You can never do wrong with traveling in a varied country like New Zealand – as long as you are picking the right traveling date. New Zealand is on the opposite side of the World which means if you want to leave the beautiful rainy Ireland in December/January you will have your second summer vacation in New Zealand at this Time and travel on a budget. But never forget that it supposed to rain on 9 days a month (Luckily, I had only one rainy day in 6 weeks traveling...).
New Zealand is ment to be a spot for all the adventures you are looking for such as bungee jumping, skydiving, river rafting or helicopter ride. If you want to get to know the nature better and if you like hiking, than make sure to book tent spots or beds in the hiking routes of Abel Tasman, Milford Sound or Queenstown. I would also recommend to take a tent with you because tent spots are a lot more cheaper than staying the whole time in a hostel. You are also more flexible with staying over.
My personal recommendation is also a sunrise hike at 3am at the Roys Peak in Wanaka with the most iconic view.
Another place to visit in New Zealand is the National Park Abel Tasman. You feel like you're on the maldives. Nature around you, blue clear water, sandy beaches and nothing else other than nature. Abel Tasman is also known for one of the biggest hiking track, the Abel Tasman Track. This track is about 55km/33 miles long and follow the whole beachside of the national park. It is not a track to finish in one or two days, so me and a friend decided to split the track up into 5 parts including 4 nights. Therefore I had to check if there are free camping spots at the available campsites. If not it would not be possible to stay there for the night. We walked around 2-3h every day so that we had enough time to enjoy pure nature without any mobile advice (due to missing service in this area, what was in my opinion great). Another typical thing for hiking tours in the national parks is the simplicity of all the facilities. Sometimes you don't even have drinkable water why I always had water cleaning pills and a cooker with me. But for me it was the beste experience to get to know myself better, to enjoy the nature and get rid of media consumption on that period.
Hostelworld.com and campermate (App) where my two gadgets when searching for an accommodation. I have to be honest – New Zealand is not really cheap. You should count with 35NZ$ for a night in a shared Bedroom (incl. Breakfast) in a normal hostel. If you choose to stay in a tent at a campsite it could be from 12NZ$ up to 30NZ$. You don’t have to book hostels in advance except for really good rated hostels. I would recommend to take a tent with you, and sleep half time in a hostel if the weather is bad or if the campgrounds are really commercial and construed for camper vans. Unfortunately, free camping is not allowed (but we all know that we still did it).
As the public transport in Ireland doesn’t really exist I decided to travel with a Student bus company called Straytravel (or Kiwi experience is another similar Bus Company with the same product). This company offers you a valid ticket for 12 month with which you can travel the given route including stops. Most of the people decided to buy a van. I would recommend buying a van only: if you are not alone, and if you are doing a trip longer than 8 weeks. The reason therefor is that you don’t have to keep it too easy to sell the bus at the end or find a suitable at your arrival. A van would cost about 2.000 to 4.000 NZ$.
I would not recommend booking everything in advance. It is really easy to plan everything on the day. I would also not recommend to go to Westport, Picton or Invercargill.
The food in New Zealand is really mixed. You have a lot of fast food, pizza/pasta restaurants or Mexican restaurants. They also have a lot places where you can get food to-go. The supermarkets are really expensive, so cooking on your own is a little bit cheaper than going out. But it is not really good value at all.
The best spot for student night-life is definitely in Queenstown. There you can find a lot of pubs and bars. There are many people on the beach. Sometimes they offer a party special at the door which includes drinks for students. The rest of the country is really calm with partying. But if you are staying in a hostel you can always find drinking-buddys for the night.
As the bus route were designed to get to know all the hot spots I really don’t miss any of the main stops in the south islands. I would definitely recommend to stop at Abel Tasman (My favorite place at the trip), Franz Joseph Glacier, Milford Sound (Or Doubtful Sound), Queenstown (Party location), Wanaka and Christchurch.
Price (hotel/accommodation)
Unfortunately, New Zealand is not Cheap but you can enjoy it when you decide to travel on a budget, you only have to inform yourself about cheap travel possibilities. You can calculate from 800€ return flights, the bus ticket is about 500-900€ it depends which route you choose. You can count with 32€ per night per hostel and you should calculate 20€ per day per food (here it could also depend if you are going out or if you cook). The most expensive factor in New Zealand are fun things such as a helicopter ride, skydiving or bungee jumping which cost around 150-300€ per action.