7 Items to Prepare Before a Trip to New Zealand!
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The people, the food, the landscapes, everything seemed surreal, New Zealand is an incredible country. If you’re headed to New Zealand or are looking for tips for a future trip, make sure you’re prepared with these 7 tips!
Spending 2-weeks to see the North and South Islands was well worth it in my opinion because New Zealand Looks small on a map but oh my gosh that was a lot of driving. We spent a good amount of days driving 2-4 hours through farmland, which we were not expecting, but it was necessary to see everything that was on our adventure list and honestly, it was a great way to see small towns you wouldn’t otherwise see. But don’t let the driving deter you, there are other ways to get around, and the sights are 100% worth it.
More on the best adventures to do later, but before you go to New Zealand there are things you’ll need to prepare for like any trip.
Here are 7 of the most important things to prepare for before your New Zealand adventure.
- Submit your Travel Visa and Declaration
- Getting the right travel visa is the most important first step for your trip to New Zealand because, without it, you’re not getting in! It also takes about a week to process so it’s better to apply for it ahead of time. You can read more about the Visa requirements here, but I found that the NZeTA app was easy enough to complete and show when arriving at customs. Since I am a US citizen staying under 90 days this was the only Visa we needed, but this may vary depending on your citizenship, length, and purpose of your stay.
- In addition to your visa, you will also need to complete a travel declaration with any food, equipment, money, etc that you are traveling with. New Zealand has a very strict declaration policy to keep harmful substances out of their environment, so being truthful in your declaration is very important. For example, if you travel with any fresh fruit or nuts on the airplane, that all has to be disposed of before going through customs, or at a bare minimum declared so the customs agent can decide if it is allowed. Like the Visa, there is also an app for this declaration, NZTD App, which I found just as easy. Make sure to complete this declaration no more than 24 hours before departing for your trip.
- Pro-tip: When you complete the Visa and Declaration it will bring you to some sort of confirmation page. I always screenshot these confirmations in case I don’t have service or the app doesn’t load in the airport, I can just pull it up in my Photos.
- Changes in Weather
- Even in the summertime (December-March), the weather is pretty different between the North and South islands. Overall, the North Island is much more humid and warm whereas the South Island is cooler because of the mountains. When we were in Queenstown, it was uncharacteristically cold, about 65 degrees during the day, but even so, it was quite different than the North Island so be prepared to pack a jacket and a pair of long pants just in case. The Weather App was a lifesaver and I was surprised how accurate it was, more so than I’ve noticed in the US.
- Check your phone service
- I have been a T-Mobile customer forever because many, if not all, of their plans come with international coverage. The first few days were seamless using Google Maps, internet, and social media, but once the high-speed data runs out it gets significantly slower. This wasn’t that big of an issue for me because things load eventually, and I was traveling in a group where others had service as well. I think it’s a pain to contact phone providers to see what they offer, but if you’re up for the challenge it may not be a bad idea to add high-speed coverage for the duration of your trip.
- Know the exchange rate
- If you’re traveling from the US, you’re going to have sticker shock at how expensive everything is, but keep your calculator handy to check the conversion rate and multiply the price. For example, when I was traveling, the US dollar was 64 cents on the New Zealand dollar. Meaning that a $18 NZD burger was about $11 USD ($18 x .64).
- Always pay with the currency of the country you’re in if given the option when paying. The exchange rates are usually higher than standard, so as long as you have a no foreign transaction fee card, you’re better off paying in local currency. More on the specifics here.
- Pro-Tip- No need for cash, every single place we went to was cashless and contactless!
- Drive on the other side of the road!
- It’s gonna be funky… for the first couple of days. Driving a rental car was a bit more nerve-wracking than if I had my car, but make sure you have insurance just in case and you’ll be ok. And make sure to watch your left side!! It’s something I never think about driving in the US but making sure you have space on the passenger side of the car is super important. Those orange traffic cones don’t tend to be forgiving on car paint if you swipe one. (But if you do, try rubbing it out with toothpaste).
- Renting a car from Budget was painless and their cars were new and nice. I would recommend picking up and dropping off directly from the airports because it’s super easy to navigate.
- Be prepared to drive or fly
- I had absolutely no idea we would be driving this much through the country. Yes, we mapped everything out and had planned for 2-4 hour drives some days, but it is just not what I was expecting. Not in a bad way but most of the country is farmland with A LOT of sheep. If you’re traveling in a group make sure to switch off driving, and watch the speed limit. A lot of towns don’t post the speed limit but it is generally 30-50 km/hr whereas the highways are around 100 km/hr. We didn’t pick up on this within the first few days of driving and got pulled over in the tiniest town known to man. The officer was very nice and noted he just wanted to keep everyone safe, as did we so it was not an issue and let us go without a ticket. The whole rest of the trip was driven on cruise control at exactly the speed limit lol! The moral of the story drive safe and air on the side of caution.
- When taking domestic flights, there are pretty much two options, JetStar and Air New Zealand. JetStar can be compared to Spirit or Frontier in the US and is great if you’re on a budget, but Air NZ is well worth the extra money for reliable service and nice planes. Some planes are very small, like no overhead baggage small, especially if traveling a short distance, so be prepared to pay for an extra checked bag if you have one. It costs about $45 NZD.
- Read Google reviews
- Yelp isn’t really a thing in NZ and that took a second to get used to. When looking for reviews, Google is your friend and they have pictures too so that was helpful to see what you’d be ordering. A lot of restaurants and activities we vetted and booked beforehand, but for the last-minute lunch or late-night sweet treat, a quick Google search did the trick.
