Nervous Adventurer

In my last post, I mentioned that we spent about NZD6000 in total (including airfare, insurance and all that jazz). Here’s a quick outline of our expenses. I’ve also included some money-saving tips. Do remember, though, that we weren’t on full-on budget traveller mode all the time. So we did splurge on certain items! And then, of course, there were days we felt so broke that we’d have one meal a day and call it ‘breaklunner’…

Tickets (paid online with credit cards)
We paid SGD938 for our return tickets to Auckland, and paid an extra AUD100 because we changed our return dates.On board the ferry Santa Regina (from Wellington to Picton). It was a 3.5 hour ride.

We travelled the Cook Strait twice (North Island to South Island, then South to North) via ferry. Per trip, it cost us NZD51 per person, and NZD118 for our car.

Car (All car expenses were split equally amongst the 3 of us)
We bought our 7-seater Honda Odyssey (2000 model) for NZD4000, and sold it 5 months later for NZD3000. So we essentially spent NZD1000 nett for the use of the car, split 3 ways.

Our car! It faithfully ferried 3 girls and loads of stuff about 12,000km across the country.

We filled our tank once a week (full tank of petrol was approximately NZD108).

Parking could cost up to NZD8/hr (e.g. in Wellington). In most places, however, there was free/cheap parking.

The Warranty of Fitness (WOF), which is mandatory for all cars that are more than 10 years old, cost $52 at the NZ Transport Authority. We had to do this once.

Our car undergoing the WOF inspection. 

We had a few hiccups along the way and had to pay quite a bit for car repairs too. We spent approximately NZD400 on car repairs (brake switch, brake light, airbags.)

More information here.

Insurance
My travel insurance cost SGD450. This covered hospitalization, medical and personal accidents.

Car insurance with AA cost about SGD70 a month.

Accommodation
On average, we paid about NZD21-25 a night at hostels.

Money-saving tips: We did manage to get cheaper rates at certain places (only when we stayed long-term). Also, you can check out hostel pricings on the BBH or YHA websites before you make any bookings.

More information here.

Food and Groceries (All grocery and food expenses were split equally amongst the 3 of us)
Food in NZ isn’t cheap. We spent an average of NZ$150 a week for groceries for 3 people. Honestly, we didn’t exactly skimp on food, but we weren’t excessively lavish either.

Breakfast in NZ: Spaghetti on toast with half an avocado

PAK’nSAVE: One of the cheapest supermarket chains in NZ!

Money-saving tips: Eat in whenever possible. Eat local and seasonal foods (i.e. don’t buy fresh tomatoes in the dead of winter). Plan your meals before you go shopping. That way you’ll be less likely to buy on impulse. (I dole out this advice like a shaman, but I’m a big compulsive food shopper). Convenience foods are almost always more expensive than fresh/dried/frozen vegetables, fruit and meat.

More information here.

High-ticket expenses

I’ll tell you now, without fear or embarrassment, that we spent more than NZD1000 on the fun stuff.

Probably the most expensive activity that Nicole and I did was skydiving at Franz Josef. It cost us about NZD600 for the jump and the video and photographs. Looking delirious here. To be fair, I was hurling to the ground from a height of 15,000 ft.

Apart from that, we also went horseback riding in Glenorchy (NZD135), rode the Shotover Jet in Queenstown (NZD129), went on a tour to Milford Sound (NZD140), went quad-biking (NZD200) and did a few other things as well.

Horseback riding in Glenorchy. I had a hungry horse named Wilson. Incidentally, my boyfriend’s name is also Wilson. 

We did all these activities (except skydiving) when we had visitors. I found that many of these activities are catered to tourists, and so you have to pay the premium for all the bells and whistles.

Money-saving tips: You can save money on some of these activities if you go during the low season (i.e. we saved more than NZD100 each because we did skydiving in winter). Also, if you have the luxury of time, some tour companies offer last minute deals that can save you quite a bit.

Other miscellaneous expenses
We paid approximately NZD50/month for our prepaid cards (an excessive luxury, to be perfectly honest!). This gave us 3.5gb of data, 100 mins of calling time and unlimited texts. Also, there was 1gb of free data a day at the telecom booths.

There is a fee for joining as a WWOOFer. It’s NZD40 for a maximum of 2 people.

We signed up for TradeMe when we bought our car. It’s like Craigslist for NZ. It cost us NZD10.

Laundry costs an average of NZD 4 per load (washing machine), and NZD4 for the dryer. Most travellers choose to hang their clothes outside on the line. This practice is highly encouraged by various hostels as it saves you money and it’s so much more environmentally-friendly.

Money-saving tips: Honestly, you can survive without paying so much for your prepaid card. You can get free wifi at certain hostels, malls, and libraries. Granted, it’s not going to be high-speed internet, but you can send emails and messages to people at home to let them know you’re safe.
As for the WWOOFing membership, some people we met actually found WWOOFing without actually signing up with the website. But the benefit of paying for the membership is that you basically get access to the profiles of all the WWOOFing hosts. You get to read information about them and their farms, see pictures, and even read reviews left by previous WWOOFers.

When it comes to laundry, you can save by hanging your clothes out on the line instead of using the dryers. Just watch out for the rain (the weather can get rather erratic at times). Also, we found that we could wear our clothes at least 3-4 times before we needed to wash them. I probably washed my PJs once a week. The only times I felt that I REALLY had to wash my clothes was probably after cooking (oil stains, food smells). Also, it helped that we were there during the cooler months, and didn’t really perspire that much.

Phew! Ok, that’s about it for my little expense report. More information in my upcoming posts!
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