Most of you knows that we started our journey in New Zealand, we lived on the South Island for the past two years, and the beginning of the trip had to be there. New Zealand is a very expensive country to travel, not just from our point of view, but as of the many biker travelers we hosted through Warmshowers. So we can give you some tips and you can try to save as much as you can on your next trip.

If you are planning to travel by bike through New Zealand keep in mind that you will be constantly going up and down on a hill and/or mountains. Due New Zealand is a volcanic country, but the positive side of it all is the landscapes, that changes with each pedal, making your experience even more incredible.

It was a challenge to start the trip in a mountainous country, but at the same time, we believe it was the best way to learn, as today we felt prepared for the next countries that it is on our list. Had start in a difficult country has shown us that whatever comes after, will be easier or as difficult as it was New Zealand.

The roads in New Zealand has a good quality, but they do not have a shoulder-strap in most of them, sometimes they have a very narrow space that we do not even dare call a shoulder-strap. We tried at most to avoid the main roads, especially on the north island because it is more crowded. Cycle during the weekends, depending on the route, can be quite uncomfortable in places like Coromandel where the tourist or locals goes to spend the weekend.

The New Zealanders are not used to share the roads with cyclists. Cycling around the country is something new and has been invested more and more in this type of activity. But there are no campaigns to respect the cyclist. It is rare that you cross with signs of respect for the rider. The truck drivers were our main problem on the South Island, and because of them, every time we saw a truck coming on the road, we preferred to stop at the shoulder-strap and wait for them to pass.

The Chinese are the biggest nationality traveling around the country, you will cross with a good amount of them in a rented car. Although everybody spokes very poorly about them, we had no problem, they always seemed very afraid when they tried overtaken us, because of that they always slowed down to the point of escorting us, and when there was space they overtaken us.

Our recommendation is Auckland as your starting point. Although North Island has the most monotonous roads, our tip is still to start there for a few reasons. The first reason is that everything will be new, because of this the first cycles will be of discovery. The second, the North Island is more populous, has more access to supermarkets, warmshowers and couch surfers, so it will be easier to become familiar with the costs of the country and learn the tricks. The Third, it will depend on the season of the year, you will cycle from the hottest to the coldest region.

It is good to keep in mind also that the North Island does not have the big amount of hills/mountains as the South Island, however, does not mean that you will climb less, on the other way, the hills there are constant, perhaps more challenging than those down south, for example, in a day on the North Island, we rode 74km and we climbed 1100m, which for us was quite exhausting.

The route we chose on the North Island, the landscapes do not change often and the scenery was basically farms, cows, and sheep. Perhaps cycle through the center of the island the landscapes are more attractive and are also where the most of the country’s cycling routes are located. There are still beauties, but they are not so many, compared to what we saw in the South Island.

The South Island is in our opinion the most beautiful part, due to the numbers of many wonderful landscapes, the huge rivers, the countless blue lakes, the snow pic mountain, even that simple tree in the middle of nowhere, makes the cycle being incredible. Everything is very scenic, it is like a movie set, and that is why several movies have already been recorded there.

To help you choose your route, below are some websites and books that can give you more detailed information about the cycling routes.

We started our trip in early spring, many people said that it was not a good time, as it is a changing season and can rain a lot, luckily or not, we just had a day of heavy rain. We thought it was a good time to cycle, because it was not hot and not very cold, except when we were at the end of our trip in the North Island, the summer weather was already getting very hot and we had days of riding in the heat of 36 degrees.

Another important fact is that in the spring, the tourism in the country has not yet started, so the roads are not very busy. Most of the cyclists start cycle in New Zealand in November due to the warm weather, as it is the end of the spring and the begging of the summer, but the roads are busier and the national parks are very crowded. We do not recommend traveling around the winter season, as it can be quite cold, with very short days due to the sunrise be late in the morning and the sunset early in the evening, but this is also going according to the style of travel you want to do. In winter it can be cheaper in terms of accommodation and you can always try some discounts.

To get the weather information we always use the official weather New Zealand site: www.metservice.com.

GROSSERIES

There are three big supermarket brands, from the most expensive to the cheapest, they are: New World, Countdown and Pak N ‘Save, not counting the small brands like Foursquare, On The Spot, Fresh Choice or the dairy shops.

We had the habit of always buying our stuff at the Countdown, but since the beginning of the trip this has changed, we started to by at the PakN’Save, due be cheaper than the others, but this brand has only at the big cities. As we began our journey through a very remote region on the West Coast, the options of large supermarkets were very few. From Hokitika to Wanaka, there are only small supermarkets, where unfortunately the products are much more expensive. Coming out of Wanaka the options are better, making it easier to find good options. The On The Spot is the most expensive, it was always our last option, but at times we had to surrender to it.

The trick is the same for any supermarket, always look for the brands of each supermarket, this will make your shopping even cheaper. At the New World and PakNsave look for products with the Pams and Budget items, at the Countdown are the Select items.

