In terms of vans yo ucan either go fully self contained or not. Obviously if not then you need to use a toilet and not defile our beautiful country!
Big players are nz.keacampers.com, http://www.maui.co.nz, http://www.britz.co.nz or any of the others.
ChCh airport has an impressive camper pick depot setup and you can fly direct to ChCh from place like singapore and the large West Island (‘stralia)
Campsites have a look at http://www.doc.govt.nz for backcountry campsites, you can download everything as pdfs and you might as well. Failing that every main town has a caravan park many of which have what are called units or even little garden sheds.
Pay as you go SIM for data and phone. Use wotif.com for short notice hotels as well. You probably won’t but if you fancy a few days in the same place then holidayhouses.co.nz and bookabach.co.nz all have holiday houses that you can rent and some of these are superb.
Of course main NZ holiday period is 20 December to end of January. New Year is mental busy in all the main spots but after that it is just plain busy. Enjoy it and watch the sun, i am on a plane at 10pm tonight home (from London) and finish on friday for 5 weeks of tripping around woot woot.

Thanks Col!

I’ve just moved back to the UK from living in ChCh for a year, here are my thoughts:

– The camper van thing is a bit overrated IMO. We stayed in a load of Backpackers/Motels and most of them were simply superb. The BBH guide/website is useful, but aim for hostels with >90% in the ratings if you can as you’re pretty much guaranteed a superb place to stay.

– Lots of people will say ‘You must see this, you must see that’. You won’t see all of those things. Make peace with that idea and enjoy what you will see.

– You probably won’t get anywhere very fast in a car/van so don’t think ‘oh it’s only a couple of hundred miles I’ll do it in an evening’. Relax a bit. Stay somewhere for a while.

– The Kennet Bros guide is the best of the NZ MTB guidebooks (I found the larger format ones to be next to useless) but it’s always worth asking a local about the route. The Kennets can be a bit perverse at times.

– The food in NZ is incredible.

– Some of the wildlife is quite frankly hilarious.

Oh yeah, and to add to what col said, a PAYG SIM is a good cheap investment if you have a smartphone/tablet. Make sure your UK carrier unlocks your phone for you before you go.

Cheers guys loving the advice!

We did this a few years ago – 4 weeeks just before Christmas. Did a LOT of research at the time and the following made the most sense for us (financially and because we did WANT to campervan.) We flew into Aukland and then spent three days on Waiheke island getting over jetlag (absolutely brilliant)and then drove straight down (in a car) to walk the Tangariro. Then down to Wellington (and the wine festival). Over to Nelson for a few days before paddling up the Abel Tasmin for 3 days. A quick day in Marlborough sampling its finest. Then down to Kaikora for the dolphins. All of this was in the car staying at B&B’s and motels as we were spending lots of time walking or on the abel it didnt make sense for the camper. Then drove to ChCh and picked up the camper. Up and over Arthurs pass and spent a few days at Franz Joseph Glacier (heli is a MUST DO). then over to Wanaka for a few days and some walking (the walking in NZ is the best anywhere in the world. permits are cheap and the DOC hut network is superb – we did a few multi day walks but that is a whole other post). From Wanaka to Queenstown but very touristy so made our way to Glenorchy for a few days. Then over to Te Anau for more walking and a overnight trip on Doubtful sound – another highlight for us. Then made our way back to ChCh stopping at Lake Tekepo (amazing spot and great camping right on the turquoise lake). So collection and drop off in ChCh saved us a bundle and made sense as the first 10 days we were so busy walking or paddling that it made no sense to have the camper. brilliant trip all round. Will go back as soon as the kids are old enough. The coffee was amazing and the beer out of this world – became very partial to Monteiths and all their offerings but there are loads of micro brewers.

Oh yes – forgot to mention we used Kea Campers and they were definitely mid range in terms of price but cannot fault their service. they were excellent when we had a minor issue with the an outlet pipe. Sent straight to a affiliated garage in Wanaka and sorted within a hour.

Thanks Buzzard!