Is travelling New Zealand possible on a budget?

Aotearoa New Zealand is NOT the most affordable country to travel, but here is how we have minimized expenses over the past 6 months.

🚐 We skip the hotels & camp through the country
We converted a truck into our camper, camping affordably thanks to DOC sites.
If you were to have a self-contained vehicle, you can camp for free at freedom camping locations (you can find campsites for both non-contained and self-contained vehicles using CamperMate)

No vehicle? No problem. Rent a campervan (probably the most typical way to travel the country) or snag relocation deals from $1/day through imoova or TransferCar.

⛽ Fuel: The Gaspy app will help you find cheap fuel, and Flybuys can help you trim bills with petrol discounts.

🍴We try to limit dining out to just a couple of times a week, and use FirstTable and GrabOne when we have our eyes on a specific restaurant.

For groceries, we shop at Pak n’ Save.

💳Groupon and Bookme for activity deals. We basically book EVERYTHING we can on Bookme.

✈️ But by far, as always, the BIGGEST tip we have is to work where you travel. We would not be able to stay this long in NZ without having worked here, and we are so grateful to be living here on a Working Holiday Visa.

#budgettravel #newzealand #aotearoa

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➤ ABOUT US: Hi! We’re Nick & Raychel, and we want to help people open their eyes to alternative living, whether that be teaching English online, moving to Cambodia, taking advantage of working holiday visas, or building a DIY stealthy camper van to live & work on the road. Nothing is off limits when adventure is the ultimate goal. After three years of living full time van life throught Canada, Mexico and the USA, we're now car camping our way through New Zealand in a Land Rover Discovery 1.

Our goal here is to bring you weekly content where we hope to inspire you to break free & live the life you desire. On this channel, we talk everything from finances to minimalism to working online to mindset and post a weekly vlog of our daily lives. We hope you join us on our journey to see the world, save money, live minimally, and most importantly, have fun.

So if you're looking for a channel about van life, alternative living, and budget travel, you're in the right place.

[trevdagg]

As a kiwi baker I can confirm that meat pies are what what our tradies, truckers and traveller's operate on. Also I spend 45-50 hours a week making them at our shop we sell about 300 per day

[DraconisAerius]

They mention FlyBys but that's discontinued at the end of this year.

[SheaMoore-zi]

18th? Seriously? There are 17 places that are even more expensive than NZ? Where the heck are they?

[CazM]

My friend and I are literally at Driftaway in Queenstown tonight and did the hot tub soak too! Such a great way to end a rather damp and cold day!

[belindakruger]

Glad you enjoy our beautiful, but expensive Country.❤

[tophat]

As a resident of NZ, I didn’t realise it was that expensive to travel!

[nikiTricoteuse]

As a Kiwi, l can confirm these are all great tips. Glad you mentioned DOC Campgrounds because, although the facilities are basic, they're usually in fantastic places and the fee for staying in them benefits our wildlife and helps towards the costs of facilities - tramping huts, hiking trails and the like. For those that don't know, DOC stands for Department Of Conservation. Sadly, because of thousands of irresponsible campers abusing the priviledge, the rules around freedom camping have now been changed, meaning that vans with Porta Potties/ Casette Toilets will no longer be eligible for a self containment certificate and will no longer be able to freedom camp. 😢

[StephWells]

Z and BP petrol station pies are a great when you’re on the road and in need of a quick fix. They’re tasty and easy to eat, when you’re on the move.

[hsc]

Extar budget tips - don't even bother browsing the fruit and veg aisle in winter. Without a loan, you'll be buying pumpkins and maybe a banana. Everything else is either unaffordable or unavailable. My first winter in NZ was an absolute pumpkin fest.

[clp]

If you’re in Queenstown check out Meat Preacher out by Frankton. No disrespect to Ferg Burger, but Meat Preacher was outstanding after a big hike. 😊

[RoranoaZorodowndstairs]

Have u been to hammer springs in nz! Its amazing

[Jim-]

Just come back from South Australia and alot of things in NZ are cheaper.

[Zacaryquack]

Other recommendations is camper mate to find water, dump sites and free campgrounds, also reccomend buying a vehicle if your here for more than 6 months as this country is not walking or bike friendly persee, you can get the cost back when you leave bonus savings if you renovate an old tradie or disability van yourself, a scoop of chips from a fish and chip shop and a loaf of bread is the cheapest feed a group meal we have

[urlocalasiansashimi]

wait near the start were you walking the path at Aoraki Mount Cook Village? Because I used to live there around 6 years ago!

[bigload]

Yeah as someone who lives in New Zealand where are you finding those $1 a day rentals? Believe me they dont exist. Cheapest petrol will be packnsave/new world petrol stations (which also give you 6cents off per litre when you shop with them) prices of pies have gone up and the Cheapest filling hot meal you can get is a $5.50 large pizza from pizza hutt. Be careful with DOC sites some require your vehicle to have campervan stickers. Flybys is also closing down so that arent a thing anymore. Firsttable and grab one are 100% the way to go, (but you have to buy a drink with firsttable) we also have food bank services that anyone can go to to get food for free no matter where your from, in my town its called zilch (great if you want to stock up when you first arrive or struggling with money). Fast food places like maccas, burger king are awesome places to charge devices. Library's are also another great option to go and charge devices for free. City fitness gym membership black cards (can use any location and cancel anytime, but make sure you get the black card) are amazing to have a cheap place to use bathrooms/showers, fill water and workout all around New Zealand (mainly north island). If you want to know anything else feel free to comment ☺️

[NotPolify]

Where are you in nz, visit Queenstown, it’s beautiful ❤

[JoshYTGames]

Yes it is possible living in New Zealand. Lot's of things are cheap.

[Potatopalzz]

I live here! Are you travelling in the North island or the South Island L

[PeterJenkins-mi]

I’m a kiwi and I can tell you it’s SO expensive

[DownUnderWarboss]

We should be designing our tourism for high end travelers.