Campervan holiday New Zealand

touchdown77

Can anyone offer advice on a campervan holiday in New Zealand?
I'm going there in Jan-18 on honeymoon and am looking to rent a campervan for 2 weeks but know very little about campervans.

I've looked at rental companies but seem more inclined to go with a private hire on https://www.shareacamper.co.nz/

Any advice for a complete novice?

Nekarsulm

We hired one for our honeymoon back in 2001. Dunno how the time has flown past so quickly, but here's our experience's.

At the time we were recommended to fly down South and drive North , as most people hire in Auckland and head south.
The rational being that it was cheaper to start down in Christchurch or Queenstown, as the companies ended up with all their vans down there and needed to get them back up to Auckland, so offered much better rates if you done it that way.

We had a Transit based conversion, and it was great. No problems, especially as they drive on the left in NZ.
We took it for 14 days, and in reality you would need a month to see everything you'd want to see.

No problems with the van, just remember to fill with diesel when you have the chance, because in some rural areas, pumps are few and far between.

We flew to Queenstown, but for some now forgotten reason, the van we were getting ended up waiting in Christchurch, so the company subbed us a rental car between the two towns.
We went back to Queenstown, then followed the west coast all the way north. Visited the Franz Joseph glacier and loads of hot springs, glow worm caves etc on the way.

Its all fairly rural, hundreds of river crossings and fantastic scenery all the way.

Towns close early, don't be rolling in at 9pm and expecting to find some pub etc. open for food. A pie wagon on the roadside saved our bacon a few times.

The vineyards are a great area to visit, easy to have a few samples too many and be in a dodgy state for driving!

Ferry across to the North Island, and there are all the natural touristy things you could wish for all the way north.

Major mistake was buying too much (Cloudy Bay) wine, and NZ airlines take no prisoners with excess baggage charges.
I left most of my clothes in a travel bag in the toilets of the airport, to get down to the weight.

It was a great trip, we found that accommodation was very cheap at the time, and every 3 or 4 nights we'd book an apartment or studio for the luxury of hot showers etc.

karmaan

im also heading there, looked at a few hire companies, expensive for a decent yoke, http://www.campervansnewzealand.co.nz/ was the best deal i could find, its only a standard hiace with a very low spec.

I would also welcome any info for hiring a 3/4berth Hiace/ Transporter type, with high top or pop up roof, with shower/portapotti

stapeler

We're thinking about doing the same for 3-4 weeks in Dec-January. Getting quotes of between 6 and 9 thousand dollars for rental. Thinking it could be more economical to purchase and sell on if we could sort out insurance etc.
Trying to determine if a car rental and hotel might be a more practical solution.
If anyone has any suggestions or solutions we'd welcome all info.

karmaan

its not worthed for 3 or 4 weeks, buy back price seems to be about half the purchase price