Places Not To Miss In New Zealand
Before we begin, New Zealand comes with a warning – Sammy AKA creator of RatPack went for 2 months and ended up staying for 2 years! The place honestly has it all, from metropolitan cities, epic areas of natural beauty, a load of amazing beaches and of course, the wine! If adventure is your things, then NZ is THE place for you.
We’ll be sharing with your our favourite places in New Zealand… including:
- Franz Josef Glacier
- Tongariro Alpine Crossing
- The ultimate mountain views…
- AND of course, how to be cash savvy when it comes to your camper rental!
Ready to be TOTALLY inspired for your New Zealand roadie??
Click images to see more.
The home of the ultimate roadie
It’s no secret that New Zealand is one of, if not THE, most beaut place on earth – have you seen the photos?! It’s insane.
You’ve got the North Island – known for it’s insane coastline and geothermal hot spots. It is also where you’ll find Auckland, one of the major cities in NZ and Wellington, the countries capital.
Then there is the South Island – the larger of the two and home to incredible mountain ranges. It is also where the Southern Alps are located (yup, told you NZ has it all) – so think, skiing, glaciers and insane views. The city of Christchurch can also be found here as well as the country’s largest wine region, Marlborough.
As you can see, there is quiitttteee a lot to see and do, so we’re gonna make life easier for you and narrow down the top places not to be missed.
Getting around
Bus
An epic way to see this beaut country is via the bus service Kiwi Experience – it’s super easy and a GREAT way to meet BackPackers especially if you are travelling solo…
Camper
Buuuuut, if the Bus Pass aint YA thing & you want your own wheels then there is no better place for it than NZ…and we can do all the boring bits for you and find you the best campervan with our camper comparison quote service, so all you need to do is sit back and start planning that epic trip of yours (very jel right now)…
with RatPack Travel?
The Ultimate New Zealand Bucketlist
Hot Water Beach
Hot Water Beach gets its name from the fact that within the two hours either side of low tide you can find hot water bubbling through the golden sand – like a natural hot bath!!
It’s a proper bucket list experience! The beach is also a wicked surf spot.
Cathedral Cove
Accessible only by foot on a 2.5km walking track is where you’ll find this epic rock formation.
It is a 10min drive from the famous hot water beach.
To beat the crowds – head there at sunrise or early evening (the perfect time for a sick photo shoot).
Kaikoura Wale Watching
Whale watching is usually a pretty hit or miss activity but Kaikoura is New Zealand’s go to destination to see these incredible creatures.
Get this – there is a 95% chance of spotting giant sperm whales.
The season is from November through to March.
Rotorua
The geothermal world of Rotorua is pretttyyyy damn cool.
An area of so much natural beauty – you’ve got smelly geysers, volcanic parks, lakes and water falls.
The area is the perfect place to take a glimpse at the rich culture and tradition of New Zealand’s indigenous people.
Hobbiton
I’m sure you’ve heard of this one!! It makes a pretty unique day out.
Lord Of The Rings fan anyone? The Hobbit? If so, this is the place for you – a film nerds paradise. It’s also a pretty beautiful place to visit even if you’re not a fan of the films. Who doesn’t wanna walk around a fake village of miniature houses for the day?!
Queenstown
If you’re a bit of an adrenaline junkie, then Queenstown is where it is at!!
In the summer there’s bungee jumping, sky diving, white water rafting and jet boating (to name a few). Then when it turns to winter, the Southern Alps are your playground – yep, you can ski in NZ!!
Mount Maunganui
Mount Maunganui is a pretty little beachy suburb in the North Island.
A chance to slowwww it down and chill out – think white sandy beaches and wicked surf spots.
Mount Cook
The highest mountain in NZ – Mount Cook. This bad boy is 3,724 metres and a pretty epic sight!
The mountain can be found in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park which is home to the highest mountains and the longest glaciers in the country.
Tongariro Alpine Crossing
This is an EPIC spot to hike to see the blue pool in Tongariro National Park.. Without a doubt one of the most popular hikes in the whole of NZ and a RatPack fave…
The views of the surrounding scenery are just UNREAL and you’ll see volcanic peaks…
Milford Sound & Fiordland National Park
Milford sound is a fiord – meaning a long, narrow, deep inlet of the sea between high cliffs formed by glaciers.
Fiordland National Park is an un-spoilt and naturally beautiful spot, you can’t miss it! Look forward to waterfalls, incredible surroundings and ink black water.
Lake Tekapo
Lake Tekapo is a small town in the South Island and let me tell you – this place is the definition of picturesque.
The spot is known for being a sick star gazing spot. It is also home to Tekapo Springs Hot Pools…did someone say spaaaaa day?
Aurora Australis
NZ just keeps giving!! So you know about the Northern Lights right? The dancing colours in the sky…well, New Zealand has the Southern Lights AKA Aurora Australis.
So, if you’re lucky you may spot the night display.
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!
