Those who have visited New Zealand...

Sorry I can't answer but just wondered what sort of price you paid for a ticket to NZ? H and I want to visit friends at some point but we were getting all manner of prices coming up when we looked at the weekend.

We campervanned the South island last year for just over 2 weeks.

How much money you'll need is way too much a piece of string question but I'll give you an idea of what we did.

The fuel costs were tiny in comparrisson to here (about half IIRC) and campsite fees were no more than a tenner a night. I recommned you take out as much insurance on your van as possible. The wind took the door out of my hands and it would have cost us hundreds if we hadn't covered everything. Gas for cooking needed replacing after 2 weeks but again it wasn't much.

Eating out was about half what you'd pay here. You could easily get a nice 3 course meal with drinks for £30 but similarly if you wanted to spend more, then again, it wasn't too difficult. We cooked breakfast and some lunches in the van so stocked up at a supermarket on the firat day.......again, loads cheaper than here.

Activity wise, we did jet boating, went to Hanmer Springs, zip wires across valleys, gondola. ripsaw, punting on the river and went heli-hiking on Franz Josef glacier. We spent a good grand or so on activities but there is so much choice, it could be as cheap or as expensive as you wanted/needed it to be. We did so much I'm struggling to remember it all but if you want more info then let me know.

The whole trip was fantastic and we're already planning to go back in a few years. One thing I would advise never to miss is the heli-hike on the glacier. It was the most amazing experience ever (even though it was exhausting).

Thank you Flaming Nora that all sounds great, I think I've got a rough idea of what sort of money to take and I'll take my credit card as well. Don't want to miss out on anything! Sounds like you had a fab time, I can't wait to go now! Just dreading the flight!! Sunset21 we paid about £900 each for our tickets but that is from London Heathrow to Auckland and then from Sydney to London Heathrow. We're stopping at Sydney on the way home and booked the internal flight seperate as it was cheaper for us to do that. I spent a couple of weekends looking at a lot of prices before I booked these flights, they started off at around £1500 each so you do need to shop around to get the best prices. In the end I booked the flights through Trailfinders who were really, really helpful, even with my constant silly questions about each airline, me being a nervous flyer I tend to ask odd questions most people wouldn't! We are flying with Singapore Airlines by the way via Singapore. Hope that helps!

We campervanned around both islands for four weeks in 2005 as part of our honeymoon and had a fabulous time. I can't remember fuel prices but somehow I remember that we did 4,802 km (I think I remember this because there's a diesel tax so you have to quote your mileage at the end). I don't know if that might be of any use to you.

We booked our RTW tickets and van hire through trailfinders and they were great.

Have a great trip. I'm not jealous. At all. Oh no.

Surely how much money you need is dependent on how much you intend to spend? sorry for stating the obvious but thats how it is. good restaurants in NZ are really expensive compared to here - we went to a fab place in taupo and dinner for 2 with (middle of the road) wine was about 600 NZD

I come from Hanmer Springs!!! ? ( I now wan't to go home! ?)

If you love outdoor activities, you could'nt ask for a better, more beautiful place.

We spent 4 days in franz joseph waiting for a sodding heli hike, and the weather was so bad they werent flying, so in the end we had to carry on to queenstown ?. the jet boat thing is cool though, i was like a little boy, desperate to get in the front, which we did. i just remembered - the shotover jet is the one we went on - excellent fun

I did the same thing (twice!) and there's not a huge amount to do at Franz Josef whilst you wait for the weather to lift.

We also did the Shotover jet boating - I was a bit nervous about doing it but it was great fun.

It was the shotover jet boat I meant. Its great fun isn't it?

Hanmer is indeed beautiful. Lying in the pools in the sunshine with snow covered mountains in the background was lovely. We had some nice spa treatments whilst we were there too.

We almost missed out on the heli-hike too. The clouds were too low for the helicopters to fly us up to the glacier but Franz Josef is such a cool town to spend a few days in, we really relaxed there. On the 3rd day we got to do the heli hike, yay!

WNJS in regards to money, one thing though is the campervan will probably be diesel which is a lot cheaper in NZ than petrol as there is a seperate tax, you may want to double check what is included in your hire tour.

Even if you don't do the heli hike on the glacier do the full day hike when you climb out onto the glacier through what is pretty well rainforest, it's amazing but very tiring.

Sorry to crash but I'm intrigued as to where that would be, the only place I can think is Huka Lodge but when we were there a few years ago with a bottle of Dom it wasn't anything near that, friends who have been back recently did mention that prices have gone up astronomically but I'd still say you'd have to make an effort to find somewhere to spend that much on dinner, even in Auckland.

The problem with FJ is that there s nothing there apart from a pub with crap food, a restaurant with crap food, and a tea room with crap food. oh, and 2 outdoor shops. its a miserable place. we stayed at that rainforest place in a hut in the trees which was quite good fun, apart from the twatting mosquitos

Mr M was too much of a wimp to go on it. I begged him but he wasn't having any of it. I'm hoping he'll stop being such a loser the next time we go. ?

Wow, we really liked it. But we really filled ours days whilst we waited for the clouds to lift. We went quad biking one day and took a walk near Mt Cook (which I appreciate isn't in FJ but it didn't take long in the van). We also took the van down a few hair raising tracks which we really shouldn't have but we had fun all the same. I don't recall where we ate, nor what the quality of food was but I recall it being rammed packed so we had to book a table and go back a few hours later. There was a fab atmosphere there and we made a few friends in those 3 days so lots of good memories for us.

If you pass Omarama try gliding, some of the best conditions in the world there. I was hoping to go over next year, but I`ll have to wait a bit longer now sadly

well, we stayed at huka lodge and its pretty expensive. 800 NZD per night in the room we had. the restaurant i m talking about thoigh, i cant remember the name, but as you drive down the hill into taupo from the main road, get to the bottom and turn left so your running along the lake shore road, its on the left after a bout a quarter of a mile. all wooden, set back of the road quite a bit. the irony is that we went there a couple of nights, and the night which was more expensive was the one when i d caught the main course a nd given it to them to cook ?

Was it Acacia Cliffs?

Fuel in NZ is currently $1.56 a litre - it's coming down by about 5c each week at the moment. You can get vouchers in the supermarket for money off - usually 4c if you spend $40 and 10c if you spend $100, but depends on the supermarket, as most are franchises and so set their own.