Any NZ my old friends here?

[Harpag]

You have plenty of time, so buying a car may be sensible. I had only six weeks, so I decided to rent.

It turned out that in NZ is well developed network of budget motels. Actually there is no choice - better or worse, all hold the same standard. They are OK. For this there are cool campings. In case when I could not find anything along the way, always I had a bed in my Toyota, that was cheap to hire and is nice in driving (3,7 or 4,2 L engine don't remember ). Rent a camper was expensive and camper have big problem with scratching uphill.

Van was like this:

(click to show/hide)

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Additionally camping is not much cheaper than motel, especially for campers. There are special provisions for them associated with the tanks. For this you can't enter them in much more difficult to reach places, gravel roads are not for the campers, when van can cope. Place on a camping for van is much cheaper, and still u use shower outside, because it is better than inside car... even ferry in Picton is cheaper for van... As you bought a campervan, you have to buy bicycles also.For me, economic calculation was that camper + camping (tanks!) was more expensive than a motel /sometimes camping /sometimes middle of nowhere  + van. Sorry.


I like the most south-weastern coast of the south island. From Haast Beach / Jackson Bay- Okahu ( go left from 6 ) to Fox / Franz Josef Glacier.

Be sure to drive road 83/8 (Omarama) - btw nice motel here, what can I say, whole country is beautiful, just visit every national park, on the northern island, is one beach allowed to drive (unless northwest) - do not overdo it with speed and watch out for the tide and remember - if someone goes on a head-on collision, simply go left


Haast
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fu Fips!

[Murmillus_Prime]

I got my working holiday visa like 2 days ago and i'll be flying over to you guys in January. I wanted to know, from your personal experience, what's the coolest thing your country has to offer that i should visit? 
On my to-do list is currently only going to Hobbiton and getting my diving license, which isn't a whole lot to do in one year time. I'll be staying in Auckland for a couple of weeks before i move on to other places, so why don't you start there with your recommendations.
Ty!

Sheep.

[Fips]

You have plenty of time, so buying a car may be sensible. I had only six weeks, so I decided to rent.

It turned out that in NZ is well developed network of budget motels. Actually there is no choice - better or worse, all hold the same standard. They are OK. For this there are cool campings. In case when I could not find anything along the way, always I had a bed in my Toyota, that was cheap to hire and is nice in driving (3,7 or 4,2 L engine don't remember ). Rent a camper was expensive and camper have big problem with scratching uphill.

Van was like this:

(click to show/hide)

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

Additionally camping is not much cheaper than motel, especially for campers. There are special provisions for them associated with the tanks. For this you can't enter them in much more difficult to reach places, gravel roads are not for the campers, when van can cope. Place on a camping for van is much cheaper, and still u use shower outside, because it is better than inside car... even ferry in Picton is cheaper for van... As you bought a campervan, you have to buy bicycles also.For me, economic calculation was that camper + camping (tanks!) was more expensive than a motel /sometimes camping /sometimes middle of nowhere  + van. Sorry.


I like the most south-weastern coast of the south island. From Haast Beach / Jackson Bay- Okahu ( go left from 6 ) to Fox / Franz Josef Glacier.

Be sure to drive road 83/8 (Omarama) - btw nice motel here, what can I say, whole country is beautiful, just visit every national park, on the northern island, is one beach allowed to drive (unless northwest) - do not overdo it with speed and watch out for the tide and remember - if someone goes on a head-on collision, simply go left


Haast
visitors can't see pics , please register or login

fu Fips!

There's a nice camping app called Wikicamps. It's got all the places you can think of and i usually find good places with everything i need for less than 15$ a night. Most Hostels are nowhere near that cheap.
The OP i posted isn't that up to date anymore. While i will travel to the places you mentioned, i need to save up some money now before anything else.
Camping in the middle of nowhere can cost you 200$ if a ranger/cop sees you. Freedom camping is no longer allowed.

Oh, and the 90mile beach is definitely on my list, but for that i need to rent a 4WD car, seen to many pictures of vans getting stuck there xD

Sheep.

Surprisingly my first road-block was done by geese and not sheep.