New Zealand – Expenses Breakdown

We traveled a total of 81 days in New Zealand, from the 25th of November of 2018 to the 14th of February of 2019. We traveled on a budget but splurging on some comforts from time to time. We bought a car in Christchurch and we sold it again loosing only a bit of money. We purchased all the camping gear to reduce the costs of accommodation. However, we also slept in hostels from time to time.

We spent a total of 11,940 NZD (7.251€), with an average of 148 NZD (90€) per day per couple. Note that the conversion used below was 1€:1.65NZD, which was the average during our time in New Zealand:

Transport

We decided to buy a car as we knew we were going to stay for at least a couple of months, and comparing with rentals, it was a much more inexpensive option. That is if you buy the right thing. Our car turned out to be reliable, and after traveling for 8,000 km and two and a half months later, we managed to sell it for a few hundred dollars less than what we bought it for. There are, of course, some expenses that come along buying a car (insurance, registration, maintenance),  but all in all, it was worth buying one instead of renting.

 

Gas in New Zealand is a bit more expensive than Australia. The average per liter was just above 2$. However, we drove much less than we did in Australia, despite visiting both islands.

In total, we spent $3,288 in this category, with an average of $38 per day per couple.

Note: The car market swings a lot from high to low season. If you come in low season and sell it in high season, one could even make some money.

 

Food

Food is slightly more expensive than in Australia. We spent a total of $2,192, with an average of $27 per day per couple. As we were on a road trip, we were mainly cooking our own meals in the campsite or in the hostel (aside from a few times that we stayed in cities). We would cook once a day one of our favorite easy vegan camping road trip meals. We would then eat bread, hummus, avocado or oatmeal/muesli for breakfast.

 

Accommodation

This category is where New Zealand becomes expensive, even though we were camping, there are barely any free campsites. That is if you are not self-contained, which is a special certificate that allows you to free camp. However, we did not have that, which means that most of the nights we had to pay at least $8 per person. It is fair to say that campsites are generally in very good condition and the Department of Conservation takes very good care of them. Not to mention the idyllic spots we would usually camp at.

 

The first 10 days, we booked an Airbnb in Christchurch, as we were a bit tired of camping from our roadtrip in Australia and we wanted a good and quiet place to make all the arrangements for the next road trip. These 9 days cost us around $650.

We also saw it necessary to get some comforts and sleep in some hostels every so often. May be we did it because camping in certain regions was a bit challenging (with constant wind and rain) or simply because after a long time traveling we get impatient quicker.

In total, we spent $2,158, with an average of $27 per day per couple.

 

Miscellaneous

This category was more expensive than usual as we bought a lot of camping gear that at the end we sold with the car to another traveler. We also bought a big tent for 5 people which basically got ruined due to heavy usage and weather conditions. So I guess it paid off.

Also, we spent some money on a Work & Holiday visa, as we were planning to work for a few months. However, it turned out that we were too lazy to do any work :). I guess that is a luxury that only a few can afford!

 

We bought an internet data plan with 50gb for 3 months for $130. That gave us plenty of data to use without the constant need of looking for Wi-Fi. The rest of the expenses were for laundry, gas for cooking, coffees, non-alcoholic drinks, among other treats. That comes down to a total of $1,900 with an average of $24 per couple per day.

 

Activities

See below the activities we did. Some of them were Christmas presents for our own benefit 🙂

 

We think there are some mandatory visits that one needs to do in New Zealand. Even though we are more into hiking and getting to remote places, doing these super touristy tours was absolutely amazing:

 

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We managed to get a good price in some of the activities as we were told of the site www.bookme.co.nz, which has very good discounts. In total, we spent $1,651 with an average of $20 per day.

 

Alcohol

And last, but not least and to keep up with our alcoholic tradition, we spent $907 in alcohol in 81 days. That comes down to $11 per couple per day. In our defense, most of it was spent during Christmas and New Year´s Eve as we were hanging out with alcoholic danish friends :).

 

To conclude with this post, yes, New Zealand is an expensive country, but there are ways around it. We spent a big portion of our budget in this country. However, no one goes to New Zealand and gets disappointed. It is a country with many contrasts: amazing mountains, lakes, glaciers, rivers, volcanoes, geysers, dramatic coastline, beautiful beaches. In two words, hiker´s paradise. On top of that, we found a country very rich in culture and with a very short, but very interesting history.