Driving

It's completely possible to drive from the North to South Island through the use of the Interislander ferry.

Roads
While the main roads tend to be totally fine, we do have a lot of windy roads and gravel roads. It's recommended that you use some common sense and don't drive too quickly on such roads and always be aware that while you might be driving fine, there are other fuckwits on the road who are shit at driving and earned their licence from a cereal box.

Rental Car Companies

 * Jucy
 * Avis
 * Budget

What's the give way to the right rule?
The give way to the right rule is "Give way to the right, if you feel like it. If you don't feel like it, make sure you wave and yell at tourists when they do try to give way to the right, just to confuse them".

We had heard about this rule before we arrived in NZ and made sure to follow it, after a few days of confused stares and yelling we asked at the tourist bureau, none of the staff there had heard of it. We eventually got our hands on a copy of the book they give learner drivers and confirmed that the law did exist, its just that very few people know it. Also it appears that those people who do know about it, expect tourists not to know about it, so if you are driving a hire car expect even more confusion.

http://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/whats-diff-driving-nz/whats-diff-driving-nz.html

Recent changes to road rules
"To make our roads safer, two of the give way rules have changed. These changes came into effect at 5am on Sunday 25 March 2012."

http://www.nzta.govt.nz/traffic/around-nz/road-user-rule.html