If you are desperate to get the New Zealand experience but are worried at how expensive a trip there seems, you’re in luck that you came across this article because I’m going to give you some essential tips on how to take a 2 person, 3-week road trip in the beautiful country of New Zealand for under $5,000NZ.
Remember if you’re coming from Australia the money exchange rate is about $1AUD = $1.1NZ so that means immediately your money will go a little further in New Zealand. Obviously, the most important part is getting to the country. Flights can be a big strain on your bank account so make sure you book super early. Flights from Sydney, Australia, to Auckland, New Zealand average around 400NZ. You’re going to want to get in quick to book those cheaper flights.
The next thing to consider is transport and accommodation and the cheapest option for this is to hire a campervan. For security and increased facilities, you can stay in campgrounds, which usually range from about $15NZ-$80NZ per person each night. Otherwise, you could find freedom camping spots along the way which cost nothing, but you have less reassurance of a place to stay and fewer facilities. Hiring a campervan to drive the length of New Zealand from Auckland to Queenstown varies from around $600NZ-$1,000NZ, and although this may seem very expensive you save a lot on accommodation rates.
If you’re travelling on the road there will be no Wi-Fi, and whilst many people enjoy having their vacation time away from the internet, if it’s an essential item for you the best deal would be to purchase a SIM card to access your own data. Vodafone NZ sim cards with 1.5gb of data cost $29NZ per month.
Another essential item is food. Eating out isn’t cheap so it’s best to cook your own meals. When buying groceries you can spend about $20NZ each per day for meals. However, if you’re not too great at finding bargains or want to have to the odd luxury meal, I’d allow a bit more in your budget.
Travelling around the North Island and the South Island can be expensive for fuel. Make sure you shop around because fuel prices vary a lot between companies and within different regions, and can range from $1.70 to $2.00/litre for the cheapest unleaded petrol. Make sure to join up to one or more of the loyalty schemes offered by most fuel companies so you can take advantage of the discounts they offer at the pump.
There are a lot of activities in New Zealand that cost a lot but if you want to stay on budget, there are plenty of free things to do throughout this gorgeous country. I will be explaining a great route that I would use to travel New Zealand. This will feature 12 amazing places in New Zealand with activities that won’t cost you a cent!
Starting off where your flight comes into, Auckland in the North Island where you can see the Sky Tower, visit Manukau Heads Lighthouse and see the Gannet colony at Muriwai. After that, the next stop would be Cathedral Cove (176km) which is an iconic and beautiful beach cave featured in the Narnia movies.
Then to Tauranga (152km) with more beaches and a 45 minute walk up Mount Manganui. After Tauranga you can travel on to Taupo (150km) to see NZ’s largest lake, many geothermal features and natural hot pools, as well as Aratiatia Rapids and Huka falls on the Waikato River which is NZ’s longest river. Only an hour drive away is the Tongariro Crossing which is a world renown 6-8 hour hiking track through the mountains of the Tongariro National Park, a World Heritage site.
Then you come to the last place in the North Island, a bit of a longer drive to Wellington (385km), where the national museum of New Zealand is located, Te Papa, with free entry! In Wellington is where you would then board the Interislander ferry and cross the Cook Strait to the South Island into Picton. The ferry costs range from $173NZ-$248NZ for a campervan including 1 driver and also ranging from $55NZ-$75NZ for 1 adult with no vehicle. You’re in for a treat because this ferry trip is often described as one of the most beautiful ferry crossings in the world.
From Picton you can drive to Christchurch (337km) where you can see the Christchurch Cathedral or visit the Pier at New Brighton where the country’s newest hot salt water pools have just opened, called He Puna Taimoana. The next amazing town is Lake Tekapo (227km) where you can find an old stone church still in use today called the Church of the Good Shepherd, with amazing views up Lake Tekapo to the Southern Alps. Close by (53km) is where you can visit Mount Cook village at the base of Australasia’s highest mountain and do one of many short walks or long tramps into the mountain ranges.
The next stop is Milford Sound (213km) which is an amazing fiord with mountains, rainforests, waterfalls and animals usually accessible by a boat trip, however if you are on a budget simply seeing it from the village and doing one of the many short walks on offer is incredible too. Last is Queenstown (287km) where you will end your trip. Here you can see Lake Wakatipu, visit Arrowtown gold mining town or do one of the many biking and walking trails in the Wakatipu Basin. Of course, if your budget can extend to it, the Queenstown and Wanaka area has a myriad of paid tourist activities including jet boating, snow skiing, luge riding, paragliding, and the iconic NZ activity of bungy jumping, just to name a few. After travelling just over 2000km through one of the most beautiful countries on earth, your trip has come to an end and it’s time to fly out of Queenstown back home.
If you followed all of my tips you should have made it the whole way under budget. Let’s check it out. I’m hoping that you managed to book early enough to get cheap flights so it should have cost $1,000 return for each participant on the trip and $58 for SIM cards. It’s about $800 to hire a campervan, spending about $400 for fuel, and booking the cheapest campgrounds for 21 nights averaging around $630 for both people. It will cost $250 for a vehicle and two people on the InterIslander ferry crossing. Hopefully you spent about $20 per day on food, making that $840 over the three weeks. All up that is $4,978NZ and remember since there are two of you, you get to halve that cost, only $2,489NZ each!!
Hope these tips helped, what are you waiting for? Have a great trip!
Heather Rielly was born and raised in New Zealand, she loves her home country. However, she also has a passion for travel, which is why after graduating high school she decided to cross the ditch to Australia to pursue a Bachelor of Arts at Avondale College studying Communications. Having traveled as a tourist to places such as Australia, America, Rarotonga and Cambodia, she hopes this degree will enable her to continue traveling and working in many different places around the world.