New Zealand on Less than $44 per day - New Zealand Tips and Tricks
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This is the river in Paradise, near Glenorchy by Queenstown, South Island of New Zealand
Cheapest Places to Live > New Zealand on Less than $44 per day
We were in New Zealand for almost 3 months, and we explored both islands during that time. There is simply so much to see in New Zealand that we decided that we have to go back again soon. Regardless, we were still able to do an amazing amount of things during that 3 month stay. Here is a budget perspective on how amazing our adventure was, despite living and traveling around New Zealand on less than $44 per day. You’ll probably be surprised!
Bag end - Bilbo baggins’s hobbit hole In the shire - Hobbiton
North & South Islands, New Zealand
November 29, 2019 - February 20, 2020
Total Number of Days
84 days (83 nights, technically that means we had 84 days)
Total Expense
$7,853.97 USD
NOTE: $7,314.22 not including airfare to New Zealand - why mention this? Because everyone’s airfare to New Zealand will be dependent on where they are from. The other expenses - while in New Zealand - including our flight from Auckland to Queenstown, should be comparable for everyone.
However, if we had a home that we were paying for as well - we might have picked this 21 day 2-island adventure tour instead - as it packs in just about everything we did and the price is actually cheaper than what we spent over our 84 days.
Average Daily Cost per Adult
$46.75
NOTE: $43.54 per adult WITHOUT airfare to New Zealand.
A sulfur lake just between the Emerald Lake Lookout and Mt Ngauruhoe on the Tongariro Crossing
BUDGET BREAKDOWN
Because we spent most of our time in Auckland and Christchurch, most of the things that we did are based around those areas. However, we did visit a number of other areas and took a few epic road trips - including one to Rotorua and Tongariro, one from Queenstown to Te Anau, another from Queenstown through Tekapo to Christchurch, and a seriously epic one along the eastern and western coastline of the South Island and up through the North Island back to Auckland.
Transportation (airlines, taxis, trains, subways, buses, etc.)
$2,295.12 (average of $13.66 per day per adult)
Airlines: $723.22
The airline tickets to get to Auckland from Sydney ($539.75) might have been a little higher priced than you could normally find, but they still took up 23% of our total New Zealand transportation costs. We used Virgin Australia as we were coming in from Australia, but our tickets were conjoined with a package deal with our other tickets from Bali to Fiji and from Fiji to Australia, so the price may be unequal. We generally recommend using Momondo or Skyscanner, because that’s what we use to find the best ticket prices - plus they send you to the airlines directly instead of being the middle man.Rental Cars: $687.68
We rented a car once on the North Island for a trip from Auckland to Rotorua and Tongariro, another time for adventures around Queenstown and to Christchurch, once more for a few days in Christchurch and Akaroa, and then finally one for our epic road trip around the South Island and up through the North Island - although the cost of that last one was split with 3 other adults.
Gasoline: $405.90
For 26 total days of driving around New Zealand - although the last 12 were split with 3 other adults.
Taxi / Uber: $243.39
We ended up getting a number of Ubers to transport us from the Airports to our Airbnbs, and a few to pick up or return rental cars or to the mall - however, we primarily walked to places or stayed home and worked - around Auckland and Christchurch - as we picked great locations.Metro & Buses: $37.03
We did take the bus a few times out to a mall in Auckland, and also out to the Auckland Domain to explore the city.Visa: $83.31
There was a fee that we had to pay for our New Zealand NZeTA (or E-Visa). These run NZD$44 each, for 3 of us (the baby included).Parking: $24.47
There are parking costs for road parking in certain places in Rotorua, Christchurch, and Wellington that we ended up having to partake in.Ferry: $90.12
This was for the evening Bluebridge Cook Strait Ferry from Picton to Wellington. It was supposed to be around sunset and was supposed to be a gorgeous view of the Fjords. But it appears that Bluebridge’s evening ferry is always about 2-3 hours late, so it was too dark to see the Fjords at the time it left. Very disappointed in that. We recommend using the other ferry company instead - Interislander Ferries. Our cost came with a discount by using the BBH Backpackers Network discount (for the discount program cost see the Miscellaneous section below)
Accommodation
$2,673.69 (average of $16.11 per night per adult)
Airbnbs: $2,544.50
We stayed at 11 different Airbnb’s around New Zealand - here are the ones that we thought were amazing: This suburban one in Albany near Auckland, one on a kiwi-fruit farm in Aongatete near Rotorua, a true farm next to Christchurch, this cottage only a short - but amazing - drive away from Queenstown, one on a Manuka honey farm north of Wellington and right next to Rivendell, and one in the amazing heartland of the North Island between Hobbiton and the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves (no longer available).Bed & Breakfast: $25.00
We stayed in a separate cabin / bed & breakfast called “Off the Beaten Track” on our way up the West Coast of the South Island in Murchison. Our cost here was shared with 3 other adults.Hotel: $104.19
This one was on our last night in New Zealand as our flight ended up being a day later than we had originally planned. We used rewards points to book it, but this was the full cost for reference. It is a cheaper hotel that came with a free airport shuttle.
