Recently, we did a road trip across South Island on a rented Campervan. It was a 2400 Kms trip starting and ending at Christchurch and spanning over eight days (roughly 300 Kms per day). We didn’t read much about living on a campervan and didn’t want to interpret too much from other’s experience. When we checked with Escape Rentals, Crisby, the Sales executive, offered some handy tips. It looks like Kiwis do not like the concept of paid camping and will generally prefer Department of Conservation sites. Many of these DoC sites are pretty scenic and they lack power facility at camp sites (that could be the beauty of camping in nature).
Most of the companies that offer campervan rentals in NZ, equip their campervans with essential utensils for cooking, a portable gas stove (single burner) and refill gas-cans (each weighing about 220grams and last for an hour and a half of cooking), eskis (thermo cool to keep stuff cool), makeshift table, beach chairs, a duster and tray, power cable and extension box (useful if you stay at a powered site with facilities). The items that you might need to purchase could include (but not limited to) the following:
(1) Cooking oil or cooking oil spray
(2) Dishwashing liquid and scrubber pad
(3) Decent can opener (the ones usually provided by your rental car company could be a basic one and can be awfully painful)
(4) Salt and Pepper (preferrably the one with the grinder type)
(5) Canned meat/pasta sauce/chick peas
(6) Bread/Buns
(7) Pasta
(8) Noodles
(9) Fresh vegetables can be purchased in bigger towns and cities (probably you might not prefer elaborate cooking while camping)
(10) Tea bags/ coffee powder
(11) Sugar
(12) Bread spread/butter
(13) Spices (pre-mixed) and packed together in a zip-loc bag or a small plastic container
(14) Sweet Chilli sauce
(15) Muffins/Biscuits/Cookies/Snacks
(16) Fresh fruits (that could last between cities/bigger towns) and non perishable fruits (that don’t require a freezer)
(17) Eggs
(18) Milk (especially useful – if you have an infant)
(19) Cereals (for breakfast)/ Energy bars (for treks)
Have the above mentioned cooking items in carry-on trays as it could be easy for you to carry them to the open site benches where you can place your stove and cook or even to the kitchen at a powered motor-park that offers you the facility to cook (provided you bring your own cooking stuff). This also ensures that you do not miss any items after carrying them around for cooking.
We found that we had spent about NZD 25 per day on our food (two adults and one infant) as we prepared our own meals. It could have easily costed us NZD 20 ~ 40 per meal if we had at a Restaurant. At places like Queenstown, it could get even more expensive as it is pretty touristy and appears exclusive (or that is how they project it)!
Also, take a look at Holiday parks (HAPNZ) with regards to places of accommodation. They offer powered sites for Campervans. This could be very useful and they charge on average NZD 15 to 18 (per adult) to use their facilities. The holiday parks common area closing times (for Kitchen) depend entirely on the type of person running it. Some owners do not imply restrictions/conditions on the facilities usage time. They allow their customers to use the kitchen at any time possible and request you to clean it up after use, while some render it impossible to use after 10 PM till 6 AM. I find it bit unfriendly. Such is the case over here. Also note that you have to check in before 8:30 PM or 10 PM (depending on the office hour closing times at Holiday parks). So, I suggest that you reach your destination by 5:30 PM and finish off your dinner early by 8 PM before heading out to the town/city center for the night or prefer to hang inside your Camper.
If you get a chance, go for a manual transmission Campervan with diesel as fuel. It could be more fuel wise as automatic ones with Petrol are gas guzzlers and could be expensive for two weeks rental. Also, do not expect much from Escape rentals in terms of their Campervan fleets. They are quite catchy with the funky design but are very basic when it gets to facilities (in terms of gadgetry). We found the built-in sink (for Kitchen facility) to be a space waster and instead could have been used for luggage storage or be converted as a cooking base. Otherwise, it was fine.
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