New Zealand travel tips

A lot of folks have New Zealand on their bucket list so I thought I'd pass along some of the things we've learnt in the past couple of months travelling here.



Where to go
Throw a dart at the map - every place is beautiful! Seriously, except for some flat areas that you can see on a Topo map (e.g. around Christchurch) and the built up areas around cities, it's true. The famous places like Milford Sound and Mount Cook can be crowded. Think about visiting similar places that aren't so well known, such as Doubtful Sound as opposed to Milford Sound.

It's bigger than you think
Driving from Cape-to-Bluffs (northernmost to southernmost points in the two main islands) takes about 30 hours. That's the drive time from New York to Santa Fe.

Lodging
Our lodging cost an average of $60 a night for the time it was just the two of us. That was six nights at a hostel and the rest Airbnb.


Rental car
We used a company called Omega. The small cars we rented cost about $20 a day and were able to hold all our luggage including bikes.  The cars were older than what you get at the big name rental companies but still clean and perfectly nice. The rental companies like Avis and Hertz charge about what you'd expect in the United States. Check out the terms and conditions. One rental company forbade us to travel on gravel roads, which was a serious inconvenience.
Insurance is a puzzle for Americans. Cars come with required comprehensive insurance ("collision damage waiver") with a deductible ("excess" in Kiwi) of $2,000 or more. They will offer to reduce the deductible to zero for an extra fee. Paying for this excess reduction is a bad deal and I wouldn't recommend it. If you do get into an accident the rental car company will immediately charge the full amount of the excess to your credit card. If the cost of the damage is less than that they will refund the difference eventually. They won't know what liability insurance is. Medical expenses resulting from injury are covered by a Nationwide program called ACC. It covers visitors and residents alike and you can't sue to recover medical costs.
Your credit card probably includes secondary insurance coverage that would cover the excess. It's a good idea to check that out.

Camper vans
It seems like about every third vehicle on the South Island was a rental campervan or RV. We didn't use one but it seems like a great way to see the country, especially if you'd like to stop at a new place every night or two. It also greatly reduces the burden of planning. An RV about the size of Doug & Sue's cost about $100 per day, and gas is over $5 a gallon. So it's not necessarily the cheapest solution. Your credit card insurance probably won't cover an RV. New Zealand has a policy called freedom camping which allows you to stay in many public parking areas, and many towns have free sanitary dump stations. So you won't have to pay for a trailer park.
If you're considering this option check out the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association. There's lots of info on their website and it might be worthwhile to become a member.

Money credit cards are accepted almost everywhere so you won't need much cash

Hiking 
 New Zealand is a fabulous place to hike.  There’s an extensive network of huts. The “Great Walks” are famous and popular and you will want to book them well and in advance. There are plenty of day hikes as well which we enjoyed. Check out the Department of Conservation website for a nationwide list of trails.

Biking 
We have seen plenty of touring cyclists. If you want to tour, especially on the South Island,  you will spend a lot of time on highways with 100 Kph speed limits and no shoulders.  Kiwi drivers are generally very accommodating of cyclists.  We prefer to ride around the back roads from a base.  There’s not an extensive network of back roads especially on the South Island, and you often run into gravel roads. The paved roads are very well maintained, and we never saw potholes. They make extensive use of chip and seal here. The aggregate used is often coarse so paved roads can be a bit rough.  A road bike with wider tires would be a good idea.
In general, we found it easier to plan rides on the North Island, but we did many in/out days. This is due both to A-M not yet being ready for longer rides, and to the fact we avoided major roads.
We have also seen many mtb trails.