We rented a camper van in New Zealand for 55 days in 2013.... one of the
Toyota HiAce petrol vans from Cruzy Campers. We flew in to Christchurch on the South Island to pick up the camper and dropped it off at the Auckland airport on the North Island. Cruzy Campers has changed owners since we were there but we felt we were treated very fairly and the owner was very competent and ready to respond to any problem or issue we called about. I see they make this list of
The Best Campervan Rental Companies in New Zealand (but it's a big list!)
I remember seeing some criticism of Cruzy's campers as being older and having higher miles than vans from the large rental places. I believe ours was a 2004 (this was in 2013) and had 300,000 kilometers on the odometer. But it was very clean and well-cared-for. And I did prefer dealing with a family-owned business. I see it's now run by
"Mum, Dad, and four growing teenagers".
Some things that come to mind about our trip...
- Look into diesel and gas prices. I see gas is currently about $6 US a gallon and diesel is significantly cheaper at about $4 US per gallon. We went with the petrol-powered camper because we preferred its (living area) layout to
the diesel one.
- Camping in campgrounds seemed expensive and I had to be careful when reading anything showing rates. A rate would look good but turn out to be a per-person rate... so it was double that for us. But sometimes it's a per-site rate.
- Read up on 'freedom camping'. It's kind of like dispersed camping in that there are no or very limited facilities. But freedom camping is regulated by local councils and the term can mean slightly different things in different places. In some places, we had to buy a permit to freedom camp and that meant figuring out where to get it, being there at the right time, etc. Still, we freedom-camped almost the whole time we were in NZ so even on the few occasions we had to take a relatively expensive commercial campground site, we knew our average was still very good.
- We used an app to find freedom-camping spots and it worked out well. We used the Camping NZ one but
this article also mentions others. Note that cell service can be spotty, particularly on the South Island. We liked the fact that Camping NZ showed a GPS position of the site so we could use our GPS to get there without cell service.
- Not all camper vans are the same when it comes to freedom camping. Generally, you must have a self-contained certification sticker which shows the van has been inspected for its suitability for freedom camping in order to camp in a freedom-camping area. There's more info on the subject in this
How to Get Your Campervan Certified Self-Contained article (for the info on what's required for the certification).
- Think about what you're going to do for a phone (if anything). A pre-paid burner-style phone was included in our rental but we also took along a simple
GSM world phone and bought a SIM card at a Vodaphone store in the airport in Christchurch. Note: my use was simply to be able to make a short call or text. Smartphone users may want to read up on international use in
this recent article on tom's guide.
- Credit cards. Thinking of the SIM card reminds me... my credit card was rejected when I tried to pay for that SIM card. I had called the credit card provider multiple times about our upcoming trip but still was rejected. But my ATM card did work and of course that provided cash in NZ dollars so I just paid cash for the SIM card. When I checked the next day, the credit-card problem had cleared and I was able to use it from then on.
- GPS- I rented the optional GPS from Cruzy but didn't like it--mostly because it wasn't a Garmin so it operated differently than mine. I had also taken mine along but of course it didn't have NZ maps. I ended up buying Garmin's micro-SD card for Australia/NZ maps in a map store in Christchurch. Unfortunately, the price was much higher than I would have paid in the US.
- Drunk driving is taken seriously. While driving in Invercargill we made a turn that put us into a queue for a drunk-driving check station in a suburban neighborhood. We saw two interesting things while waiting our turn. First, somebody behind us made a U-turn to avoid the line. Police were watching and chased him/her down. Second, I saw police removing the license plate from the car of someone who flunked the mandatory test. When I pulled up to the stop sign, officers approached both sides of the van and the one at my window briefly told me I'd be speaking into a cell-phone size tester (as he wiped it down with an alcohol swab). He placed it in front of my mouth and had me start counting forcefully to ten. At about six he pulled it and said I could go (and told me to enjoy my vacation!). If I had failed that screening test, it would have been time to blow into a breathalyzer. There's a fine and loss of driving privileges for as low as .05% breath-alcohol content. And hefty fines for refusing the test or to turn over keys to the officer when requested.
More explanation here.
- Tips. Tipping practices aren't the same in NZ.
This article explains. Restaurant and cafe prices seemed awfully high to me until I realized I was used to looking at prices before tipping so ours appeared to be 15 to 20 per cent less. Take that off the price you see and the price will still seem high but not so outrageous.
- Museums- We went to many museums and particularly loved the national museum of New Zealand-- the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington. And it's one of the nine places in New Zealand that make
Lonely Planet's list of Top 500 Places on the Planet (and check out the other 8!)
- Driving (and walking). One of my favorite new-to-us driving signs we encountered is the "MERGE LIKE A ZIP" sign we saw near Taupo. Oh, yeah, these folks call a clothing zipper a 'zip'; we're supposed to merge like the teeth of a zipper as it closes, i.e., every other car. And you go around traffic circles the 'wrong' way. And the size and color of arrows indicate who has right of way at a one-way bridge. In other words, lots to think about. A place to start is this
NZ Transport Driving in New Zealand pdf. Also-- Like many, I wondered how I'd adapt to driving on the wrong side of the road and shifting the van's manual transmission left-handed. It wasn't a problem, just a bit odd at first, then within weeks it seemed natural. (Thank god the clutch, brake and gas pedal are the same as here). And by the way, to my mind the biggest danger one faces in a drive-on-the-left country happens while walking. You look the wrong way as you're about to step off the curb into the traffic lane. I came very close to getting nailed doing that. And speaking of walking--- walk on the left.
- Maori culture. It's helpful to have some
historical background on the Maori as you'll see many references to the culture and meet Maori people. Also, it's helpful to understand what a
marae complex is and understand it's importance to the culture. That helps us understand that
invited guests are welcome but you don't just wander around a marae complex you come upon while driving around.
Finally-- quick story. We were very happy to find a small country-style bar way, way out in the boonies of the
North Island's East Cape. We struck up a conversation with some local younger guys as they shot pool. When they asked where we were from and I said Pennsylvania, one guy had a question that had been bothering him for some time --- "Are the Amish Mafia real?"
PS- From the Cruzy Campers About Us page....this customer video of drone shots of various spots on the North and South Islands from their trip in one of Cruzy Campers HiAce vans...
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