Budget

Hi there

We are planning a trip to New Zealand next Sept for 6months to test the waters to see if we would like to stay for good- we're also going to try Canada. We would really appreciate some thoughts on how much money we should budget for. We are planning on doing a bit of sight seeing for a month or so- we don't mind roughing it a bit but i'm not up for staying in dorms. It would be good to have an idea around costs for camping, buying a camper van (and selling it again before we go) or staying in cheapish accommodation. We like having a few beers of a night and would like to take advantage of some of the activities that NZ has to offer e.g diving, sailing, snowboarding.

I read somewhere that a rough budget is £15-20 per day (on a budget) or £25-30 per day if your not up for budgeting- can anyone tell me if this a good guestimate!

The plan is to do a bit of sight seeing and then stop some where and get some paid work so that we can get a real sense of what it would be like to live in NZ.

Thanks in advance for any of your replies

For 6 months, I'd rent a place out in the Auckland suburbs and take trips from there as and when you feel like it. A rented car and B&B is OK for most trips. Auckland has mild winters. If you like somewhere quieter, try Hamilton.

Type: settling in NZ into a search engine for lots of good tips on what to expect and what to do.

I'm spending roughly NZ$100 a day, and that's as a discerning backpacker. So I do tours, I eat out every so often, I don't have burgers and chips etc.

DD

Me & my boyf spent 2 months earlier this year travelling around both islands. We bought a station wagon (and sold it at the end in Auckland for a profit!) We stayed in hostels, but never in a dorm, we ate out for nearly every meal (except breakfast) and did plenty of touristy things (diving, sky diving, whitewater rafting etc). We spent approx £5000. It was the best 2 months of our lives! You could obviously do it a bit more discerningly and spend less!

Personally I wouldn't do as #1 suggested - it'd be too easy to get sucked into staying in or just around the immediate areas of Auckland. My boyf lived in Queenstown about 6 years ago and he never saw anything else of New Zealand!

We are now back in the UK...but only for the next 3 months as we have one-way tickets to NZ and if all goes to plan we wont be coming back the the UK for a LONG time!

Travelling for 6 months will be quite expensive. GBP25 -GBP30 a day, we'd be inundated with Brit travellers on Gap years and/or indebted/hippy travellers!
Lonely Planet estimates US$40 for budget and US$100 for everything and I think that would have been at the historical conversion rate of US$1.5 = 1GBP.

You will find it cheaper to stay in places longer as the rule goes "everytime you travel it costs more money than staying put". If as you intend your looking it as an expedition about moving here I'd pick the 2 or 3 places you have thought about living and send at least a good couple of weeks in each to get to know the place and find out if it's what you want and what you do and don't like about it here. I would then go on travel trips for a few weeks in between to do and see the things you want as a tourist. Remember being a tourist is very different to living here, so try buying food at the supermarket and cooking rather than just eating out all he time for example.

Brits love Wellington so I can recommend it. The city has a compact european feel that Auckland and Christchurch don't (we're more New World/American sprawl but still have their own charms). Christchurch may feel quasi-English, done to the cold weather.

Also try forums at www.emigratenz.org to get a feel from people at various stages of immigrating and the whole ups and downs or it all.

I would do your one-month sightseeing on arrival, checking the four major cities and the half dozen second-tier ones, to see where you might like. Other than that, I am not sure what would be the best way to spend six months - it's a long time to travel anywhere as small as NZ, but also too short to put down roots, rent a place, make friends, and get jobs, etc. But as per above, I would be budgeting an average of no less then $100 per day for the two of you (almost £20 per day each), and that is pretty skinny I suggest. And as noted above, you pay more the more you travel around.

Also September - March means you do not experience the winter - quite a different kettle of fish.