Camper van rental in New Zealand

Looking at renting a camper van on the South island in later January to mid February and I'm a bit overwhelmed with the number of companies offering van rentals. Does anyone here have any experience with a preferred company or individual that rents relatively inexpensive vans? Not looking for a cheap junker or a top end motorhome just a decent van to camp in.

I think I rented thru britz/mighty campers (out of Queenstown) and it was pretty chill (this was in early 2019). I requested the smallest van I could with a fridge/stove (some type of Toyota I think) and they ended giving me a sprinter for the same cost lol. All the companies seem fine but I did meet people using wicked and those seemed kinda…meh.   

The only thing you may want to think about is where you plan to stay and having a camper that is self contained (and has a sticker). NZ has changed many free campsites to places where self contained is required and they do patrol. One place I went to with friends someone came by and ticketed those staying in a tent/van that didn’t have the sticker. The site originally didn’t have that requirement when they stayed there the year before. Also, if you rent diesel you’ll be charged per km (cost depends on the vehicle).

Thanks Carla, That is useful and we've gone ahead and booked a small minivan type self contained camper. 

What did you think the cragging? Looking around online I've been kind of underwhelmed with what the cragging looks like. Wondering if it's even worth bringing gear when it seems there is so much else to explore on the South Island.

I rented through Apollo and was quite happy.

One thing to watch out for, a number of places will rent more vans than they actually have available then “upgrade” you for free to a giant motorhome. Good luck getting those things into or out of anywhere that you really want to go and paying for the gas. In Tasmania we waited an extra 6 hours for our van because I refused the upgrade. While we were there another couple returned theirs and waited for the van they actually reserved. I’ve heard a number of these stories.

ETA- Juicy is a reliable brand that has been around forever. 

I climbed around Takaka/Payne’s Ford. There is a climber camp called Hangdog that is pretty fun and can walk to some crags and swimming holes from there. I brought my personal gear but no ropes/draws and just found people to climb with (was traveling solo). A lot of people go to Hangdog solo. There’s also a Queenstown climbing Facebook that is quite active if you want to try and climb around there, but I never did. Mostly I was exploring the South Island and hiking/chilling. I found the climbing to be fun there (but also underwhelming) - limestone sport climbing at Payne’s, but I’m mainly a multipitch trad climber and was missing some of that.

There’s enough people at Hangdog I don’t think you need to bring gear (just personal gear like harness/shoes) if climbing isn’t your main goal. Besides hiking/climbing I think the paddling (kayaking/packrafting) and mountain biking look pretty stellar if you do any of those sports. 

Go climb in the Darrans or Boulder at Castle Hill. Interesting to hear that it seems underwhelming hahaha

James please take no offense. I'm sure there is plenty of good climbing in New Zealand. It's just that coming from the US is so far and I'll only be there 3 weeks and with so many interesting looking things to see and do in your country that rock climbing isn't maybe so high on my list of must do's.
The Darrens looks worthy of a trip of its own. I hadn’t known of the great looking climbing there.

Norm Larson wrote:

James please take no offense. I'm sure there is plenty of good climbing in New Zealand. It's just that coming from the US is so far and I'll only be there 3 weeks and with so many interesting looking things to see and do in your country that rock climbing isn't maybe so high on my list of must do's.
The Darrens looks worthy of a trip of its own. I hadn’t known of the great looking climbing there.

Hahahah none taken Norm, was just surprised to see that. maybe its to do with the lack of solid publications. If you're looking for more climbing have a look on thecrag>

But yea Darrans is something special. Likewise with Castle Hill, honestly worth trying to get to even if you aren't climbing.
either way, hope you have a good one!

Norm Larson wrote:

What did you think the cragging? Looking around online I've been kind of underwhelmed with what the cragging looks like. Wondering if it's even worth bringing gear when it seems there is so much else to explore on the South Island.

Kiwis joke about how the best rock is on the West Island, and they're not wrong. NZ has some decent rock stuff (Darrans is probably the best), but the cragging is definitely not the draw. Alpine is awesome and incredibly humbling (yes it's short on paper but the glaciers are huge, the weather is terrible, and you're pretty much always starting below 3000'), and the wilderness is pretty out there and special. Also the hut network is amazing.

Have fun down there.

Also have you considered buying and selling? The used market in NZ is pretty cheap, and the bureaucracy is way easier than in the states. Registering a car took all of 10 minutes and cost $10 a month, comprehensive insurance was like $60/mo for my hatchback, and I could have made a profit selling it if I'd put more than 3 hours into the process.