Our active travel expert Amy Moore and her partner Lee travelled the South Island by caravan with their 4-year-old twins, Eddie & Ari, in tow. Here’s what they got up to.

For our first official family holiday, we decided to cram ourselves into a 4 berth campervan and explore some of our own back yard – the South Island.

We got a good deal on the camper and got the fully inclusive rate which meant we could both drive, car seats included, camping chairs/table, fan heater and some other extras along with the express return pack (so we didn’t have to empty the tanks).

Our first stop was Hanmer Springs. We paid for a powered site at the Top 10 Holiday Park. It was very expensive in comparison to others we stayed at on the trip but had a good playground for the kids and the facilities were good too. Easy walk up to town but the kids weren’t too impressed. The pools were good value and the kids enjoyed the play area and the rock pools. Their favourite though was the Forest Amble. A must visit for families!

Next we headed up to Maruia Hot Springs. Having sent a few people here for a stay I really wanted to see what they had to offer. We paid for a camp site (not powered) with access to the hot springs and all daily activities. We went to the restaurant for dinner after an amazing soak in the pools (natural hot springs similar to Japanese Onsens). The food here is amazing! A beautiful 3 course meal and different options for the kids (not nuggets and chips!). Highly recommend a stop here for a relax and unwind before heading over to the coast.

We then made our way up to the Buller Gorge and did the Swing Bridge and zip line back. The boys were loving the bush walks and going into the “forest” so more of these were needed on the trip. The bridge is the longest swing bridge in New Zealand at 110m long and is suspended 19 metres above the Buller River. The zip line back was a bit of an adrenaline rush and the kids thought it was pretty cool too! We kept driving through the gorge to Westport – oh my gosh! What a spectacular drive. One of the best drives I’ve done in New Zealand. We stopped in Westport for some supplies and lunch then headed down to Punakaiki and walked around at the pancake rocks. The kids met a weka up close and loved watching the waves crash on the rocks. The information centre here is very informative and they had extensive knowledge of tramps and walks in the area.

We then continued down to Greymouth where we parked at a free site with public toilets. We timed this with a bit of a storm rolling in so we had a bit of a restless night wondering if the campervan would stay upright…!

In the morning we went to Shantytown. It was very quiet so there wasn’t a wait for anything. We did gold panning, got an old time photo and had lunch at the café. The food here was great – tea rooms style but the cook did a good job. This is where our kids love for cheese rolls began (apparently they taste better with tomato sauce though…). We jumped back in the van and drove to Hokitika and went to the National Kiwi Centre. The boys loved this! We caught some fresh water crayfish and examined these in the bucket before releasing them back into the “creek”. They got to hand feed the giant eels which seems to be one of their favourite things of all time (I couldn’t even go in the gate!). We then got up close to the kiwi in their enclosure (outside the glass of course) but got to see them eating their dinner. Very cool experience to be so close to our native bird.

Then we made a bit of a long drive to Franz Josef stopping at a salmon farm for lunch and to feed the fish. We opted to get a powered site and the Rainforest Retreat which was amazing value and had everything we needed. We used the laundry facilities and had a very private site in the bush away from any others staying on the camper sites. We had dinner at the restaurant here too as they offered us a kids eat free voucher which made for an affordable dinner out. The food was good pub grub and had a cool atmosphere.

In the morning, we did the walk up to the glacier (currently you can only get 2.5 kms away from the bottom due to a wash out of the track). Still cool to see and another walk under the kids’ belts (although there was some piggy backing on this one!). When we checked out of the camp they gave us a list of places to stop on the drive down to Wanaka which was great for making a plan for the day.

We stopped at a couple of spots before getting to Haast to get some more supplies – this is about the last place you will get any cell reception for a while too. There was a well-stocked shop (Four Square size) with everything we needed (snacks, bacon, sausages, eggs etc).

We parked up at the Boundary Creek Campsite which is a DOC site with an honesty box payment system. Toilet facilities are available and on the shores of Lake Wanaka. A beautiful setting and nice place to stop.

We then went to Puzzling World in Wanaka. I 100% recommend a visit here for adults and kids. We could’ve spent a lot more time here but the kids were getting a bit tetchy so we needed to make a move. We had a wander along the lakefront, had some lunch before driving on to Lake Tekapo.

Overnight at the campground was reasonably priced with good facilities. The showers are free yet timed so no long ones unfortunately. Not much for the kids to do here but the playground on the lakefront in the centre of the village was a good spot for families.

Next stop, Timaru via Fairlie for some family time visiting an aunt and uncle and seeing where my Poppa grew up. We then stopped in Geraldine for some more food (amazing cheese shop and butchers here!). And then headed along the inland scenic route stopping off at a spot near the river in Mayfield for our last night of the trip.

We made our way to Christchurch via Methven and Mt Hutt Village with a playground stop to keep the kids happy. Drop off of the van was easy – I recommend a Saturday drop off as seemed to be a little quieter. This also meant when we got home we had a day up our sleeves to do laundry and relax a little before work again on Monday.

Campervan tips:

• Go for the bigger size! Yes, 4 people fit in a 4 berth but your stuff probably won’t! We would get the 6 berth next time.
• Go fully inclusive to reduce your vehicle excess (often up around $7,500 if you have an accident) and get some added extras too.
• CHECK YOUR DRIVERS LICENCE is valid. My partner didn’t realise his expired a week before we left!
• Go to the supermarket. Stock up on day 1 and start using everything. It wasn’t until about day 5 that we were comfortable doing the tanks and using the stove etc.
• Express return pack. This means you don’t have to empty the tanks, pay your diesel mileage, fill up with gas… it makes your drop off day less stressful.
• Download the Campermate App which shows you places to park up overnight from free sites to campgrounds etc.
• Remember you will be provided with the bedding for the number of people you book and towels also. The van will have utensils and crockery for the number of berths and cooking stuff too. It will come with a tea towel, a sachet of dishwashing liquid, a chux cloth, brush and shovel, a couple of toilet pods (you’ll get told what these are for!) and some gloves. We packed extra towels as 4 didn’t go very far when you were going to hot pools etc (you can rent these if you want at the pools and campgrounds).
• If there is a TV in your camper, bring a flash drive so you can watch your favourite shows/movies without draining your device batteries.

General tips:

• Download Playground Buddy app. This shows you all of the playgrounds around where you are with photos (if uploaded by users). You can also contribute to the app by taking photos and updating things in playgrounds you visit.
• SLOW DOWN – take your time. Pace your holiday slower than you originally planned. We crammed a lot of distance in a short amount of time. We are lucky that our kids sleep in the car so we didn’t have too many problems on the drives but if you don’t have good travellers, shorten the drives and make the most of the destinations.
• I wouldn’t do it any later in the season. It was getting very cold and we had the heaters on each night. The only reason we did this time of year was we got a great deal on the van!
• Always remember your chargers and cables. A car charger plug would be beneficial. Note, the power points in the van will not work if you are not plugged in.