The post won't be nearly as fun as the last post, no pictures of gorgeous landscapes, exhilarating activities, or dizzying heights, no videos of adrenaline pumping jumps, and no descriptions of all of the activities New Zealand has to offer. No, this post will be far more boring and far more depressing as this post serves as a final tally of how much our New Zealand adventure costs.
We spent a total of $3,755 per person. Which is in line with what I had planned for the trip, I figured about $4,000 so I suppose I did a little better than I had expected. Below is a detailed breakdown of the trip, including the cost of each activity.
Transportation
Obviously the biggest expense was transportation, not surprising considering the transcontinental flight. New Zealand is not a country that can be easily traversed without a car only; the population there is not enough to support much public transportation (4.5 million people over 100,000 square miles compared to Great Britain's 60 million people over 88,000 square miles). So, a car rental was necessary but it turned out New Zealand has some inexpensive options. Overall I don't think there was a whole lot of improvement we could have had in the area of transportation.
Dining
Our dining and drinking budget could certainly have been better. But when you are traveling it can be hard not eat out with at least some regularity. We did well when it came to lunches, we bought bread, meat, and cheese at grocery stores and made ourselves sandwiches on the fly. Most motels in New Zealand have at least partial kitchens so we could have made use of them to cook for ourselves but after a long day of adventure it is nice not to have to worry about it. We also stopped by quite a few breweries and wineries, which I certainly do not regret but was also not helpful to our bottom line.
Accommodations
We mostly stayed in hotels and motels on our trip, though we had a couple of nights where we camped or stayed with my cousin for free. Hotels are certainly not the cheapest option. We stayed 13 nights in a hotel for an average nightly cost of $38 per person. Hostels would have been the cheapest option but fitting my 6'4" frame into a twin sized bunk bed is not pleasant so hotels were worth the cost.
Souvenirs
Most of the money we spent on souvenirs was actually spent on the professional photos they sell you after you complete an already pricy activity. In a couple of cases (the Waitomo Caves and the bungy jumping) getting photos from your own camera is impossible so we really did not hesitate to get ourselves a permanent reminder of the awesome times we had.
Activities
New Zealand is a place for adventure so it is only fitting that a good chunk of change went to our high flying activities. The bungy jumping and Waitomo Caves stand out the most. I would say both were worth the cost but I don't know that I would do bungy jumping again and while I would love to go caving again but I wouldn't want to go on such an expensive tour.
Well that is it, what it cost us to take an adventure to New Zealand. It was an AMAZING trip and well worth the cost. There are certainly ways we could have done if for cheaper: less eating out, more booking ahead, more budget hotels, less tours, etc. It is also common for travelers to New Zealand to offset their costs by obtaining a holiday (short term) working visa. But when it comes to a trip like this the experiences were far more valuable to me than the money and my only regret was not giving myself more time.
| Transportation | |
| Inter-island Fight | $88.92 |
| Transpacific Flight | $1,214.10 |
| Gas | $127.23 |
| Car Rental | $145.54 |
| Airport Parking | $24.36 |
| TOTAL | $1,600.14 |
| Cash | $40.46 |
| Dinner/Drinks | $440.57 |
| Hotel | $504.33 |
| Souvenir | $112.82 |
| Groceries | $136.12 |
| Activities | |
| Abel Tazman Aqua taxi | $33.26 |
| Wellington Cable car | $4.63 |
| OGO ("Zorbing") | $73.99 |
| Jet boat | $81.01 |
| Milford Sound Cruise | $111.50 |
| Waitomo Caves Adventure | $172.01 |
| Polynesian spa | $20.19 |
| Bungy jumpint | $214.96 |
| Cadbury world tour | $16.65 |
| KIWI BIRDLIFE PARK | $32.50 |
| QUEENSTOWN Gondola, Lunch, Luge | $61.97 |
| WANAKA bike rental | $23.40 |
| Puzzling World | $13.61 |
| CRATERS OF THE MOON | $5.98 |
| Hobbiton | $55.59 |
| TOTAL | $921.20 |
| GRAND TOTAL | $3,755.63 |
Photo credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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