[tigerlily]

Anyone had a trip round the islands in a campervan? I thought that might be a nice introductory trip. Wondering how easy it is to find places to park for the night?

[Smiler]

This is where we need Timbo, he is vanning round the NI, as we speak. Bubbles (John) knows more.

D x

[willsken]

We went all around the North Island in a camper van. It was great! :D

There are loads of camps everywhere and they are all clean and some have swimming pools etc. We parked up every night because it was winter and we needed the electric hook up for the heater. We are going to buy a camper van when we move, as we want to do a lot more touring. In the summer there would be loads of cheaper or even free places to park if you didn't need the leccy.

What a great holiday it was! We all can't wait to do it again.

[kiwidollie]

I second willsken's post - we toured the North Island in a fab camper van in August 2004 and we had an excellent time. Hubby and I are both quite tall people and along with our two kids boy of 15 and girl of 10 we happily shared the space and found that we were really comfy.

I would love to own a camper van - I think I could quite happily live in one long term and just keep moving around for a change of scenery.

New Zealand is really well organized in terms of camp sites etc. We used Top Ten sites - you buy a membership card for about $20 which then gives you discount at every Top Ten Site you use. You also get a map which shows the location of all the sites and we found these had excellent facilities.

Good luck with your trip - hope you have a great time - I'm sure you will.

[Andrew]

We toured around NI in a campervan and found it very good, plenty of sites, easy to drive and very economical. We are planning to purchase one when we move out.

[Park City Partner]

We spent 6 weeks in a van traveling about. Easy to find spots for free and when you feel you need a shower the Top Ten sites are great. As a warning do not buy a Mazda Bongo Van. They are well known for blowing up. It is a long story but my partner has had 2 that blew up...both outside of Nelson but on the opposite sides. The last time the guy that towed it away for us said they are known to be awful...well at least we know now!

[tigerlily]

Thanks for the tip!

Sounds like it's very possible. Glad to hear it!

[Bean]

Hi Tigerlily

We bought a 4WD, we were going to buy a van for six months but they were very expensive. So we got a 4WD and a rooftent. It was great on the gravel roads, and we were there in the summer so it was really warm enough to sit out under the awning drinking the Pinot Noir......ah....memories.

Campsites - Top Ten are great, clean and a bit of luxury.
The landlord to our friends in Auckland suggested the DoC $5 a night campsites. They are in amazing locations, Matai Bay, The Catlins, Abel tasman & Wanaka were great sites. They usually have a toilet (long drop), water supply and big grass areas to park. We mainly met Kiwis and it was good to alternate with the more luxurious campsites, cabins, backpackers and bachs... payment via an honesty box.

Happy Camping

Bean :cheers

[Moorf]

What with having the family here at the mo, we've been using Top Ten Holiday Parks. We have been renting their self-catering accommodation (they also do campervan hook ups, tent areas etc). Having never really been to campsites I was very pleasantly surprised indeed, great facilities. However, be warned, the level of decor / facilities does vary by location - the Kaikoura site was fab, the Greymouth site less so..... but overall excellent places to rest your head. :nice1


http://www.topparks.co.nz/


Moorf

[sweetpea]

As a warning do not buy a Mazda Bongo Van....they are known to be awful

Very good to know! I'll be buying a van to cruise the South Island in less than 2 weeks (gulp!) Hoping for a Toyota, but we'll see...

[Moorf]

Ohhh, if you are looking to sell the van after your trip, bear me in mind, we are currently on the hunt for a campervan to buy ;)

[sweetpea]

Ohhh, if you are looking to sell the van after your trip, bear me in mind, we are currently on the hunt for a campervan to buy ;)

Moorf, I'll certainly let you know! It will probably be in Palmy when I get through with it though.

[katandbob]

cool info guys, :nice1 we plan on doing the same in May, we plan to tour Nth Island then go on a reccy on the south Island to see where we fancy settling down, so i'll be dropping a post for info in the next few mths, so we can conserve our pennys for the important stuff....me and rob can ruff it for a a few mths!.....it'll be fun being footloose and fancy free from the teenagers for a bit! CANT WAIT!!!!! :laugh

[sweetpea]

Finding a decent campervan was a lot harder than I thought! At the backpacker car markets, the vans they had barely seemed roadworthy. And the newer models at the dealers were ungodly expensive. This might be because Christchurch has a smaller selection than, say, Auckland. I almost gave up and bought a Toyota Corona and resigned myself to pitching a tent everywhere I went.

I ended up with a hightop Toyota Townace that hadn't been used as a campervan before. I just realized that I never found out the year (whoops), but it's probably a 1994 or later judging from it's exterior styling. Diesel, automatic, beautiful exterior, 230,000 km with an engine rebuilt at 211,000 km (have the receipts for that). Drives well, roomy, but not so big you feel like you're driving a monster truck.

Crossing my fingers I'll have no troubles with it :nice1

Laura