Drive holiday in New Zealand

Hi, my partner and I are looking at coming to NZ for a month this January to drive around for 25 days. We are going to properly decide in November to go ahead with this idea but just remembered about the visa, does anyone know how long it takes to get a visa for the month?
also has anyone done a drive holiday that can give us some advice? we are looking for a diesel vehicle to hire but this seems to be pretty much impossible, we would buy a vehilce but for the amount of time we are there it seems pointless. we also are doing the cheap option of camping everywhere, but also feel it would be so much more fun as we love camping. or would a petrol vehicle be just as cheap.

thanks

You don't specify your citizenship, I can only see that you live in the UK. Presuming you're a British citizen then you don't need a visa to visit New Zealand as a tourist - a British citizen can go there for up to 6 months as a tourist.

I come from the Channel Islands which makes me a UK citizen. So thats good that i dont need a visa, so i can just fly out there for a month and back again, i am guessing they just need to see our flights.

You can hire a camper from many different places, but diesel hires are hard to find due to the need to purchase kilometers before you can drive anywhere, and that can make things complicated. Petrol vans are different as you pay for the kilometers at the pump in with the price of petrol, which makes things simpler.

There are loads of hire websites that you can check out before you go:

www.jucy.co.nz
www.ezy.co.nz
www.wicked-campers.co.nz
www.spaceshipsrentals.co.nz
www.backpackercampervans.co.nz
www.maui.co.nz
www.britz.co.nz
www.escaperentals.co.nz

Camping here is great as there are loads of places you can stay, from $10 per night mega basic places to $40 places with amazing facilities such as pools, spa pools, game rooms and much more. Most towns have at least one campsite. One thing that you have to watch is paying for showers, as some places have a charge for showers on top of the campsite charge. It ranges, but it's usually 50c for around 5 minutes. Be sure to have a bunch of 50 cent pieces to pay for showers. We have been caught out a few times!

If you want any more info, I would be happy to help!

diesal not cheap in NZ, we hired from jucy, cheap and cheerful, no fee for onw-way trip either, they let you take cars on the inter island ferry (you can advance book this online too). All the cheap cars at the cheap hirers go fast, decice and book as soon as you can.

Hi there, in New Zealand petrol vehicle is fine, not a great deal of difference in cost. Unless you specifically want a 4WD then they tend to be deisal. Vheck out backpacker.com it is a good site for info and vehicle rental in NZ

Hi

We've been in NZ in december for 28 days and also rented a car, a Nissan Bluebird for 25 days and drove from Auckland to Christchurch. There are a lot of campers to rent als, if you like camping. We've seen a lot on the road wicked and jucyrentals.

About the visa, if you are going to NZ through Australia you may need a transit visa there

If you have any other questions i'd be happy to help

Stefan

Hi thanks for the posts guys. We are definatly going now and coming from the end of Dec to the end of Jan to get a full month out there.
We have decided to go with a car from Jucy car rentals as it made sense as when we read up on diesel cars an motorhomes, you can't drive up to certain areas. which we wanted to do. so we are going for a small compact economy car.

then camping the whole way round so being real tramps, i actually cant wait to gte out there now. I love the country. My bosses at work have told me if i dont come back there coming out to get me. lol

thanks again for the help