Guide · New Zealand · 6 min read

15 Days in New Zealand: Our North & South Island Road Trip

A car up north, a campervan down south, and the honest numbers behind our 2,900 km loop.

By The Candid Duo · September 25, 2026

15 Days in New Zealand: Our North & South Island Road Trip

Fifteen days, two islands, one rental car, one campervan and about 2,900 km of scenery that made us pull over every ten minutes. This is how two Indonesians living in Singapore finally did New Zealand, from Auckland all the way down to Milford Sound and back to Christchurch.

✨ The trip in numbers

🗓️ 15 days + one overnight flight, mid-October (NZ spring)
🚗 ~2,900 km driven: car up north, campervan down south
🚐 6 nights in a van
⛴️ 1 ferry across Cook Strait, 1 scenic train over the Southern Alps
💸 ~SGD 5.1k per person, flights included

🗺️ The route: one big loop

Fly into Auckland, drive south through the geothermal North Island, sail to the South Island, then campervan the West Coast, lakes and fiords before looping back to Christchurch.

Day	Route	Highlight
0–1	Singapore › Auckland	Soft landing at an airport hotel
2	Auckland › Rotorua	First left-side drive, hot pools
3	Rotorua › Taupō	Huka Falls
4	Taupō › Wellington	Desert Road volcano views
5	Wellington › Christchurch	Interislander ferry, Kaikōura seals
6	Christchurch › Lake Mahinapua	Van pick-up, Castle Hill, Arthur’s Pass
7	Franz Josef › Wānaka	Glacier walk, Haast Pass
8	Wānaka › Queenstown	Fergburger, Skyline Luge
9	Queenstown › Milford › Te Anau	Milford Sound cruise
10	Te Anau › Aoraki/Mt Cook	Alpine salmon, Lake Pukaki
11	Mt Cook › Lake Tekapo	Hooker Valley, stargazing
12	Tekapo › Christchurch	Van drop-off
13	Christchurch	TranzAlpine train
14–15	Christchurch › Singapore	Slow day, flight home

🌋 North Island: steam, volcanoes and a windy capital (Days 1–5)

We landed in Auckland after lunch and went straight to the airport hotel instead of driving jet-lagged. Best decision of the trip (and we got a free room upgrade).

Rotorua smells like boiled eggs, and you stop noticing by dinner. The next day was an easy one: a short drive to Taupō and the electric-blue Huka Falls, which is free and only a few minutes’ walk from the car park.

Day 4 was the Desert Road, with Mt Ruapehu and Tongariro watching over us all the way to Wellington. Then an early Interislander ferry through the Marlborough Sounds, and a coastal drive past Ohau Point, where fur seals nap on the rocks right beside the road.

🚐 South Island: six nights in a campervan (Days 6–13)

In Christchurch we swapped the car for a Maui campervan and immediately detoured for Sheffield Pies (buy an extra for the road). Then over Arthur’s Pass, past the giant boulders of Castle Hill, to a quiet lakeside DOC campsite for just SGD 21.

The days that followed were the reason we came:

🧊 Franz Josef Glacier walk in the morning, #ThatWanakaTree at golden hour the same evening
🍔 Queenstown: Fergburger (worth the queue) and the Skyline Luge (ride it more than once)
🏞️ Milford Sound: a 4-hour drive, a 2-hour cruise among waterfalls and seals, then Mirror Lakes on the way back
🍣 Lake Pukaki: fresh salmon sashimi at the foot of Aoraki/Mt Cook, then our wildest night: no power, no signal, a sky full of stars
⭐ Hooker Valley Track to a glacier lake, then stargazing in Tekapo’s Dark Sky Reserve

We finished with the TranzAlpine, one of the world’s great train rides, coast to coast over the Southern Alps from an open-air viewing carriage.

💰 What it really cost

We spent SGD 10,209 for two (about SGD 5,100 each) in October 2023. For 2026 we’d budget around SGD 11,260 because of higher visa fees, the new tourist levy and pricier vans. Flights and wheels (car, campervan, ferry, petrol) made up 67% of the total.

The full guide breaks down every dollar by category and day, plus 8 ways to spend less (tip: book the TranzAlpine direct, we overpaid by over SGD 350).

🛂 Heads-up for Indonesian passport holders

You need a proper visitor visa, not the NZeTA, even if you live in Singapore. In 2026 it’s from NZD 441 per person, including the NZD 100 visitor levy, and takes about 2–4 weeks. Apply 6–8 weeks before you fly and keep bookings refundable until it’s approved.

Fees and rules change, so always confirm on immigration.govt.nz. We’re travellers, not immigration advisers.

💡 5 things we wish we knew

Declare all your food. Snacks, sambal, instant noodles, abon, everything. Not declaring means an instant NZD 400 fine.
Check the van’s battery at pick-up. If it isn’t full, make your first night a powered holiday park.
Fuel up before remote stretches. Haast Pass and the Milford road have little fuel and no signal. Download offline maps.
Leave Queenstown by 7 am for Milford. Save the photo stops for the drive back so you don’t miss your cruise.
Pack soft bags. Campervan storage is tiny, and duffels squash into lockers far better than suitcases.

🎒 Want our full itinerary?

This post is the highlight reel. Our 33-page New Zealand North & South Island Itinerary is the whole spreadsheet made pretty, so you can copy our trip or build your own on top of it.

What’s inside:

📅 Hour-by-hour plans for all 15 days, with drive times, stays and what we spent each day
💸 A full budget breakdown: our 2023 actuals plus 2026 estimates, in SGD
🛂 A visa checklist for Indonesian passport holders, with the exact documents we prepared
📆 A booking timeline so nothing sells out on you
🚐 Campervan 101: every campsite we used, powered vs unpowered, and freedom-camping rules
🧳 Packing lists, halal food tips, driving rules and our favourite eats

👉 Get the full itinerary on Gumroad

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