Our budget for traveling the world is $50 a day per person. Through research prior to the trip, we learned that New Zealand is one of those locations where it is very hard to stay on budget. But combining our transportation and lodging expenses by living in a campervan would be our best way to keep expenses down.

There are two options for obtaining a camper: buy or rent. Obviously, buying could work out the best financially in the long run. It seems quite common for campers to be on sale because people on holiday do choose this option. And it sounds like it’s possible to get a fairly descent price because short term owners want to get them off their hands fast. But because we only had a month to explore the whole country, we decided for the lesser hassle option of renting.

While in Hong Kong just a few days prior to arriving in New Zealand, we settled on a rental company to use for our camper van, Spaceship Rentals. We might have been influenced by the name (seeing how we both work in aerospace), but it seemed like the best balance of amenities and cost. They offer a free transfer from the airport to their pick-up location so we also decided to start camping right away.

Our spaceship is a Toyota Estima mini van with 323,000 kilometers on the odometer. The front seat and driving area is unchanged (they drive on the left side of the road with driver seat being the right side of the car). But the rest of the van has been converted for camping. We have a full size bed, a DVD player, a fridge, water tank, and two main storage areas (being used for clothing and food / cooking supplies). We have enough room to stock up on a weeks worth of food! So to further help our budget, we are eating-in for all meals. After eating-out for all meals the first 2 months of our trip while traveling in Southeast Asia, it’s a nice change.

We arrived in New Zealand without a single plan. We actually did a quick tour of the South Island 2 years ago for our honeymoon so we were just excited to spend some time on the North Island. Upon picking up our spaceship, we were happy to receive a free electronic copy of NZ Frenzy by Scott Cook. It’s the perfect resource to guide our trip. Every day, we look to see what fun adventures are around, seek them out and find a place to stay for the night. We are really flying by the seat of our pants!

New Zealand Road Trip Camping Options:

As far as places to stay, there are three options for camping: free, basic or luxury.

• Luxury: Holiday Parks usually include communal facilities such as bathrooms with hot showers, kitchens with stoves and/or grills, and TV rooms. Some of the sites will even have limited wifi or an option for paid wifi. The luxury campsites run about $20 NZD per person.
• Basic: usually include maintained bathrooms. Some will have cold showers or even paid hot showers. Otherwise, it’s just a spot to park – usually picturesque and has a picnic table we can use. The basic campsites cost about $10 NZD per person.
• Free: throughout New Zealand, you can find freedom camping as they call it which are sites open to camping without any fees. It all depends on the local town and their laws. Most sites are off the beaten track. They are usually local parks that have public bathrooms and allow overnight stays by RVs, campervans and sometimes tents. Obviously, these are our preference for the budget (and we can still visit other sites to just pay for showers or other facilities if needed).

After picking up our spaceship, we headed up to Northland to see the sites, scuba dive and hike. After that, we’ll be headed south of Auckland but we are unsure of where the road will take us…