Kiwi Experience

Kia Ora!

I knew I wanted to experience New Zealand but I had limited time and wanted to make the most of my trip there. So I looked up online for travel tips and came across few travel services such as Stray and Kiwi Experience. I looked up online reviews for both of them and checked their websites to see which ones would suit me better. I then contacted STA travel knowing which one I wanted to go with and after talking it over with my agent I knew which one I for sure wanted to go with but wasn't sure which route to take. After talking it over about what I wanted to experience and where I wanted to go it then was booked.

We agreed on Bay of Islands and Sheep Dog bus passes. There's few different bus passes, it depend on where you want to go and what you want to do :)

There's plenty of reasons why I chose Kiwi Experience: Guaranteed 1st night's accommodation at every overnight stop, meet new people at every destination, flexibility (Hop on Hop off), unique stops to see amazing views (And for photos!), and discounts on some activities! And many more!

Kiwi Experience buses:
From Auckland to Bay of Islands to Auckland, my driver was Jarred.
From Auckland to Christchurch, my driver was JoJo.

You can hop on and hop off any time you like and when you are ready to hop on again, just let Kiwi Experience know the dates they will save you a seat. I was pretty lucky!

I loved all places I stayed in but didn't fancy staying in Bay of Islands any more than a night so I went back to Auckland but didn't confirm my dates with Kiwi Experience because I was undecided. So I asked Jarrod if I could get a seat on a certain date for Auckland to South.

When I arrived in Auckland, I went exploring by foot then went to bed early because I had to get up early the next day and wait at the meeting point for Auckland to South bus. I was hoping there were a stand by seat for me.

That was when I met a different driver JoJo who confirmed there was a seat for me, yay!! I then decided to plan the rest of my trip and sorted out how many nights I wanted to stay in each place but I also had to be flexible in case I changed my mind. The bus timetable was tricky to sort out because I wanted to make the most of my trip and at the same time I wanted to be flexible.

On Kiwi Experience buses, we get sheet handouts, we all fill it in then pass it around to everybody. When we all finish filling it in, we hand it back to the driver who then book our accommodation and activities.

There's two main islands in New Zealand which is North & South Island. To get between each island you need to travel via a ferry. The ticket isn't included in the bus pass but you can let your driver know and they will help you book it with a great deal year around.

I stayed in both North Island and South Island. Listed below are the places where I stayed :)

North Island:
Paihia - Bay of Islands, Auckland, Hot Water Beach, Waitomo, Rotorua, Taupo, River Valley, Wellington

South Island:
Kaiteriteri, Westport, Franz Josef, Wanaka, Queenstown, Lake Tekapo, Christchurch

A huge thanks to Kiwi Experience drivers and everyone I met 

because they made my trip amazing!