AUGUST 2015:
OVERVIEW:
As I need to go back to New Zealand for a few weeks to sort out the sale of my house, I thought that it would be interesting to construct a GRANDPAcking budget for Paraparaumu – for comparison purposes.
I have used exactly the same standards and criteria that I have used for all of my other GRANDPAcking Budgets.
CROSS REFERENCES:
Click here to read about Retirement Locations in this country.
Click here for detailed Travel Information and more Travel Budgets in this country.
Read About – GRANDPAcking Costs if you don’t know how to interpret my figures.
SPREADSHEET SUMMARY:
MY ACTUAL 1 PERSON GRANDPAcking COSTS:
I have not bothered to include a budget for myself – I live there.
WHAT IT SHOULD COST 2 GRANDPAckers:
The notes at the bottom of the spreadsheet (above) pretty much say it all. In addition:
Accommodation: Barnacles Hostel is the cheapest place around and it is situated down at Paraparaumu Beach which is about 3kms away from Paraparaumu Town and the shopping Mall. The next cheapest option is a ‘2 Star’ Motel at about NZ$115 / night. Barnacles will give you a Double Room with heating, free wifi (in common areas – but, probably, OK in-room too), a TV Room and a SHARED hot water bathroom. After staying in Barnacles for the maximum of 14 days (for a Hostel) you will need to check out for 1 night and back in again.
Transport: Paraparaumu Beach is easily covered on foot. However, for most GRANDPAckers the trip to the Mall is not. I have included a return bus trip to the Mall each week. Longer term stayers would need to look at getting a Monthly Bus Pass or buying a couple of bicycles. The Paraparaumu area is easily covered on bicycles.
Communications & Fees: Mobile plans in NZ are one of the most expensive in the world. One of the best value for money packages is from Spark – a prepaid for NZ$20 / month. This gives you 100 talk minutes and only 0.5Gb of data – so I have added a 1.5Gb data top up. As my readership is international, I have included Foreign ATM transaction fees.
Food: Alas, in NZ, your cheapest food options come in the form of Fast Food outlets and Fish & Chip shops. If you can get to a Mall, you will usually find a Foodcourt where you can find other options – but your budget will be tight.
After making such adjustments, the ‘Costs Of Existence’ for 2 GRANDPAckers is about NZ$148 / US$96 / €89 / £62 per day.
This gives you nothing to LIVE on as you are 85% OVER BUDGET.
CONCLUSION:
The next most expensive place that I have been to is Otres Beach where my COE was 84%… which is less than half the cost of Paraparaumu. Otres’ saving grace was that LIVING costs were very low, so you could still LIVE reasonably well and stay within budget.
Compare Paraparaumu to places like Gili Air, Siem Reap, Padang Bai, and Kampot – where the COE is LESS THAN 1/3 of the cost.
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