Cars

You can rent cars based on a UK licence and most of the road rules in NZ are the same as the UK (including driving on the left!). If you want a quick overview of the road code, there here are some self-tests. However there is one important difference: the ‘right turn rule’.

Most reasonable sized cities will have oodles of car rental places, including the airports. However in Auckland and Wellington, being major cities, you’re probably better off using public transport than wrestling with the traffic in an unfamiliar city!

Campervans

Renting a campervan is a popular tourist way to get around. The best known rental company is Maui. Most camping grounds will allow you to park and service a Maui van for a reasonable fee, and there are plenty of camping grounds around the country.

Taxis

It is a good idea to keep the phone numbers of a few taxi companies on your mobile; you can call them out to anywhere. You can also reasonably expect to find taxi ranks at all bus-stops, town centres and tourist sites. They’re not terribly pricey, but like anywhere it does pay to ring and get a quote beforehand to avoid being ripped off. Many taxis now carry an EFTPOS terminal in them for card payments.

Buses

Buses in NZ are generally clean, cheap and frequent. In contrast to the UK, we make a very strong distinction between local and long-distance bus services.

Local buses are generally operated from a central city hub, and clear timetable information is accessible on the internet; for example, for Auckland, Hamilton or Wellington. Most cities will offer a ‘bus card’ that’s significantly cheaper and worth its cost in a few journeys. This saves you carrying small change or irritating the bus driver with large notes!

Long-distance or national bus routes are served by Intercity/Newman’s and you should reserve a seat. You’d probably call this a coach service. They also do hop-on hop-off tickets to let you tour and explore. Some routes may have tourist info voiceover, and some night services will play movies.

Trains

Are not any use for local transport. Period. Not even in Auckland, no matter what they claim!

The only established passenger train line in NZ runs the length of the country, and should be considered a scenic trip rather than a strictly practical one.

The last time I took this route it took around 9 hours, had spacious seating, a viewing caboose and a dining car. The route is mainly rural with views of the volanic plateau and National Park.

Domestic Flights

Internal flights are often comparably priced to longer coach journeys and are significantly faster. All the cities and several tourist-orientated towns are linked, but don’t be surprised if your plane is an 8-seater. Flights like Wellington to Tauranga give a beautiful aerial view of the volcanic crater lakes on a good day.