Van Life

New Zealand’s South Island is arguably one of the best destinations in the world for a camper van or motorhome road trip. Here is what you need to know and expect for van life on the South Island:

Road and Driving Laws

• New Zealand drives on the left side of the road, this can innitially be a challenging adjustment with a rental vehicle.

• Speed limits: 100 km/h on open roads unless posted lower; 50 km/h in towns.

• One-lane and roundabouts are common.

• Mobile phone use prohibited unless hands-free.

• Winter passes may require chains; be sure your vehicle is equipped with them if traveling in the fall, winter, or spring.

Camping Framework

Wild Camping / Freedom Camping

• Legal only in designated areas, it is usually not permitted to stay overnight at roadside pull-outs.

• Most locations only allow freedom camping for certified self-contained vehicles (this should be obvious when booking your van, also indicated by a little sticker on the back of the van).

• Most freedom sites have just an outhouse or basic toilet; no other facilities are provided.

• These sites are first come, first serve and some fill up quickly in the peak summer months.

Self-Contained Vehicles

• Must display the “Certified Self-Contained” sticker.

• Requirements: toilet, grey-water storage, fresh water tank, and ability to operate independently for at least three days.

• Only vehicles with this certification can stay in most free or low-cost freedom camping spots.

DOC Campsites (Department of Conservation)

• These campsites are usually located within National Parks and often include basic facilities such as toilets.

• Prices vary but are around $20NZD per person per night.

• These sites can be booked in person with cash via honesty boxes or online in advance on the DOC website.

Holiday Parks

• Holiday Parks are the most expensive campsite option but provide full facilities such as kitchens, showers, laundry, and powered sites.

• Higher cost (often between $50-100 NZD per night) but can be necessary for power use, long hot showers, laundry, and reset days.

• Often located near towns: Queenstown, Wanaka, Te Anau, Nelson, Christchurch.

Our Experience

On our 10 night trip, we stayed at:

• 1 wild campsite (Tekapo, Pukaki, Kingston, Haast, Punakaiki, Christchurch)

• 2 DOC campsites (Milford Sound & Mount Cook)

• 2 holiday park unpowered sites (Wanaka & Franz Joseph)

We also:

• Never paid for a powered site; instead, we charged our battery for power while driving each day.

• Used free Public Dump Stations (PDS) to refill clean water, dump grey water, and clean our toilet cassette.

• Took showers in our motorhome, at holiday parks, or paid for hot showers and local rec centers.

• Stocked up for groceries in major towns (Wanaka, Queenstown, Christchurch, Hokitika). Most towns will have some kind of market but the best prices can be found in bigger cities at grocery chains like Woolworths, Pak n Save, and New World.

CamperMate App Usage

• The CamperMate app was our primary tool for finding legal sites, showers, dump stations, water refill points, laundries, and fuel along our road trip.

• We highly recommend having an eSIM or paying for a wifi router in your camper van for using maps and the CamperMate app.