Food
$1,895.47 (average of $11.28 per day per adult)
Fast Casual Type Restaurants: $507.59
Some of our favorite quick service restaurants were the Auckland Night Market - which reminded us of asian-style food markets, Fumi Food Truck @ Te Anau, High Country Salmon, Harbour Fish in Queenstown, Florence’s Food Store in Wanaka, Full of Beans Cafe & Coffee Co in Franz Josef, and Huckle & Co. in Wellington.Groceries: $749.89
We shopped for groceries mainly at Countdown, Pak n Save, and New World. However, we did stop going to the Pak n Saves because we had 2 separate incidents in a week where we ended up with moldy tortilla shells and cheese.Dine-in (table service) Restaurants: $404.44
We would recommend All Day Trader in Albany, the Hobbiton Movie Set cafe, Schnapps Bar in Tongariro, The Nest in Pirongia, Gibbston Valley Cheese near Queenstown, and Quinns Post Tavern in Upper Hutt.Pastry Shops / Cafe’s: $150.86
We really enjoyed the Apple Walnut Log and Apple Cinnamon Loaf at Bakers Delight, Electric Kitchen Akaroa, and Mrs Woolly's General Store in Glenorchy.Convenience / Street Food: $82.70
These were items we picked up at theater concessions, gas stations, and mini-marts.
The view of Mt. Cook from Braemar station
Activities/Entertainment
$704.79 (average of $4.20 per day per adult)
Although there are a number of amazing tours that you can grab that will encompass much of what we did, here are the things that we did by ourselves.
Cultural Sites: $200.30
The three main places that we went to that were more like cultural sites were Wai-O-Tapu, a Kiwi House & Bird Park, and the Waitomo Glowworm Caves (we did the 3 cave combo which included the Ruakuri Cave and the Aranui Cave).Local Attractions: $271.77
We totally recommend going to the International Antarctic Center in Christchurch, the HOBBITON™ Movie Set Tour (with the Meal Combo), and the Weta Cave Movie Studios Tour. Apart from the natural beauty of New Zealand, these were the most amazing parts of our New Zealand adventure and we would hate to have missed them! Additionally, we paid a little bit to enjoy Lake Alta near Queenstown (it had an entrance fee of NZ$10.00), and the Westcoast Treetop Walk in Hokitika - which was pretty cool but they really could do much more with that than they actually have, and a gondola to top of Mount Ruapehu (this one was actually pretty cool just for the views, but it’s typically for skiing in the winter months).
Adventure Tour: $162.77
As far as adventure goes, we did rent a double kayak at Antigua Boat Hire in Christchurch (our baby fit in there as well). Additionally, when our Milford Sound Cruise was cancelled due to flooding in February, we re-directed and took an amazing Te Anau Cruise on a Historic Motor Yacht provided through Faith in Fiordland - Whyte Waters Group LTD - which turned out to be one of the biggest highlights of our New Zealand trip as well.Amusement: $69.95
So, as it is New Zealand, we buckled in at Event Theater to watch a Lord of the Rings Extended Version Trilogy Marathon - and it was totally worth it! Before this point, we had no idea how much extra footage was actually included in the Lord of the Rings Extended Versions! Now we own the digital movies so we can see them again in the future! Apart from this, we also brought our son to a family-day showing of Frozen 2, and we treated ourselves (with our son) to the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker movie on Christmas Day as well.Free Attractions: $0.00 (while some of the links are to tours, we did all of these things on our own at no cost)
North Island
In the Auckland area: We enjoyed going to Carols in the Park in December at Albany Lakes Park, exploring the Auckland Domain and Wintergardens, and the Auckland War Memorial Museum (technically, this one wasn’t supposed to be free but in our journey to see the gift shop first - we accidentally passed up the ticket counter and didn’t realize we had strayed into the “paid” section until we were nearly at the exit! Oops!), and even just wandering around the city of Auckland.
In the Rotorua area: We enjoyed an amazing walk at the Blue Spring in Te Waihou on our way up to Rotorua, visiting Kuirau Park - which had a boiling lake and some amazing natural hot springs (much too hot for swimming), stopping by Te Papaiouru Marae and St Faiths Anglican Church to include some Maori Culture into our trip, and the very beautiful and picture worthy Government Gardens - which has a really cool Quest game to enjoy there as well, and a free walking trail at the Whakarewarewa Redwoods.
