I love the breakdown of you trip to New Zealand. It s such a great idea and is extremely informative

New Zealand is our first stop on our round-the-world adventure back in January 2012. It rained on us. In fact, of the 28 days we've spent driving from North Island to South Island, we averaged just a handful of clear and sunny skies. The rest were slightly cloudy, mostly dreary and just plain awful. But despite the rain, we had a wonderful time.
Going into this, we knew New Zealand would be a big chunk of our round-the-world budget. We were prepared for the steep cost but neglected to take into account the exchange rate. We didn't splurge by any means, ate out occasionally home virtual tours for lunch but cooked most our dinners.
Accommodations: We spent most of our time in hostels and opted for a private double instead of bunking it with strangers. We used Airbnb home virtual tours for the first time in Wellington and Blenheim . Slept on a boat in Bay of Islands and couchsurfed in Queenstown. We also stayed home virtual tours in jail.. converted into a hostel in Christchurch.
Transport: We decided not to go the campervan route and went with a rental car. Most of our journey would be on the road and we just couldn t bare the thought of living out of a car too. We rented two cars while in New Zealand, one for the North Island and one for the South to avoid the big ferry transfer cost.
Food: New Zealand doesn t exactly have a National dish other than maybe meat pies, I guess. We ate various things, mostly fast food like fish n chips and burgers. Most days we d split Subway home virtual tours meals and cook our own dinner. Groceries are not cheap. Eggs toast for breakfast, and pasta and stir fry with instant rice and/or noodles for dinner were easy and quick to make and cost efficient.
Activities: $60 to visit Hobbiton, $275 to bungy jump the Nevis and another $188 NZD to cruise home virtual tours the Bay of Islands . Riding the Shotover Jet in Queenstown, wine tasting in Marlborough and zorbing in Rotorua . New Zealand is where we said we d explore the extreme outdoors and that s exactly what we did.
Best city: Queenstown. Queenstown reminds me of a ski resort. Surrounded by the Magnificent mountains and overlooking Lake Wakatipu, it's truly a beautiful town with lots to offer. There's plenty to do in QT from weekend markets to an awesome nightlife, and more importantly, outdoor extreme activities synonymous with New Zealand such as sky-diving, luging and bungy jumping to name a few.
Worst city: Waitomo. You can hardly call it a town. Maybe a hamlet. Our least favorite hostel of our entire NZ stay. Food was limited mediocre at best. The only highlight of our Waitomo stay is our visit to the glowworm caves . Get in and get out.
Most valuable item we brought: Our GPS navigation. Spent the entire month road trippin' from North Island to South Island and "Jane" never got lost once. Confused home virtual tours a couple of times due to new road work but never completely lost.
Most overhyped tourist attraction: Milford Sounds. Maybe it's because we went on dreary day and were unable to see Mitre Peak, but I thought the cruise itself was lackluster and just plain boring. The drive to Milford Sounds is better than the cruise because of the sights along the way.
Biggest rip off: Internet. $5 NZD for 1 hour at most hostels. You even have to pay for internet use at cafes and Starbucks! Ridiculous. The crazy part, you can get free WiFi at Mc Donald's of all places.
Things we dislike: Hidden freeway toll (we got a ticket), left/ right turns and confusion on who has the right of way, store closing early hours, paying for condiments including salt and pepper, passport required to purchase alcohol and the rainy weather.
Language home virtual tours lesson: Apparently, we're the ones with the accent. I was once told at a Subway that the American accent is "low and dull". And, ask to use the toilet because to their point, you don't re st or bath in there now do you.
Kiwi = locals, what you call a New Zealand resident, capsicum home virtual tours = bell peppers, tomato sauce = ketchup, tramping = hiking, partner = boyfriend/girlfriend, chips = french fries, and my personal favorite.. heaps = tons or lots
OK, so not exactly what we d planned for in terms of cost, but New Zealand was everything we d hope for. Such a beautiful country and the people are some of the nicest we ve ever come across. So New Zealand is not the ideal location for long-term travelers, but then again, we never claimed home virtual tours to be your ordinary backpackers.
Hi there! We were in NZ back in January. It was suppose to be the best time to go weather wise, but the weather has been wacky lately. Even Kiwis were surprised by the amount of rain in January. When are you going?
What an incredibly useful home virtual tours post! This breaks down NZ better than any post I ve ever seen. You guys also travel in my style. Shame that you have to pay for Internet everywhere! Thanks for writing this.
Thanks Kate. We were pretty diligent about keeping track of all our expenses and really surprised we remembered half the things we did. But OMG did it feel great once we got to Asia for the free wi-fi alone!
