New Zealand Bus Service Is Not for the Stuffy

“I’d recommend it,” said 25-year-old Jamie Rochford, who traveled in New Zealand last January using Kiwi Experience, a bus service for backpackers. “But I’d let people know what they’re in for.”

Kiwi Experience is a “hop-on-hop-off” bus service whose routes link key sites and adventure activities. Passengers can travel at their own pace for up to a year. Drivers provide commentary and pick up and drop off passengers at hostels and budget hotels.

“Even I felt old at 24,” Rochford said. “The average age was pretty young, early 20s, and some ... were just out of high school.”

(A second company, Magic Travellers Network, www.magicbus.co.nz, takes similar routes but attracts a slightly older clientele.)

Optional adventure activities can be arranged by Kiwi Experience, and with the peer pressure from a busload of new, young friends, you may find yourself trying something you would never do at home. For Rochford, the highlight was skydiving at Lake Taupo. The 12,000-foot tandem jump costs about $78.

Rochford said some of the best night life was in Wellington and the best hostels were in small towns. The best cultural event, he said, was the Maori culture and dinner night in Rotorua.

“The people involved are Maori and proud of their heritage,” he said. “They show you weapons that would have been used, how they would have fought, what they wore. They performed the haka.... It’s a Maori warrior dance to intimidate and show their power.”

The biggest disappointment of his adventure was a “Dolphin Encounter” at Piapa, the Bay of Islands, for $47. “It’s boring--there were no dolphins,” he said.

“Not long enough,” Rochford said of his 20 days on Kiwi Experience. His route, called the Sheep Dog, takes 14 to 16 days and costs $190. He paid $7.50 to $8.25 a night in rooms shared by four to six.

For details go online to www.kiwiexperience.com. Kiwi Experience is sold by STA Travel in Santa Monica, (310) 394-5126, www.statravel.com.

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Lucy Izon is a Toronto-based freelance travel writer and author of “Izon’s Backpacker Journal.” Her Internet site is www.izon.com.