Car!

We've decided to hire a car and go the holiday park motels/cabins and motels over the campervan.  I just think it's going to be easier.  I've crunched the numbers and it turns out it's going to be cheaper in the long run to hire a car over a camper if not it would come pretty close anyway.

So I've been researching and researchng Holiday parks with motels/units/cabins and motels.  So far it seems that Holiday Parks are cheaper but I don't like the idea of staying in cabins where you have to hire linen and where some of them don't even have bathrooms.  In some cases, although the motels are a tad more expensive, sometimes I think that they are better value in the long run depending on where they are.  For instance in Rotorua they have a lot of thermal mineral pools that are included in the price but in the south island they make up for it in indoor pools and playgrounds.

The next big job is to sort through everything that I've research and start narrowing them down to top 3 preferences based on price and quality.  I think this would be the fun part somewhat.

Anyway we've done a rough route of where we're going to go so here goes....

Car or Campervan?

That is the question!!!

So we've been deliberating which one will be the cheapest for us travelling by campervan or by car staying in motels.  Initially I thought campervan but by hiring a car instead of a camper I'm saving around $1000 straight away, then factoring in more fuel consumption in a camper than a car...but then motels are more expensive.  It's hard to tell!

I've written on a parenting forum about it and a travel forum as well, and the consesus so far is that the campervan is the cheapest option in the long run.

So I think we're going to have to crunch some numbers and figure it out!

 The best part is that New Zealand exchange rate is lower than ours which means it's cheaper in NZD than AUD...so that's the fun part!  When you type in $100 and it's only $79.14 in NZD it's a nice surprise!  I didn't really want to go over 100 AUD a night for accomodation and it turns out I really won't unless I go all first class...which we won't.  So that's something to take into consideration when deciding on campervans or cars.

Another thing to consider is that it does rain a fair bit, particularly in the South Island so do we want to be trying to keep the kids in at a caravan park with rain and mud and stuff?

Well anyway these are all things we'd have to think about some more as I do some research on free stays cos I heard there are free rest areas and things that you can hook up the power and away you go...

More research!!!

Oh I forgot...I think we'll be leaving from Queenstown instead of Christchurch now....but will cover that in another post.

Which Airline??

Lots of competition, which is probably a good thing for us.  What we see and do is more important than how we get there...for us, so we're going for the cheapest option - natually!

So far, we've found Virgin to be the cheapest at this stage at $1300.00 odd from Brisbane to Auckland for 2 adults and 2 children economy class, and $1080.00 odd from Christchurch back to Brisbane.

Aaron did travel from Brisbane to Hamilton before and said that it was a lot cheaper so we looked into flights to Hamilton INTERNATIONAL airport, only to find out that it was no longer an international airport.  So Auckland it is!  Which kinda works out better being as where Auckland is in relation to Hamilton....

Visual

We now have a map of New Zealand stuck to our loungeroom wall!

This will act as a visual aid as we save over the course of the year.  We also have removable white dots that we'll put on there as we decide where we are going to go.

This week's task is to google New Zealand attractions in the cities/towns we plan on visiting and also look for any other places we may want to see.  I'll do up a big list and then Aaron and I will sit down and decide on what we'll do.  This is the exciting part for me as I get to check out all these really cool places we can go.  Aaron already has some ideas based on what he knows, and where he's already been...so I'm not going in totally blind.

Also we want to have some idea of admission prices and things like that as well :)





The Beginning stages of planning....

First post of many...and first trip of many!

NEW ZEALAND!!!!

..here we come!!!

So after much deliberation we thought that the best way to go about this is to do a road trip. That way we get to see what we want to see and stop when we need to, with two little kids, we need to be able to stop and go.

We've decided on the September/October school holidays next year...a two week trip doing the North and South Island.  It will be hectic but we really want to fit in as much as we can.

At the moment we're trying to figure out exactly what we want to see and how long we want to stay in one place.  Being as it's Aaron's home country, naturally he wants to show us where he use to live and where he went to school etc.

There's a website that will do up and itinerary for you.  So you can tell them what you want and where you want to go etc and they can do one up for you...with motels and car hire and you can pay for all that plus your attraction admissions etc before you even get there.  I like that idea!  So it's something to think about.

Leave it to the experts. Leaving the planning to the experts is always a good idea and well thought out itineraries, schedules and activities ensure you enjoy a relaxed and hassle free tour. It costs no more to have have your tour planned and created by our New Zealand based experts

At the moment we're thinking that flying from Brisbane to Hamilton would be cheaper than flying to Auckland, so we're looking into that first.  So our trip will either begin in Auckland or Hamilton and most likely end in Christchurch.

Anyway watch this space....