Comparing Caravanning in UK vs NZ... Which One Is Better?

so today I'm going to do a video that compares my experience of caravanning and New Zealand versus caravanning in the UK now I'm actually very curious do you agree with everything I say in this video and if you think of another idea let me know in the comments below as well I you will have picked up if you've watched a few of my other videos that I have struggled with towing in the UK on these roads in New Zealand I could just enter the address in my phone and generally you know a couple of times it's taking me wrong but generally it gets me there I don't have to think about it they've wide wide footpaths on both sides or grassy verges or I don't know this is this space so one big difference is you have to pre-plan your route to get to a campground in the UK is like you're driving through Auckland a bigger city again and again and again and again on the motorways like multi Lane motorways and then suddenly you go to extreme narrow country lanes well I have liked while driving and would have noticed is some of the trucks will flash their lights when you're when you're far enough in front of them that you can move back into the slow lane and I quite like that and overall on the very narrow roads this used to be a very polite system it somehow works that I don't think would work into Zealand but it just somehow works here so there there is a myth in New Zealand when I was looking for a caravan everyone kept saying don't get a UK caravan the chassis can't handle our roads well after driving on the UK roads I would say that they're pretty similar in quality with you know there's some potholes sometimes the road does weed bouncy bit they're basically very similar so I I can destroy that myth UK caravan chesses can handle our New Zealand roads huh the the weird difference I've noticed as a New Zealand I feel like there are road works non-stop roadworks you go for a drive and you will be stopped somewhere a long way because there will be massive roadworks going on whereas in the UK I just seem to notice roadworks on some of the main motorways or or the odd a road I also found out that there are different licenses here so if I had a UK license I couldn't actually tow a caravan without doing another test so you have to be you have to have had your licence at a certain time to be able to tow with no issues so I was a little concerned and I actually contacted the UK Road people before coming over here and I'm allowed to drive on my New Zealand licence for up to a year I think and whatever rules towing rules exists in New Zealand come over to the UK in New Zealand there's a certain you can only talk air event up to a certain weight limit and then it goes into a different class I think and then you have to have a different license another thing I have noticed uh the towing mirrors the side mirrors I feel like in New Zealand it's a bit blase like they're like yeah you could have them but you know it's not the end of the world if you don't have them although someone did point out that we do have the same rules so the rule is you're supposed to be able to see down the sides of your caravan and you really need side mirrors to be able to see where is I kind of feel like it's very strict in the UK both mirrors on both sides as well seeing New Zealand I just have one side and yeah that's fine don't worry about it look and then there's another strict rule in the UK where you have to have them off as well if you're not towing which makes sense with these narrow roads and then the speed differences when you tow in the UK there are two speeds so if you're in a single lane it's you can only go up to the max of 50 miles an hour but if you're an hour to a moorland a road or motorway then you can go 60 miles an hour in New Zealand you can only go up to 90 kilometers and that's it there's this one speed you don't have to worry about any others but overall this car is actually towed very well and I felt very safe the whole time so even going 97 kilometres an hour which I wouldn't do in New Zealand this one I don't know if it's fact or rumor in New Zealand but you're expected to have a beefy car for towing preferably a four-wheel drive and preferably a 3 liter engine foot towing and I don't know if that's because we do have quite a few very steep hills where my car is 3 litre four-wheel drive and it still struggles up some of these hills so yes you need a stronger car in New Zealand but at the same time these caravans are designed to be able to use the family car and the car you already have so hmm I don't know what do you think about cars now that I've talked all about tolling I'm gonna talk about the camp grunts so where should I start I've tried to stay on a variety of different campgrounds while I've been in the UK this I think is down to population New Zealand doesn't even have 5 million people we are a small country even though we're the round about the same size as the UK what I've noticed this used to be a campground specifically for caravans and motorhomes and in their campgrounds specifically for tents and campgrounds specifically for static caravans which kind of similar to what we would call cabins in New Zealand but there are no wheels so so it's almost like you have your own you have a large enough population that there are separate facilities I have found that most campgrounds are expected to have a power point for caravans and motor so there might be a limited everything else