I’ll start by saying there is absolutely nothing wrong with visiting New Zealand and staying in one place but I personally enjoy a traveler holiday where you get to visit many locations. Staying a night in Nelson, then driving down the coast and stopping at a hotel in Kaikoura for the night before going to Christchurch is always fun. It gives you a chance to soak in the all-around culture of New Zealand.
I find travelling from place to place lets me experience the culture in a deeper way and you’ll also find the cuisine can often be very different around a country. The NZ cuisine won’t be as diverse as some other countries but you will find differences especially when you travel to places like Rotorua where you can get to experience various Maori dishes.
I believe there are five best ways to travel around here, depending on your budget and time allowed.
Backpacking by Coach
A great option for backpackers is to travel by coach as we have a number of low priced coach companies here in NZ.
Don’t book the first coach you see as I quite often notice a great deal only available from one company. So spend some time searching around before laying down your hard earned cash.
And you’ll usually find some reasonably priced backpacker hotels in most of the major cities. For the smaller towns, you can either camp or stay in a B & B.
Good Old Reliable Four Wheels
This is the obvious choice but still a good one as there is a large range of prices to suite most budgets. As long as you don’t mind driving in a car that has seen better days then you can get quite a good deal from some of the smaller hire companies.
So even if you’re a student couple travelling on a low budget, this can still be an option for you.
You need to remember the fuel costs though as our family hired a car for two weeks and the total cost of fuel was noticeable.
This is probably the easiest option though as there are literally hire places all over the country and some of them (usually the large ones) even allow you to return the car at a different location from where you picked it up.
Motel on Wheels
I’m talking about motorhomes here. I know in some countries they have a bad reputation, especially from other motorists but in New Zealand they are very much accepted by most people.
The big downside is the price. We were initially going to hire a motorhome but the costs were completely out of our budget, so decided on the cheap car option.
Saying that, if you have the money then I really do recommend this option as I’ve travelled in one before and they are so convenient!
You’ll also find plenty of places where you’re allowed to park it for the night. These will be a mixture of free council areas (usually with minimal facilities) and paid which often offer power, showers, shops etc.
But the end of the day, this isn’t an option for the budget traveller.
Pedalling on Two Wheels
Another way of getting around here which is really popular is on the low tech bicycle. Like the car this can be done on a very cheap budget where you hire some bikes, all the way up to a full cycling tour with a company such as Pedaltours (website here) where you pay them to go on a complete trip around the country with you (usually with other riders which can be good fun).
The thing I like about this option is that I tended to notice things that I would have missed while travelling at the faster speeds in a car. Things like the wildlife, even the smells of the countryside and sea were more noticeable.
It also made me feel slightly less guilty about the amount of beer I was drinking each night! I could justify the beer (which really isn’t good for my waistline) because of the exercise I was getting during the day.
On No Wheels!
No, I’m not talking about walking as you would need a very long time to walk around NZ.
I’m talking about trains which are actually a more enjoyable choice than they first sound.
I’ve been on various scenic train rides; while the main point is to get you from place to place, they also allowed me to relax and see many wonderful views.
My most enjoyable train ride was on the Northern Explorer (website here) which runs all the way from Auckland to Wellington. This is essentially from almost the top to the bottom of the north island, running through some stunning landscapes.
There are also various steam trains which certainly brought the kid out in me.
The article was contributed by a travel fanatic called Jack Harris who enjoys the good things in life.
