it will take to come back up.