Spend any length of time on the road, and it’s likely you’ll cross paths with the following types of ‘vanlife’ characters. From the Instagram Influencer editing their next ‘Camper Reno’ ebook, to the Kiwi Camper who unwittingly becomes a pincushion for the local sandfly population, here are 5 Vanlife starter packs for campers in New Zealand. Which one are you? Comment below!

1. The Backpacker Vanlife Starter Pack

You’ve always wanted to go to New Zealand- well, at least after you saw Lord of the Rings. After hours of flying and painful layovers, you’re finally here! Groaning with relief, you shuffle through customs where a sniffer dog pays undue attention to your backpack, and an officer swoops in. ‘Has there ever been food in this bag?’ they ask tersely. You shrug. ‘Umm… probably.’ After rifling through your pack, they set you free and you leap into the seat of your hire campervan with a blissful smile. Where to? The closest information site. Where to after then? The closest hike your pamphlets take you.

After seeing your first Kiwi bird (on a sign), visiting Hobbiton, trying Marmite, and learning to greet everyone with ‘key or ah’, it’s time to get off the beaten track. Or more precisely, to Queenstown. Here are the majestic mountains that were promised to you! Problem is, you’re strapped for cash (should have gone to Bali?). Looks like you’ll have to find a seasonal job if you want to stay another two weeks before your visa expires…

2. The Kiwi Vanlife Starter Pack

You’ve been doing this vanlife thing a while. You go the Ware-whare to buy gas bottles for your portable stove. And new jandals when they bite the dust. Summer has arrived, along with the swarms of tourists and insects. All your clothes smell like citronella because you’ve been using those scented mozzie coils to get rid of sandflies. Life is pretty good though. On a sunny day, you park up on Tomahawk Beach, crack a Speights, and sit on your chilly bin as seagulls flutter down like confetti.

And then you get the weeks of endless rain… ugh, where has summer gone? Yes, sometimes vanlife expectations don’t live up to the reality. But at least you can hide out in your cosy camper and remember the good times as you munch on a tasty block of Whittaker’s.

3. The Influencer Starter Pack

Remember the old days when you used to stare at the office clock?
Every single morning before work, a sad, sinking feeling crept into your stomach. It only got worse as you shuffled down the corridor to a lonely desk covered in sticky-notes and invites to staff functions that always coincidentally clashed with your ‘important family get-togethers’. 9:01am. Crikey. Feels like a lifetime already.

One day, you just can’t take it anymore. The boss calls you- several times – but you send back a short message about being sick and search for a new camper online. It’s gotta be a special one. Fairy lights? Check. Wooden furnishings? Check. Posters with inspirational quotes? Yes please. Luckily, you were in that drudge job long enough that you’ve got savings to buy your new motorhome. One of your friends jokes that you’ll become a #vanlife influencer… Hmmm. Maybe that isn’t the worst idea? Time to post unrealistic cutesy pics to social media, plan a content calendar, start filming vids, and thinking about content topics… Meh, let’s worry about that later! Right now, it’s time to buy a selfie stick…

4. The Hippy Starter Pack

There’s no greater freedom than the freedom to be yourself… So why restrain yourself to being a cookie-cutter camper with a boring white van and itinerary that reads like a shopping list?

First up: find a van that really ‘speaks to you’ (and not just when you’re high). A van, after all, is not just a vessel to transport you from A to B. It’s a canvas waiting for your artistic abilities to shine in all their glory. At the very least, giving your van a bright paint job will help you identify it when you’re wasted at Rhythm and Vines.

5. The Freedom Camping Starter Pack

Wow, these Kiwi locals are very tetchy, aren’t they? You park for 5 minutes in a suburban neighbourhood, and window curtains begin twitching all over the place. Next thing you know, a do-gooder resident comes running out, shooing you away as they say ‘no freedom camping here! Try the domain.’

So off to the domain you go, where there are approximately 50 other campervans. Part of you sympathises with the locals. Freedom campers get so much bad press for clogging space and using the NZ wild as a tip or toilet. Have they ever considered that it’s because the public toilets are so gross that people prefer going bush? To be fair, you have a portaloo in the van, an essential part of your vanlife starter pack. But it’s really just for show – you can’t be bothered cleaning it out. Unless you’re really desperate.

Keen to learn more about vanlife? Check out the 4 Reasons why you should consider campervan travel in New Zealand.

Enjoyed this post on vanlife starter packs?
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• Vanlife Expectation vs Reality
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• Picton to Invercargill: a quick travel guide
• Otago Rail Trail Packing List & Tips

Helpful Resources for Vanlife

• Rankers Camping App: an interactive map with paid & free campgrounds across NZ