With the costs for inland travel well under control, the next important spending category are the places to stay. On the tracks, DOC huts and camping sites are on the agenda, but then the question arises as to whether to take up a membership in a campground club such as Top Ten, or a hostel organisation such as BBH or YHA. As I have pointed out before, it doesn’t make much sense to join more than one organisation, because you are rarely going to be there for long enough to justify two. After all you will first have to buy their card, and then the discounts per stay are fairly modest, so that only really loyalty pays off.
As for the DOC huts and campsites, they have to be divided into those that can be used without booking or any further charge when you have a Backcountry Pass ($92, valid for six months), and the Great Walks Huts/Campsites and Northland special huts which require both booking and payment. I managed to stay in nine huts on the pass, which would have cost $115 individually, so the pass was worth it, and it is a nice souvenir.
If you are not into hostels, I can recommend airbnb, although not unreservedly. They have become better at providing more accurate prices so that you know what you are paying up front, but there were a couple of problems with booking rooms in Auckland which resulted in several short-term cancellations by hosts for reasons I cannot fathom. Eventually I did get places which were close enough to where I wanted to be, and they were very comfortable, but the uncertainty was not what you want on holiday.
Something to consider in the hostels v. airbnb question is interaction with other guests, which with airbnb is zilch. In hostels you can always propose a question around the other guests about some activity (mine were the Orakei Korako tour from Rotorua, and Te Whara from Whangarei) which might be undertaken together, and although I had no takers, there certainly was discussion.
I ended up in only three hostels/backpackers this time (not counting Arawa Lodge in Ohakune – quite obviously a hostel, but their main season is apparently winter, so there were no other guests to interact with; and Manutahi Lodge, which seemed so far from anywhere that even the term hostel didn’t seem to apply – both of these were using airbnb as a marketing instrument) – Pipiriki Campground (shared dorm, independent backpackers), Funky Green Voyager, Rotorua (BBH), and The Cell Block, Whangarei (independent). The reason for this was that BBH was not functioning, otherwise I would have bought their card and used them more often. I was still able to use the old card and online account to book the hostel in Rotorua, but as it was not valid there was no discount. Let’s see what they get up to next year…
So here’s the breakdown. If you are using this to try to estimate the costs for two people, the costs for a double occupancy could be:
- Hostels: Double charge for dorms, no surcharge for double room with two people;
- DOC: Double charge for everything;
- airbnb: approx. 10-50% surcharge per extra person, varies widely depending on the host.
| Accommodation Type | No. of nights | Total cost (per night) | Total cost (per night) |
| airbnb | 30 | NZ$1881.0 (NZ$62.7) | €1161.90 (€38.73) |
| DOC – Great Walks, Northland | 10 | NZ$198.0 (NZ$19.8) | €122.30 (€12.23) |
| DOC – Backcountry Pass | 9 | NZ$92.0 (NZ$10.2) | €56.80 (€6.31) |
| Hostels/Backpackers | 9 | NZ$465.0 (NZ$51.7) | €287.30 (€31.91) |
| Grand Totals | 58 | NZ$2636.0 | €1628.30 |
| Per night | NZ$45.45 | €28.07 |
