LashWorldTour at Rotorura Museum - New Zealand

Lash at Rotorura Museum

My Low Costs to Travel Around New Zealand – Month 2

I’ve been traveling slowly around New Zealand’s North Island for two months already. The longer I stay, the more I like it.

I’ve been amazed at New Zealand’s exceedingly clear water in rivers, lakes and seas. I’ve been repeatedly enraptured by stunning forests full of unique native trees like kauri, remu, fern trees, kanuka, manuka and pohutuka, to name a few.

Lash soaking in hot springs – Taupo

I’ve soaked in hot springs, seen geysers and boiling mud pools and other interesting geothermal activity at Rotorua & Taupo. And New Zealand’s museums continue to amaze.

Since New Zealand is a very expensive country, I’ve been staying with a series of HelpX hosts, earning my keep by gardening, farming or cooking a few hours per day in exchange for room and accommodation.

I’ve landscaped three gardens, fed cows and horses, helped move cow herds to new pastures, and kept one particularly untidy home cleaned during my tenure.

I’ve met many kind and interesting people, learned in-depth details of New Zealanders’ daily living habits, stayed in nice houses with my own cozy bedrooms, and had many excellent experiences.

I’ve also used several other useful tactics to reduce the costs of my New Zealand travels. Find out them in my Plan for Low-Cost Trip Through New Zealand.

So far, it’s worked out beautifully. My first month here I spent only $282.50 NZ / $235 US! Read the details in my First Month’s Super Low Costs in NZ.

Pohutu Geyser erupting at Te Puia – Rotorua

My second month in New Zealand was twice as expensive as my first month for various reasons.

For one, I enjoyed my first stint staying on my own for three days in Rotorua. It was the first time in NZ in two entire months that I’ve paid for my accommodation and daily meals. The hostel was awesome, I ate my favorite foods for a change and I had a blast exploring Rotorua, free as a bird.

I also celebrated the completion of a huge landscaping project by having a special lunch with my host, which was rather costly.

Lash with vintage cars

Most excitingly, I was co-incidentally invited to join an amazing 4-day vintage car road trip around the Coromandel Penninsula! My HelpX hosts continued paying for my meals during the trip since I’d ‘earned my keep’ landscaping their large camellia garden.

But they did ask me to pay for the attractions/events I joined along the way and to pitch in on the costs of 4-star accommodation we stayed at. Fair enough. But that ended up costing a big chunk of money, quite a bit more than I’d expected due to serious mis-communication between my hosts and I. But the trip was a fabulous and unique adventure, well worth every cent. I coughed it up with a smile.

stunning Coromandel Penninsula

Before that happened, I went a bit overboard on personal expenses and souvenirs since my 1st month’s expenses were so very low. I’ll have to keep an eye on that next month.

My other expenses remained low or non existent. I had no internet costs. I continued using my pre-paid phone credit that I’d bought the previously month. Transportation costs were much lower since I only took three buses this month. Supplies and coffee costs were on par.

In any event, my total second month’s costs were $528.25 NZ / $440 US.

Although that’s double my 1st month’s expenses ($282 NZ / $235 US) that’s still not bad at all for one month in New Zealand. And when you consider that I enjoyed a 4-day vintage car road trip, luxury hotels and gourmet meals, $528 is a very respectable amount.

gardening in NZ

My total expenses included:

* Two weeks in Taupo – gardening and exploring

* Day trip to Napier city – ‘Home of Art Deco’

* Three days in Rotorua – exploring

* Nearly two weeks at a kiwi orchard in Te Puke – gardening

* 4-day vintage car road trip around Coromandel Penninsula

* All accommodation

* All meals

* All transportation

* All personal needs

* All internet usage

* All activities and entry fees

Huka Gorge – Waikato River – Taupo

I enjoyed the following activities in Taupo:

* soaking in outdoor hot springs several times

* hiking along Waikato River

* Huka Falls

* admire gorgeous autumn foliage

* learning all about bees and sampling various NZ honeys

* Taupo Saturday morning market

* Taupo Museum

* look after a great sheep dog

Napier black sand beach

In Napier I enjoyed:

* walking tour of historic art deco buildings

* hike to bluff overlooking Hawkes Bay

* walk along Napier’s sweeping black sand beach

* look after a great sheep dog

In Rotorua I had a great time exploring:

* Rotorua Museum

* Te Puia geothermal valley and Maori school of carving & weaving

* Lake Rotorua

* Kuirau Park geothermal zone

Vintage car road trip on Coromandel Penninsula

During our 4-day vintage car road trip I got to:

* ride in a 1957 Daimler for 4 days on winding coastal and mountain roads

* have several picnics at Coromandel beaches

* 3 nights at upscale accommodation

* outdoor jacuzzi

* cycle along Coromandel Coast

* walk along Whitiange beach, harbor & marina

* several gourmet lunches and seafood dinners

* eat licorice icecream

* ride a very unique narrow-gauge train ride

* hike in a kaori tree forest

* scenic views

bungee jumping in Taupo over Waikato River

Here’s the break down of expenses:

Accommodation: $224 NZ / $187 US

Food and drink: $123.50 NZ / $102.90 US

Coffee: $29.80 NZ / $24 US

Transportation: $25 NZ / $20.80 US

Internet: $0

Phone: $0

Personal expenses: $51.50 NZ / $43 US

Souvenir: $15.50 NZ / $12.90 US

Supplies: $26.20 NZ / $21.80 US

Entry fees: $32.50 NZ / $27 US

TOTAL = $528.25 NZ / $440 US

Flax at Napier beach – one of the great dogs I helped take care of while HelpX -ing

As I mentioned in the report on my 1st month’s expenses, I habitually include other extraneous expenses involved in traveling through a country: visas, flights to/from, guidebook, supplies bought specifically for that country and so on. My monthly average for those extra expenses for my New Zealand trip is $200 US per month.

in cold weather at Rotorua Museum

* So my grand total costs for my 2nd month in New Zealand is:

$440 + $200 US = $640 US

* My average monthly expenses over the two months is:

$640 + $435 / 2 months = $537.50 US per month

That’s a really low bill for traveling around such an expensive country. It’s as cheap as traveling around SE Asia, in fact. Yippie!

I’ll be reporting next month with my third month’s expenses, monthly averages and total costs of traveling around New Zealand for three months. Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, you might also enjoy:

My First Month Expenses for Traveling Around New Zealand

10 Free Things to do in Auckland

Destination: Taupo, NZ

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