New Zealand Backpacker Buses – A Review of Stray

Prior to traveling through New Zealand, I talked a lot with friends who had been there to get an idea of what it is like to be a solo traveler there.

From the sounds of it, New Zealand seemed much more a country that is traveled by road trip with friends than anything else; however, for those solo travelers, it seemed like traveling by organized backpacker buses were the golden ticket.

My friends suggested that I look into these backpacker buses, which are essentially are hop-on, hop-off bus tours throughout the islands, naming Stray Tours as the one that would be more up my alley.

It would be the best and easiest way for me to meet people, they told me, as there are a lot of people traveling by camper vans and a lot of others who hitch hike their way around.

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There are two main tour companies in New Zealand that run backpacker tours: Stray Tours and the Kiwi Experience. The former would be a bit more relaxed and low key,  and I would meet more people around my age; the latter sounded like nothing but a party bus with younger travels who are just looking for the bar and to have a good time.

I did not give the Kiwi Experience much of a glance and instead focused on the options offer with Stray. I looked at a couple of different national passes available through the Stray tours, showing my friends who have traveled through NZ as well as friend of mine from NZ the routes and passes I was interested in.

I had just under five weeks to travel both the North and South Islands, and I knew that I could not do the whole of both. I needed to make a choice: Did I want to go to the deep south of New Zealand’s South island or did I want to go to the far north of the North Island?

The two passes I looked at were the Max Pass, Stray’s most popular pass that visits the country’s deep South, and the Short Maximum Pass, which visits the far north of New Zealand.

I found that there were two big benefits to purchasing the Max Pass:

A. The Max Pass included a trip to the Milford Sound, which I was dying to do
B. It was on sale and the cheaper of the two passes.

Both passes had a minimum of about 22-23 days and were recommended for those traveling for around 27 days, so the time allotment was “much a muchness” as Australians say, and both would work fairly well with my travel time.

Additionally, both passes would see me finish exactly where I started, so they would both bring me back to my starting point in Queenstown and see me make basically a full circle around the country.

In the end, I decided to purchase the Max Pass for the two above-mentioned reasons. The Max Pass was only (only) $1,099 NZD, making it 325 dollars cheaper than the other pass I was looking at.

I also knew that I had always wanted to go to the Milford Sound, where as the other pass visited places in the far North I did not really know about before looking into my trip.

At this point, having lived in four countries and traveled to more than 30, I consider myself a fairly seasoned traveler. I had never done anything similar to Stray before, so I was a bit hesitant on how I would feel traveling with what is essentially an organized tour.

Before I give my review of Stay, I should be honest and say that in a way I alienated myself from the experience. I was not necessarily a pro-Stray cheerleader, but I think it is because I was not all too thrilled with the idea and concept of it right from the get-go.

What I liked about Stray

As my friends told me, the absolute biggest plus and benefit to traveling with these backpacker buses is the people you meet on the bus with you.

In a way, Stray guarantees you friends on your trip. On a bus of an average of around 25 people (sometimes more, sometimes less), there is most definitely the chance to meet at least one person you like.

I met a handful of people on my bus that I really got on with and admired, from my friend Stefania who spoke five languages to my friend Isabella whom I could easily relate to to Michela, my Brasilian friend traveling the world on her own to my German friend Robert and of course Swedish Mikhael. I spent quite a lot of time traveling with my American friend Jake, and there are heaps of other friends I made along the way from all over the world.

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Another benefit to traveling with Stray was that I never had to worry about my things, so often when we would make a scenic stop I could leave my life – from my passport to my MacBook to my credit cards – on the bus and know they would be safe and secure rather than have to lug them along on short walks or constantly feel like I was on the lookout for anyone on the bus who might be trying to steal my things.

Additionally, staying in hostel dorms with Stray also alleviated any worries I may have when lockers were not available in the rooms because I would always be sharing a room with friends and other travelers from my bus.

I also quite liked most of the drivers I had, most especially Chris (known as Splash) and another Chris (known as Bluebird). There was another driver whom I only knew as Panda and one female driver – a small blonde I drove with only for one day whom I quite liked as well. Though at times I could tell they were frazzled with everyone constantly asking them a million quick questions, for the most part these particular drivers stayed fun, friendly and easy going.

