Get into the great outdoors with this next one! It is definitely the most adventurous and most cost-effective option. There are a few things to note with this one though:
Weather
I would only recommend camping when it is summer in New Zealand. This tends to be between November to March. We started camping towards the end of March to the beginning of April and I think each of us had six different layers, on including hats and gloves. It does get cold gang.
Equipment
Walmart and other superstores are your best friend. Gas cooker, gas canisters, a small pot for cooking, blankets, sleeping bags, duvets (if you need), pillows, everything that one camper could possibly need. You can probably grab all of that for less than one hundred dollars between you. That’s then just set you up for four weeks-worth of accommodation.
Time vs Expense
If you were travelling to New Zealand for less time than three weeks, just spend the money and go for a motorhome or accommodation. However, if you are a traveller who would like to get outdoors, perhaps brought an open-ended ticket (if those even still exist). Or thinking about doing some exploring before settling down, but want to do it on the cheap, then this is a great option. You can do it as a couple or as a group with friends. Probably wouldn’t recommend for a solo traveller otherwise that would be very sad. If you have the time this is a great option, if you don’t have much time as you are just on a vacation, then have a think about whether packing and unpacking a tent each day is going to be worth that time. The packing and unpacking of the tent each day, including the blowing up of the air beds with a foot pump would take around an hour to thirty minutes. We became pros at it in the end, so we managed to half the time this all took. One person was cooking dinner or breakfast while the other was doing the heavy lifting (swap the following day of course).
Food
Food is going to be sitting in your car until you get to the next place. Make sure to think before you buy on food, if you are trying to save money by not eating out. Tins of things are great (that you can open without a can opener) but make sure all food is also kept out of the sun. Make sure you are thinking about breakfast and also hot drinks. Of course you are going to splash out and eat out every once in a while, as well this is your free holiday time you have earned it.
Campgrounds
One thing to note with a car: you are not classed as ‘self-contained’ (have shower and toilet facilities). Therefore you won’t be able to park in any free camp grounds which need to have self-contained vehicles. Sometimes you have to do more of a search for these spaces. Same as with the motorhome, you can use the filters on the apps such as Campermate to find free campgrounds and with toilet facilities. Remember as well you can’t free camp so you can’t just decide to sleep in your car one night on the side of the road.
If you have any further questions please feel free to ask me on my contact me page.
LEAH HANCOX 