Which bus? - Kiwi Experience, Flexi Bus or Stray?

I have not used any of the companies you are mentioning, so I can't give any specific advice relating to those, sorry, although I can give you some general advice. I spent a year in Australia and went on zero organise tours. I will be spending a year in New Zealand (WHV also), and again, I will be going on zero tours. I'm not saying that your choice to go on a tour is wrong, but they are not for me.

The first is the 'no fixed cost' with the local travel option, what appeals with the tours is that you pay so much and you wouldn't pay more, however what's the advantage of the tour buses is it mainly the assistance and being on a crew of travelers who will stick with you as well as some tours.

These travellers will only stick with you for the duration of your trip. Some may stay around afterwards in your final destination, but the majority will depart. You will then be left with a tiny percentage of the people that you met on the tour. You will meet more people staying in hostels, than what will stay after the tour ends..

You are right however, that you may be able to save money by fixing your destinations and dates, and choosing a tour. If you want rigidity and a fixed price, then a tour may be more suitable for you. If you want flexibility, and possibly more money, then taking local transport is the choice.

The second is being alone. I haven't traveled before however my friend will be with me for two months and then I will be alone. Hopefully at this point I will know the place a lot better and feel comfortable continuing to travel around on local buses if I did take that option.

This is really not as bad as people make it out to be. I went to Australia alone, and will be going to NZ alone. Once you spend 2 months with your friend from home, you may well be pleased to see the back of her. Travelling alone means you can indulge in everything that you want, whereas travelling with others, means you have to make compromises and sacrifices. It's super easy to make friends in hostels, as the majority of them are in the same boat as you, and wanting to make friends. When you get back from this trip, you will agree that making friends is very easy.

And the third: considering I will be alone, if I were to have gone on a tour bus and would like to get a job and live there for a few months, do you think a local bus could be a better option as I would meet locals who could help out and also I noted that the tour buses only go one way round.

Local buses or tour buses will not help you find a job. The chance of you meeting a local on a bus who has a job on offer is extremely slim. Your best bet to finding a job is to talk to people in your hostel, find out if they have worked/are working and go from there. I found a job through a roommate in exactly this way, and then got another friend in the hostel the same job with me also. Tour buses may say they can help you find a job, but I am quite dubious of this. They will probably have access to a job board or something, although most hostels have job boards so I wouldn't worry.

Hop on, hop off buses arent like a package tour. Simply put, you basically pay to go set routes from A to B to C with stops along the way but at your own pace. Naked Bus and Intercity also sell bus passes and these are local buses.

My girlfriend and I just finished our Kiwi experience and i've to say that i am amazed by all the people from other tours that say "kiwi experience" is all about drinking and hangovers. We've had the best time of our lives. We've been laughing, showed around and told a lot about the island. Of course, the crowd is mostly young but the drinking part is not something that Kiwi Experience is responsible of. Almost every hostel/town u visit will be visited by all the other tour operators. The "partying" finds place in the hostels/towns. We had a couple of nights where we went out with a part of the group. But most of the nights people just relaxed and enjoyed the environment, maybe with a beer or a soda.
The kiwi experience is one of the best things we did during our 7 month travel and we only did it for 15 days, which is way to short. Hopefully we can convince you to try it out, and we're sure u wont be disappointed.

Hi Again

Just had this pop up again as someone new has replied and wanted to add my two pennies worth in again now I've been here longer...

Stray was awesome. I did the South Island with Stray and it really was great, no doubt about it. I met some fantastic people and had an amazing time. But as ImfromWales points out, those people disperse. When we arrived in Wellington (my hop-off point to get a job and somewhere a bit more permanent to stay for a few months), I was left with just 5 people who I had travelled the South Island with. After a week, this dwindled to 3. After a month, down to just 1. By then, I moved into a hostel and made new friends.

That's what travel is all about - the fluidity and lack of structure, meaning good friends come and go and hopefully you'll see them again further down the road. Enjoy it - travelling alone is the most amazing thing. I did feel upset when my Stray friends left, but in the hostel in Wellington I quickly made new friends, and through work I met the girls I am now living with, which is awesome. You will never be truly alone - indeed, I've had to take myself off for a day trip or two alone just to get some alone time!!

A note on the Stray tour - I am now planning my own driving trip on the South Island, where I'll be doing it myself, rather than with the bus. It was fantastic for introducing me to this amazing country and the people here by Stray, but now I want to do it again under my own steam, stopping and starting whenever I like and seeing things I missed the first time round. So be aware of that - the main con of travelling with a bus group is that no doubt you'll want to go back and see it all again, but this time with a camper or a car!!!

I hope you're having a great time wherever you are at the moment.

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