4WD Camper rental NZ. Troopy or LR or similar suggestions

[Mongoswede]

My wife and I are planning to take a late honeymoon trip to NZ in December/January and we would like to rent a 4wd truck/camper setup for a week or so. I have been searching google and come across "Quiver South", Trekker Adventures, and Off track rentals that offer either pop top LR's and LC's or roof top tent trucks with all cooking and camping supplied. We want to rent something fun that is small enough to explore easily and can navigate the rough roads in the mountains vs a van or caravan.

Appreciate suggestion, experiences, reviews etc.

 

[Billhilly]

Can't offer any experiences, nor reviews sorry. I would check all the fine print about possible road exclusions, single vehicle accident insurance wording etc etc. One of the above sites T's & C's 'Exclusions' for recovery states 'Nominated Vehicles not on public or formed roads, or trapped/bogged' so you are on your own as soon as leave the for mentioned formed roads. Don't be put off, just be aware of what you are 'buying'. Plenty of formed roads down here! 'A week or so' doesn't cover a lot of ground. Couple of sites to look at rough road options - https://www.4x4explorer.co.nz/expeditions/ and https://www.facebook.com/groups/1259914904115135/ For real detail check out https://www.remotemoto.com/ Two wheel based, but covers pretty much all the South Island options. School is out then, so more people/traffic. Oh, and have fun!

 

[Paddler Ed]

Also, the Kiwi's are hot on campers being self contained if wild camping and the hire campers will have stickers to denote that. Maui/Britz explain this here http://www.maui-rentals.com/nz/en/travel-info/whats-freedom-camping.

Official line here: https://www.govt.nz/browse/recreation-and-the-environment/freedom-camping/

Quiver South: 99.9% sure won't meet the Certified Self-Contained rule
Trekker Adventures: don't appear to meet the Certified Self contained rule
Off track rentals: Have one available that is self contained https://www.offtrackrentals.co.nz/vehicles-2)

As Billhilly says, some of them will have exclusions about the roads you can use them on; I'd be making sure it doesn't exclude unsealed/gravel roads, as there are some great ones that take you through the centre of South Island.

Can't add much more than that; we were lucky to spend about 5 days with a family friend in Dunedin, and then spent 7 days travelling by ourselves, which gave us an opportunity to see things in quite a focused way and then more relaxed based on their recommendations.

 

[Tudor Tanase]

Maybe things have changed in 20 years but when I moved to NZ in 1999 I bought a 4wd... then sold it and bought a 2wd van. Simply nowhere to go where you would need 4wd - all locked up. Moved to Australia and bought a 4wd again.

 

[llamalander]

I'll second the self-contained advice, it opens up the options for camping or just stopping for the night where you like. Spent a month circling the South Island in spring, didn't have 4wd, never saw a road that needed it. We did find plenty of bugs and appreciated a van with room enough to retreat into, also took a liking to the heater. Living out of a vehicle is not crushingly expensive, if you make it all the way down there, spend as much time as you can--there is a lot to see and that's best enjoyed at a casual pace.