We are planning our first trip to New Zealand Feb 19 - Apr 9. We arrive
in Aukland and plan to visit both islands.... Also wondering if
we should rent a car. Campervan. Buy a car. Or use the bus.

We went to OZ in '06 for 6 weeks. The locals said there'd be lots of
accomodation available (leftovers) from Olympics for $ 50 night so It would
be cheaper to rent a car rather than a campervan.

What we found was the places were there but had gone up to $ 75 night .
Cars are markedly cheaper to rent than the vans but adding the $ 75/day
would probably make it a "tie" [you still have to pay for most campgrounds].

We put almost 10,000Km on 4 different rental cars...we always got one with
"Unlimited miles"

We did one flight (To Tassie) rather than the ferry by: www.jetstar.com
It was MUCH cheaper than the boat.
If you decide to fly, book over a week in advance and try to avoid weekends
for the best prices.

If you decide to rent a vehicle, we found our best deals at:
http://www.apollocamper.com/

They have both cars & Vans. Ask for the "CHEAPA" rental cars..3-4 yrs old,
in fine condition..much cheaper than the NEW ones.

We also found that there was internet access in every little town with a
library. Booked "same day" accomodation online more than once (since we
didnt know how long/far we'd get each day) at : www.kayak.com and
www.asia.com

Pretty well all this also applies to NZL.

Good luck

R