ROAD, FERRY RAIL AND AIR TRIP
In mid-January we had the opportunity to help out Rob Floris at UCC in Christchurch as he needed a Dethleffs Distinction Trend four-berth motorhome delivered from Zion Motorhomes in Pōkeno down to Christchurch. This was an ex-McRent vehicle that Rob sells as part of his Dethleffs range of new and slightly used motorhomes in Christchurch.
We picked up our vehicle from Pōkeno and took it home to pack with our belongings. We didn’t take much as we were still juggling ideas as to how we would return home, so limited ourselves to one carry-on bag each. Sealable sandwich bags with coffee, tea, sugar, butter, salt & pepper went into a drawer, and crackers, tomatoes and drinks into the fridge – done.
Next decision whenever we drive south is which way to go. Our favourite route is via Taupō and across to Napier – it is so picturesque, and a much straighter drive from Napier south to Martinborough. A couple of steep mountainous sections slow down our RnR truck-based motorhome significantly, but we are not in RnR this time; we are in a zippy late-model motorhome with a sporty auto-transmission that can be used in a manual mode (for a ‘real’ driver) when tackling mountainous roads, and it has cruise control – one of our favourite technical extras on road trips – so Napier for the night it would be.
A mandatory stopover in Tīrau for a coffee – there’s a great café culture and lots of shopping in this little town nowadays, something for everyone
