Budget

Flights – 138 000 miles pp + $303 pp
LAX → AKL (Fiji Airways, business) 75 000 mi + $62 pp
QTN → AKL (Jetstar) $58 pp + $250 excess-bag fee
AKL → LAX (Air Tahiti Nui) 63 000 mi + $183 pp

Accommodation – $3 779 / 22 nights
Auckland Airbnb – $192 × 3
Rotorua Airbnb – $143 × 1
Woodlyn Park hobbit hole – $180 × 1
New Plymouth Airbnb – $171 × 6
Wellington Lighthouse Airbnb – $125 × 2
Hokitika train-car Airbnb – $98 × 1
Fox Glacier Sunset Motel – $103 × 2
Queenstown Airbnb – $225 × 3
Te Anau O2 Yurt – $251 × 2
Queenstown final-night Airbnb – $122 × 1

Transportation – $2 292
Mitsubishi ASX rental (25 days, ferry-approved) – $1 854
Petrol – $265 (≈ 1 800 km)
Cook Strait ferry (2 pax, 1 car, twin-bed cabin) – $173

Activities & Experiences – $1 822 pp
Hobbiton – $56
Skyline Luge – $63
Hell’s Gate mud pools – $53
Waitomo + Ruakuri caves – $63
E-bike hire (New Plymouth Coastal Walkway) – $20
Jade-carving class – $125
Fox Glacier heli-hike – $366
Shotover Jet – $88
Milford Sound cruise – $76
Milford Sound helicopter – $756
Kiwi Park – $30
AJ Hackett bungy – $126

Miscellaneous – $219
Vodafone SIMs – $43
Cave flashlights – $15
NZeTA (2) – $36
Parking ticket – $32
Speeding ticket – $50

Ground-cost total: $10 790
Average without flights: $397 /day (~$199 pp /day)

Getting Around New Zealand

Car + Ferry Compatibility 

Cook Strait ferries load only certain rental fleets—Avis, Budget, Apex, Go, Omega, Enterprise, Ezi, Scotties, Snap, and Sixt are good to go, while Hertz, Europcar, Thrifty, Ace, and Dollar are refused. Book early; summer car decks sell out weeks ahead. Night sailings with a cabin double as cheap accommodation and deliver dawn views of the Marlborough Sounds.

Left-Side Driving & Long Distances 

State Highways look short on the map, yet single-lane bridges, camper-van convoys, and photo stops stretch days. Cap mileage at 250 km, pick a midway café to reset your “wrong-side” muscle memory, and remember roundabouts go clockwise—yield to the right. Remote passes like Haast have zero coverage, so download offline maps and pack a USB tire inflator in case the lone servo is shut.

Weather, Borders & Money Sense

Weather Windows & Seasonal Strategy

January-February gives warm lakes and 15-hour daylight without December crowds. Shoulder seasons are cheaper but volatile: we shivered in –5 °C glacier windchill the same afternoon Queenstown hit 29 °C. Four-season packing is mandatory—vented rain shell, down layer, microfiber towel. Sudden Fiordland squalls are a feature, not a bug.

Biosecurity & Border Timing 

NZ customs guard their ecosystem like treasure. Scrub hiking boots, declare every snack, and expect detector dogs. Even the “nothing to declare” line can inch for an hour; queue up a podcast and bring water. Mud on gear means a secondary wash station—and more delay.

Cash Flow & Card Charges 

Tap-to-pay rules towns, yet many trailhead car parks swallow $2 coins only. Pull cash at Auckland Airport (its ATMs waive extra fees) and reload coins via supermarket self-checkouts. Petrol sells by the litre and goes self-serve after 8 p.m.; a no-PIN credit card saves midnight fuss.

Experiences, Gear & Kiwi Etiquette

Free Glow-Worm Magic 

Commercial Waitomo tours wow, but Waipu Caves north of Auckland cost nothing and are often empty. Arrive just after dawn, wade the ankle-deep stream, kill your light, and the ceiling blooms like the Milky Way. Wear water shoes—the karst floor is slick—and avoid white-light flashes; they dim the worms for hours.

Packing Small but Smart 

A 30-litre daypack handled every climate: quick-dry base, down sweater, rain shell, swimsuit, plus a silnylon sack for muddy boots. Add spare SD cards (sandfly-proof), reef-safe sunscreen, and a universal Type I plug. Multi-day treks feel safer with a $6/day personal locator beacon rented at DOC visitor centres.

Respect the Kiwi (word and bird)

“Kiwi” means either a New Zealander or the endangered flightless bird; the fruit is always “kiwifruit.” Mix them up and you’ll earn a grin. At dusk slow down—kea and pukeko wander SH-6 without fear of bumpers.