but it will have a power point generally seems like in New Zealand the ins at MCA our club wants there to be a three meter rule between caravans just for fire safety whereas in the UK it's more generous it seems to be six meters for fire safety so it actually makes for a more enjoyable Caravan experience because you just have a bit more space between you and your neighbor some campgrounds I've stayed at New Zealand there's just there's no room for an awning you just it's not gonna happen so even though we've got more space our campgrounds tend to be more packed for the powered sites that's why I kind of enjoy staying more than non-powered sites which are usually on the grass sometimes it's not always even you're a bit more on a slope sometimes because you're in the tent area but I generally find them more private you know a little more space and I yeah it's just it's nicer is nicer and that brings me to the next point in New Zealand if you're a hardcore caravana you will probably have solar panels you'll probably be set up to be able to stay at non-powered sites I found that I've kind of had two pre-booked a lot of the campsites here because a lot of them I've turned up and they've been full whereas in New Zealand a lot of the times I will just wing it it's only around public holidays or bank holidays that you kind of need to pre-plan a bit around Christmastime and I have another random facts we seem to have fresh water taps kind of daughter'd throughout the campground no rhyme or reason really whereas although the campgrounds here have a designated services point Dossett around but not as often so yeah it's easier to get water at most count grounds as you sealant so some places your state will just have a fresh water tap and that's a no other facilities no powder no chemical point waste point no place for your gray water that's it you have to then drive up the road to a designated dump station area which are kind of in public locations by solo Road and it's just a drain and that's for your gray water and that's for your toilet waste as well everything goes in there whereas here there seems to be chemical waste points for your toilet cassettes and generally I've been really impressed by them here they're generally they're generally really well set up so you know but a privacy a bit of like higher up so there's less chance of splash back and some of them even have their own like private room so there is no chance of anyone watching you emptying your toilet cassette another point I've noticed is we are so strict about our gray water in New Zealand so strict its yeah I don't think I've heard of another country quite a strict as New Zealand with our gray water so in the UK when you start driving and you start moving around sometimes you might get a little dribble of grey water coming out and trailing behind you as a drive away that would not happen in New Zealand we would have like a tap to turn it off and a clamp on the end so there is no chance of even a drop of grey water going on our ground the best way to camp in New Zealand seems to be to have your solar panel to have fitted tanks under the caravan so you can take your fresh water and have your grey water going straight in there and just kind of be sit up for off-grid caravanning really whereas in the UK it seems to be the best type of campground is you have more of the luxuries you have the microwave you have maybe the motor movement you have the the fancy warning and you know all the kind of like the extra accessories and I've also noticed it's rare to Caravan full time in the UK where as it's quite common particularly for retirees to just sell their house we'll rent their house out and just live in their Caravan us it's more common I'll admit not many people my age do it is a few there's a few it's it's becoming more popular it's taken me a while to click but in New Zealand in winter we can't drive somewhere warm whereas I've noticed that in the UK and America and Australia you can drive with the caravan somewhere warm so in the UK you can drive to Spain in Australia you can drive to the Northern Territories and in America you can drive to Florida or Texas so that is that's a difference it would be quite nice to be able to drive somewhere warm I'm curious who disagrees with this one what apps how do you find campgrounds in the UK so in New Zealand we have an amazing app code campermate and then our club ends in MCA seems to have grown from it so it's just a very simple app you can just straightaway see what campgrounds are there where is the dump station where petrol stations where's the supermarket everything you need is just easily found of this one app I can ring straight from it I can go straight to Google Maps and it'll tell me how to get there as this photos as comments this reviews like it's just it's an amazing app I have struggled to find similar similar app the closest I've found is searching for sites I was using their clunky website and I've finally clicked that they do have an app and it's it's good but not quite as good as kantha nation I am sorry to say that in New Zealand there is one caravan motorhome club called NZ MCA and the UK there are two clubs and then the campsites are very different and New Zealand Park we call them parks is generally just a gravel area a gate and a fresh water tap that's what you expect once in a while they might have a dump station occasionally there might be access to a toilet or laundry next door but that's that's