Kiwi Experience – Everything You Need to Know
At RatPack we love abit of New Zealand and absolutely everything it has to offer, it’s THE home of adrenalin, beaut scenery – we’re talking lakes, mountains, glaciers and it’s THE spot for the adventurous and the explorers! Sammy boy spent 2 years bouncing around NZ and has seen so much of both the North & South Island and lived in the epic Raglan…. {epic little chill surf town make sure you get it on the list – yewww}
If you’re thinking of travelling New Zealand, you’ve may have heard of the Kiwi Experience. It’s a popular option for backpackers who want to hit up the many unreal spots in NZ and the epic activities it has to offer with an epic group of travellers and a driver/guide.
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Ready for an adventure?
The Kiwi Experience is an experience like NO other and we love that >>> The Kiwi Experience is New Zealand’s most popular backpacker bus company, it’s a combination of transport, trips and destinations and a really EASY way to travel. With so much to see & do in NZ they have a range of different passes to suit everyone and hit different spots & routes. You can even choose your start and end point to suit your itinerary and budget > we can even get all RatPackers 10% off all passes.. EVEN if they are on sale, saving you $ every step of the way.
How do the passes work?
The buses are ‘hop on hop off’ which means you can hop on and off as much as you like along the route, the kiwi experience is not a group tour with a set itinerary, its a bus pass which allows you to hit up the best spots and do any activity you feel like with a group of fellow travellers. You can stay in places for as long or as little as you like, the beauty of the Kiwi Exp is that it’s YOUR trip and you can be flexible if you fall in love with a place {trust us… you will}.
You have a year to use your pass, so if you get stuck in a spot, it’s all good! With all of the passes there are minimum times – so bear this in mind when checking out the passes. The buses are super comfy, modern and you’ll have informative, entertaining commentary, plus heaps of activity discounts, walks and awesome photo opportunities!
Before you go...
- Decide when you want to go to NZ {FYI – Autumn/Winter runs from March – September & Spring/Summer runs from October – February}
- Work out how long you want to spend in NZ – we recommend spending at LEAST a month if you want to properly explore both islands
- Check out all the different passes here, there are SO many different options to suit each explorer and to tick off those bucketlist experiences AKA skydiving, bungy jumping, white water rafting and more.
- Not sure which pass? Hit us UP and we can help you for sure, don’t forget that we can also get all RatPackers 10% off any pass even if it’s on sale {all about that money saving… UNO}
- Once you’ve decided which pass you want, how long you’ll travel for and your start and end point, we’ll get it all sorted for you! The Kiwi Experience will book you on to all your buses and guarantee your first night accommodation in each place. We’ll send you your itinerary and you are G to G {Good to go in RatPack speak}
with RatPack Travel?
When you are in NZ...
- Now all you need to do is arrive in your starting location in one of the pickup hostels and begin the adventure.
- Your bus driver will be your tour guide, activity organiser and banter provider {what a job title!} whilst you are on the bus this is your GO to person and is there to answer any questions & change your buses.
- Whilst on the bus, your driver will tell you what epic activities are available at each location, they’ll pass around a clipboard and you’ll be able to sign up – E A S Y.
- Kick back… enjoy it and make those memories!
Our favourite spots in NZ
- Queenstown
- Franz Josef Glacier
- Taupo
- Milford Sound
- Paihia
- Lake Tekapo
- Raglan
From our RatPackers
I booked my campervan to travel in NZ via RatPack Travel, who managed to find me the perfect van at relatively short notice and with a discount! It was a real help to have someone do the searching and mediate with the company, once they had dates and information from me. Thanks for the prompt and friendly service!
Great service! Jenner was so much help and gave us lots of options to suit our journey. Very attentive and made it an easy process.
This was the best customer service I ever experienced! I highly recommend you if you are looking for a Van or Camper to leave your email address so somebody of their team can get in touch with you. They compare for you all camper hire company’s and you can choose with one suits you the best. I literally talk to this awesome lady from Holland (as I’m only available after 8pm MEL time, so the arrange for me a call with somebody from the EU team for free) and she got our dream van for the most incredible price few minutes after we talked! And not even one day later I got my booking confirmation from the camper company. Their service is free of charge as they earn commission of your booking but this doesn’t cost you a cent. I did my own research before but the deals they give me was way better than I could find by my own. I highly recommend to get in touch with this team and let them find your Van. They literally saved us our fuel cost for a 3 weeks travel from Cairns to Sydney. Yes- that’s almost $1000 they saved us! Go and get your van! You won’t regret it.
So far, so so good. I should have started with RatPack to begin with and saved all that time searching for a camper and feeling like I was getting nowhere. Jenna was incredibly helpful -doing all the hard yards and getting us the best deal. Very prompt service. Thanks for making it so easy !
Very friendly service with Tammy. Super attentive and keen to help us. Got us a discount and one of the last available options.
Ratpack was super helpful! They were extremely responsive and helped us get an amazing deal on two 3-person camper vans. Highly recommend giving them a shot!
Really straight forward helpful and friendly people!
Mike helped us with finding the best van for us for our 3 week trip and was very knowledgeable. With some quick phone calls he gave us the best quotes and walked us through the process in detail. Everything was made clear and we booked our trip in just an hour! I would highly recommend their service.
Great experience with the RatPack travel team! Really went out of their way to help us book our Van’s for two different trips! They have great rapport with the various Van companies, were able to help us book the last available Van for our time in WA and were able to get us some discounts as well. Zan and Mikey were both so easy going, made it feel like we were chatting with friends who genuinely cared about our travels haha, awesome guys! Definitely recommend the RatPack service, will save you time and money fellow travellers!
Mike was amazing - helped me find a van and gave me quotes, a full breakdown, etc super quickly no stress! Just what I needed. Can't wait to start my trip. Thanks dude!
Booked a 3 week trip with MIKEY! Customer service was on point. No Buls**t straight to the point. Saved us a further % on the original price of the campervan and sent me a map of the east coast with highlighted areas he highly recommended to stop at. looking forward to our trip! 🇮🇪 🇦🇺
Highly recommend this company! Mike was incredibly helpful; he gave us lots of useful info and managed to get an excellent deal on a camper for our trip. The whole process was quick and easy. Thank you! Alison and Amy x
Mikey was amazing at helping us plan our 3 week schedule for the east coast. He went over and above to make sure that we were able to fit everything in that we wanted to in the time we have. His knowledge has been a great asset for us making an itinerary. Can't recommend enough!
If you want to book a camper for your trip, you should only do so with Ratpack. The team is incredibly fast and provides great service. No annoying comparison of providers, since Ratpack takes over. They are looking for the best deal and can offer great discounts. they respond individually to your wishes and give you additional tips for the trip. Since there is also an EU team, you could make calls at individual times of the day - simply excellent all around - thanks for everything
Absolutely delighted with the service provided by RatPack Travel. In particular, the excellent guidance and support offered by Jules! We explained our plans and she found a suitable solution to meet our needs. Very grateful and suggest other travellers use this facility. Thank you 😊
