New Zealand touring (27 Viewers)

[new2it]

We are fortunate in being able to plan an extended trip to Australia/New Zealand. As part of this trip we will hire a motorhome to tour the north island of New Zealand for 3 weeks. We are looking for any tips, destinations, sites etc from any Funsters that have had experience in touring there.

 

[Two on Tour]

We are fortunate in being able to plan an extended trip to Australia/New Zealand. As part of this trip we will hire a motorhome to tour the north island of New Zealand for 3 weeks. We are looking for any tips, destinations, sites etc from any Funsters that have had experience in touring there.

This may be of interest to you.

Motorhome rental in New Zealand!

Come explore New Zealand in our motorhome! 🚐 We have had our own motorhome in NZ for years and have also travelled overseas and hired motorhomes with our two young children. We now have one to rent out and have set it up with all that we know will...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

 

[Bernie P]

Excuse the spelling:
Waitangi
Cromondal peninsula (hot water beach)
Napier
Rotorua
Cape Palliser (Seals & Lighthouse)
Huka Falls
Lake Taupo
Stonehenge Aotearoa (near Wellington)

 

[BouncyBoatFolk]

Ohope beach.
Hobiton, cheesey, but brilliant detail, have a pie and pint in the Green Dragon Inn.
Mike.

 

[jongood]

We are fortunate in being able to plan an extended trip to Australia/New Zealand. As part of this trip we will hire a motorhome to tour the north island of New Zealand for 3 weeks. We are looking for any tips, destinations, sites etc from any Funsters that have had experience in touring there

Its a wonderful place to visit with lots of amazing scenery and freedom camping spots in lovely spots. We did mostly South island because we did that first and spent more time there than we planned, NZ was bigger than we realised with each island being roughly the size of the british mainland and not much in the way of motorways.

We were able to use share a camper which now belongs to something called camplify, basically an airbnb for motorhomes so ours came with everything.

The commercial hire companies can be a bit naughty with the extras, needing you to buy all sorts of packages to get something usable, the worst one is the toilet scam, to be able to stop in the best places you need a "self contained" vehicle with a sticker on it so among other things it needs a toilet, so they include a hygenically wrapped potty, if you take the wrapper off they "fine" you. so it means your self contained Mh isnt unless you pay more money. They also supply people carriers that arent really suitable unless your really small or really young and can sleep anywhere. Forewarned is hopefully forearmed.

On North island we did get to Taupo- Volcanos etc, Napier - Art Deco town, Wellington - got a real traveller/ frontier feel but really windy & Auckland - the most laid back capital we've ever been to. There was a great beach stop just north of Wellington.

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[Chrisvh]

We toured each Island for a month. N Island really surprised us. We enjoyed it as much as S Island. Loads to see. Traffic around Auckland can he heavy but everywhere else was fine. Heading N from Auckland the Bay of Islands area is very pleasant for a few days to find your feet. Russell makes a good base. Whale watching boat trips and good restaurants. Boat trips across to Waitangi.

Don’t miss Martinborough, South of Napier. Pretty little town with about 20 vineyards, restaurants etc. Hire a bike and have a day tasting NZ best Pinot Noir. Highly recommended.

 

[Parrot Face]

I prefer the southisland.

 

[jongood]

This may be of interest to you.

Motorhome rental in New Zealand!

Come explore New Zealand in our motorhome! 🚐 We have had our own motorhome in NZ for years and have also travelled overseas and hired motorhomes with our two young children. We now have one to rent out and have set it up with all that we know will...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

That could tempt us back

It has to be said though thatNZ Mh's are pretty crap, we went in 2016, they were mostly old fashioned, rear lounge very few fixed beds unless you fancied the overcab, single glazed, single floor a piddly little 1 inch discharge for the grey waste. But the scenery, the stopoffs and the space was wonderful.

 

[Two on Tour]

That could tempt us back

It has to be said though thatNZ Mh's are pretty crap, we went in 2016, they were mostly old fashioned, rear lounge very few fixed beds unless you fancied the overcab, single glazed, single floor a piddly little 1 inch discharge for the grey waste. But the scenery, the stopoffs and the space was wonderful.

We are off for a 3-month tour of New Zealand in January, but when we looked into hiring a MH, the cost was ludicrous for a van of the size we currently have and most were around ten years old, so we have booked a hire car and will stay in mainly motels which are good value.

 

[new2it]

Many thanks to all for the tips and advice.
We are doing the South Island by train and car but fancied a slower wander around the North Island in a Motorhome.
We are travelling in the latter part of Feb and early March in the Motorhome, do any campsites need booking in advance and are there the equivalent of Aires available. Also is wild camping allowed.

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[mapman]

We were there at a similar time 10 years ago and commercial sites were quite busy. The nearest thing we found to aires were the DOC ( dept of conservation) sites some with facilities but others basic. NZ very strict on campers being self contained so don’t go for the cheaper firms. We used Wilderness twice and had a Burstner Ixeo which was fine. Also need to check if they allow use on gravel roads. We used Top 10 and with their loyalty card sites were reasonably priced. There are some NZ motorhome club sites for members only but we never found out how to join. We phoned ahead for sites in busy areas. One tip we visited The Red Shed store as soon as we got the van and bought all those little things that we were used to in Europe but were not in the van - storage box condiments herbs olive oil cheap tea towels( rattles also!) sharp knife, colander,coffee etc .On our last day we found a charity (thrift in NZ) shop supporting young mums and gave them the lot. Enjoy