Auckland to Christchurch Family Roadtrip - Britz

Sixteen nights and 2,345 kilometres from Auckland to Christchurch in a campervan, the length of the country, planned as a family trip.

The Coromandel comes first, with Hot Water Beach, where a hot spring rises under the sand for two hours either side of low tide and families dig their own pools in it, then Matamata for Hobbiton, the film set preserved on a working sheep farm.

Lake Taupo follows on its caldera lake, then the Rangitikei, where the river has cut deep papa cliffs and the rafting and bungee are both long established, and Waitomo for the glow worm caves. The route then crosses to the South Island for Lake Tekapo, milky turquoise in a dark sky reserve, Queenstown, and Milford Sound, where the cliffs rise more than a kilometre out of the water, with Timaru before Christchurch.

Britz supply the camper and the day-by-day plan, and the hire is priced live per vehicle rather than per person; campsites, fuel, ferries, park fees and activities are all extra, with a nil-excess insurance pack available at booking. Seventeen days is enough to cover both islands without the whole trip becoming a drive, which shorter versions of this route cannot manage. The Cook Strait ferry takes campervans and needs booking well ahead. Hot Water Beach works to the tide table, and Hobbiton, Waitomo and the Milford cruises all need tour bookings in summer. A one-way hire of this length usually carries a relocation fee, which is worth checking at booking against the cost of flying back.