I never really had to worry about booking accommodation on the times I drove with Stray, because about 75 percent of the time I would just spend the night where ever the bus would stop; however, if I did chose to spend the night somewhere else (often the hostels that wound up being my favorite hostels) then the driver dropped me off exactly at my hostel and picked me up from when I was leaving town. It made life convenient and easy so that I was not wandering around with a 14 kilo backpack trying to find hostels or trying to navigate my way around to my hostel.

I greatly enjoyed that Stray was not a party bus. Sure, people went out for drinks at night and had their fun, but the bus rides themselves were calm and not chaotic from people shotgunning beers and passing around bottle sod vodka to pre-game as we neared town. I was not really looking for a party in New Zealand. Of the five weeks I spent there, I went out drinking once on the night of my 27th birthday, and I think I drank enough to last a lifetime.

Whilst on the road, the drivers often talk about and relay the history of the areas we are driving through and give us the background information to the towns we traveled to, which was a good bonus to getting to know places; however, I did not always listen, so in a way I did not necessarily benefit from the informational background that came with traveling with Stray.

Last, a benefit for many travelers is the ease of signing up for activities, much of which I did not have to worry about because mine were pre-arranged. Many of the activities were touted as being at special Stray prices (as were many of the hostels), and each bus ride would see at least one sign-up sheet being passed around for people to sign up for the various activities they wanted to do in the particular town we were headed to. For some activities, like the dolphin swim in Kaikoura, this was highly beneficial given that many of the companies would block out space for Stray travelers, which meant that Stray travelers were always able to get a space in whatever activities they wanted to do.

What I didn’t like about Stray

I had many a grievance with Stray throughout my travels that were often echoed by others on my bus as well.

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First, I greatly regretted getting the pass that I purchased. Had I been able to make the decision again, I would have done my own separate day trip to the Milford Sound from Queenstown and continued onward with my travels.

With Stray, we made the trip from Queenstown to the Milford Sound and spent a night in a place called Gunn’s Camp, which to me was a total waste and in the absolute middle of no where. It was just somewhere to crash for the night because granted, the trip from Queenstown to Milford was a long one (four hours). From Gunn’s Camp we drove on to Invercargill, another waste as I was not traveling on to Stuart Island, an island off the south coast of New Zealand that cost $180 or so return on the ferry. I did not have the time to spend more than a night in Stuart Island, and I could not justify spending that kind of money, so to me the nights spent in Gunn’s Camp and Invercargill were nights I could have spent elsewhere in places I wanted more time.

Often times I felt like I was on a school trip. As a seasoned traveler, I felt a little like Stray was sort of regressing – like moving back into your parents house after graduating from university. Everything from start to finish was so organized and planned out, and I did not have to really think of or plan for anything at all. I hated the feeling of being herded out of the bus like cattle when there was a viewpoint, a walk to a waterfall, arriving at a hostel at the same time as 30 other travelers and other similar situations.

I also felt like Stray made one too many stops, especially supermarket stops, for way too long of a time, and I found that most travelers completely agreed with this. We would stop at shops for like 30 o4 45 minutes, and I usually found myself wandering aisles and buying snacks and food I really did not need just to kill time. We would make coffee stops that were far too long, and eventually even stopping to walk to waterfalls became a drag. Certain times, I just wanted to get to where we were going without taking 15 detours in the process.

There were also particular stops, namely the cultural stops, that were highly unavoidable and that many, many travelers complained about. Each cultural stop cost about $75 and left travelers feeling like they had no choice but to pay the money. I was  able to skip the stays by taking the public bus, which I felt was money better spent. I was able to enjoy the culture without having to pay $75 dollars to do so.

Stray prides itself on being an easy, hop-on/hop-off bus, and I found that it was not nearly as flexible as it claims to be. Right from the start, other Stray travelers warned me not to reserve seats or book my journeys online because often they found they would arrive to board the bus in the morning and learn that their tickets were not confirmed. It was best to call and reserve seats and journeys by talking to Stray staff via the phone.

I also think that because I was still traveling at quite a high period, I did not have much leeway through the South Island and often found I was on waiting lists for trips that I could not delay. I had to be in certain towns and cities by certain dates where I had reviews and work planned, so I found it to be a bit stressful when I learned I could not be on a bus that I needed to be on (hence the reason I turned to the public bus system at times).

