10 Months in New Zealand: Statistics
Just for the heck of it, I kept track of all sorts of numbers that applied to our trip around New Zealand. Now I can tell you, for example, just how many hostels we stayed in or how many penguins we saw. Read on if that's something you think you might be interested in.
Acommodation
Stayed in 12 hostels for a total of 3 weeks and 6 days. (Average cost a night for two: $55 NZD).
Stayed in 4 airbnbs for 1 month, 3 weeks and 4 days (one was a long-term rental whilst apple-packing).
Stayed for free at 2 homes and 1 hostel as part of help exchanges for 5 months, 1 week and 4 days.
Day one in our home of five months in Invercargill. We painted and/or cleaned for four hours a day, five days a week in exchange for this room.
Spent three weeks living in one super-cozy "flop house" in Motueka, N.Z.
Stayed in one hotel at Maruia Hot Springs for one night.
Stayed in one holiday park cabin for one night.
Stayed on the floor of CJ's student flat for eight nights total.
Slept in one car (our beloved hatchback Poot Poot) for 1 month and 5 days
Emmett in the midst of our morning stuff re-arrangement that we did each morning after sleeping in the back.
Transportation
Long-distance buses around NZ: Six (all on the North Island)
Ferries taken: Nine
The Interislander ferry arriving in Picton, NZ.
Helicopter Rides: Two (On & Off Franz Josef)
Kayaking Excursions: Two (Mapua and Kaiteriteri)
Rides hitched: Forty-seven
Longest ride hitched: From Wakefield to Greymouth, 3.5 hours, 270 km (168 miles)
Hitchers picked up: Seventeen
Flights taken after arriving to NZ: 4 (To/from Melbourne, Australia & To/from Auckland to see CJ)
View from the Christchurch-Auckland flight to see C.J. in February 2017.
Vehicles owned: 1, a 1999 Subaru Legacy hatchback
Kilometers/Miles Driven: 9,450 kilometers (5,871 miles)
Nature Stats
National Parks Visited: 7 (Kahurangi, Abel Tasman, Paparoa, Westland Tai Poutini, Fiordland, Mt. Cook/Aoraki, and Tongariro)
Kea seen: 5
Sea lions seen: 4
Eels seen: 2
Seals: Too many to count
Little blue penguins seen: 16
Yellow-eyed penguins seen: 7
Three of the yellow-eyed penguins we saw in New Zealand.
Miscellaneous
Kiwifruit packed: 42 million!!!
Books I read: 53 (Plus three audiobooks)
Our desk in our room in Invercargill. All books bought in a "5 dollar a bag" sale. Some are Emmett's and some are mine.
Vinyl records that Emmett shipped home to the U.S.: 16 (A hefty amount of these were sent back with CJ... thanks Ceej!)
Pals named Julia we befriended: 5 (Seriously, we met quite a few Julias. All cool).
Spending/Budget
Just before we bought our hatchback, we had a lot of cash in hand.
Cost of flights to arrive for two (D.C. - Los Angeles - Nadi, Fiji - Auckland): $2,213.86 USD*
*with $300 off from an American Airlines voucher from a botched domestic flight I had in 2015
Basic data/text/call top-ups: $10 NZD ($8 USD) per month
My student loan payments per month: $198 USD
Emmett’s student loans per month: $268.50 USD
$4665 total over ten months spent on our combined student loan payments
Cost of vehicle: $1,100 NZD (approx. $801 USD)
Selling price of vehicle: $1,800 NZD ($1,311 USD)
Cost of car repairs over the course of ownership: $1,010 NZD ($740 USD)
Average cost of gas per liter: $1.91 NZD (about $7.60 USD a gallon)
Average cost for us to fill up our car: $85 NZD ($62 USD)
Average grocery store run per week: $80 NZD ($57.75 USD)
Money that we earned, combined, after fruit packing: $13,300 NZD ($9,600 USD)
Money that we saved after fruit packing: $9,200 NZD ($6,700 USD)
Spending combined total for entire trip: approximately $31,000 USD