Feasible campervan itinerary

Desirida · #1 (**permalink**) 31-01-2008, 03:32 AM

Have been avidly reading threads here since December and find it a great source of information.

Planning to move to NZ within next two years and as OH is about to be "inbetween jobs", we have decided to take a last-minute trip in March to check things out. We had planned to do this next year but the timing is good right now.

We want to do a campervan tour over three weeks and we are wondering what would be feasible time wise. Originally, we intended to stick to the SI (CHCH, Nelson etc) and go across to Wellington. Now, although neither of us our city folks, OH things we should check out Auckland and we have also noticed that Hamilton seems to have a lot of jobs in IT (which surprised us as we thought it was pretty rural) and as job will dictate somewhat where we go, we thought we should consider these too. If we flew into Auckland and out of CHCh does anybody have any advice on whether this is too much to cover -bearing in mind that we also have a 7 and 10 year old who are pretty good travellers but we want to make sure that there are some highlights for them as well. icon_confused:

Would be grateful for any advise from those that have campervanned it!

stanley · #2 (**permalink**) 31-01-2008, 12:48 PM

Hi we are in the same position, hiring a campervan,starting in christchrch, at first just wanted to research nelson and northland bay of island then back fly home from auckland, now we are thinking we should do some research in Auckland. We arrive for 3 and a bit weeks end of april so you will have returned by then and will have to let us know how it went. Any advice from anyone would be welcome.
Thanks.

selchie · #3 (**permalink**) 31-01-2008, 04:07 PM

We've done two tours of a month each, and got a good overview and some detail of both islands. We were on holiday, visiting all kinds of out of the way places, and often staying for several days in one place. We were fairly relaxed and got to explore, though sometimes we were driving for the greater part of the day. No kids, so I can't say how they'll affect travel. If you're mostly visiting places you might want to live, 3 weeks might work. Auks & Hamilton aren't too far from each other - an hour or so? Welly could be a day or two's drive, depending on how "driven" you were to get there. You could get to Nelson from Welly well within a day. Chch would be perhaps a day or two's drive from Nelson - not sure, because we went the long way via the Wet Coast and Otago. You would have at least a few days in each city.

I can't think what to recommend visiting without knowing your interests. We do a lot of fauna & flora peeping and "treasure" hunting (usually in the form of beach combing). If for some crazy reason you wind up on the Coromandel, and cross between C-town and Whitianga, be sure to stop at the Waiau Waterworks. The kids will love it, and so might you. There are other fun places we visited, but they were mostly way out of the way.

Have fun!

Glenda · #4 (**permalink**) 31-01-2008, 07:58 PM

Hi,

In your position I would stay at a motel in Auckland (there are plenty near the airport), hire a car and look around Auckland for a few days. It is a city and, unless you are confident behind a campervan wheel, a hire car would make getting around easier, especially with jetlag. (That's just my personal choice.) Take the kids up the Sky Tower SKYCITY- AucklandSKYCITY- Sky Tower, Kelly Tarlton's Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter & Underwater World, maybe to Auckland Zoo Auckland Zoo Homepage which has a tram to the neighbouring Museum of Transport and Technology Explore MOTAT, Auckland's Museum of Transport and Technology. If the kids then behave themselves whilst you are looking around(!), there is Rainbow's End Rainbow's End N.Z.'s Premier Theme Park.

In Wellington, you could try for a bit of education about the country you plan to move to http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/Tepapa/English/ (which is made fun for kids). In Christchurch they are sure to like the Christchurch Gondola Christchurch Gondola - Christchurch Attractions, Christchurch Restaurant & Christchurch Activities.

Haven't used a campervan myself, but looked into it. As March has the Easter break, I would advise having a daily itinerary and booking the ferry from Wellington to Picton in advance, as I hear it can get busy, especially for campervans. You should certainly be able to visit and drive between these main centres in three weeks.

Desirida · #5 (**permalink**) 03-02-2008, 08:10 AM

Thanks Selchie and Glenda for the info. I think we will def. go for the hire car and not the campervan for Auckland etc and may even drive down to Wellington and swop for Campervan there to do SI. Some great links Glenda - certainly thinks that would interest both us and the kids! Thanks. Can anyone tell me when the schools have Easter Hols over there this year? Also, is it really easy to find motor parks to stay in or should we book in advance?
Stanley - we should be back on the 10th April so, hopefully, I will be able to post some info on how it went etc and our itinerary for you (and any others who are doing the same) before you leave.

stanley · #6 (**permalink**) 03-02-2008, 11:20 AM

Thanks, will look forward to it.

Stanley

selchie · #7 (**permalink**) 03-02-2008, 12:44 PM

There seem to be a lot of holiday parks, though you may need to book them during the holiday. The AA Guide is a good reference. You can easily find hard copy once you're in NZ.

Glenda · #8 (**permalink**) 04-02-2008, 08:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Desirida

Can anyone tell me when the schools have Easter Hols over there this year? Also, is it really easy to find motor parks to stay in or should we book in advance?

There is no school holidays over Easter ... there are four terms in the school year and this current term does not finish until around 18th April. There will however be a lot of people movement from Good Friday to Easter Monday - the last chance of going away with good weather before the winter.