i'm planning to spend 5 weeks travelling solo around NZ, i've been looking into traveling with Kiwi experience (Sheep Dog route) but it costs almost $700. Is it better/cheaper to get a pass for the national bus operator instead?
The Sheep dog route starts in Auckland, down to Queenstown and ends in Christchurch so it means i would have to get back to Auckland somehow.
Are there any cheap airlines within NZ? or do you know how long roughly it'd take me to get to Auckland by bus and how much? flight vs bus - would price differ much?
Reply to this Hi,
there are a couple national bus operators that does the domestic routes, but I would say that it would take forever to get anywhere, but if you take a plane there is obviously the lack of scenery. Also domestic flights in NZ is not cheap. I'm sure you can catch a bus from Christchurch back to Auckland but I wouldn't be surprised if it'll take you a couple of days. For a country that is so small things like that aren't the easiest to get around.
Have a look at these websites for prices on domestic flights
www.airnewzealand.co.nz
www.qantas.com.au
hope this helps. and have a great time in New Zealand.
Reply to this I travelled around NZ a couple of years ago and although I didnt do the Kiwi experience (rented a car with friend) I did meet up with a bunch of people who were on the kiwi experience. A lot of them were travelling solo and had made loads of friends and had a really good time on the bus. If I were to travel roud NZ solo, I'd definitely take the kiwi experience bus, seems like you meet loads of like minded people who want to travel and have fun. Might be worth spending a bit of extra money and doing this for the best experience. Alternatively, split the kiwi experience with domestic buses/air travel. Take a cheaperroute on the kiwi experience and then use internal flights to travel longer distances between destinations. Marilynz has suggested the same site that I would have done for internal flights, airnewzeland.co.nz, I took a return flight from Auckland to Christchurch with them and it was pretty good value, at about £35-40 each way. Book early for the best deals though. Have loads of fun and enjoy yourself!
Reply to this hi, i've been travelling around nz now for about 3 months now with flexpass bus pass www.flexipass.co.nz . i personally didn't want to go on a backpacker bus or F@?K truck as the locals call them! i've heard they make you stay in places were the driver gets a kick back. (a kiwi experience bus just went off the road in the south island yesterday! www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10435520 )
i bought a 60 hour pass which has got me all over the north island and i was very cheap in comparrison. if i need more hours i can just top it up. sure you can fly but you'll miss all the scenery. hope you have fun :-)
Reply to this gosh! that's terrifying!
i've already booked magic bus (which i've heard is equivalent to kiwi experience). i inquired about the passed based on journey hours some time ago but wasn't sure how many hours i would need! the good thing about the magic bus was that they had a great deal, ie. NZ$599 for a route starting and finishing in auckland (north and south islands) + three other short routes included in the price! this means that i will not have to take any flight:-)
to all - thanks so much for your advice!
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