Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
three months in advance. Tickets at this price level are first come, first served and available in limited num-
bers. Sometimes you get lucky and find one last-minute.
Intercity offers bus passes (intercity.co.nz/passes). The two of best value are the Flexipass and the
Flexitrip pass. The Flexipass is an hour-based pass for from fifteen to sixty hours. Prices begin at $80 USD.
Your pass is good for a set number of hours, and hours are calculated based on the hours per trip, in other
words the time it takes to get from point A to point B. This is an awful deal. For example, a regular fare
from Auckland to Wellington is $25 USD and takes eleven hours. So that $25 fare is three times less than
the cost of the Flexipass!
A better pass is the Flexitrip pass, which starts at $117 USD for five trips. Five trips at the regular price
of $25 USD would be $125 USD, so the pass represents a mild savings. It's not a substantial savings, but
it's better than the other pass and saving money is still saving money. Either way, these passes aren't great.
The nonrefundable fares are so cheap that there's no real incentive to get a pass.
The Naked Bus (nakedbus.com/nz/bus) has passes starting at $75 USD for three trips and going up to
$450 USD for unlimited trips in a year. The more trips you get, the cheaper the pass is, and frankly, this is
a wonderful money-saving deal. Any pass with ten trips or more brings the price to $19 USD or less. If you
are going to do extensive bus travel, I would consider getting a pass, as the single-point fares on Naked Bus
and the Intercity are rarely that low. Most passes are valid for one year.
A popular method of transportation among younger travelers is backpacker buses, such as Stray Travel
(straytravel.com), Magic Bus (magicbus.co.nz), and the Kiwi Experience (kiwiexperience.com). Like the
Oz Experience in Australia, these buses are a substitute for the local bus and are strictly used by tourists.
Unlike in Australia, these buses actually provide a much better value for your money. You'll get included
in your passes meals, activities, day trips, and discounts on attractions. Prices vary greatly depending on the
pass you get. Prices are a lot higher during peak tourism season in December through February. The most
basic passes start at $250 USD.
I am a huge fan of backpacker buses here. If you have the time and want to meet a lot of other travelers,
I think they are better than the public bus. There are a lot of communal activities and events that get people
socializing, and you can always get off if you don't like the crowd you are with, or stay on if you do, and
travel at your own pace. Years later, I'm still good friends with the people I met on my Kiwi Experience
bus. While the general age range for travelers on these buses is from eighteen to thirty, I found many older
travelers on them too.
Camper Vans
As in Australia, a lot of travelers rent cars and vans in New Zealand because it's easy to get around and there
are a lot of campsites along the way. I find it to be an even more economical way to travel than in Australia
because the country is smaller and the weak New Zealand dollar makes it even cheaper to rent the cars and
sleep in campsites. And as mentioned in the accommodations section, many hostels allow you to camp on
their grounds too. The biggest car rental companies are:
Spaceships: spaceshipsrentals.co.nz
Hippie Campers: hippiecamper.com
Wicked Campers: wickedcampers.com.au
Backpacker Campervans: backpackercampervans.co.nz
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