Part 2: Planning: the myth of flexibility

Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown

Mature couples have the time to plan – and probably in many cases the inclination. Complete freedom and flexibility may sound attractive but there is also a down side. Couch surfing is for the young! *** In any case, it turned out to be a very good thing that we had planned our route for the South Island and our accommodation was booked in advance. Even outside of the peak season, there are more tourists than there are moderately-priced motels. We booked all our lodging on the South Island at least 4 weeks prior to arrival, and we could see that it most cases there were very few rooms available. When we arrived we saw "No Vacancy" signs almost everywhere.

*** NZ caters to back-packers which means there were lots of place to stay, for any age group – if you don't mind shared baths or kitchens.

Although booking in advance doesn't give much flexibility, if you are a mature couple on a modest budget, securing accommodation well beforehand is a really good idea. Most places you can cancel at least 24 hours in advance and get a refund. 

On the North Island, we did not book that far in advance as we were unsure of our exact itinerary. And we thought that since it was March, it would be easier to find vacancies. Which was true only to some extent. I-Sites can help you find what's available and book – as long as the place is "in their system".

New Zealand has developed an impressive system that effectively and efficiently coordinates and consolidates information and services for tourists: a "one-stop-shop" concept for tourists. If you want to book an excursion, if you need help booking accommodation, if you need information not only about the area you are in but other parts of New Zealand, or if you need to find the nearest public toilet, they can help.  i-SITE is New Zealand's official visitor information network with over 80 i-SITEs nationwide. You can download a pdf file of all the sites from http://www.newzealand.com/int/visitor-information-centre/

It's also advisable to book popular excursions/activities in advance: swimming with dolphins, kayaking, white-water rafting, trekking etc. etc.

One of the most useful sites for planning – and getting inspiration about where to go and what to do – is www.newzealand.com.

Driving from Kaikoura to Picton

Camper van?

Never got to see one in the wild - for that you need to plan

Many mature adults are campers - they have been doing it all their lives, perhaps, or least all their adult lives. They know what gear to bring, how to cook on Bunsen burners, and so on. We have never been campers. Some might argue that living in a camper van is not actually camping. That may be so. The point is that opting for a camper van means you should have some experience camping - and preferably some experience driving such a big vehicle. We toyed with the idea of a renting a camper van because it seemed to be appropriate for touring New Zealand. "Freedom camping", being able to stop whenever or wherever you want was a tempting idea. Flexibility - seemed to make sense. However, when you read a bit more, you find that "freedom" camping has become more restricted and in order to have that type of flexibility you need to have a "self-contained vehicle": https://www.nzmca.org.nz/self-containment.

When we saw that the cost of renting a self-contained camper van was over twice the cost of renting a compact or economy 4-door car, it was evident that renting a car and staying at motels was the better option. We were able to find motels in all the places we wanted to visit that cost between NZD 115 and 130 per night for a well-equipped and comfortable room.

Either option means you need to plan - when we inquired about camper vans 4-5 weeks before our arrival, we were told that none were available on the dates requested. We only tried one portal - we might have found one available if we tried harder but by that time we had gone off the idea.

We had no trouble renting a car - however, we soon found that we needed to book accommodation in advance. There were not many motels in our price range in the places on our itinerary, and some did not have any vacancies. We were reluctant to lock ourselves into a fixed itinerary - we ended up being very glad we did!

There are lots of campgrounds/holiday parks. If you are planning to do that, suggest you download a free app from rankers.co.nz called Camping NZ that displays locations and gives contact details for camping grounds on both the North and South Islands.

Very unusual not to see sheep - they are there somewhere!