In the Taupo/Tongariro area: It was cool to see the amazingly powerful - but sideways - Huka Falls, we attempted the 5-hour Tongariro Alpine Crossing (a.k.a. the “Mordor Hike”) but the higher portions were closed due to strong cold winds so we only got about 2 hours into it, the beautiful drive through the Matiere hillsides near Otangiwai, checking out Gollums Pool, and the view from Mead’s Wall. Unfortunately, we missed doing the Maori rock carvings sailing tour as we were limited on time.
In the Wellington area: We had a very unique Manuka Honey Experience from our Beekeeper host at this Airbnb, and we enjoyed relaxing and doing some forest walks in and near Rivendell.
South Island
In the Queenstown/Tekapo area: We saw a ton of Lord of the Rings filming locations, we recommend the drive along the lake down to Kingston - and up along the lake to Glenorchy, the views of the river at Paradise, a walk along the stream at Gladden Fields and the Heritage Town Center of Arrowtown, an absolutely beautiful picturesque location with amazing views of Mt. Cook - which also has accommodations - is at Braemar Station, and the beautiful lake and small town of Tekapo.
West Coast / Tasman area: While it wasn’t as vibrant when we went due to the heavy rainfall - we still enjoyed the Hokitika Gorge, we also thought the sunset and post-sunset time at Sunset Point near the Hokitika Driftwood sign was an amazing experience; possibly the most unique area that we saw on the west coast was Pancake Rocks - just wow on that one; a nice short stop at Maruia Falls, a short hike downhill - then back uphill - to see Split Apple Rock - although we would recommend a Waka Paddling tour to enjoy it better; a gorgeous place to swim at the Pelorus River bridge, and finding a good overlook spot of the Mahau Sound. Although it was recommended by the locals, we did miss the Shantytown Historical Park due to limited time.
In the Christchurch area: We enjoyed walking around the Christchurch Botanic Garden, our crazy hike along the Misty Peaks Track in Akaroa, visiting the stunningly vibrant Rakaia Gorge, and stopping by the Bushy Beach Penguins location (although they only come ashore at night - but we did see some seals).
In the Dunedin area: We thought that the Moeraki Boulders Beach was really unique, walking up Baldwin St. - the steepest street in the world, walking around the Olveston Historic Home and The Octagon area (to see the historic Dunedin Railway Station, the Chinese Garden, the First Church Of Otago, the Robert Burns Statue, and Speight's Brewery), enjoyed a little stroll around the University of Otago campus, and really liked the views on our drive around the Otago Peninsula - up to the Royal Albatross Centre - and the short cliff-side walk located there.
Miscellaneous
$284.89 (average of $1.70 per day per adult)
Travel Patches for New Zealand: $9.37
Our one souvenir at each country that we visit is a travel patch because they are light weight and take up almost no space.
Hygiene items / Bathroom supplies: $49.18
We did need to buy some of our own lotion, toothbrushes, deodorant, iron tablets, and personal items.
Laundry Machines & Soap: $10.69
Washers were included in the cost of the Airbnbs. This cost was for laundry soap.Phone SIM & Data: $72.18
This plan was through Spark NZ and included a SIM Card with 50 GB (+1 GB free) of data per month for 3 months as well as Unlimited Calls/Texts. We found it to be more than enough for our trip and thought the service to be very good!Clothes: $34.04
We did grab a new red shirt for Jenny and a men’s kiwi t-shirt for Bradley.
Other Items: $109.42
Some of the other items that we needed were a BBH New Zealands Backpacker Network Membership (for discounts - especially with the ferry to cross islands), a few Apple lightning cords, a couple travel friendly water bottles, some soft foam earplugs, a couple Christmas gifts/toys for our son - and a few for each other, and a few birthday gifts for our son as well.
The Mahau Sound area overlooking Schnapper Point and the Pelorus & Kenepuru Sounds
What does this not include?
Life Insurance - what we have includes a Legal Will, a Trust, and a few other things and was extremely easy to get online in a single day even without tests, but it isn’t included in this budget.
Berkshire Hathaway Travel Insurance + Medical (annual cost of $328 for a family of 3 - ask us how)
Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card Annual Fees that get us Additional Travel Insurance & free Airport Lounges (annual net cost of $150 annually). This card also earns us an extra bonus of 3% off on all of our Airbnb’s and restaurants during our travels, gives us a 0% foreign transaction fee, and occasional extra bonuses for booking new Airbnb’s as well. Alternatively, you could just get the Priority Pass instead of applying for a credit card (10% off with this link). We save well over $400 annually on free meals at airport lounges - not including the free beer and wine - plus it provides a relaxing upscale cafe-like experience with great wi-fi while you’re waiting for your flights - it’s a necessity if you travel frequently!
Netflix & Disney+ memberships that we occasionally grab (we usually just pick one of the two, watch what we want to see, then cancel and get the other one).
While these are costs associated with our travels, they are not country-specific, which is why they are not included in this expense report.
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