Campervan

Our Van We made a VERY positive experience with our rented van from KEA Campers. The van was flawless — in fact brand new! — and their service (we never payed for anything extra) during the trip was unbelievable.
The space in our 2 person van with shower/toilet was enough for 2 people. You might also do without the shower/toilet, but then you have to spent some nights at campgrounds (e.g. to take a shower...), which will produce extra costs, and get used to the — generally quite tidy and everywhere found public toilets.
 
Costs We payed for our booking through the travel company “DER Tour” about 1632 EUR for 32 days in the “KEA 2 ST - 2 Bett DELUXE”, more details here. You can safe lots of money if you do not take the complete, maximum (no excess) insurance cover (as we did).
Driving calmly and trying to safe fuel, we could keep our diesel consumption down to 8 - 10 Litern Diesel per 100 km. You shouldn't forget that smaller vans usually have petrol engines which results into drastically higher fuel costs (higher consumption and more expensive fuel).
 
Campgrounds There are lots and lots of them, they cost about 10 to 15 NZ$ per person. We managed though not to spend a single night at one (our budget was to small for this luxury):
· There are many free dumpingstations, where you can dump you wastewater and empty the toilet as well as top up with fresh water. Depending on wanted comfort during you dayly hygene, 120 liters of freshwater should last between 2 to 5 days without dumping.
· If you hand wash every a few pieces of clothes you'll never need a proper washing maschine.
· Asking politely, you may recharge your “digital gadgets” without any problems every day for a couple of hours at petrol stations, cafés or tourist informations. We did that when having lunch most of the time.
 
Dumping stations Below you find a (by far not complete) list of towns, where we saw a (free) dumping station gefunden werden kann (keep your eyes open or ask locals to find them there). We also marked them with a blue drop on the big map, which you can download here.
· North Island: Auckland — Dargaville — Gisborne — Hamilton — Matamata — Napier — New Plymouth — Ngaruawahia — Opotiki — Paeroa — Palmerston North — Pauanui — Tauranga — Te Araroa — Te Aroha — Te Awamutu — Te Puke — Tirau — Tokaanu — Tokaroa — Wairakai — Waverly — Wellington — Whakatane — Whangarei — Woodville — Arrowtown — Blenheim — Christchurch — Clinton — Collingwood — Cromwell — Dunedin — Gore — Hokitika — Invercargill — Kaikoura — Lake Tekapo — Lawrence — Methven — Milford Sound — Motueka — Murchison — Nelson — Oarmaru — Queenstown — Richmond — Riverton — Rolleston — Ross — Takaka — Te Anau — Timaru —Twizel — Waikouaiti — Waimate — Wanaka — Westport
· South Island: Arrowtown — Blenheim — Christchurch — Clinton — Collingwood — Cromwell — Dunedin — Gore — Hokitika — Invercargill — Kaikoura — Lake Tekapo — Lawrence — Methven — Milford Sound — Motueka — Murchison — Nelson — Oarmaru — Queenstown — Richmond — Riverton — Rolleston — Ross — Takaka — Te Anau — Timaru — Twizel — Waikouaiti — Waimate — Wanaka — Westport
 
Campervan rentals Beside the prices, you should also try to find out — as far as possible — about the service of the companies. Smaller ones may be cheaper, but can probably not offer the service the big ones can.
Most of the companies seem to be buying the vans from the same manufacturer. As far as we could see, one type of van did not differ too much from its equivalent at another company.
On our tour we saw the following companies:
Adventure Delux Motor Homes — Affordables — Aotea Campervans — Apollo — Backpacker Campervan Rentals — Britz — Escape Rentals — Freedom Campers — Good Value Campervans — KEA Campers — Kiwi Autohomes — Maui Rentals — New Zealand Motorhomes — New Zealand Motorhome Rentals — Nomad Rentals — Pacific Horizon — Sunrise Holidays — Tasman Motorhomes — Tui Campers — Tulip Campers — United Campervans — Walkabout Rentals — Wendekreisen Travel
 
Tips You shouldn't forget to...
· bring a couple of spices, salt and pepper, so you don't have to by it and the food will be more delicious ;-)
· take with you PLENTY of duvets, covers and sleeping bags when you pick up the van as the nights (especially during winter) can get VERY cold
· make sure you know where the first-aid box, the spare tire and the jack are to be found (and where exactly you have to put it in case you need it!)
· take a close look at the information material (at the beginning of you trip!) that comes with the van. It may contain lots of useful stuff!
· find out what type of radio the van has (most of them play CDs) and take some music with you. No offense to the Kiwis, but the radion stations are extremely annoying (lots of advertising, yet a very limited playlist)