Money

In general, dealing with money in New Zealand is easy-peasy and in a lot of ways it is way ahead of the US in electronic funds transfers.

What’s the Conversion Rate?:

Obviously, it depends on when you are reading this and where you go to exchange money. There are many different sites where you can check the current rates.

Current conversion rate

Do I need New Zealand Dollars?

For me, it is worth getting at least some kiwi dollars just because they look and feel so cool, but that probably doesn’t answer your question.

You can do almost everything electronically. Even some of the honesty boxes at the fruit stands have the ability to take electronic payments. That said, it is not a bad idea to have a few bits of cash with you. Touristy places might take US dollars, but mostly not.

Where should I convert?

Hotels are bad. The airport is the worst. Banks are pretty good. You can always use your ATM card to get some cash from the bank atm; as long as the fee isn’t too high, the conversion rate will be pretty reasonable.

Pro Tip: Credit card companies give you really fantastic exchange rates, so we try to use it for any and everything when we are traveling. The one caveat is that you need to make sure your credit card does not charge an international fee. That is no bueno. Check with them.

tipping

Tipping, in general, is not expected in New Zealand. This can be mind bending for Americans, but it is true. There have been some trends, especially in touristy places, to get people to tip, but mostly you do not. I know it will feel weird and your palms will start sweating and your heart will start racing, but trust me on this one.