Seeking adivice
Hello,
My name is Kirk and since I was a boy I've wanted to explore New Zealand. I'm planning a trip to New Zealand around October/November of 2014, hopefully I will have a couple friends joining me but that hasn't been confirmed yet. Either way, I'm coming.
My goal is to fly into Kaitaia Airport and over the next month or more working my way south to Invercargill. I'm going to backpack most of this trip, maybe renting a vehicle in the middle just to make sure I get to experience a good amount of stuff.
Besides having a rough outline of a plan I'm clueless. I was wondering if anyone might be willing to give me some advice on cheap means of travel, places to stay, things to see etc.
Thanks in advance,
Kirk
your qustion is so general its hard to provide a short answer on a forum
theres backpackers hostels and camping grounds in most towns
south island is generally more scenic than the north island
get a lonely planet or rough guide book on nz and read up
seek out the National Parks and Marine parks, thats where the best scenery is..
http://www.craigpotton.co.nz/store/books/outdoor-adventure-and-travel?p=1
http://doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-visit/
Bus is probably the cheapest way to get between cities and towns, but many of the main attractions are not in cities or towns. Outside of the main cities there is no public transport to speak of.
If you can get a group together then renting a cheap car is probably the cheapest option. Plus it provides the freedom to explore at your own pace and sightsee along the way.
The Lonely Planet travel forums will probably help you more then this site. General advice from there is to divide your time up 1/4-1/3 North Island and 3/4-2/3 South Island.
Intercity has the most extensive bus network in NZ. You can buy passes for multiple trips. If possible book as far advance as you can for the cheap fears. Nakedbus is famous for its $1 fairs but not many people know Nakedbus is actually owned by Intercity... which also has $1 fairs if you can find them.
Hostels and backpackers are everywhere. Lots of unaffiliated ones in addition to the big chains like YHA and HI.
Your best bet is to pick up a travel book such as Lonely Planet. They really are fantastic books.
I think the Internet has largely replaced travel books, international websites like Wikitravel and Tripadvisor offer a mountain advice. Also local websites like www.rankers.co.nz/ are excellent resources which are updated much more frequently then travel books can.
One of the my favorite features of Rankers is a map which shows the cost, location and features of most campgrounds in New Zealand,
Thanks for all the suggestions! I mostly plan on hiking all the big trails n such, I'm more of a scenic traveler. Luckily I have over a year to plan everything out.
Thanks again!
Search the forums
| Forum | Visiting New Zealand |
|---|---|
| Started by | ColdAsLife |
| On | 13 July 2013 |
| Replies | 5 |
| Permanent link | |
Participation in the forums signifies acceptance of forum rules.
In order to manage spam, new members are limited to 1 post every 10 minutes.
Formatting your posts
The forums support MarkDown syntax. Following is a quick reference.
| Type this... | To get this... | |
|---|---|---|
| Italic | *Italic text* | *Italic text* |
| Bold | **Bold text** | **Bold text** |
| Quoted text | > Quoted text | > Quoted text |
| Emojis | :smile: :+1: :astonished: :heart: | :smile: :+1: :astonished: :heart: |
| Lists |
- item 1 - item 2 - item 3 |
- item 1 - item 2 - item 3 |
| Links | https://tramper.nz | https://tramper.nz |
| Images |  URL/of/image |
 |
| Mentions | @username | @username |