I’m a Kiwi and I love playing tourist when I head back home to New Zealand!  I thought I would share my practical New Zealand travel tips which will helpfully save you a few cents and also give you a heads up on a few other things that we learnt on this trip home.  New Zealand isn’t cheap as a destination these days so three weeks can pretty much bankrupt travellers on a tight budget.  I shared my Practical Travel Tips for Rome and Moscow a year or two ago and folks found them really helpful so fingers crossed for the same again!

Booking Internal Flights on Air New Zealand

Internal flights can be hugely expensive within New Zealand…it can be cheaper to fly to Hawaii than from Auckland to Christchurch (I kid you not!) however there is a trick if you are trying to find a flight on Air New Zealand.  If you are booking internal flights prior to your arrival in New Zealand then make sure you change the region from your home country or area i.e. Europe, North America to New Zealand as flights are rather a lot cheaper in New Zealand Dollars than in other currencies…you can find the region at the bottom left hand corner of the website.

Also check out GrabaSeat which is also an Air New Zealand run website which offers certain routes on sale…including international flights. It may be cheaper to book way in advance than to wait to see if your route comes up a tad cheaper…especially the popular Queenstown routes which rarely do!

Bringing Food into New Zealand

You can bring food items into New Zealand but you have to extremely careful as to what they are…wrapped sweets and cakes are fine…fruit and vegetables are a big NO NO! If  it doubt, declare it on the landing card that you will be given on arrival…it’s better to declare and show the customs official the food items and they can tell you if it’s allowed or not…declare it and you shouldn’t receive a hefty fine!

Bringing Camping Equipment and Hiking Boots into New Zealand

Make sure all your camping equipment and hiking boots are cleaned before flying into New Zealand…failure to do so could mean a cleaning cost on arrival or even a fine. You will be asked on the landing card if you have these types of equipment with you…we declared, they took the tent away to be looked at and we received it back less than 10 minutes later…I had made sure it was clean before we left the UK.  If in doubt, declare it on landing card.

Hiring Rental Cars in New Zealand

If you have decided to go the rental car / motel route rather than a camper van etc then you have the added advantage of being able to pick up a car in most towns and airports around New Zealand unlike camper vans where there are only a few pick up / drop off points around the country.  You can save quite a few dollars if you drive north rather than south as most tourists actually travel south hence rental cars need to be repositioned.  Send a few emails around to car rental companies like Avis, Hertz and Thrifty to see if they can offer you any repositioning deals…it doesn’t cost you a cent to send a quick email to ask.

Cost of Fuel in New Zealand

Fuel is expensive in New Zealand…it’s on par with the UK at present.  If you fill up at the Mobil Petrol Stations, make sure you ask for one of their loyalty cards (it’s called Smiles…quite a clever little pun really!) as it entitles you to 6 cents off per litre (at the time of our visit) – you receive the discount from the second time you fill up.

Lack of Petrol Stations

When we were driving down the West Coast of the South Island, there was a definite lack of Service Stations so make sure you take the opportunity to top up the tank, even if the fuel gauge is telling you there is still just under half a tank of petrol available…it’s better to be safe than sorry.  We did see a few signs that said next Fuel opportunity was 90 kilometres away…if in doubt, fuel up!

Understand the Road Rules Before Setting Off

The official figures that were released when I was home, said that 6% of accidents in New Zealand are caused by tourists visiting the country.  I actually think this number is probably higher as New Zealanders take some very big risks on our roads due to sitting behind tourists who won’t pull over to let the folks behind them past…those risks can be fatal.  Make sure you are confident to drive and understand the New Zealand road rules before arriving on holiday and don’t set off on a long road journey right after a long haul flight (take time to recover!) – the roads in some of the really popular tourist areas in the South Island were not made for the number of people travelling on them today and they are very twisty and narrow at times.

Self Catering in Motels

Motels are a blessing in New Zealand as most have a fridge, microwave and if you are extremely lucky a hob so you can cook to your hearts content.  New Zealand isn’t cheap for dining out any more so we self catered a lot on this trip plus it’s easier if you are gluten free.

Gluten Free New Zealand

Hells bells New Zealand…the gluten free food scene rocks!  There is no problem finding gluten free food while out dining and most is identified as gluten free on the menu (the labelling is fabulous…Europe and the UK, you deserve a slap for your poor labelling standards!).  If you’re going to head to a supermarket then I would highly recommend shopping in New World (also ask for one of their loyalty cards otherwise the discounts don’t apply); as well as a dedicated Free From section they actually have gone one step further…beside the price it will indicate if the item is gluten free or not on every food item in store…it’s pretty impressive!

Food Is Expensive

Dining out is expensive and supermarket shopping is expensive.  Either way food is bloody expensive in New Zealand…be prepared for this if you are on a budget otherwise you will get a big surprise.  If you do plan to do a bit of supermarket shopping then make sure you ask for the loyalty cards, otherwise you won’t get the discounts shown in some cases.  The foodie scene in New Zealand is pretty amazing and should I mention the food is rather tasty so splurge once in a while if you can.

Booking Excursions

As I’ve said, New Zealand is expensive so finding some really great discounts on tickets is something you need to keep an eye out for.  The bookme.co.nz website offers discounts on tourist attractions and adventure sports around New Zealand (there is also discounts for Australia and Fiji as well); check them out before booking through the official website of the company you want to use.

Take the Route that Interests You

There seems to be a few rather well oiled tourist routes in New Zealand that most tourists stick to on their trip which is absolutely fine and dandy but don’t think you have to stick to those routes if you don’t fancy…there are some really awesome spots in New Zealand that many folks miss while visiting New Zealand.  New Zealand isn’t just for the adventurous either…there is something for everyone even in Queenstown (not one of my favourite spots if I’m brutally honest…pretentious, busy, expensive…very much New Zealand’s version of Disneyland) but if you hire a car then Queenstown can make quite a good base for day trips to some rather pretty spots dotted close by like Arrowtown, Glenorchy and Cromwell.

