Kiwis and Fairy Bread

We have been home for just over a month. Back to a routine of work, volunteering, chores, errands and, more positively, catching up with dear friends. I have had little time to journal. The blogs we posted each day of our trip took between one and two hours to write and about the same amount of time to develop and choose the photographs. That was quite a lot after full days of activity. It was something we both enjoyed very much. In fact, one of the things I have missed most about being back home is that collaborative blogging process.

Today the sun is shining at last, after almost three solid weeks of clouds, rain and cold. It is a calm day. I am sitting in our bright yellow little guest room with the bright blue sky out my window. It is quiet. A good time and place to write. Although I don’t know if anyone is still reading this blog, it will be good to get these thoughts down.

Mike and I truly loved van life, but it wasn’t perfect. Because the thing about traveling 2000 miles in a camper van, is that you’ve got to drive it.

We drove between two and seven hours each day for eighteen out of twenty two days. That’s a lot of driving.

Mike was a champion. At the start of each drive he’d say “Drivin’ on the left”. To which I would answer “Yes, you are driving on the left”. He had plotted the route we would take but there were often welcome surprises. We’d stop for a break every two hours or so. For the most part all the roads we drove on were paved and well maintained. Incredible we never saw any accidents or breakdowns. Compared to New Jersey, there was little traffic. In wide valleys winds would pick up and shake the van. Mountain roads were filled with twists and turns, climbs and descents. Sometimes there were signs of landslides where the road narrowed to just one lane. Fortunately the weather was clear on most days. Had it not been, the driving would have been much more stressful than it already was.

And as a driver, Mike was not able to view the scenery as much as I did. It changed so frequently and every single kilometer there was much to take in. Although there were plenty of view points to pull into, we were driving a big vehicle. It required at least a few minutes of planning before we would attempt it. I took some pics from the passenger seat, which I have posted below. But it doesn’t come close to capturing it all. Mike was very unselfish in taking on all the driving. I was impressed with his composure and skill each day.

Short trips: it’s a big van to run an errand in. Once we checked into a holiday park, we mostly walked where we needed to go, but that wasn’t always possible. We envied the traveler who’d brought e-bikes.

Parking: ever try to park a van in a downtown parking lot? Or at a grocery store? Or at the head of a popular hiking trial? One has to be very careful.

The time constraint: 22 days of van life was not enough. For sure, we covered a lot of ground in the vacation time we had. But had we had twice that time we could have spent more days in some very cool places.

The cost: Our Mercedes 3 Berth Campervan with all the fees and taxes cost us 307 US dollars per day (503 New Zealand Dollars). That was a total of $6773.00 (11074 NZ $). There are many choices for van rental in NZ, including budget options. We did our research and decided to spend more money for a newer van from a reliable company. Considering experiences we heard from other travelers, we made the right choice.

Diesel gas was about $1.25 US per liter (that’s $4.62 per gallon). And we weren’t driving what one would call a fuel efficient vehicle. As near as I can figure gas cost us about $575.00.

Holiday Parks and Department of Conservation campsites charged between $30.00 and $70.00 per night (that included fees per vehicle and per person). We saved a bit by Freedom Camping twice. Still that amounted to about $1000.00 total for the trip.

We definitely saved money by making our meals ourselves. In fact, the entire time we only ate out 4 or 5 times. Having a full kitchen in both the van and the holiday parks made food prep very easy and cost effective. Had we preferred to eat out, I am not sure the van and holiday park fees would have been quite worth the money.

I have not included what we spent on the plane fare, excursions (such as kayaking in Able Tasman and the steam boat ride in Queenstown), souvenirs, groceries, ice cream, coffee and such. Because those are not specific to “Van life”.

SO with my rough calculations and very limited math skills our total cost for life in Miranda our Campervan was just over $8300.00 US. A pretty penny for sure. But when compared to a popular 14 day trip from Tauk Tours which start at $12,000.00 per person (plus air fare) that doesn’t even do half of what we experienced, our trip was a bargain!

Despite the downsides, would we camper van again? Absolutely! We are already contemplating van trips to Europe, the West Coast of the United States and, yes, the North Island of New Zealand!

Next blog post: Do you want to go to New Zealand? Read our tips! Meanwhile, here are some of my passenger-side views of the trip.