I also found it really annoying that the cost of the ferry from the South Island to the North Island and back was not included in the price of our ticket, so I wound up spending an extra 100 dollars onto of the grand I had already spent.

I personally think the price of the ticket was extraordinarily high and far too expensive for what the trip actually was.

It seemed to me like most of the travelers using Stray were in their early 20s, and though I know at 27 I am still young, I felt a bit older compared to most of the friends I made along the way. There were a few here and there that were my age, a few that were older, but it seemed that most of the travelers were much younger than I was.

My overall Review of Stray

If I could do New Zealand over again, I really do not think I would travel with Stray. The biggest benefit was the people I met, and I hate to say that I would not do it again because I did walk away from New Zealand with some great friendships made through Stray; however, that being said, I know I could have met people just as easily in my hostel. There were plenty of travelers using NakedBus and InterCity Bus to get around (with some hitchhiking thrown in there).

Stray far exceeded my budget as well, and I curse myself for traveling outside of my means every day when I log into my internet banking. There is so much I still want to do and a couple of countries I want to travel through in this area before saying good bye to this part of the world for good.

As I mentioned before, I think I partly made myself dislike Stray by looking more at the negatives than the positives, but every day I just hated the feeling of being on a class trip. It did not suit my travel interests or fit my style.

Yet I think that for first time travelers OR travelers who have been on the road already for say, six or seven months, Stray is a perfect fit. It is a great way for first time travelers to get their feet wet, make friends, be outgoing and ease into the ups and downs that come with being on the road. Alternatively, I think that for someone who has already been traveling for a decent amount of time, the break from having to think and plan is refreshing, nice and welcomed.

Having also taken the public buses like NakedBus and InterCity, I can say that both make frequent enough restroom stops and at least one lunch stop. InterCity made more stops at viewpoints, but that also could have been that there were more major viewpoints on the routes that I took with Intercity as opposed to NakedBus.

If I were to rate my Stray experience out of 10, with 10 being the highest, I would give it a five out of 10, but this was my own personal experience. I was more invested in work, writing and blogging than I had planned to be, and I think that played a part in being less Pro-Stray than many of the others.

Would I suggest it to solo travelers? Yes and no. I would say that if you do not mind feeling like you are on one big class trip, then go for it, because you will most definitely meet some epic people. Otherwise, public buses and hitchhiking it is.

*Photos marked with a star are not my own images. The first photo was taken from the Stray website, the second provided by a friend and the third from the Stray website.

5 comments on “New Zealand Backpacker Buses – A Review of Stray

  1. Thank u so much for your post!
    I’m going to NZ in November and still not sure how to travel… Renting a Car is too expensive for a single traveler (plus I’m not an experienced driver), so I was thinking about InterCity or Stray… Still not 100% sure, but since I want to go to NZ to enjoy the nature, go for hikes and – as cheesy as it sounds – a bit of soulsearching, I think Stray is not the best solution for me.

    • Of course! Glad it was helpful for you! I would do Intercity. It is cheaper, and you definitely will still meet people! have fun. NZ is amazing!

  2. I have one question… if you had 18 days say, instead of 5 weeks and wanted to see as much as possible, would you change you still think this wasn’t the top choice? I am in the same boat as you, have traveled quite a bit independently, but for some reason NZ seems to lack the ruckus and public transport that I think makes for easy friends on the road… so I am inclined to do one of these tours… also short on time.

    • Hi tehre! so sorry for my delated response as my computer has been out of action. If you have 18 days, then I can definitely understand why you’d consider a backpacker bus; however, I don’t believe it’s difficult to make friends on the road in New Zealand. If you stay in hostels or take the public buses, like Naked bus, you’ll find other travelers for certain. I feel confident in saying you would definitely meet friends and meet people. Where do you think you’ll start your trip? And what time of year will you be traveling? The backpacker buses (I’d go with Stray over Kiwi) are a good option to see stuff when you are short on time, but definitely not the only option. There’s positive and negatives to either route you take, but I am happy to answer any of your questions and help you as much as I can!

  3. Of course. So glad it was helpful. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions! You’ll love NZ no matter what as it is just so beautiful! Safe travels x

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