Great post and budgeting breakdown. I think we spent more on accomodation, but less on transport (we bought and resold our van, and slept in it about 3 of the 7 weeks we were there). Funny how weather can shape your experiences; we had an amazing home virtual tours time on Milford Sound and went for the overnight cruise, but our weather sounded more cooperative. Agree with you about the drive though, it was truly stunning. home virtual tours Was Hobbiton that good? Husband home virtual tours s a big LOTR fan but thought hobbiton sounded like a rip-off. Maybe we ll check it out next time.
Exactly! home virtual tours I saw pictures home virtual tours from friends at MS and they had the picture perfect, postcard experience. Shame we didn t have better home virtual tours weather, but it goes to show, one persons experience home virtual tours shouldn t dictate another. Hobbiton was AWESOME! And I m not even a huge fan. Definitely made us want to go back and watch all 3 movies.
Sorry Waitomo was such a bust. I totally agree that there is nothing there (hell, I drove in from Hamilton for the day) but I did the Black Water Rafting in the caves and it was AMAZING!!!!!! And I LOVED one-lane bridges. I was always amazed on how fast I could read and interpret the signs on who has the right of way. So quaint!
Wow, my experience in Milford Sound was complete opposite. I guess the weather must have really sucked! I really liked the serenity of the cruise, looking at the dolphins swimming around, Mitre Peak, and the sun s reflection. I like all the stats you kept track of.
I LOVED Milford. Such a shame that your day was bad weather one. I was fortunate to arrive in the rain and got to see all the waterfalls. By the time I was leaving, the sun came out so I was able to see all the tops of the mountains. It was perfect. And I spent 21 days in New Zealand and spent about $10K, not counting flights. Looks like I need to take notes from y all.
What I love about this post is it s very realistic in terms of how I would travel. So many of these budget posts are a competition to see who can spend the least, by eating and sleeping places I wouldn t consider myself. This one was well done BTW, what is this Fergburger you speak of?
I love the breakdown of you trip to New Zealand. It s such a great idea and is extremely informative. While you might have splurged on a few items/experiences, I think it s worth it for the amazing memories. Bungee Jumping? Hecks yes!
Great detail of the cost of your trip to New Zealand. You kept very accurate records down to the toast you ate wow! So it sounds a bit pricey home virtual tours in New Zealand. My mom when once to go skiing, but she only stayed 10 days and it was a group package deal. Perhaps home virtual tours next time you can find a place to rent with some of the people you met along the way to help share the expenses and keep cost down.
We funded our travel by working the 9-5 in the corp world and saving home virtual tours up for the last few years. home virtual tours Budget home virtual tours we just go by some other sites and see what other people spend. This was one site that was one resource:
Thanks so much for this! My boyfriend and I are headed to NZ in March to kick off our RTW trip (you previously home virtual tours answered some of my questions about NZ via email). I can t wait to get there now! Keep up the cost posts please we re off to Australia after NZ, so it would be great to see a breakdown of how much you spent there!
It sounds like for New Zealand you need to budget for a lot of activities! I bought a GPS navigation for Ireland and also named her. It was my saving home virtual tours grace about that country. I think if you are planning home virtual tours on road tripping a country, it is definitely worth the expense.
As job guys! I ve been living in various parts of NZ for the past 4 years, but still love to read others experiences and perspectives on places that I ve been to. I ve become unwillingly accustomed to the cost/speed of the internet, the use of one way bridges and that stupid right of way law that they recently changed over just to add continued confusion and my vocabulary has adapted to the kiwi way (I blame the 6 year olds that I teach, as they don t understand me if I don t lol)
Even though I ve been here for so long, I can t wait to get back to roadtripping this beautiful country in January I m taking my Grandma on a Cross-country journey and am so excited to be reunited with the south island home virtual tours again! Since I am travelling with my grandma, who is also a frugal traveller, I know she won t be up for bunking up with 6 others either, so this is more likely the style we ll travel as well
Hi you guys our experience is totally different home virtual tours from yours. We have been here a month and the weather has been perfect. Not once paid for salt and pepper!!!Was this a joke? The food we have had had is fresh and delicious. We shop at the New World Supermarket at the moment and the quality of the fish,meat and fruit and vege is tops and is less expensive than at home. We are in absolutely positively Wellington at the moment and the Wii Fi is free in all the inner city areas-compliments of the local Council. Wellington is awesome ..cafes,bars,galleries,beaches,TePapa Museum(free) and they have just celebrat