New Zealand is by no means a budget destination, but there are ways to make the daily costs cheaper so that you can blow your budget on cool stuff like skydiving and penguins!

 

Visas / Working Holiday Visas

Being from EU countries, we didn’t have to get a Visa of any kind to visit NZ. We did meet a lot of people on "working holidays" and found out that it is easy to get a working visa if you’re English, German, Italian or French amongst other nationalities. Unfortunately, if you’re Spanish, only 200 working visas are issued each year, and these pretty much “sell out” the minute they become available (29th April). If you’re from the EU, you can find out information about NZ working visas depending on the country you're from here.

 

Car vs. Campervan

New Zealand is a country that begs to be driven around - winding roads and gorgeous scenery make you feel like you’re in a car ad. We travelled in a campervan for the majority of the trip and got a car for 9 days, partly because it came with a free ferry crossing ticket but also to experience both modes of transport. We loved the freedom of being in a campervan - not having to decide where to sleep until getting to a town we liked the look of - so much that we’re going to hire one in Australia too. Here’s how much it roughly costs:

 

A “roadtrip special” rental car with Apex Cars cost us 63 NZD / €38.5 per day with full insurance. Additional drivers don’t seem to cost extra in NZ. This included the cost of the ferry to take the car to the North Island.

 

A Wicked campervan cost us 86.7 NZD / €53 per day (based on a 20 day hire) after negotiating with welovetravel.com to get 100 NZD off the marked website price) This was with full insurance, but if you’re willing to take a risk you can pay less. We went for the “Iconic 2 seater” model, which was just fine for the two of us. Jucy is another campervan brand with vans that seem to be better kept and look a lot more plush (they don't have the obscene graffiti that Wicked campervans come with) but they do cost quite a lot more. A good idea for those travelling for less time!

 

Additional costs to keep in mind with a Wicked campervan are:

 

1. Bedsheets.

NZ gets cold, especially at night. It’s worth going to a shop that can be found in every city called Warehouse, where you can buy pretty much anything you need at a decent price. We bought fleece bedsheets (€21) and a thick duvet (€34) to make the “bed” nice and cozy, as we’re not carrying sleeping bags…it was worth the money because we were told by a couple that had sleeping bags that they had to stay in motels some of the nights because they just weren’t warm enough. I’m a troubled sleeper, and I don’t think I’ve ever slept as well as I did for the 20 days we were in the camper van! We are going to reuse everything in Australia and maybe even send it home in the post afterwards, so it was definitely worth the money!

 

2. Cooking gas.

The campervans come with a portable stove but the gas cans don’t last very long. Go to a shop called “Mega”, which you’ll find near “Warehouse” and buy a 4 pack for 12 NZD / €7

 

3. Supermarket shopping

With relatively expensive restaurant prices, especially if you’re from Spain, and a lack of cheaper options other than fast food joints in a lot of the smaller towns, buying food from the supermarket is your best bet for a very budget trip. By making our own meals 95% of the time, we spent around €245 in 20 days which means the two of us ate (well) for just over €12 a day. Not bad at all!

 

4. Eating Out

If you’re going on a shorter holiday to NZ or don’t need to stick to a tight budget, by all means go crazy… the food is of a really, really good standard and portions are generally big. In a lot of towns a main costs around 25 - 30 NZD, but it does tend to come with all the trimmings. We realised after eating twice the amount necessary in a couple of gastropubs that sharing a main is usually enough for dinner. There are also lots of ‘upmarket’ chippies in the major cities that work out really cheap (we shared a cajun fish burger and delicious Kumara chips for 13NZD in Wellington and spent the money we’d saved on drinks). Drinks are quite expensive - beer (on tap) generally costs 8.50 NZD which is about €5. A bottle of wine is around 35 NZD / €22 minimum - expensive considering it’s produced in the same country.

 

5. Ice!

Unless you’re staying at campsites every day and can keep your food in a fridge at all times, you’ll need to spend on ice bags to keep your food from going off. A bag tends to cost around 3NZD.

