Innholdsfortegnelse for November - December 2022 i RV Travel Lifestyle

Well readers the end of the year is nearly here. It is only six weeks till Christmas as I write this, and at the speed this last month has passed it will be here in four. Trying to organise pre- and post-Christmas plans with the family, who’s going where and when as we all head to different parts of the North Island. We will be in Martinborough this year, and we are looking forward to cycling around the village, heading out to Lake Ferry and Ngāwī for a few stunning sunset evenings, a spot of fishing, sampling some parts of the Remutaka rail trail as well as the Greytown and Masterton rides, and maybe riding over the hill to Eastbourne. In the meantime, we are getting this issue to print…

Author of many previous best-selling books based on New Zealand stories and collections, including Three Wheeling Downunder; Retro and Vintage Boats, and Vintage and Iconic Aircraft, RV There Yet? and Automania. Win a copy of latest publication ‘More Retro Caravans’ in RV Books pages. Russell is not new to the retro-caravan scene, having previously restored and used a 1968 Crusader. He had made a beautiful job of that caravan, and in the process of restoring another caravan for a friend he decided to build a vintage-styled fifth wheeler. We did not see many fifth wheelers back in the day in New Zealand. The only one we can recall was the locally made Castleline built in Paeroa in very small numbers in the mid-1970s. As a caravanning country we were just…

September saw the start of spring, with the annual Hamilton NZMCA Motorhome Caravan and Leisure show kicking into gear on Friday, September 23 at Mystery Creek in Hamilton. The show was booked out with exhibitors pleased to be in front of customers after last year’s cancellation due to the Covid lockdown, and there was a waiting list for those who missed out on space, keen to be involved right to the last minute if possible. From the moment we arrived at the Mystery Creek entrance on Thursday we knew it was going to be big. The number of motorhomers who had arrived to stay at the Park’n’Stay rally had already broken previous records of around 1200 vehicles, and by the time Saturday morning rolled around, numbers were approaching, if not…

It was great to catch up with Melissa and Craig from Gateway Caravans, albeit briefly. The couple have over 20-years’ experience in the RV industry. In 2010 they established Gateway Caravans in Whakatāne, starting off small and low-key. Today, in 2022, they are proud to be authorised to sell the UK-manufactured Swift caravan range. Swift offer a range of caravans including Sprite, Challenger, Elegance and All-Road models. In 2019 they proudly acquired the exclusive New Zealand distributorship for the luxurious UK-built Coachman (CM) caravan brand and are registered service agents for both the Swift and Coachman caravan brands. The latest arrival on display at the show, this year’s model of the Coachman Lusso II 2022, features extra width at 2440mm and this certainly adds to the living space inside. The…

1 Moonlight Tops Hut Paparoa Track This new track has two flash huts complete with lighting, double glazing and USB ports! Sitting on the flank of the Paparoa Range, the Moonlight Tops Hut looks directly at the Pike escarpment rather than westward. The 5km long and 300m vertical escarpment ripples with rock-layered strata and when the evening light hits these formations it casts a thousand shadows along its face. Step outside behind the hut and sit among the golden tussocks and be immersed in celestial bliss. Watch as the sun dips into the Tasman Sea some 1000 metres below, while the sky and sea swells change colour from a golden glow to a midnight blue. 2 Heaphy Hut Heaphy Track Not all sunsets are observed from on high, and the…

FOR WALTER On my first day in Primer Four at Caversham Primary School in Dunedin in late January 1950, after having moved south from Auckland in early December, I was seated alongside another newcomer. His name was Walter Powell but his move to Dunedin had entailed far less travel – he was from just over the other side of Mount Cargill at Waitati. Walter and I were to remain friends until his early death from cancer in 1980. His parents didn’t have a car, something that was not so unusual in 1950, while my father still had the huge 1935 British Wolseley limousine that had brought us south from Auckland – replaced shortly after by a 1949 Morris Oxford. We were a family of picnickers – cold meat, white Vienna…

