Escorted Tour vs. Driving - New Zealand
 

Hi Everyone.

Am interested in going to New Zealand next March or April and have been reading the posts about the South Island. Seems like renting a car and driving is the way all of you like to get around. How is the driving in New Zealand as compared to Europe? For the most part, I would never try a self-drive trip in Europe. I guess I'm not that brave. Have any of you taken an escorted tour of New Zealand. Which do you think is preferable? I'd really appreciate any advise and suggestions you can give me. Thanks alot.

My preference is always for self driving tours by car as it gives you great freedom to choose your own schedule, pace and more importantly destination. We did a driving tour in March 2002. I have never driven on the left hand side before. It was a bit of a shock to get into a car and be dumped into Auckland morning rush hour trafic. One hour of driving and I was comfortable. I drove 3 weeks in New Zealand and 1 month in Australia. I found it easy. I did have a tendency to drive to close to the edge of left hand side of the road. My wife kept complaining that I was getting too close to the ditch. I understand this is normal for right hand drivers. You can adjust your driving for this and by middle of the trip I was no longer doing this. We realy find it helpful if one drives and the other person helps by navigating and reminding you of upcoming turn off's, highway numbers, street names and turn off's. By the time we got to Christchurch, a big city, driving was a snap. Also, it helps to save money if you pick up a car rental with unlimited mileage. The roads in some areas were narrow but paved and generally in very good condition. Much better than I was led to believe. Traffic was moderate. Driving a lot easier than Europe but the roads are not as good. (we drove in France, also a self drive trip). Worked great for us. I must say that driving out of Paris was a bit of a nightmare. I will take New Zealand and Australia driving any day to driving in France.

Self driving is our preference but I am sure other people might prefer escorted tours.

We drove from Auckland - Rotorua - Wellington. Dropped the car off in Wellington and took the ferry to the South Island picked up a new car at Pickton(you should prebook with the car rental company the drop off and pick up at Pickton and dont forget to phone picton location to advise them of the date and time of pick up). We then proceeded to Westport - Fox Galcier - Queenstown - Te Anau - Milford Sound - Arrowtown - MT. Cook - Christchurch where we dropped the car off and flew to Australia.

We are planning a return trip to NZ in 2005 and plan to do another self drive trip on the South Island, starting and ending in Christchurch.

I've driven in New Zealand several times. The roads are virtually deserted, its easy driving and there is a plentiful supply of good quality cheap eats and sleeps.


Self drive will probably be cheaper and gives you the ultimate flexibility (i.e. no bags out of rooms at dawn unless YOU want to)

Disadvantages - with a good tour you get a wealth of information that you might not pick up on a self drive. You might meet so many people self driving compaired with an escorted tour.

Thanks for your opinions about driving in New Zealnd rather than a tour. I actually do prefer to drive, but have never done so out of the Country. I'll havae to seriously consider it because all of the tours that I've looked into are very frenzied and that can be rather exhausting. A friend wants to go and I'm now considering going with her. She's not able to drive but I am, so it might be worth doing. Thanks again.

Rent a car and drive. You'll see so much more and at your own pace. We only drove on one scary road, and since you're going to the South Island, you won't have to worry about encountering it. <g>

Lee Ann

Savannah,

By all means drive! Fortunately, there is NO comparison between driving in Europe and driving in New Zealand (or in the US, for that matter).

I've driven in Italy, France and Spain, and while I always take a train out of ANY major European city to a smaller one to pick up a car (and vice versa), you still won't find narrrow streets, confusing signs, Vespas darting in front of you, or look up in your rear view mirror to find a Mercedes Benz on your tail at 85 mph!

And unlike the US, you won't see constant lane-changing at high speeds either.

Now, I have been known to go around and around a few times in those "roundabouts", but hey! I did that in Massachusets too! :)

You may feel a bit disorientated at first, but you'll quickly get the hang of it. Slow and easy, that's the ticket!

Hope this is helpful!

Regards,

Melodie
Certified Kiwi Specialist

I did have a gold-coloured Mercedes tailgating me on the road down into Napier, but it soon passed at speed. It had personalised licence plates (SIR IAN, for the record, and I'm not making that up!) - which is always a good way to send my blood pressure up. Along with those bloody stupid "Baby on Board" signs. (What are we supposed to do when we see one? Drive alongside and hand a "congratulations" card through the window?)

Ahh, I've been waiting a while to get that off my chest.

One of the pleasures of driving in NZ is the courtesy of most truckdrivers, who will often pull over to let you pass.

In the US I found myself with the opposite problem to ZfromWinnipeg, being constantly reminded that I was too far from the shoulder and too close to the lane divider. Why is that, I wonder?

I found driving in New Zealand to be quite easy but I have spent a large part of my life living in places where people drive on the left. Having said that I found driving in NZ much easier than in Asia or in Europe. My wife would complain about me hugging the side of the road in places like Ireland and England but there were not too many complaints in NZ. Certainly easier than driving in NYC.

I have driven in over 30 countries world wide. New Zealand has to be one of the easiest. Little or no traffic, pretty decent roads, good signposting.