New Zealand, what do you think of when you hear the name mentioned?
Is it large landscapes.
Freedom of movement to do as you please.
Varied nature that often changes.
Youtube videos and Instagram posts that tell you that this is the world's best destination?
Have you seen pictures on this blog – but perhaps not noticed the actual text?
Are you ready to leave right now?
So there are just one or two things you should be aware of - before you book an expensive trip...
Get me right - we've been to New Zealand and there are certainly good moments of beauty. But for overlanders traveling independently - there are some general conditions that disturb the experiences quite strongly.
They have largely sold their souls for money and there is an unusually high willingness in the tourism industry to use any trick in the book to increase their income. Fair enough, we are not unfamiliar with the fact that there are expensive and cheap destinations – the locals must be able to match their income with living expenses in a reasonable ratio.
But we experienced how car rental used bait & switch as a standard sales method. How "someone" has come to write a wrong price - which is then corrected upwards when you have to pay the bill.
How telecom companies in New Zealand offer "upgrading" of your data package as a tourist - at an unheard of bad price.
How AirBnB landlords fish for tourists who jump at a price that is 2x the hotel level in the area.
How Air New Zealand markets itself with the same price as Quantas... but has 2/3 of Quantas's baggage allowance and requires separate payment for meals, movies and water on board.
A consistent theme... the tourist is for many a golden calf to be slaughtered.
Their tourism sector is generally geared towards mass tourism. This means pre-calculated trips and excursions that are timed to the last second, so that the machine can march forward and the large crowds can be handled.
That is to say... if you are not booked into a trip or an area a long time in advance - then you are in trouble. There are often no available places for a week or two - so you better be flexible in your thinking about what you want to experience.
The amount of people and the amount of traffic. In Auckland, the absolute best thing to do is hop on a bus. Recognizing that they have a major traffic problem, separate bus lanes have been built to help with accessibility. It works well – cheap and convenient.
If you have to drive yourself, prepare yourself for heavy traffic and 3 hours of queuing. You have to be about 100km away from the capital before the level becomes acceptable.
When we were there, the locals said that all campervans had almost disappeared from New Zealand. They were used to seeing parking lots with thousands lined up at the airport. But during the Covid pandemic, many were sold off and exported.
We experienced the level, as if there were plenty of campervans everywhere we arrived... will not want to experience when it is busier.
There are two large ferry companies with 7 daily departures that sail between North and South of the island, but...book a ticket well in advance - because they are completely sold out several months in advance. There is not exactly a shortage of tourist customers in New Zealand.
Yes, New Zealand has nice places - but I don't think we really want to visit it that much again.
In addition, we like adventure too much and plastic tourism too little.