Respect the Maori Culture and DOC signage

I don’t know why I even need to write this but I’m going too – please respect the Maori culture and DOC signage when visiting New Zealand…if there is only one New Zealand travel tip that you take away from this post please let it be this one.  The Department of Conservation (DOC) have signs up making reasonable requests, explaining the history of the area and the Maori story behind the site you are visiting.

Please don’t get your arse out for a photo or go beyond a point that the DOC have requested you to stay behind (normally for the protection of the plants and wildlife…please keep to the dedicated footpaths) for a photo opportunity…don’t be an INSTATWAT!  A number of the beautiful places you are going to visit in New Zealand are tapu (the Maori word for sacred) so please treat them with respect that they deserve.

New Zealand Wifi 

Wifi can be extremely slow in New Zealand; it was actually quicker to use my 3G on my Three Go Roam Phone Plan (where I can use all my allowances for free…I can call the UK from NZ for free, great right!).  Certain areas of New Zealand have rather poor connections and then some areas have no 3G at all (we spent almost a day without 3G as we travelled through the bottom section of the West Coast…it was rather nice to be honest)…be prepared.  Some crafty establishments still charge you extra for wifi in New Zealand.

Electrical Plugs

Don’t fluff around…just buy one international adapter with USB points for all your travel needs…this one is similar to the one I use and has 4 USB point which is great if you’re a family travelling and need to charge a number of items.

Closing Time

New Zealand has it’s little quirks…if you are stopping off in small towns and plan to stay then remember that food establishments including dairies and takeaways will normally close around 7pm.  We almost got caught out while in Haast with the 7pm closing time and there was only one very expensive establishment offering a buffet open in town after this time.  Be prepared…not every town has a supermarket open until midnight.

Be a Tidy Kiwi

Growing up in New Zealand, we learnt to be a Tidy Kiwi and even though you may be a visitor to New Zealand only, please respect this also.  Take all your rubbish with you and find a bin.  I do this when visiting your country.

American Express Isn’t Widely Accepted

Regardless of what American Express likes to tell you…most foreign countries outside of America actually hate this piece of plastic and New Zealand is very hit and miss with this credit card…mainly miss.  I could easily use the card in the larger supermarkets and in some establishment in the big cities however in the smaller towns the answer was a big fat No No when I asked if they accepted American Express.

Changeable Weather Conditions

New Zealand is famous for it’s changeable weather conditions and bejesus it can be 28 degrees and drop to 15 degrees in less than half hour.  Always carry a raincoat with you if you are doing excursions as an umbrella is pretty useless in high winds and when it rains in New Zealand it comes from every direction.

If you plan to do excursions around Franz Josef Glacier then give yourself a few days in case of bad weather.

^^My hair doing an Elvis impersonation…I gave up with my hood towards the end as the rain was coming in sideways and from above.

Mosquitos the Size of Baby Elephants

We ventured down the West Coast of the South Island and blimey those mosquitos are the size of baby elephants…they are huge and they’re nasty…I’m pretty sure I needed a blood transfusion after that road trip as I was eaten alive at times while G didn’t get one bite but had sympathy bite pains with me or as I like to call the, Man Bites.  If you are travelling from the UK to New Zealand then I would suggest stocking up on antihistamines, deet and paracetamol as they are rather expensive in New Zealand…I’m used to paying 20 pence for paracetamol in the UK so £2.50 in New Zealand bought tears to my eyes…so stock up in the UK before your trip.

New Zealand Travel Tips and Guides 

I would start by saying a travel guide is the first item you need to buy for research purposes…Lonely Planet is obviously the most well known however I’ve added a few different guides as well below and when they were published –

Lonely Planet: New Zealand’s South Island Road Trips (December 2016)

Lonely Planet New Zealand’s South Island Travel Guide (New edition to be released end of 2018)

Lonely Planet New Zealand’s North Island Travel Guide (New edition to be realised end of 2018)

The Rough Guide to New Zealand (September 2015)

DK Eyewitness Travel Guide New Zealand (March 2016)

Insight Guides Explore New Zealand (February 2018)

Blogs also offer a lot of New Zealand travel tips and inspiration – check out my New Zealand page here but remember to bookmark blog pages as you may not have internet access in certain areas of New Zealand.

New Zealand Souvenirs

Most tourists love to pick up a treat or two while they’re travelling and New Zealand offers a delightful array of different choices for everyone – from the classic Edmonds Cook Book (a kiwi classic), to Merino Wool clothing (Macpac and Icebreaker – I prefer Macpac) and everything in-between.

Buying Greenstone

G wanted to buy a piece of greenstone to replace a necklace that had broken a while ago; we looked for ages but I knew that Hokitika was the place to buy Greenstone…the West Coast town is famous for it’s Greenstone shops; let’s just say the quality is amazing and designs unique.  While some shops are totally overpriced, we did find a lovely shop where the family offer traditional Greenstone jewellery at very realistic prices that aren’t over inflated for the tourists.  The Traditional Jade Co. (2 Tancred Street, Hokitika) is who I would recommend; it’s a family run business, quality is great, prices are very reasonable and they take the time to really help you make the right purchase…plus the lovely daughter offered us some fabulous New Zealand travel tips while we were browsing.

Let me know what New Zealand Travel Tips you would add to this list…please leave a comment below.

Disclaimer: there are a few affiliate links within this New Zealand Practical Travel Tips post which means I earn a little bit of commission if you click on a link…it doesn’t cost you anything additional.

xx

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