Devika Rege, 25, a key accounts manager with Hindustan Unilever, and her husband, Vivek Belgavi, 30, a senior consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers, spent their 16-day honeymoon travelling across New Zealand in a camper van. And they didn’t even need an international driving licence
We had a winter wedding and it was too cold to contemplate going to Europe, our original dream destination for the honeymoon. So, we got to thinking about Australia and New Zealand. Once we did a little research on the Net—www.newzealand.com, blogs, the Automobile Association website, etc.—and discovered all the adventure New Zealand had to offer, Australia simply got knocked off the list. We spent 16 days there, from 23 December to 9 January, and never regretted a single moment.
Why did you decide to do the trip by camper van?
Well, as I said, we did all the research on our honeymoon by ourselves. Everything we read said that the best way to do New Zealand was in a camper van. Also, we didn’t have too much time to plan everything to the minutest detail. So, a certain amount of flexibility—such as would be allowed on a self-drive holiday—worked for us. We planned the main halts, but did not plan the time spent or things to do or see at each place. Plus, distances in New Zealand aren’t much. We knew the longest we would be on the road between two places was three-four hours. It helped that both of us drive: We’d take turns in being driver and photographer.
Rege and Belgavi at the Wai-o-tapu thermal park
The Net, again, was our saviour. Reading blogs and surfing the Net, we narrowed down companies offering camper vans in New Zealand. While shopping for vans, we were aware we didn’t want high-end luxe, but it had to have a bathroom and a kitchenette. We finally decided on a company called Backpacker and arranged to pick up the camper van on landing in Auckland. As luck would have it, though, the vehicle we were allotted was pretty shabby and the clutch got burnt the first day itself. The replacement was a brand new Ford and was excellent all-round.
Did you spend all your time in the camper van? No hotels?
That’s right—we were in the camper van all through, except the first and last nights. And we were quite glad about it. For the first night in Auckland, the tourism agency had booked us into a hotel and it was quite expensive.
You must have been glad to get away into the countryside. Your first destination was…?