More help please

[merv]

Freebird, you can only go as far south as Christchurch on a train so that's the place to pick up your camper van. There is the Overlander train from Auckland to Wellington, then you'd have catch a ferry over Cook Strait to Picton and then there is the Coastal Pacific train from Picton to Christchurch. The trains only run once a day each so somewhere you will have to stay a night either in Wellington or Picton.

With the price of airfares being so competitive these days you may well prefer to just fly quickly to Christchurch and get on with your tour.

[Sniper]

And if you are in CHCH I can do you a good deal on a car hire

[Freebird]

Cheers Sniper I may take you up on that, my thoughts at the moment are to use public transport between major areas and hire cars short term to have a look around, what do you guy think about that?
Hireing a camper is a little steep for 3 months and buying is a lot of outlay and hassel. :slap:

Still don't know what to do, I may just leave it till we get there and see how I find things

[Pixie]

Check out the prices for train fare.A recent survey into travel costs found that there wasn't much difference in cost between air,train and private car.

[elphick]

Check out Backpackers accomodation. I have done two South Island trips in the last 12 months staying at Backpackers all the way. The standard is generally very good (clean and tidy if not luxurious). Some do have spas, swimming pools, saunas ... They're cheaper than motels and you get to meet people and have the option of cooking instead of eating out all the time. Most are members of the BBH association www.bbh.co.nz A private room for a couple is usually in the NZ$ 45-65 range, often with en-suite toilet/shower.

Good idea on the route. The North Island is lovely, but the South Island rocks.

[Devil]

Hi,

Relatives of ours from Ireland did the same thing you're about to do. When they arrived they visited the auctions (www.turners.co.nz) and spent about $3000 on a 1996 mitsubishi lancer sedan. Went all round the country in it and flogged it off when they left (too my brother, but if that wasn't going to happen it just would have gone back to the auctions!).

Recommend it.