Before to go / To sleep / Commodities / Good
food / Activities / Good to know
You are less than 32 years old, and you would like to discover New Zealand
more like a citizen than a simple tourist, enjoying the country with their
people instead of with only roommates in backpackers from Europe, you should
choose the working holyday Visa, allowing you to
stay, traveling and working in the country between 6 and 12 months. You will
probably have to apply for a traveling insurance during your journey. They are
usually quite similar and around 400€ per year. We have chosen Globe Partner,
and did not use it.
Make sure you did all the necessary things with your French bank. Check how much they will charge you for the bank transfer from France
to NZ. If you spend some time on internet you will be able to find some banks as
“ukforex” which won’t charge you any fees if your transfer more than 10000€.
Buy all the technical
staff you need before to come, that’s very expensive here.
And don’t think because Merino wool comes from New Zealand, it will be cheaper
here, that’s wrong.
Have a nice dinner with good cheese,
good bread and wine before to come, you will miss
some of those things here… Even if New Zealanders make good wines but it’s so
expensive that you won’t enjoy it often than in Europe.
Before to go / To sleep /
Commodities / Good food / Activities / Good to know
To sleep with your tent or in your campervan for very cheap ($6-$12 pp)
or for free, go to the Doc campsites. There are 2 brochures about all the DOC campsites in North and South
island, and how to find them. Ask for the DOC office in Auckland’s harbor.
Sometimes it’s good to have a
nice sleep in a backpacker. Like that
you can enjoy a shower, a real kitchen and you can meet a lot of nice people
travelling like you, with who you can have advices, have a drink… or share a
part of your trip…who knows?!
You can sleep for free in the walkways car parks (Doc or council car parks) if there is no sign with “no overnight” at
this place or at the town’s entrance.
Before to go / To sleep / Commodities / Good
food / Activities / Good to know
Doc sites are the places to find toilet & water. Mostly composting toilets,
they are always or often clean and with toilet paper inside. They advise you to
filtered, or boiled the water before drinking, so a coffee filter can help you.
To have a warm shower during your
road trip, go to the beach’s showers in summer, or to the public swimming pools,
they will charge you between $2 and $5 for a nice and warm shower. In some harbors, you can also find hot showers, don’t forget
your cash to have hot water.
You need an internet access to
check your mails. Go to a library, most of them have free internet wifi and it’s a warm place to stay and
also read a book, news papers… That’s also the place to find a book for sale
between $1 and $2 and thus improve your English. Other solution, park near a Telecom phone box with the sign free wifi.
In some beaches, you will find public
barbecues. Like in Australia, it’s cultural, some are free, if
not, they will cost you only $1 or $2, so help yourself and enjoy a different
diner.
Before to go / To sleep / Commodities / Good
food / Activities / Good to know
Buy vegetables, fruits and eggs
directly on the road. People sale them on their gate thanks to an honesty
box. That’s cheaper and mostly organic or spray free products,
and free range eggs, so be honest and pay into the box if we want to still
enjoy good food for cheap.
To buy good vegetables and fruits
in town go to the Farmer market usually on Saturday or Sunday.
You can find some apple, pear or peach
trees on the road, so just help yourself reasonably.
Here the nature can be generous,
so if you like fishing, take your fishing
rode with you. The sea and the abundant rivers are waiting for you. Seashells, like mussels or sea urchins are also really easy to
find in some places, and often good to eat. So be honest and look at the
fishing board to know how many you are allow to pick up, and enjoy your fresh
and free food! Don’t forget to thanks the generous nature.
If you know about mushrooms/fungus, New Zealand needs you! We have seen so many mushrooms everywhere, but
we couldn’t pick them because we didn’t know if they were edible or not. Nobody
here has been able to help us, it’s not cultural and there is no book about
edible New Zealander mushrooms.
