Freedom camping is no more. If you need to park or camp overnight then you have to go designated sites for campervqns like holiday parks, the cheapest you can go is DOC campsites which are mostly self-check in, cost from few dollars but there are limited facilities. even in summer, temperature can be quite cold at night. Take one or two warm clothes would be good plus you need some waterproof gear too. However, these can be found easily in local outdoor outlets like kathmandu or Bivouac.

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Added on September 6, 2011, 9:52 pmFor more discounted activities, meals or bargains in NZ. google one day deals NZ you will get lots of websites for these. Try GRABASEAT on NZair for bargain flights. Make sure you get yourself travel insuranse ad the medical expensenses are quite high

This post has been edited by cheeho04: Sep 6 2011, 09:52 PM

For a short period of driving. just need go to JPJ and applied for the translation letter for your license for around RM10, no need to get the International driving license which cost much more. Actually, you can find McD more often in major towns. KFC is in fact much rare to find compared with McD. The cheapest meal would be fish and chips, $5 is quite filling for an adult. However, I prefer to have Sub of the day from Subway which is much healtier and sligthly cheaper. Try the NZ social buying website ie Groupon, Grabone for cheap deals. Cheers

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Added on November 16, 2011, 2:38 pmThe one has the CC facility at the pump is mainly from Park'n Save Supermarket's in house petrol station. Only CC with pin or Eftpos (with at less $150 credit balance) are accepted. Cheers

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Added on November 16, 2011, 2:44 pmYes, not a problem. If the merchant acceept CC, just ask them to print out the transaction for you to sign. Sometimes, they may need to see your CC to verify the signature. Cheers

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Added on November 16, 2011, 3:15 pmHi, pls check if the hostel does charge for kids. Otherwise, you can get a shared facilities double room from >$60 which would be more ideal, safer and more privacy. You should be fine on the food, just go for the on-season ingredients.
Petrol? I think you may need more budget if you are driving around (especially in SI where you may need to climb up the mountains and down). The West Coast's petrol can be $0.20/liter more expensive than other parts.

Last but not least, make sure you get travel insurance (medication+flight delay etc...) for all. The medication cost is expensive eg. one time consultation with GP could be around $50 during business hours and increses to $100 during off business hours or public holiday. That's not inclusive of medication. Last time, we were stuck in Christchurch for 5 days due to the ash clouds, but luckily reimbursed by our insurance! You never know if this kind of thing would happen.

After that, enjoy the trip. NZ is a very beautiful country with friendly people, SI is the best place. Just make sure you keep an eye on the weather too (can follow the weather forecast on TV or newspaper, which we normally wouldn't do in Msia).

This post has been edited by cheeho04: Nov 21 2011, 09:21 PM

You never know if you would be stopped by police AND ask for your driving license (that would be very rare occasion and chances, NZ Police roadblocks are hard to be seen except for checking up the boy racers aka mat rempit and drunk driving especially in weekend's nights ). However, I did stopped by a policeman in daytime and ask for the license. The reason I was stopped was driving 80-90 km/h on the narrow sloppy mountain road and yet the traffic was starting to build up at my tail (couldn't find slow vehicle bay at the time ). The policeman was very polite and let me off once he satistified after checking my documents.

Anyway, it is still very easy to have the driving license translated in NZ as some of the chines daily's office soffer this service (including Msia license) at a cost.

Yup, For pre-U education, unless you have PRship you pay a fortune for international student rate yearly ie ~10k Nz dollar. However, for graduate studies, you just pay as little as locals do.

Sorry, I was meant to say you pay the local rate for Postgraduate studies except for few disciplines eg MBA etc. and not undergraduate studies as for international student. My apologies for the confusion and mistake.

This post has been edited by cheeho04: Nov 22 2011, 08:28 PM

This website might save you some money in queenstown. Check up other group buying deals such as groupon, one day deal etc.You might want to have a look on the spaceship campervan rental which you can sleep in it to save you some accommodation cost. We used this rental during 9 days south island tour, very convenience and flexible. Only paid $35/day. Cheers

http://www.bookme.co.nz/bookings/queenstown/home