Useful Apps for Traveling New Zealand
I wrote this in 2016 or 2017 during the two years I lived in New Zealand. Apps change — I’ve kept the ones that are still relevant and cut the ones that aren’t. Always check the App Store for current versions and reviews.
New Zealand is an easy country to navigate but a few apps make it significantly easier, especially if you’re road tripping or getting around Auckland on public transport. Here are the ones I’d actually recommend.
My partner’s sister told us about this one — she and her husband spend a lot of the year in their caravan traveling around New Zealand and swear by it. We downloaded it before our South Island road trip and used it daily.
CamperMate helps you find public toilets, hot showers, petrol stations, campgrounds, dump stations, WiFi, ATMs, laundromats, groceries, road warnings, information centres, and things to do — all in one clean, easy-to-use interface. You can view everything at once or filter for just what you need. On a road trip through the South Island where facilities can be sparse, knowing where the next public toilet or hot shower is matters more than you’d think.
We used it constantly. If you’re doing any kind of road trip in New Zealand, download this one before you leave.
If you’re getting around Auckland by bus, train or ferry then the Auckland Transport app is worth having. It maps your journey, shows you real-time bus status, and covers all three modes of transport in one place. Simple and genuinely useful.
Not an app but worth mentioning alongside accommodation options. A bach (pronounced “batch”) is a Kiwi cabin or holiday home — simple, self-contained, and very NZ. Book a Bach lists privately owned baches and holiday homes all over the country. Unlike AirBnB you’re not sharing with anyone — you get the whole place. If you want to stay somewhere that actually feels like New Zealand rather than a hotel, this is a great option alongside Look After Me.
Great tips, thanks! I used the wicked camper app when I was campervanning around.
I’ll check it out, thanks for that! Wicked has gotten some bad press here this year because of the slogans on some of their vans. It will be interesting to see if they make any changes this summer — http://www.stff.co.nz