Traveling by car in New Zealand is the best way to explore this gorgeous country. The other options such as buses or hitchhiking reduces a lot the flexibility to explore the hidden spots, gravel roads, and coastlines. If you are going to stay for at leat 3 months in the country, buying a car is a great idea, considering you can find good deals and use the car as your own accommodation. I bought a Nissan Sentra 1995 with lots of kilometres but a well maintained car for only 1400 New Zealand Dollars. This car is a wagon type which allowed us to set a double bed in the back.
Before buying a car
You must be aware of a few things: the registration, the warranty of fitness and the mechanical condition of the car. The registration is a document that proves the car is yours and the warranty of fitness is a sticker that proves that the car is in good condition to be on the road. These documents have expiration dates and a certain fee to be renewed. A good strategy before buying a car is to bring in a trusted mechanic to have a check and see the possible repairs the car needs, to see if is worth to buy or not. When you finally find the perfect travel car it is time to set it up to hit the road.
Car set up – light strategy
Our two biggest concerns were to look like a regular car during the day (avoid people to know that we are backpackers caring our life in the car and so avoid attention from thieves) and to be as light as possible for the car not to be too heavy and so spend too much fuel. In New Zealand the full is around 1,8$/l so you think twice about how you can consume less.
The two light projects of the car were the bed and the “kitchen” furniture.
Car set up – room
When most of the backpackers build a wood structure in the back to put a comfortable mattress we chose to create a bed from a bunch of sun lounger cushions found in an op shop for 5$ that we just had to nail together. The plus of this creation is that the cushions can be fold so your bed become a third of its regular size and can be stored in your trunk – OP SHOPS are going to be your best friend either in New Zealand or Australia as they sell second hand furnitures at really low price, where the profits go to charity -.
Car set up – storage
When most of the people buy plastic box for food storage we decided to get cardboard boxes from Pak N’Save and make compartments for the different type of food we bought (cans, fresh fruits and veggies…). They are a bit lighter than plastic boxes but they are especially free and cartoon is a good material to keep heat away. We set them up behind the front seats on the floor. For the kitchen accessories, such as pots, plates, cutlery, that we paid 8$ in total in op shops, we got a bigger box and set it up behind the front seat too.
Car set up – kitchen
The only big expense that you have to make because it is almost impossible to find in op shops is the cooker that you pay 30 dollars (gas included) in The Warehouse or Kmart for exemple.
And because food is important but seating to eat is even better we bought second hand chairs for less than 3 dollars each and used one of them as a table by putting a tray on top.
Here are some exemples of how to find your future car/camping furnitures but you can also use some facebook groups where people sell their car because sometimes bad luck happen and a car that doesn’t work anymore or that is too expensive to fix ends in a wrecker but owners still sell their camping gear for few dollars. So keep an eye on Auckland backpackers or any kind of backpackers groups you can find in your area.
To finish with the set up section the only not fun part, if you are lazy or if heavy rain is following you is that you have to be brave enough to set your bed every night by putting your bags in the front seats to be able to set up your bed. And don’t forget to get some curtains to keep your days and nights private!
How to live in a car in New Zealand
If you plan to live in your car while traveling there are two main apps that you can use: WikiCamps or CamperMate. I used the first one because I had a great experience using it in Australia. You can download and access the maps and comments offline. This app works with recommendation of users, meaning that you just need to read the comments from each location to decide you you want to sleep there or if it is worth to visit one attraction.
There are plenty of free campgrounds in New Zealand but it is important to observe if the place you are going have toilets and drinking water. It is also important to be aware if the campground is only for Self Contained Vehicles (those with a toilet structure inside) or Non Self Contained vehicles (such as our car) are allowed. The picture above is from a freedom camping parking in Napier, New Zealand.
In New Zealand and Australia, all public libraries offer WI-FI, most of the time for free. It is also a good place to charge electronic devices.
The big challenge of doing free camping is taking showers, hardly found in those free places. Sometimes I was paying for showers in public swimming pools, otherwise I was lucky to find free showers in beaches. When none of those options were available I was taking showers using a bootle of water.
With your offline map downloaded, eyes on the road to find the cheapest gas station and lots of energy to explore, you are ready for a road trip in New Zealand.