Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - Travel in New Zealand

Hi everybody,

I plan to arrive in Christchurch at the beginning of January and i try to plan as best as possible my trip.

I would like to know the best way to travel in New Zealand : by plane, by bus, by organised coach, by car, ... ?

I actually found a bus pass (magic bus pass) for only 364.50 NZD to travel from Christchurch to Auckland (greymouth, Queenstown, Dunedin, Kaikoura, Wellington, Napier, Mount Manguini). The backpackers are not included in that price.
I would like to know if that's difficult to find a backpacker in every town quoted before and how much it is for a night ?
Finally if I take this pass, I have the possibility to stay 1 day or more in the cities quoted before, but if I don't have any car to travel around the cities, is it interesting ? Is it easy and cheap to rent a car ?

Would you also have any tips that I should know before beginning my research ?

Thanks a lot for your anwers

Thomas

Welcome to Flyer Talk Tom53 :)

There are backpacker accommodations in every major town and city, and some minor ones too. Note, however, that January is peak travel season and so some places will be full.

Most of the interesting stuff for tourists within each town/city are centrally located (no need for a car) and the major cities additionally have some public transport.

As long as you are over 25, renting a car is fairly cheap. For 18-25 year olds, rates at some places are significantly higher but others do not have an under 25 surcharge. If you are travelling in both islands and planning on renting a car note that taking a car on the inter-island ferry is expensive. Most people drop off in Picton and pick up another car from Wellington (or vice versa).

While you are in Auckland you could buy a $13 daypass for public transport.
Gets you Trains, Buses, Ferrys. http://www.maxx.co.nz/pricing-passes/types-of-tickets/auckland-discovery-day-pass.html

Backpackers try this link, http://www.stayatbase.com/

I did a six-dayer on the south island with a rented car some 2 years or so ago on a bit of a shoestring. Great, great trip. But: KF is right, supply/demand on accoms can run against you in that part of the country that time of year. Think Alaska in July for a comparison basis. It's not easy to just show up, even though the tourism offices try to do their best.

Would definitely say the best attractions were natural and really reachable only by car. The evening daylight hours were especially great. You could do an urban and people-focused trip, too, but I'm not sure the level of added value is the same for that, since you could do that in Sydney or Auckland or any number of places.