1-2 months in New Zealand
 

Hi everyone, I have quit my job! Yay! I am now free to travel and want to ask for your advice on New Zealand, where I have never been and hear everyone tell me is HEAVEN ON EARTH!

I prefer to really live somewhere for an extended period, like 1 or 2 months, or even longer! Don't mind doing some work, or be part of something that is really uniquely NZ... any ideas?

Also hope to comb through the country thoroughly and take in all the many different beautiful aspects.

Thanks for your thoughts!!!

Congratulations. Two months will be great to explore both islands.

The official NZ tourism website is a good place to start.

www.newzealand.com

You will not legally be able to work without a permit, depending on your age and where you are from that may not be a possibility. Although I have run into the occasional person who works at hostels for room/board I don't know if it's really legit.

Independent hostels are here

www.bbh.co.nz

If it was me I'd move around and spend maybe 5 to 7 days in different areas. You can combine taking busses or shuttles between places with periods of car rental. (And often there are very good airfares between cities with competition to Air New Zealand). The major towns have reasonably good public transportation, eg Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Queenstown, Dunedin, even smaller tourist areas such as Rotorua may have a few bus lines, and nearly all have taxis.

PS there may also be seasonal work in vineyards or other agricultural areas, but I don't have any info for you on that.

You might be interested in the WWOOF program...

http://www.wwoof.co.nz/

What you probably need is a Working Holiday Visa. WWOOF does not give you any type of legal right to work.

Depending on your country of residence there are different rules, but generally you need to be under 30 years old.

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...orkingholiday/

Thank you for the suggestions! WWOOF looks really cool though I am over 30 so that visa is a bit of an issue.

Is the ideal way to travel around by rental car? Or is public transportation totally sufficient?

I personally think NZ is best explored by car. It provides the most flexibility. You might be able to find a deal on an extended rental, but generally rentals in NZ aren't cheap, so you'll want to shop around.

Over 30 you may have problems working. There may be a hostel or farm here or there that will take you on for room and board but technically illegal and I have seen reports of them cracking down on this, with fines etc to employer.

If you are traveling solo renting a car can be quite expensive (you get to add gas to the cost, too). With some of the recent fare competition, if you get a good advance purchase domestic airfare it can be cheaper to fly.

Often you can find car relocation specials, although they won't give you a huge amount of time. Generally it seems they are heading from south to north.

There are daily busses and minivan shuttles between cities (eg Christchurch to Dunedin or Queenstown).

If you are spending time in a fair sized city such as Auckland, Christchurch etc you can get around easily on public transport with the occasional taxi. Somewhere like Rotorua Queenstown, a lot of the half or fullday activities like Dart River or Shotover will include pick up from your lodging.

If you are doing a multi day hike you can use track transport services (why pay for a car rental when not using it).

For exploring the countryside a car is nice, though. I will usually rent a car for at least a week at a time (or whereever the price break falls) and break it up with city stays or other activities that don't need a car.

Apex is reasonably priced. They also have good oneway rates and specials. Also check Avis, they do cheap 24hour rentals with tank of gas where you relocate a car airport to city. In Auckland & Christchurch, gives you a chance to vist some suburban sights, hit up a supermarket, and drop your luggage.