gullivers travels Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 My wife and I are hiring a motorhome from Christchurch and returning it to Aukland 5 weeks later and wondered if anyone had any ideas about stopovers and overnight stops in New Zealand? We are not keen on big sites and normally use CL's in UK. Are there any camping and motorhome clubs or directories for us to investigate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laimeduck Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Hi - my daughter is hiring a campervan in NZ in March 2012 for 8 weeks, so if you get any info I would definitely be interested in your findings. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
art338 Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 A few years ago I hired a small camper van (just me), and stayed in several sites but kept no records and cannot remember where they were, I do recall one was on the edge of an inlet and ideal but where I’ve not a clue. The things that I remember about the visit were, (and was told) that the NZ driver 'owns' the piece of road he is on and is reluctant to allow you onto it from a side road. Also when walking in a town and trying to cross the road, the same rule applied. In South Island I noticed on many occasions the police were strict in enforcing the traffic act. On one of my visits I was driving a van for a cycling group while acting as the luggage carrier; I was stopped by plain clothes officers and given clear instructions to inform the group that if any out of line riding was seen they would stop the tour. I also found that being a non native (by accent) I was aware of miss-deeds by cashiers in eating places, in that they had not deducted a previous customers food cost and therefore added it to mine. That is also a known trick at fuel stops in South Africa. Over all it was great; there are some active volcanoes and the odd earth movement as the country is right on a tectonic plate line. art Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
art338 Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 A picture relating to the cycle tour in South Island showing our group of riders and the hire truck. art Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
art338 Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 As you have had few replies I reckon the hire company would have all the details regarding sites. I cannot recall how I knew about them but I had no difficulty in finding any, all of which were good. If you are interested in architecture then visit Napier in South Island they had an earthquake in 1931 that demolished (along with fire) almost every building. The authorities decided to rebuild in the same style, Napier architecture today is regarded as being one of the finest collections of Art Deco in the world. Hastings (nearby) was also rebuilt with many Art Deco and Spanish Mission style buildings. If you follow aircraft see how many non flyers you can find. art Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterjl Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Hi you don't say when you are travelling. Its some 8 years since we toured NZ for 6 weeks and we feel we need to go again to see all the places we missed! If you go in their High Season (dec Jan) sites may be busy but we found that March/early april was very quiet with just a couple of exceptions. The camper van company should give maps of sites which are plentiful and we had no trouble - on several occasions we were on our own. Some of the sites clsoe to the cities may be busy at weekends but never that busy (its different in high season we were told!). the only site we prebooked was our first night and we need not have bothered. I would recommend a hotel for the first night to get over jet lag. - we took 27 hours from Heathrow to Christchurch where i picked up our van - i didn't feel very safe driving to our first campsite via shops to get the basics! Its great for touring but the police are hot on speeding. I recommend the site in the centre of Queenstown near the cable car - you can go up the cable car and tandem paraglide back down - landing in the school playfields almost next to the campsite - wow! Overall its a real adrenalin town with lots of exiting trips. I need to go back! The camp sites are really set up well with good kitchens and hot water. Some had old facilities but usually clean. Have a great trip Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mondo Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 An old Forces mate of mine is in NZ now..running a campsite over there I'll email him and get some info from himand PM it to you if that suits...I don't know if he's on North or South Island but I'll get some info as I say...HTH...Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertandjean Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 We were in NZ this Feb (on cruise ship) and noted many motorhomes on move. A lot of these were clearly overnighting off site, somteimes wild camping but also on marked "aires" eg outside railway station at Dunedin. So would not worry too much about booking sites just go with the flow. NZ looks a great destination for motorhome touring, and we would certainly consider it if we decided to visit for a third time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laimeduck Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 As stated in an earlier post, my daughter is off to NZ next year. She has given me the following 3 links which should get you started. If you find any more, please let me know. http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-stay/conservation-campsites-by-region http://www.camping.org.nz/ http://www.hapnz.co.nz/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistair Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Those interested in touring NZ may like to search this forum for my previous responses to queries along these lines - searching on my username should find them. We've just arrived home after three months in UK & France in our elderly Autosleeper Duetto which is currently having a well-earned rest in storage in Dorset. Jet lag and the prospect of dealing with various agencies regarding our severely earthquake-damaged house and property are combining to make me feel rather tired at present, but in a day ot two I would be happy to attempt to answer any specific questions about touring here. My knowledge is mainly of the South Island which I know very well, but I have some knowledge of the North Island also. About 18 months ago, I helped Scottish friends with their NZ intinerary, and I modified it more recently and sent it to two correspondents to this Forum. It's in the form of two Microsoft Word documents with a suggested route around the South Island and has some comments and likely travelling times between places of interest. Our friends and the forum members seem to have found it a useful starting point and were able to modify it to suit their interests and time constraints. I would happily sent it to anyone who is interested, as long as recipients understand that it is totally biased towards what I think are the good bits and I take no responsibility for my comments and any other information therein. Some general comments: I don't think 5 weeks is anywhere enough, and I think you should spend more time in the South Island than in the North. But as I said above, I'm biased! You'l have to sprint, and you should regard your trip as a reconaisance for the real trip that you can start planning immediately afterwards! Anyone intending wild camping (or free camping or whatever you like to call it) should be aware that a number of local councils have introduced bylaws banning this activity in any van that has not been officially certified as fully self-contained. The actions of a few who pollute the environment with human and other waste have spoiled it for the majority. So, make sure you hire a self-contained van. Most from the larger hire companies comply, and the hirer will explain all this, but be prepared to experience some hostility from local people in some areas - they (rightly) regard camper-vanners (as we tend to call them, regadless of size) as ruining some of our beauty spots. It's rare but resentment flares up occasionally. Deoartment of Conservation (DOC) campsites are often a good alternative to free camping. They range from full facilities to very little and are often in beautiful areas and quite cheap. Look here: http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-stay/conservation-campsites-by-region/ I can suggest camping grounds around Christchurch for the first night if anyone is interested. The central city is still a no-go area because of the earthquake but there are plenty of other attrections around us. Send me a PM or otherwise lett me your email address if you want the route information, and now I'm home I'll be visiting this forum regularly so should see any questions posted here. Hope this helps Alistair Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnhelen Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Some NZ websites of interest.http://motorcamps.com/ http://www.nzmotorhome.co.nz/NZMotorhomeForum/ Plenty of touring stories here http://www.nzmotorhome.co.nz/NZMotorhomeForum/viewforum.php?f=103 where you can get the gist of how we do things in this part of the world. Feel free to ask any questions and I will try to reply promptly. John & Helen in Mosgiel, NZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curly Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Hi gullivers travels the last message from Alistair has beat me to it, we did an eight week tour of NZ this Feb/March and it was fantastic, his help was invaluable and worth getting hold of. We did 5 weeks on the South island and 3 weeks on the North, the South tour was just right and if we were honest an extra week in the North would have been perfect but we managed to see what we had planned , as already mentioned to see all the sites worth seeing in less than 8/9 weeks we do not believe you can do justice to the country. We did just a nats bladder short of 5,000 miles (not kilometres) and we also had very good weather to see what we had planned, our claim to fame was a 15,000 feet Skydive in Wanaka, magic is the only word for it and we are both 72 years young, as our grandsons tee shirt says "Just do it" If you would like to have a more detailed route we did, please do not hesitate to get back to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shirles Posted September 8, 2011 Share Posted September 8, 2011 my wife and i were over in new zealand in 2008 visiting our daughter and i seem to remember napier being on north island and we spent a very pleasent day looking at the art deco buildings. we hope to visit again when the wife retires and finally get to see the south island. if it's half as nice as norway where we've just done 5000 miles then we'll be very happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Symbol Owner Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 Hi Curly (again) just to say how pleased I was to hear that your trip was every bit as good as ours in 2009! Agree with all that the experts say in response to the original post. Our 'van-hire firm supplied us with the 'Hema' guide to sites across New Zealand, which supplied us (inc. detailed road maps) with all we needed for our fabulous tour of both Islands. It listed various types of site, inc. the DOC (dept.of Conservation) sites mentioned above -- which were usually idyllic -- never less than wonderful! Cheers, Colin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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