New Zealand is practically a home away from home for Australians, the closest overseas destination, easily reached from every capital city, and offering some of the Southern Hemisphere’s most spectacular scenery and adventure sports.
ACC: New Zealand’s Accident Compensation Scheme
New Zealand has a unique system, the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC), that provides no-fault compensation for people injured in accidents, regardless of whether they’re a citizen, resident, or visitor. As an Australian visiting NZ, ACC will cover emergency medical treatment for accident-related injuries and rehabilitation costs. However, ACC has important limitations:
- It does not cover illness, only injuries from accidents
- It does not cover medical repatriation back to Australia
- It does not cover trip cancellation, luggage, or other travel disruptions
ACC is a partial safety net, not a substitute for travel insurance.
Adventure Sports: New Zealand’s Specialty
New Zealand offers some of the world’s most spectacular adventure activities: bungy jumping (Queenstown is the home of bungy), skydiving, white-water rafting, skiing and snowboarding, zorbing, jet boating, and multi-day hiking. Many of these are excluded from standard travel insurance policies, confirm which activities are included in your plan and purchase an adventure sports extension if needed.
Skiing and Snowboarding
NZ’s South Island ski fields are enormously popular with Australians. Most travel insurance policies exclude skiing and snowboarding from standard cover, a winter sports add-on is usually required. Check whether your policy includes on-piste and off-piste skiing, ski equipment hire, and piste closure cover.
What Good NZ Travel Insurance Looks Like
- Adventure sports and winter sports add-on
- Medical cover for illness (not just injury, ACC covers injury)
- Medical repatriation back to Australia
- Trip cancellation and disruption
- Personal belongings and ski equipment cover
