I appreciate this is very difficult to put a figure on, but if I said trip would consist of camping (both wild and paid site), breakfast at camp, lunch from supermarket or cafe and evening meal either at camp or a pub type meal. Would $75 / day be too little?

I’ll tell you when I’m back in 7 weeks! I think you could do it for less. We’re going to buy an old estate car to travel and mainly ride bikes and cook for ourselves.

I’ll tell you when I’m back in 7 weeks!

Too late as I am heading out 3 weeks tomorrow 🙂

I will only have a jetboil to hand, so cooking options are limited and could get really dull if I cook every night. Not sure if NZ is like Aus with BBQ stations dotted around and at campsites. That would be the ticket.

haha bugger! well you can tell me then! 😀 I fly on the 7th. My friends did 6 weeks last year for £1200 in expenses. They did have access to family out there though for part of it but not much as there were 5 of them with bikes.

I’m travelling with a mate on a more limited budget and he wants to spend under 2k. I think that’ll be fairly achievable with some sensibilities. The camping spots (called docs I think?!) are meant to be very good and cheap but not sure about BBQ stations sorry.

Where you flying to / travelling? We land in ChCh

I will only have a jetboil to hand, so cooking options are limited and could get really dull if I cook every night.

Almost every campsite will offer you a complete kitchen. This saves cash, makes the eating more interesting and means that you’ll be meeting up with people, particularly cyclists with a similar pace. The exception is the DOC (department of conservation campsites). We only did one night in a DOC site covering the whole South Island west coast. We may have done one night in the wilds as well

Back in the day my wife (1994) we did NZ for 3 months on a £10 a day each plus £1000 for activities. Now everything has changed since but I still be surprised if you can’t keep costs down

$75 budget sounds sane (that’s just over £40 at the moment).

Bear in mind that groceries are a fair chunk more expensive than the UK (+30% ish):

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+Kingdom&country2=New+Zealand&city1=Manchester&city2=Wellington&tracking=getDispatchComparison

On the plus side, you can expect a half decent pie and coffee most places you go 🙂

If you get fed up of the tent, try Warm Showers (bit like Couch Surfing for riders):

https://www.warmshowers.org/

Beer $10/Pint
Cheap breakfast probably $10 easily go up to $20 with a good coffee especially if you are hungry
Supermarket lunch again depends how much and what you want – plenty of shit food available too but $10-20 probably max
Dinner in a pub again find a special and $10 + Drinks?

the closer you get to tourist hubs the more it will cost.

Most DOC campsites are between $8 and $20 if you want a nice campsite though look for TopTen they are awesome but more like $35 a night some have swimming pools and spas.

Food is a but more but not 30% more. Pak’n’save is the cheapest supermarket but not great quality.

Depends where you’re going to. Welly is a fair bit cheaper than Auckland and the South Island all depends if you’re on the tourist trail or not.

$75 should be enough if you don’t want too much booze!

So based on the above, I get the impression that whilst $75 / day is doable it still requires a significant amount of discipline if I am to avoid over spending. Especially considering spending $20 / night on camping fees.

Never used warmshowers, but could be worth a try.

I am planning on riding the Tour Aotearoa next year and are budgeting on $50 to $75 per day but are hoping to camp either for free or on DOC campsites where possible with the odd more expensive site for showers and washing facilities. Just have to be disciplined on not drinking to much coffee and buying cheaper food from supermarkets, or just eat bacon and egg pies and cheddermite scrolls everyday.

Don’t know how prices compare in NZ, but I know a fairly common rule of thumb for those doing the TD is ~$100USD/day.

we did new zealand in 2008/9 on a budget of £30 quid a day (15 quid each)all in , food , camping/occasional hostel.

and it wasnt too hard to do tbh.

we cooked our selves on the stove/supermarket bought selfmade sandwiches and salad mostly and didnt have a coffee/beer habit to fund as we didnt drink either.

sounds like prices have increased massively….

most campsites we were using were 6-8 dollars for a 2 man tent – 20 bucks got you a hostel bed in a dorm in all but the cities booking direct by phone….Hostelworld ripped the arse out it.

Top tens were ace when they see your are cycle touring they give you real towels 😀

almost every camp site had a fully stocked kitchen with pots pans and cutlery.

ah memories … we did christchurch to invercargill – out to milford sound baack to te anau – over to the TSS earnslaw. Up west coast to abel tasman – round to welly and up to hamilton

Good fun.

we did new zealand in 2008/9 on a budget of £30 quid a day

Exchange rate has absolutely tanked since then unfortunately.

You were probably getting $2.50+ for a pound back then. It’s more like $1.70 now.

http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=GBP&to=NZD&view=10Y

Hows the budget looking mate?!

Hows the budget looking mate?!

Still haven’t come up with a figure. I can spend $100/day if I need too. Given it’s such a long way to go I have decided that if that is what is required then I will just spend it and sort it out when I get home. Not going to get too hung up about spending an extra £1000 if I have too. I doubt I will get the chance again to do this.