If you go in visa-free for the 90 days then you must have an onward ticket. You can get an dummy ticket or a refundable ticket if you aren’t sure of your departure date or location yet. Several people on this forum have used onward travel ticket services as a placeholder for an actual ticket, including me.
If you apply for the visa, you can get up to 6 months and you do not have to have a return ticket. I discovered this the last time I went in. The visa is free but doe require some time filling out the form online.
Most of the sits we did in New Zealand were through Kiwi HS. There just wasn’t enough on Trusted. We also spent a fair amount on accommodation, as there weren’t always sits where we wanted to visit, but it is possible to find more affordable accommodation if you are driving. I posted a blog further up in this post that talks a bit about buying and selling a car in NZ. I highly recommend it. (Also we took the Picton ferry and it was great, but a few weeks later it was delayed for thousands of people, so it’s definitely hit or miss!)
We use The Housesitting Company in NZ (I am a Kiwi). We have had plenty of good sits with them and while they require a Criminal Record Report when applying for membership, we are impressed with their service and insurance coverage, not to mention their reasonable membership fee. They respond quickly to any emails I send and because I don’t return to New Zealand every year, they allow me to carry over my initial application and I only need to pay my annual fee at the time I want to access their listings for housesits.
Edited to remove link in line with Forum guidelines
@anon88405941 - Didn’t realise I wasn’t allowed to post a web address - guess it is done to protect THS from competition. I only did it because THS do not have a lot of choices of sits in NZ. Google the name and you will find their contact details
For anyone thinking of travelling down this way, just another example of why never to trust the weather when making any sort of plan😅
https://www.thepost.co.nz/travel/360536881/cook-strait-ferries-cancelled-big-waves-after-stormy-wellington-night
We ended up booking a flight to ChC. The Wellington’s weather this month has been absolute rubbish. Although it’s summer we’ve been wearing our winter coats and using the heat at night.
At least they can’t run aground when the sailings have been cancelled 
. I know someone who traveled to the South Island on the Interislander yesterday. I’m sure she’ll be grateful that she booked her trip for the 30th instead of the 31st!
I live near Oamaru and the weather’s not the best here - howling gales and low (for this time of year) temperatures. I’ve got the fire going and I’m going to have to force myself to go outside and organise feed for the horses and ponies.
Hi @KiwiSwede - just seen this post and wanted to ask if you have a referral code for recommending new sitters on that site?
Whilst Trusted House Sitters is great, I’d love to cover the bases of all possible dates in NZ over the next week with any additional platforms.
@globalpetsitter Hi there! OMG, I haven’t been on the forum for so long and missed your post. I guess I’m far too late to be of any use to you now……. I’m in NZ and have just done a repeat sit through THS. I’ll do a bit of research and see what I can come up with as haven’t used any NZ sites this time and aren’t currently financial with them so only receive notifications from them through emails. Their email address is : info@housesitters.co.nz and their website is www.housesitters.co.nz When we have used them, we have found them to be efficient with their comms and great to deal with. From memory, I think there is another website called Kiwi Housesitters - maybe @Smiley or @Colin can give you more info about that site. Sorry I don’t have any codes I can give you. Good luck!
Hi all potential NZ housesitters in this forum. I am currently in NZ having done a 5 week housesit and now staying with family in Auckland. Even though some time has elapsed since the first postings here, I would add that New Zealanders still seem to use cash here as a legal tender for goods (Sweden is a cashless society except for gas stations, supermarkets and liquor stores!!), and if you are using a credit card, most places charge a 2.5% fee for using a credit card. I understand that this extra charge will be illegal sometime in May 2026 but am not sure of the exact date, so make it your business to have some ready cash on you! Another tip regarding return tickets…. If you are flying standby/rev free/ID99, make sure you have a potential return ticket which is actually meaningless, as you can change to other dates with these! Just having that piece of paper saves a lot of hassle! NZ is pretty strict on what you bring into the country re food so it is always a good idea to declare anything that you are unsure of. Re the weather over summer, you can, these days, safely assume that there will be some sort of tropical cyclone descending upon our beautiful country either between Xmas and Years and often sometime in the first part of January. Yes, the climate has changed considerably since I was a child. South Island has little humidity at this time of the year while the upper half of the North Island (particularly Auckland and north of here) is warm and very humid. Right now it is 24 degs but the humidity makes it feel rather warm! Hope you had or will have a great time here!