Kiriwhakapapa

[sarahdownundah]

I have returned to the mainland! Yes, it has already been three months since I left... time flies when you're having fun! To finish my mini-summaries that I've been doing at the top of my archived posts, from Queenstown, Juli and I headed out to one of my other favourite places in New Zealand, Aoraki (Mount Cook). After doing a couple hikes, we

Comments

[thoughtsbykat]

Gorgeous!

[fiercekitty]

Hey Sarah, I've been reading your blog for a couple of years now :)

I'm planning a trip for my siblings & I to visit our grandparents in New Zealand over Christmas & New Years this year. We will be in NZ for 3 weeks to 1 month, and I am trying to decide whether to rent a car, buy a cheap car, or rent a campervan....what do you think??

We will probably be doing a lot of driving...one grandparent lives in Orewa and the other lives in Oamaru (4 hours south of Christchurch). I am even considering just driving from Orewa to Oamaru & back again once it's time to fly out of Auckland...

Anyway, I'd be really interested to hear your thoughts, let me know!! Thanks :)

[sarahdownundah]

Hi there! That's awesome that you'd headed down undah! :D

For 3-4 weeks, it won't be worth the stress of buying and then selling a car; you can get a rental for a decent price, especially if it's for a month (some advertise rates as low as $19/day, but I don't know how long you have to rent for to get that, and it probably doesn't include insurance). Try USave ( www.rental-car.co.nzThe ferry with a car costs about $225NZ, although rental companies often set you up with a discount (if not, be sure to Google discounts... we got 10% off on ours with an online code). If I were you, I would do a one-way rental... get it in Auckland, then go to Orewa, down the North Island, across the ferry, down to Oamaru and wherever else on the South Island... and then leave the car in Christchurch and fly back to Auckland. We paid $122NZ for our flight from Christchurch to Auckland, and we figured that was the way to go since the gas would probably cost a lot more! (depends how many people there are though... is it you and two siblings

[fiercekitty]

Thanks for the tips! Yes, it will be myself and my two siblings, possibly my partner for part of the time, and possibly another friend for part of the time. So potentially we'd be a full car of 5!