We took full advantage of New Zealand’s recently-opened borders and spent our entire visa period (60 days) there. We spent our first 6 nights in Auckland, however the remaining 54 were spent driving all the way around the country in this self-contained campervan:
Driven by our backpacker’s budget we went with a bit of a smaller/older/less luxurious van option. This was a 2-wheel drive 2008 Toyota Hiace with 478,156 km (297,112 miles!) on it. We ended up putting another 5,938 km (3,690 miles) on the odometer, so we actually took it over the 300k miles mark! For proof, this was the odometer reading when we turned in the van:
All told, this old van held up incredibly well during our trek – and presumably is still trucking out on another right now! We couldn’t really accelerate uphill much so did get passed a lot on New Zealand’s countless uphill roads, but had no major technical issues beyond a finicky radio.
We only got stuck 2 times, but both were 100% user-error (i.e. driving where I shouldn’t) and we got out both times (once digging ourselves out of soft gravel, and once getting help from 4 women to push us out of a ditch.
Now – our vehicle fell completely into the “van” side of a campervan, at only 5 meters long (the size of a typical utility van. As you’d imagine, interior space was slightly lacking. We had to deconstruct/setup our sleeping area every time we drove, and could only have one person standing (or in Clint’s case, hunching) at a time. This was the interior:
Included with the van rental was bedding (sheets/blanket & 1 pillow each), an electric kettle, toaster, and basic kitchen/cooking supplies. There was also a small refrigerator, and a 2-range gas powered cooktop. We were also provided a portable toilet (necessary for the “self-contained” camper certification) that we very fortunately never had to use – as you need to clean it out yourself. It did make for a nice ottoman though:
We had a fresh water tank that we had to fill ourselves:
A grey (used) water tank we had to empty ourselves:
And an exterior power outlet/power cord to plug-in/charge the vehicle when available:
And that was it! For 54 days this van was both our transportation across the entire country of New Zealand, as well as our home – kitchen, office, living room, and bedroom. We ate here (mostly cheese-boards and sandwiches):
Worked here:
Relaxed here:
Met some animal (mainly bird) friends:
And saw countless epic sunsets and views:
All in all we had the experience of a lifetime during our tour of New Zealand, and much of that owes to our good old campervan! Wanted to share our appreciation of this inanimate object as best we can – this is truly the way to see New Zealand!
Enjoy these final glamour shots of our van along New Zealand’s mountains, rivers, lakes, wineries, and coastlines. It was actually hard to stop taking photos of the van against all of these amazing backdrops.
