Jane Curtis, Detour Finance Director
Freedom camping in New Zealand led Detour’s Finance Director Jane Curtis to her favourite Detour on the road to Queenstown.
“We did thousands of miles and experienced a feeling of freedom and independence like no other.”
“Our honeymoon took us to Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, but it was our time in New Zealand that led to my favourite Detour.
We rented a camper van and spent two weeks touring around. We picked it up in Auckland, drove around the North Island and then took a ferry to the South Island, which is prettier, as everybody says.
We were doing what they call ‘freedom camping’ which means you just stop where you want, when you want and don’t need to go near a campsite. As long as you're self contained, ie, you've got a loo that contains itself, and whatever else you need, you don't really leave your mark, you literally just have your tyre marks, then there's places that you can just stop for the night. And we tried every night to spend somewhere next to water.
My husband is a helicopter pilot and we had just been to visit Whataroa where apparently the world’s most experienced Robinson pilot is based. My husband went for a flight and then we headed off towards Queenstown.
Will Li / Unsplash
You head down the coast and then across the mountains of Mount Aspiring National Park and the roads are fabulous. It is just a lovely drive and then when you come down to Queensland it is in kind of in a bowl, and it's also got an airport. And as you're coming down the mountain the airliners are coming in at what seems like the same height as you.
You just have everything in front of you. You can see water, the sky, transport, nature. And unlike the feeling of whizzing down on a bannister you get in a plane, you're taking a step on the staircase each time as you descend and you absorb everything as you're driving along.
That’s really what it was all about. A wonderful setting, no rush to be anywhere. And in a vehicle that could do it in comfort and put you up for the night as well. We did thousands of miles on the trip and experienced a feeling of freedom and independence like no other. But those miles into Queenstown are the ones I will never forget.