Hippie Camper New Zealand FAQs

Hippie Camper is proud to provide modern, well maintained backpacker campervan rentals in New Zealand.

Our Hippie Deluxe campers are 0-5 years old, our Hippie Budget campers are 3-5 years old, and our Hippie Hitop campers are 4-6yrs old. We pride ourselves on the quality of our vehicles, which are subject to regular maintenance checks, and built by Australia's premier RV manufacturer, Talvor Motorhomes.

Hippie Campers are known for being one of the easiest rental campervans on the market to drive and park. If you are comfortable driving a car with manual transmission, you will find the Mitsubishi Express 7300 a cinch.

Fitting into a standard car parking space is never an issue when you choose the compact Hippie Camper. Be sure to observe the New Zealand road rules throughout your campervan holiday, and you'll have a wicked time!

Hippie happily hires campervans to drivers 18 and over, as long as you hold a valid, non-provisional driver's licence. The maximum driving age is 75 years.

You can hire a vehicle from Hippie Camper with a standard driver's licence. We require a full (non provisional) and valid driver's licence, which must be presented in person by all people wishing to drive the vehicle. If the licence is not in English, an International driver's licence or valid, certified translation is also required.

Hippie Campervans can only be driven on sealed/bitumen roads or well maintained access roads less than 5 kilometres long to recognised campgrounds.

Caravan Parks: We strongly recommend you stay in a caravan (RV) park. New Zealand has an extensive network of caravan parks in all major tourist centres and most towns. Caravan parks offer excellent recreational opportunities, plus essential shower and toilet facilities. Powered sites enable you to connect your vehicle to electricity. The approximate cost is NZ$20-30 per night.

National Parks: Most national parks in New Zealand have areas set aside for camping. There are often showers, toilets, barbecues and picnic areas. National parks are also beautiful and peaceful locations to stay overnight. However, national parks do not usually offer powered sites.

Roadside Camping: Council laws prohibit camping on the side of the road near towns and cities. However, outside towns and in country areas it is generally permitted.

Freedom Camping: While New Zealand is very tolerant of ‘Freedom Camping’ they do have some guidelines to ensure their communities and environment is not adversely affected by campers. There are also new laws that allow local governments to fine you if you are breaching the freedom camping guidelines. For more information click HERE.

The battery system will provide power for between 12 – 20 hours when fully charged depending on use.

Hippie Campervans operate on ancillary battery systems which power internal appliances such as the fridge, lights and water pump.

The batteries only recharge when you drive the vehicle or when connected to mains power. Idling the engine won't provide enough power to recharge the house battery. When you are connected, all equipment automatically runs on mains power rather than the battery.

For the 12 Volt system to work, the 12 Volt main switch must be in the ‘on' position. All vehicles can be connected to 240 Volt mains power via the supplied 15 Amp extension lead with large earth pin. All approved caravan park circuits are rated at 15 amps.

Each campervan is supplied with complimentary living equipment such as bedding, cooking equipment, eating utensils, bath and tea towels.

Hippie also supplies a complimentary Welcome Pack for your first night. The pack contains matches, mini shampoo and conditioner, dishwashing liquid, sponge, soap, salt and pepper, coffee, tea and sugar sachets.

Your rental Camper is also supplied with maps and camp ground guides, as well as a free Hippie Camper Touring Map, which contains valuable discounts on attractions and campgrounds for your road trip.

We strongly recommend you use soft bags instead of suitcases for your luggage. Soft bags take up less room and fit more easily into the storage cupboards and lockers in the vehicle.

Petrol (Gasoline) in New Zealand comes in unleaded and leaded grades, and is sold by the litre. Petrol and diesel fuel costs upwards of $1.60 NZD per litre.

Please note that the exact prices can differ between petrol stations. For more accurate information at the time of travel, please contact the local branch.

Before contacting our reservations team to book your motorhome relocation special, please ensure you complete the following steps for a quick and easy booking process:

• Have your credit card ready to pay the deposit
• Familiarise yourself with the relocation Terms and Conditions
• Confirm that you have held an open licence for 2 years, and are over 21 years of age

Please also remember that you will need to pay a bond on vehicle pick-up, so you must have sufficient funds on your credit card.

The popularity of our relocation offers mean it would be very difficult for us to maintain an up to date relocation waiting list. Our rental vehicle relocation page is updated daily, so the best way to track available relocation specials is by bookmarking this page and visiting it on a regular basis.

Hippie relocation specials are made available as a result of Hippie's rental requirements. Therefore, we cannot offer any special not posted on our relocation page.

Hippie offers a certain number of days and free kilometres at the heavily discounted relocation rate. The number of days and kilometres are determined by the route you are travelling. Subject to availability, you may be able to hire the vehicle for additional days at a higher rate. Extra kilometres driven are charged at a low per km rate on vehicle return. For full details, see our Terms and Conditions.

Hippie does not provide Airport transfers for relocation offers, so please make sure you have made transport arrangements to and from the airport. Most airports provide a taxi rank where you can access cabs to take you to our rental office.