generally what it is in the UK the club sites are generally generally top quality like like a top ten campground in your Zealand they're the best there are from what I've seen there's probably a few different independent campgrounds too and then what I really like the CL or CS sites in the UK someone can have a see outside for five caravans and motorhomes and they have to supply power and a chemical point I think and they're really nice the ones I've stated I have been really impressed sometimes their own farms generally they're quite generous on space that are a little more relaxed you know usually just a bit of grass always with power the equivalent in New Zealand would be a park of a property those are again connected to the club so a see our site you have to be a club member to be to get access to them in New Zealand to get access to a park of a property you also have to be an NZ dmca member that's someone's opened up their land a lot of the times they can be free or sometimes you might pay $5.00 occasionally I've stayed at one that I had to pay twelve dollars a night but they're generally quite cheap and very relaxed and it's more about the owners liking this lifestyle and wanting to amuse like-minded people I guess yeah well one quick so in New Zealand you joined the ins in MCA and you get a little red sticker that you put on your vehicle you have to have it on but that means when you're driving down the road you can straightaway see that that person is also in the club and a lot of the times you give a little wave and sometimes at the end zmc I parks you'll get a friendly bunch and they'll just go around knocking on everyone's doors going you know drinks at 4:00 p.m. if you want to come and join it so you take your little chair out and you have the circle of you having a check bleeped strangers but you just you know having a chat with each other which is really nice if you're a solo traveler and I haven't really been able to show that aspect of it in my videos yet because it doesn't feel right to bring my camera along when I'm you know meeting these people for the first time whereas it doesn't seem to really exist in the UK although I have found at the campgrounds people are just generally friendlier if I stay at a traditional campground in New Zealand it's generally a lot of tourists and it can be quite lonely because you don't really strike up conversations that way whereas in the UK everyone at these types of campgrounds seems to be a lot friendlier laundry in the UK has been surprisingly expensive it's about double the price to how I found it in New Zealand and I just thought of two more it seems very normal to take your dog with you to a campground in the UK whereas you really need a check and it's it's probably maybe a third of the play you can take your dog maybe that's a guess that so it just seems more acceptable to take your dog to with you wherever you go really it's just kind of cool I like it and then another difference is a lot of the campgrounds I've stayed at you can pick the site yourself to stay at whereas generally in New Zealand you turn up and they will pick the site for you again there's a bit of flexibility a lot of times I've kind of learned what sites I'll probably like looking at a map so I can kind of kind of ask can I be in this area so you know there's a bit of flexibility and if you don't really like the site you could probably go back to reception and ask change but you find your site and then you go and let them know at reception what's up you picked which I do like yeah security of the caravan caravans in the UK do it it's common for them to be stolen which is interesting and it sounds like a lot of insurance companies you get they want you to keep the campground and a quality storage facility they would rather it be there than on your property and the caravan locks are like next level like I haven't seen these type of locks and new zealand yet they would be hard to get off i think yeah but another thing is I guess in New Zealand everyone expects to have space expects to have a backyard where as I guess I don't know it's just land is it more expensive here there's more people here so no not everyone most people don't have room for their caravan on their own property so Caravan ends up in storage facilities I keep thinking more points to add also check out times at campgrounds in New Zealand it's 10:00 a.m. sometimes if you're lucky 11 but generally yeah 10:00 10:30 a.m. check out we have to leave and the UK seems to be more common for it to be midday which is very generous very generous well though it's kind of throwing my lunchtime schedule so in New Zealand to leave a teen arrive drive a couple of hours arrive set up and it's time for lunch here I'm kind of leaving just for lunch so I'm on the road at lunchtime I just yeah I haven't gotten to a system yet in the UK today but it has been it feels very decadent having kind of a lazy start before driving to another campground it's been quite nice [Music]

Channel: Travelling K

Views: 33,864

Rating: 4.9488411 out of 5

Keywords: caravanning, caravan life, rv, rv life, recreational vehicle, caravan, #vanlife, #homeonwheels, #homeiswhereyouparkit, solo female, Bailey Phoenix, Bailey Phoenix 640, Peugeot 3008, Caravanning in UK, Towing in UK, Comparing caravanning, comparing countries, comparing two countries, caravanning in nz

Id: vD7C_Cei53g

Length: 19min 40sec (1180 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 21 2019