New Zealand 2012
So many people had raved about what a wonderful time they had had in New Zealand, we finally took the plunge early in 2012 and decided to hire a motorhome and tour New Zealand. It is not cheap - nearly £2000 for two return flights with Air New Zealand (cattle class) and over £3500 for a six week van hire but probably a lot cheaper than transporting our own vehicle to the other side of the world.
What we had was a van conversion from Backpackers ( it is part of Maui chain) but as conversions go it was pretty basic when compared to a modern European job, we think it must have been at least 10 years old and had done 255,000 kms. Renting a motorhome is expensive and we have hired the cheapest one we could find that advertised itself as having a toilet and shower, although I was surprised to find that there was no handbasin in the bathroom.
We had a double bed that needed to be made up each night by using the sofas and taking down the table and using that as well as adding a concertina of solid wood. You could just use the sofas as two single beds but we hired only one bedding pack which meant one duvet so the double bed is necessary. By the end of our trip we had got bed construction and bed making down to a 10 minute job but we did look forward to getting home and not having to take the bed apart afterwards.
One of the great things about being issued with two knives, two forks,two spoons, two plates, two glasses and two cups is that washing up never takes very long although it is problematic when you discover that you left one of your knives in the sink at the campsite you left seveal hours ago. Rather strangely bearing in mind the two forks spoons etc there was a frying pan, three saucepans (with lids) and a full set of kitchen tools (soup ladle, holed spoon etc).There was a fridge and microwave and a two burner stove with grill. Bearing in mind the restricted space in the van we preferred to use the kitchen facilities on the campsites and the good thing about campsites in NZ is that they are well equipped, the first one we stayed at had a kitchen with cooker, toaster, microwave, electric hobs, dishes and pans so there is no need to stay in our little van.
There is are some further pages about our trip, click on the appropriate button below. If you want to contact us about any particular element of our trip then click the contact us button below.