Before researching what type of campervan you want,
you’ll want to get to know New Zealand’s roadway network, distances you want to travel, fuel prices and what you want in accommodations. Being a cheap bastard I was happy to rough it in one of the mini vans, however, my better half wanted a van with all the amenities, most importantly, a toilet and shower. We had planned to circumnavigate both north and south islands and wanted to be completely self suffi cient in the campervan. As fuel prices were around $2-NZD/L for petrol and $1.33-NZD/L for more effi cient diesel and our itinerary would take us over a lot of mountainous terrain, a diesel powered van also made much more sense. So a larger campervan with diesel power would be required. With size, power train and accommodations fi gured out, I
started researching what was available. Jumping on the net and trying to fi nd each company’s website can be an exhausting aff air, and one that could have you miss some of the best deals. T ankfully, there are a few ranking websites that will save you hours of research.
Rankers.co.nz is the most popular site that rates each company based on customer feedback. Each listing has a series of comments made by customers, their average score out of 100, and company information and links to each agent’s website. At the top of the list at the time, Wilderness Motorhomes had an impressive score of 98, very favourable comments and a very modern line of campervans. Aſt er looking up several lower rated companies to fi nd a better deal, I came to the conclusion that the slight increase in cost was well worth the added amenities and luxury Wilderness off ered. A quick gaze at their website at
www.wilderness.co.nz revealed the perfect campervan for our needs, the BaseJumper 2 and allowed me to book it on the spot. Despite travelling to New Zealand in the off -season I found
that Wilderness still hire out the majority of their Campervans, so booking several months in advance is a sound choice. Of course, seasonal rates apply, and as we were there in May, which is fall in New Zealand, the BaseJumpers rates were at they’re lowest at $107-NZD/day. Choose the high season of January and February: that rate jumps to $250-NZD/day.
Wilderness Motorhomes BaseJumper 2 Based right at the Auckland International Airport,
Wilderness’ owner, John Managh, picked us up right when we landed and gave a very thorough walk around of the vehicle we would call home for the next 17 days.
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