Our plan is to try to make the trip as “self-sufficient” as possible, we always try to do wild camp, and when we do not find a camping site, the alternative is to find some accommodation cheap hostel or backpacker. We are able to carry a lot of food, as we also have all the equipment for camping, including a “portable shower”, but we always consider camping near a river or a lake, to make the things easier.

Accommodation, in general, is very expensive consequently Hotels and hostels / backpackers are expensive too. Our first option has always been the  Warmshowers community, which is geared only to cyclists, people who open their houses, to receive those who are traveling by bicycle, is an exchange of experiences and knowledge. Many people like to say that it is free accommodation, but this is very disrespectful to the hosts. The warmshowers is a trading community, we used before to host ciclotourist at our place, before starting this journey, and today we are at the opposite side, it is being a unique experience, receiving the affection of all the families.

Other options are the government campgrounds, the DOC, and the price is according by the location and what the facilities, but it is an average between $ 18 and $ 21 New Zealand dollars per person, on the DOC website you will find a list and location of each campsite (http://www.doc.govt.nz/campsites), another alternative is an app called CamperMate, it works all over the country and has great options from paid to the free campground. We have used a lot the CamperMate app quite a lot and at the remote areas, we did a wild camping.

Water is a very important too and our route has always been planned on parts that we could find at least a river or a lake at the end of the day. We have together, 8,500 gallons of water, which was enough for a full cycle day. In New Zealand you are able to drink water directly from the faucet, which made our life much easier, and every time we found a bathroom, it was a chance to refill the water bottles. The waters of the rivers and lakes were usually clean, a trick we did was, to make a filter with a clean sock, just to get some residual dirt. When you get water from rivers or lakes, you have to be aware of their location, since there are many farms with animals, such as cows, horses and sheep, that may not be ideal to drink, due of the dirt left by farms. In addition to the sock filter, there is also the option of asking for water in the people’s homes, which is very simple and sometimes even easier.

New Zealand is an expensive country to travel, as we mentioned at the beginning, but there are low-cost options that will help your budget. Remembering that these are just tips and point of view of a couple who lived and traveled around the country, you do not need to follow everything we wrote here. We would like to help a bit, who is planning to travel through this incredible country that is New Zealand.

INTERNET

Internet in New Zealand is relatively good and have three cellphone companies, Vodafone, Spark and 2Degrees, where you can buy a SIM card to use on your phone, simple and easy. The prices are no longer the best, the plan we used was the NZ $ 29.00 and you will only get 1.5Gb of data with 200min of calls and unlimited SMS messages. Compared to what we have here in Australia, New Zealand companies are much more expensive.

There are also the fast-food restaurants, with have free, but limited Wi-Fi,  like Mc Donalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut and etc, and most of the supermarkets we mention above, has also free Wi-Fi. If you need to spend more time on the internet, the public libraries or I-Sites (tourist information center) are a good option, as they have a quiet place to access the internet, usually, the connection is very good.

The I-Sites are the tourist information centers around the country, there you are able to request information about traveling in the country, as well as pick up free maps, brochures, book a ticket bus and buy souvenirs.

RELOCATION, BUSES, TRANSPORTATION AND AIRPORTS

Taking buses in New Zealand can be a good alternative, if you do not want to climb a mountain, if you want to avoid a bad weather, or also if you are at the end of your visa and you need to leave the country. But if you are cycling there, putting your bike on a bus can be quite tricky, the bus drivers may not be very friendly with the size of the bicycle, as he needs to make it sure will have enough space for all the luggage and backpackers.

At one point on our trip we even thought about to take a bus, to get ahead and avoid a storm, that would happen on the west coast of the south island, but talking with the bus driver, he was very rude and said that he would put, the bikes if had space, because we were in two, consequently would be two bicycles and more all the equipment. So have this in mind, if you need to catch a bus.

The best way to get around in the cities is by using your bicycle, as they are usually small and close enough to ride, with the exception of Auckland. In cities that have ferry boats or boats to cross the rivers and lakes, it is very easy to embark your bicycle.

Airports are very bicycle friendly as well, in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington have a specific space to assemble your bike, including showers, which we believe are free.

Another tip is to do a car relocation, we even had the opportunity to do one relocation of a Motor Home. The agreements are different between each company and also will depend on the relocation itinerary, the numbers of days can be between 1 and 9 days, with or without fuel included, all relocation includes the ferry to cross the Island, the contract is with fixed dates to  delivery the car back, and you are also able to extend your trip, but you should pay for the extra days.

There are many companies that offer the relocation service, we did through the website www.transfercar.co.nz, a website used by many companies that advertise their relocation cars on the website. But many of them also advertise on their own websites. Below is the list of the most famous.

www.jucy.co.nz, www.apollo.co.nz, www.britz.co.nz, www.maui.co.nz.

USEFUL PHONE NUMBERS:

Call 111 in emergencies
In New Zealand, the number to call if you need the Fire service, Police or an ambulance in an emergency is 111.
00 – is the code to make an international call
64 – is the international code of the
00 + international country code + area code + number (to make calls to overseas)

If you have any enquiry, leave your message here or send us an email, that will try to clarify your questions.