 

6. Campsites

...which will be discussed below:

 

Accommodation

Campsites (for travel in campervan or cars + tent).

For three weeks of our month long trip here, we stayed in a campervan, and therefore paid to stay in non-powered campsites. On average, a parking spot for the night (or a place to pitch your tent if you're in a car) with full bathroom and kitchen facilities cost 15NZD - 18NZD per person (NOT per vehicle). Hot water is usually included - we only came across one campsite where a hot shower cost an extra 2NZD per 5 minutes which was not the most relaxing start to the day! This currently works out as €11 per person, per night.

 

Campsite cabins (for travel in car without tent)

In a couple of cities in the North Island we stayed in campsite cabins or bungalows; these were cheaper than hostels with private rooms and often had better kitchenettes which meant we could cook more comfortably. The places we stayed in ranged from 37NZD to 55NZD. This currently works out as €25 - €35 per night (in total).

 

Hostels / Budget hotels

When travelling by car we have generally stayed in hostels / budget hotels; a private room (with shared bathroom) worked out at around 65NZD - 70NZD per night for 2 people. The peak summer season (Jan - early March) had come to an end, so I believe these prices to be the norm, but obviously they will vary depending on the time of year. This currently works out as €41 per night (in total for two people sharing a double room or bunk beds)

 

As the accommodation is where most of the money seems to go when travelling around NZ, it’s worth taking some time to think about which of these options you’re most comfortable with. For those of you on a really tight budget, the very cheapest option would probably be to travel by car if you don’t mind sleeping in a tent the whole time, as campervans are not only more expensive to rent, but also cost about 30% more in terms of petrol (although this will of course depend on the campervan and how old it is). If there are a few of you sharing the cost of a car, sleeping in campsite cabins is also a good option. That said, staying in a campervan does add to the adventure, and the money you save on campsites / hostels if you freedom camp can compensate for the cost to rent a van and the higher petrol expenditure. Also, you don’t have to rely on kitchen facilities if you’re happy to eat basic food that you can make on the portable gas stove provided (think pasta, English breakfast and noodles) so you only really need to pay to stay somewhere for hot showers (there are sometimes outdoor cold showers near beaches).

How long you can go without showering depends on you and your standard of personal hygiene (though if people pull a face when they walk past you it’s time to find a hot shower), so budget for the amount you think you’ll need to spend on this “luxury”. Freedom camping, which is basically parking up wherever the hell you like, is generally “frowned upon” in New Zealand. More so if you’re in a non self-contained vehicle (i.e. campervans without toilets), but if you’re staying somewhere for just a couple of nights you can probably get away with it (try and park near a public toilet so that you really aren’t causing any damage). Look out for DOC campsites that have drinking water and toilets but not much else. They cost around 10NZD per person and are a legal way to stop and park somewhere with basic facilities for the night.

We found out, perhaps a little too late, about an app called Campermate that can help you find legal freedom camping spots if you want to save time and petrol looking for a safe spot. 

 

Food

See "Eating out" section of Campervan vs. Car

 

Money makes the world go round...

Always go to the information centres in each town to ask them about the cheapest places to stay, the variety of companies offering certain excursions and what each one entails etc. They are usually very helpful, and can find a way for you to do things based on your budget and time. They are quite honest about what you will miss out on with cheaper excursions, and tend to push the more expensive excursions, but I have always found the recommended excursions of a good quality.

1 Euro at the time of calculating was around 1,61 NZD. If you're lucky enough to earn in GBP, you can get 1.93 NZD per pound, which would make NZ a fairly inexpensive place to go on holiday in terms of food and drink.

 

So how much?!

Visas: €0

Food and drink: €50 a day to eat out; €14 if you're making your own meals.

Combination of cooking and eating out 20€ a day (shared cost, in total) on food and drink.

Accommodation: see options above

Skydiving: We jumped from 15,000 feet and paid around €300 each, with photos costing an additional €80. If you're really strapped for cash, you could always jump from a lower altitude for less money (there are 9,000 feet options and 12,000 feet options).