Holiday in NZ with a 3 year old and a 9 month old - top tips any one?

[Vornsta]

Hi, we ar off to NZ for a wedding in Jan / Feb 2006 and would love to hear any advice on what to do and how to travel eg is a campervan worth it?

deffo get a campervan from adventure holidays

we did this in 2002

deffo brill
we were in it for 6 weeks and loved it

here is the website

we got upgraded to the 6/7 berth one

deffo brill

they were really really good company very helpful

The office is in west london and in christchurch and auckland

we started in christchurch and then drove all over SI and then went over on ferry to NI all the way to the top and then dropped off in auckland

Am going to disagree with RTKM (sorry RTKM, after all the wonderful advice you gave me)

Think carefully about camper as your kids are so small. We recently had one for 3w in Oz. DD is 4.5y, DS nearly 2. Our van was cheap and nasty. Very small and dirty. The kids constantly bumped into things because there was so little space and none of us were particularly comfortable when we were travelling. Top speed 50mph means it takes a long time to get anywhere.

When we were in NZ (same trip) we were able to borrow a car from a friend so we stayed in motels which ranged from £35-60 per night (winter prices). Even with the cost of a hire car this would have been cheaper than a decent campervan.

I'm sure that campervans are a great way to have a holiday. We booked ours very late because of the way our plans worked out so we just had to take what was avilable. You may be able to book a lovely one at this stage and be lucky enough to get an upgrade like RTKM did.

Above all, however you travel, have a great time and enjoy lovely NZ

Thank you for advice so far...interesting to hear such confliicting views!

Any other thoughts anyone?

Where are you going in NZ? How long are you planning to be there? What are your accommodation choices e.g. do you have family out there you can stay with?

We have only one child and have travelled to NZ twice with her. The first time she was 11mo - we stayed for 8 weeks - and the second 3y3mo and we stayed for six weeks. We have never used a campervan - DH and I did a whistlestop tour of the south island plus Rotarua before DD - and since then we have concentrated on seeing family.

Consequently we stayed with his mum before she died (Nelson SI), his DB and SIl and nephews (Wellington) and his aunt and uncle (Westport, SI) and in motels and hotels in Nelson and Auckland. There's a ton of stuff I'd like to do in NZ but lots of it hasn't been appropriate with kids before now and even if we take her in the next couple of years, some of it won't be then.

IMO your kids are not going to remember it at that age anyway so it's up to you what you want to do. Don't think you're going there for their benefit. Don't feel you have to rush round seeing everything unless you want to (and then you have to deal with how your young children deal with that and how their dealing with it impacts on your holiday).

Would check very carefully about camper vans and car seats and beds. - whenever we think it's a good idea we find out we can't have the right seat in or that ds would have to sleep in a bunkbed, and give up again.

Diesel has gone up again, when you consider the extra fuel, the campsite fees plus the fact they are more expensive than a hire car, it is actually the same or cheaper to hire a car and stay in motels.

Toilets everywhere, loads of places to get a cup of tea, playgrounds in the smallest town - you will be fine in a car.

We are going for a family wedding and staying for around 6-8 weeks. We are staying in Wellington with family for a few days and then travelling around south island before heading back to NI for the wedding. The thing that strikes me about a campervan is that you always have somewhere to put the baby to sleep (not good at sleeping in pushchairs!)Also we are travelling in January which I understand is a busy time of year with school hols - is it still OK to find accomodation then?