Fresh mussels for lunch |
Before to go / To sleep / Commodities / Good food / Activities / Good
to know
You like hiking/tramping? New Zealand
offers a lot of tracks, for couple of hours or several days. The most famous tracks
are the “Great walks” but you can find good tracks everywhere. When you start hiking for 2 days or more you can sleep in the Doc camps or Doc huts in the track. Take enough cash with you to pay directly there or book
your night on internet or in the DOC visitor center if it’s a busy period.
Really motivated? There is a Hut pass for 6 or 12 months that you can buy at
the Doc Visitor Center.
A lot of New Zealander treasures are controlled by paid activities, but if you are patient and you like
walking you will always find a solution to discover this amazing nature for
free, like the penguins in Dunedin, dolphins, kauris...
Awesome deals! If you have time and your are not really organized, go to have a look
on those websites, you could have a great surprise and find a cruise on the
Milford sound for $20 or experience the speed jet boating in Queenstown for $60
instead of $120 pp.
Buy a ticket 2 months before and cross the country for only $1.
Doc huts & camp sites |
Before to go / To sleep / Commodities / Good food /
Activities / Good to know
If you need some staff for
cooking, working or just for your trip, go to the second hand shops and the hospice shops. In the “Salvation army” family store, or
recycling center shop you will find everything for nothing.
You just arrived in Auckland and
you are looking for a campervan for your road trip? You will find some offers in those 2 French
websites and/or the kiwi E-bay:
You can find some interesting
offers in the notice boards of the backpackers or supermarkets as well.
But before to buy a campervan or
a car, go to do a check in a garage (between $40 and $80), to save you from a bad surprise.
The car insurance is not obligatory in NZ but it is always better to have one just in
case, especially if you plan a 1 year trip. We chose Itower on internet, but there
are probably some other options.
For 80 NZ$ per year take the AA card to have a free road service and save between 4 and 6 centimes/ltr when you buyyour fuel in
Caltex or BP petrol station.
The AA NZ illustrated
travel atlas is a good book to help you everywhere you want to go
thanks to its general map and its city and town maps. It will give you further
information about wine trails, ski fields, history and climate of each region
as well. And you will know the “101 Must-do’s for kiwis”, the best places to
go, and activities that kiwis like to do.
It is very easy to open a bank
account in NZ. Eftpost card is the more
popular and free in most of the banks, but you can’t pay on internet with. Travelers
choose mostly the kiwi bank which has good services and use the same office
than the post office, which means that you can find some everywhere in the country. But if
you need cash and there is no automatic distributor, just go to the first café or
4 square and ask for cash out with your eftpost card.
Do you like music? There are some
good music festivals in NZ, especially
the Rhythm and Vines festival for New Year and the Womad World music festival.
Apply directly on line to be volunteer during those festivals and get a free
pass in exchange to some hours working there. Then enjoy!
In Wellington you can enjoy a
live music almost every night… One of the places to go… the Meow. Park on Victoria Street near the Mac do, cross the BNZ pathway and you
will find this incredible bar, with a local and casual atmosphere.
Wwoofing, another way to
travel…
This organization is well
developed in NZ and you can find a place to stay everywhere in the country.
Why do some wwoofing during your
trip?
·
Because you will meet
very interesting and nice kiwi people and spend good time with them and their
friends.
·
Because you will
learn about ecology and another way of thinking and living more respectful for the planet and the nature.
·
Because helping them
you will learn new activities and jobs like how to work wood, earth building,
how to make cheese and yogurt, and you will enjoy improve your general
knowledge.
·
Because you will eat
good and healthy food, it’s a good experience to take some recipes.
Think about the mosquitoes
and sandflies, there is too many, especially in the summer time. Take
some lavender oil with you; it’s a good natural product against the itching.
Sun screen & hat are
essential to protect your skin from the strong NZ
sun. Don’t be silly!
Ask with a smile, kiwi people are nice and helpful…
Recycling center shop |
Womad festival |