New Zealand Traveling in campervan in December.

[noideer]

Hi I'm traveling to New Zealand in December to visit relatives. We have a campervan booked but have no idea what is the best thing to do.

We are landing in Auckland and would like to go to the top of the island and also go to lake Taupo/Rotorua.

It has been suggested we use DOC sites for an adhoc holiday. is it a safe move or should we book sites in advance (as its a busy time).

What sites are nice & reasonable?

can we just camp anywhere?

We have 2 kids in tow aged 6 &10

This is a holiday of a life time for us and it would be fantastic if you can help us.

We're just not long back from NZ, and the camping rules have changed since the last time we were there. There's restrictions on where you can camp now, which wasn't the case in the past. Saying that, there are loads of campsites in the main places - both DoC (less facilities) and more established parks. With kids, I might be inclined to go to more of the established parks, as many of them have play areas, pools, more facilities, etc. Our DD is only 3, so less likely to be entertained by wildlife, etc.

We stayed some nights in DoC parks, but then interspersed them with nights in powered sites to charge up our battery, get water, washing machines, etc. We got a Top 10 card which saved us 10% on their parks, and on other attractions, which we felt was worth it. See www.top10.co.nz/ We found all the parks we stayed at of a very high standard.

Oh, and if you have a van with a TV, don't think you can always use it to keep the little ones entertained if there's bad weather. We got very little reception, and went to buy some DVDs, which we very quickly got sick of! Might be worth taking some with you??

Thanks jenstar i'm getting so excited, the link is fantastic its got some great itinerary ideas on too.

Im just hoping we havent left it too late to book anything my dh keeps saying dont worry there will be loads of sites when we get there.
I like being organised he likes to take life as it comes.
The kids are counting the days and planning their in flight entertainment.
As for dvds hoping we can borrow some from my db along with a sat nav.