[methane_minor]

Hi all,

Ive spent 8 hrs on this forum and still not finished :roll . Im going out to NZ in 4 weeks with hubby and my err...active 6 year old daughter. We are still considering camper but think we might hire a car and do b&b's but not too expensive. We are flying into Auckland (any suggestions for a nice place not too far from airport to crash) and then heading south, stopping on the way, the usual touristy bits.

If anyone can help, would be much appreciated

Many thanks :D

[sizzlingbadger]

I would go with the camper idea :D In her eyes it would be more of an expedition rather than sat in a car and staying in a different room every few days.

There's plenty of camp grounds, Top 10 are probably one of the better ones. All of them have a swimming pool and lots of facilities. Have a look at www.top10.co.nz :nice1

[methane_minor]

Thanks Sizzling, anyone have any good links for campers all seem quite pricey or links for car hire.

My head is spinning!!

[Glenda]

Four weeks puts you in New Zealand first week of February? Waitangi Day is on the 6th February and quite a few people have a few days away at this time. It may be prudent to get accommodation booked around this time asap.

Don't want to sound pessimistic, but being the tourist season it may be that many campervans have been booked already. The airport car rentals are usually more expensive than those based away from the airport. We used Nationwide car rentals and they picked us up from the airport and took us to their depot. They will also pick you up from your motel the next day, if you have stayed at one close to the airport. A good UK site to look at is www.anzcro.co.uk which gives the prices of both campervans and car rentals, probably more choices than in the usual brochures you get from travel agents.

Good accommodation sites to look at are http://www.aa.co.nz/travel/MainMenu or www.jasons.com. There are many motels close to the airport that will pick you up and let you crash out after your flight.

:)

[sizzlingbadger]

Never hired a camper or hire car, so can't really help you there.

But I have heard about people getting really good deals for going one way, like Wellington to Auckland, it may be worth ringing a couple of places to see if they do such deals.

As Glenda has said get your first few days booked up, Waitangi Day here is really busy as it's the last weekend before schools go back.

Hope you enjoy yourselves :cheers

[Jameelka]

When we came across in June for our reccy trip we hired a motorhome from Pacific Horizon, had a great time. We have 2 girls who were then aged 8 and 10 and we all thoroughly enjoyed the experience, even though it was freezing at night! but it was winter.
Def a good way to travel and sleep, but as said now it's summer and busier, more tourists and traffic.
We hired a 6 berth motorhome and def would n't have wanted anything smaller than that, even though there was only 4 of us, just gave us bit more room.
What ever u decide enjoy!
:clap

[sizzlingbadger]

Just seen this, fairly pricey but quite look quite cool

www.spaceships.tv/index.php

[Smiler]

Oh Sizz

Some people we met a few weeks ago had one of these.

Do you mind if I snag the link for another thread please? :D

[sizzlingbadger]

No problems Smiler :D

Look so cool definitely wouldn't mind touring in one of those :)