Touring New Zealand in Motorhome for 3 weeks

[Oneearringlost]

I wonder if anyone can give me some advice and guidance.

Husband and I have been invited by SIL and husband ( H's sister, who live in Australia) to meet them in NZ with my UK based BIL and wife ( H's brother) for a family holiday in Jan 2025 for 3 weeks.

We have a motorhome and are fairly experienced in it and toured Europe last year for 3 months.

Neither H or I are keen to spend the full 3 weeks with family, probably thinking about a week, then hiring a motorhome to go touring round the country.

Does anyone have experience of doing this and be willing to share your advice on places to visit, where to linger, where not to miss etc...

We are both late 50s, but fairly fit; we probably would climb a shortish mountain the Lake District but not be up for real hiking up big mountains there, but fit enough to explore reasonably.

Husband of SIL and wife of BIL are not active, so we want to spend a bit of time with them and then set off in our van to see the rest of the country.

What would you recommend, those of you with experience of the country, ( all experiences welcome, not just touring in camper, though that will be our mode of transport for 2 weeks)

Thank you in advance.

To add, we've been advised to use Trailfinders as travel agent and have a Lonely Planet/DK travel book coming shortly but have zilch other information about NZ.

We toured NZ for 6 weeks in a MH and loved it

Get a MH that you can drive from CHC TO AKL OR AKL TO CHC

we went CHC TO AKL but we had 6 weeks

The campsites are fabulous and we joined the top 10 and another group of campsites but can't remember the name ATM

Where are the family going to be based?

Where are you landing?

What season are you going?

Sorry just seen you said Jan 25

We have driven around the south a couple of time (staying in hotels) and really enjoyed it.

We started in the north and drove down the west coast to the Milford sound then back up to Queentown (not much doing there), over to Dunedin (wouldn’t recommend), back up the easy side.

We stayed in a rain forest which was bloody amazing, went to Hokitoka the town famous for jade, Acaroa (pretty town and saw dolphins), Timaru (penguins?). Moeraki builders (huuuuuhe volcanic marbles in the sea)

We also went over Arthur’s Pass (straight over). And went on a trip down the river in Springfield where the jet boats were invented (I think). Christchurch was pretty.

Assuming you don’t want to do bunjee jumping or rafting?

I’ll have a look to see if I can find my trip plans as I’m sure I have them all rolled into one up there!

try www.newzealand.com

If it’s only two weeks, I’d do one island or the other. Took me three months to get around both and still wasn’t enough.

website to plan walks : https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/things-to-do/walking-and-tramping/

(you’ll see a green and yellow doc sign at side of road, and the paths are so well marked you don’t need maps - it’s so accessible).

leave yourself plenty of time to stop at places en route , don’t just drive from town to town.

north island: coromandel, 90 mile beach, taupo, Napier for art deco , tongariro, wellington (for museums - te papa)

South Island: Marlborough, Abel Tasman, Nelson lakes, Kaikoura, west coast glaciers, wanaka, queens town , glenorchy, (prob don’t have time for Milford sound unless fly from QT) , akaroa and Christchurch.

Def do the Tongariro crossing. Its busy, but so breathtaking.

IMHO the south island is more beautiful than the north BUT there are some really beautiful places to visit in the north

It really depends where the family will be based as 2 weeks isn't very long really to tour the whole country

As the roads aren't very fast to drive so don't just look at a map although the views are so beautiful you don't want to rush

The condition of the roads is better than England hardly any pot holes

Google maps beforehand to see how long it takes to drive from A to B

DS & DIL went there a few months ago and toured for nearly 4 weeks and still didn't see everything they wanted to. They were driving in a car and staying overnight in hotels (but only 1 night in quite a few places but sometimes 2 or 3 nights if they had an activity for the days between)

Thank you for your replies.
@HoneyButterPopcorn thank you!

Family haven't planned anything yet; we are trying to get organised before we get railroaded into just 3 weeks of shopping and eating.
I think it's a good idea to stick to one island, I guess it'll probably be the South Island.
This is so exciting, your replies are inspiring us.
Anywhere you would NOT recommend, bearing in mind it is only 2 weeks?

As much as it saddens me to say, I wouldn’t spend much time in Christchurch. And you can skip Dunedin too. The Queen Charlotte track is a lovely three day walk with portage , and you can do similar in Abel Tasman with kayaks

Christchurch was pretty enough when we were there (before the earth quake) and was more of a stop (we went hot air ballooning). Dunedin, yup miss!

Queenstown again was a stop on the way through and was more for ‘activity seekers’.

We did a vineyard tour in Marlborough which was nice.

Deffo the glaciers - gobsmacking!

DH and I had three weeks there for our honeymoon. We didn't get a motorhome as it wouldn't have worked (meeting friends at various points including one week with a friend) but we did drive around. Three weeks is more than enough to see key sights of both islands.

One thing which was new to me (I had been previously) was Abel Tasman national park. Friends recommended it and chivvied me into booking an eye wateringly expensive Wilson's two night trek & kayak tour. Oh my goodness it was stunning. It would be top of my list now, alongside the fjords in the south, and Rotorua in the north.

Friend who lives there was advising my son last year that if he hired a motorhome to photograph everything before you even sit in it as some companies are known for taking your eyes out for 'damage' - even take photos of the tyres! Enjoy your trip.

We always do then when hiring a car - especially if there is any damage these already.

Thank you, all, really appreciate these pointers.
Will take all on board, also tip about photographing the van.

Oh, you'll wish you had at least 2 months, not two weeks.

I wouldn't bother with the Cities (though there are some beautiful lakes and mountains round Queenstown.).

I would definitely go to the Fiords ('Sounds') on the West Coast of the South Island. Milford Sound is probably the best known. We went on an overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound. Just stunning.

The blue penguins at the reserve outside Dunedin was one of the highlights to me Here.

On the other hand Rotorua is stunning for it's hot springs and geo thermal activity, and that is in the North Island

We recently went away to NZ for 3 weeks in a motorhome and had the best time, we wrote a blog all about what we did and what we recommend doing.

We went with our toddler and didn't do any mammoth hikes or anything so it might be useful to you!

https://ashotoftheworld.com/24-days-in-new-zealand-toddler-friendly-north-south-island/

New Zealand is very easy to visit in a motorhome. Thousands of people di it every year and there are loads of campsites all over the country.

My only warning would be that you may get a shock when you enquire about the costs of renting one. We looked at it and decided instead to hire a car (which costa fraction of the price) and stayed in a combination of motels and Airbnbs.

Having a regular car made the driving much easier, particularly if you want to explore some of the mountain passes or leave the main roads. New Zealand also has motels all over the place which are very easy to book via a combination of booking.com and Airbnb. We only booked the first couple of nights before we left. The rest were aranged as we went and we never had a problem finding somewhere to stay.

If you only have 2 weeks then I would probably say focus on the South Island as in 2 weeks you won't have time to really see both. The South Island has the big mountains, fjords and spectacular scenery. It is also far less populated so has much more in the way of wide open places to stop but it depends what you want from a holiday.