Ok so we have travelled abit around Australia with our 2 kids but always had space to overpack

Well we are heading off to NZ christchurch very soon and are doing a motorhome tour of the south island with our 2 kids aged 4.5years and 11months old. I'm trying to pack light for everyone (dh, me and kids). Have hired the car seats there so don't have to lug ours and install as well. Am thinking of taking the pram? + baby sling for little 1. Planning on co-sleeping with ds as no room for portacot in motorhome that i'm aware of?????

We are going for 3 weeks and i have no idea how to pack light? What is essential??? What others have done??

Any help on what to pack, what i can give a miss would be great.

Thanks

Firstly, how exciting that you'll be doing this trip!!! I have been planning our NZ Sth island trip for a while, but we haven't done it yet.

I do however have lots of travel experience with my two kids (now 7 and 4). The one thing I have gotten used to is they don't really need a lot of clothes. Mine usually wear their clothes 2 days in a row, sometimes 3 for shorts or pants. If we are going for weeks, we also plan laundry stops (either at a laundromat, or if you're bush camping then knowing where there is water to do a hand rinse). Esp for things like undies and socks where you could really get away with only 3 pairs and just washing every 3 days.

Limit their toys too. They'll be having a lot of fun exploring, or at least in your younger ones case - he would still only need a couple of things to keep them occupied at times.

It's much better to pack light, esp as where you are going you'll be able to buy stuff if you need it anyway.

Hope that helps! Have a great trip!!

when you do pack, roll everything. you can fit in so much more.
roll it all up tight and if you have larger items, towels, sarong, coat, use it flat to layer the rolls so you can access things without having to unpack the entire suitcase to find something. if that makes sense. you can just lift a layer of rolls on the coat to access the ones underneath.
other than that, limit shoes and take layers (to NZ especially) for the cold.
have fun
C
ETA: by rolling i mean like a sausage roll

it also stops crinkling. (wouldn't let me re edit)
C

The only way to pack light is to wash while you are away, this way you can just take a handful of stuff. Are you stopping at caravan parks for the night ? They always have laundries.
A good warm waterproof jacket doesn't need washing very often either.

Thanks guys,

great tip on the rolling thanks carls888.

neeky thanks on the tip for the kids toys. Basically allowing 2 toys for dd of her own choice plus her fave bear and ds i'm just taking 3 different toys.

donthavetv thanks for that tip too. We have planned now to stop at some caravan parks and wash frequently. thanks again.

Oh and i have a jacket that doesn't need washing at all. Plus i've packed clothes that i can layer for extra warmth

I got another tip from someone else so am taking advantage of that too. Similiar to Neeky's suggestion of buying everything else we need over there. So all our toiletries and baby perishables are being bought over there. just taking enough to get me through the flight.

Hi babyg1,

We have done lots of travelling with our 3 children- both in Australia and o/s. Most recently: Melb- Cairns, Melb- Queenstown last year. We are going on a long-haul trip at end of May- to Europe, mainly Scandinavia where DH is from via Hong Kong and Thailand on way home... we'll be away for 5 months with lots of different weather so will have our own challenges!

My tip is this:
Buy some of those 'travel pods' that Kathmandu sell. They are mesh on one side and that travel bag 'fabric' on the other. with a zip all the way around. They come in black and a few different colours (lime green, orange, blue) and different sizes. We stock up when they have a sale on as they sell them then for 50% off (works out around $10-$15 each dep on size). Looks like you are about to go soon: foa anyone else interested, they have a big sale at Easter..

So, we have a couple each and we usually pack one for each child with just underwear and pyjamas and toothbrush. Then when we get to our destination, no matter how late it is, we just throw one each on the corresponding child's bed and we can easily find their pjs at least. We go as far as putting those Stuck on you iron-on labels on the kid's so we easily see whose is whose (and DH and I have larger ones in different colours). They pack really neatly in suitcases or bags and you could have say 2-3 each with different clothes in them. we also have some shoe bags from same shop so you don't have dirty shoes in the bags and a big long mesh bag that we use for dirty laundry. Last time we went to Europe several years ago we had one baby with us so I used one for nappies, wipes, spare clothes and bunny rug for the plane as it fit neatly under the seat without having to haul out a big bag from the overhead lockers every time we needed it.

Hope this helps someone- it has changed packing forever for me (esp since having 3 children so no more fishing around in a big black hole for that elusive clean pair of undies!)

All the best for your trip to NZ. We only had a week in Queenstown but it was sooooo unbelievably beautiful- love love LOVE New Zealand. Have fun