In this update Richard repurposes an inner-sprung mattress for a bed and seating, then turns his attention to the kitchen build in part 5 of the 2012 Nissan Civilian bus RV converstion. The ex-kindergarten bus is 6200mm long and 1920mm wide. The project started in Volume 15. For the squabs I could have written a whole chapter… but to be brief I have tried all sorts of foam in my past versions of campers and never found the perfect firmness. Too firm foam and too soft foam both resulted in aching hips and joints the next morning. So this time I am bravely trying something completely different – properly sprung mattresses. I needed two that are approximately 1390mm by 640mm, one for each side – the middle rear seat and…

WATCH THE VIDEOCLICK IN DIGITAL EDITION Youtube channel: NZTODAY RV Lifestyle hose looking for big interior living spaces were impressed by the American-manufactured Coachmen Catalina caravan model on display from Select Caravans. The space created in the double slide-out, that expands out at the push of a button, is where the four-seater dining space and sofa-bed are situated – great for watching the big screen TV – and this space offers the second berth set up as well. Opposite this space is the home-styled kitchen with long bench space, and a breakfast bar at one end. Everything is big and domestic sized in these units from the sink and tap fixtures to the large refrigerator at the end. The bathroom is a spacious room with a corner shower box, vanity…

MARTINBOROUGH FAIR When: November 26 Where: Martinborough Square, Martinborough www.martinboroughfair.org.nz One of the largest and most popular craft markets in the Southern Hemisphere. Normally the first Saturdays of February and March each year, this Spring fair is a 2022 bonus. MANGATAINOKA MOTORS SHOW & SHINE – VINTAGE CAR DAY When: November 27 Where: Mangatainoka www.tuihq.co.nz Check out the incredible line-up of vintage vehicles, then kick back and relax to live music, with delicious food and ale from Tui Brewery. TRUE WEST ADVENTURE RACE When: December 1–4 Where: Franz Joseph Glacier www.truewest.nz True West is an adventure challenge in some of New Zealand’s most remote and wild terrain. The teams must navigate through the wilderness using only a map and compass. ŌMAKAU TROTS 2023 When: December 31–January 2 Where: Central Otago…

One of the commonest things I hear when I talk about our motorhome trip south in the middle of winter with a five-month-old baby is that it must be cold? What would you do inside a motorhome with a baby when the weather packs in? My response is simple: babies can have warm clothes too! I’m not going to lie; I was slightly worried about travelling in the South Island during winter, but Kane promised me endless crisp blue-sky days. The weather is the most settled then, he said; we’ve got a good heater, he said; it hardly rains in the South Island… yeah right! In fact, part of what makes motorhoming such a versatile all-weather travel option is the flexibility of choice that comes with no fixed agenda and…

Since the last issue, I’ve walked miles looking at all the new RVs at both the Caravan Salon Düsseldorf (CSD) and the UK’s Motorhome and Caravan Show, and have lots to tell you about. Word on the street is that the supply of Fiat base vehicles remains slow and erratic, which is good news for marques such as Ford – which seems to be the most popular alternative brand that manufacturers are switching to – and as a result, Ford-based motorhomes are popping up everywhere. For example, Swift (the UK’s biggest manufacturer) has launched its new Voyager motorhome range for 2023 and it is based on the Ford Transit. Another manufacturer told me its Ford-based motorhomes would probably be delivered to customers in the spring, but for Fiat-based models it…

WATCH THE VIDEO CLICK IN DIGITAL EDITION Youtube channel: NZTODAY RV Lifestyle Catching up with RV owners is always a pleasure, and being at events like motorhome shows is brilliant for talking to a mass of people in a short space of time, finding out the ‘What and Why’s’ relevant to their decision-making processes and offering advice along the way. Now and then we are lucky enough to talk to customers on a dealer’s site at a pivotal part of their journey in the RV purchase process. After catching up with TrailLite GM Shaun Newman at the show the Rock and I headed to the Paerātā TrailLite manufacturing site to check out the new features in the Landmark series motorhomes designed and built on site. Always looking for the next…

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