New Zealand is a wonderful country for a road trip, especially on the mostly rural South Island, where they have more sheep than people.

This country has two main islands, and both are worth visiting. The North Island has great beaches, volcanoes, and green farmlands, while the South Island has glaciers, fjords, rain forests, and arguably the best road tripping conditions and overall scenery.

Last, but not least, New Zealand is where the entire Lord of the Rings movie series was filmed, and they even kept some of the movie sets. That gives it bonus cool points!

Climate

The climate in New Zealand is temperate and mild, so there’s seasonal variation in temperatures, but nothing very extreme. Spring and Summer in NZ are from September to November, and December to February, respectively. Summer daytime temps hover around 75 F (24 C), and winter 55 F (13 C), with spring and autumn temps being between those ranges. Winter in NZ is from June to August.

Safety

New Zealand is one of the safest countries in the world, with a low violent crime rate of 0.7 per 100k inhabitants (90% lower than the global average). Theft from vehicles does happen occasionally and you’ll see signs warning about this in parking lots, so remember to always lock up and keep your valuables with you.

Budget

New Zealand is not a cheap country. You can expect to pay over $2 NZD per liter for gas (that’s a liter, not a gallon!). Eating out isn’t cheap either, with casual restaurants costing upwards of $20 NZD for a meal. The good news is that you’ll pay a fraction of this when cooking your own meals. Camper van rentals are not exactly cheap either, but you can cut costs by looking for free/low cost campgrounds. The handy CamperMate app is great for this.