September - October 2020

RV Travel Lifestyle

Motorhome journeys that inspire you to explore New Zealand

RV Travel Lifestyle1 min read
RV Travel Lifestyle
EDITOR Robyn Dallimore, editor@rvmagazine.co.nz ADVERTISING MANAGER Bruce Mountain, bruce@rvmagazine.co.nz 021 657 090, Auckland Office 09 238 2261 SUB-EDITING & PROOFING Thiers Halliwell, Allan Walton DESIGN Cameron Leggett CONTRIBUTORS Robyn Dallim
RV Travel Lifestyle3 min readTechnology & Engineering
Lockdown, Digital Growth, President Elected
Looking out of my window today, I see a typical Auckland day – sunny and calm, then windy and rainy, to and fro it goes. Temperatures are warm though, and from all accounts the Met office says we are in for a dry, mild spring, which doesn’t bode well
RV Travel Lifestyle8 min read
Winter Road Trips
July saw us heading off to Tauranga to catch up with RV industry players again, checking out the fabulous Cougar fifth-wheeler as featured later in these pages. Unfortunately rain followed us, so our trip was a short one. Tauranga is one of those pla
RV Travel Lifestyle6 min read
A Great Ride The Golden Days of Summer
For us, summer down in the far south only lasted a fortnight. While others around the country were facing droughts with their lawns becoming dustbowls, at the bottom of the country we were still mowing our lush green lawns and dealing with flooding.
RV Travel Lifestyle8 min read
Kombis, Pies And More
Joc O’Donnell loves Volkswagens. And in particular she loves that icon of the Flower Power–hippy era, the Volkswagen Kombi, or Microbus if you are American. Joc (pronounced Joss as it is short for Jocelyn) and her husband Scott O’Donnell preside over
RV Travel Lifestyle6 min read
Restoring The Soul
“When you lose your home, it’s incredibly traumatic.” These are the words of Evan Smith, Christchurch resident and spokesperson for the Avon-Ōtākaro Network (AvON), who along with over 5000 other homeowners was forced to abandon his home in the resid
RV Travel Lifestyle11 min read
From Junction To Jackson
Kumara Junction, 25 kilometres south of Greymouth, marks the beginning of the Glacier Highway. We swing west but don’t get far before we pull into Needful Things, a quirky treasure trove of retro, its entrance marked by a blue Morris Minor. Inside, t
RV Travel Lifestyle5 min read
Trout Centre Teaches Youngsters The Art Of Fly Fishing
The rapidly growing mid-North Island towns of Taupō and Turangi are well known for many things, including their stunning mountain scenery, beautiful rivers and lakes, and the wide variety of action attractions they offer, but topping the list for man
RV Travel Lifestyle2 min readEarth Sciences
New Zealand’s Record Breaker
Lake Taupō itself offers a huge range of attractions for motorhomers and is worth visiting for the views of the lake and surrounding mountains alone, not to mention its fishing and countless other attractions such as the wonderful Wairakei Terraces a
RV Travel Lifestyle7 min read
A Great Ride Kinloch’s Lakeside Loop
I am quite fond of Kinloch, a pretty village on the edge of Lake Taupō. In Gaelic the settlement’s name means ‘loch end’, and it has a familiar feel to that of Kingston, my lakeside hometown in the deep south. Both villages are at one end of a large
RV Travel Lifestyle5 min read
Points North
What a contrast! Some months after one of our more severe droughts, Northland was hit by torrential rain – up to 200ml in some places and reputed to be a once-in-500-year event. Our thoughts are with those who have experienced damage to property, sto
RV Travel Lifestyle11 min read
Meeting Manukura
You want the name of a place that’s as far in the middle of nowhere as you can get? In the rest of the world you say Timbuktu (in the lower reaches of the Sahara Desert); in New Zealand you say Eketāhuna – officially located in the lower reaches of t
RV Travel Lifestyle5 min read
Nz Long Fin Eel
Matt Paku is feeding his eels. Strictly speaking, they are not ‘his’ – they belong to the nation – but they live in a cool, clear stream that runs through his property. Matt’s wife Marilyn runs the family fish and chip shop and Matt feeds the eels sc
RV Travel Lifestyle5 min read
No Ego In This Eco
What happens when a restless pharmacist meets a compassionate banker? Add to the mix an agribusiness supply-chain manager turned yoga instructor, and you have three ‘brothers’ who have a passion for making a difference to the health of New Zealanders
RV Travel Lifestyle5 min read
Fitting Modern Comforts To A Vintage Caravan
I was brought up in a caravanning family, going on my first caravan holiday at four months old in 1950. My parents owned Liteweight caravans so caravan holidays were regular every year. Over the decades, these caravans grew more sophisticated in both
RV Travel Lifestyle7 min read
Gallivanting Around The Eyre Peninsula
As the founder of one of Australia’s most successful motorhome hire and tour companies, I’m often asked to share the secret of our success. Of course, there are many reasons, but one of the biggest is very simple: we know, because we go! Our research
RV Travel Lifestyle7 min read
Cold Comfort
Sometime last year when I was tiki-touring around the back roads of the Mackenzie Country, it was getting dark and I was looking for somewhere to set up camp for the night. I stumbled across a perfect place. It was a large, dead-flat expanse of grass
RV Travel Lifestyle8 min read
Cougar Captures The Attention
For us a trip to Tauranga usually involves dropping in to see various colleagues in the RV industry to catch up on new products and innovations. In early August (prior to Level 3) we rang Nick Blair at BOP RV in Katikati. Nick and his father John hav
RV Travel Lifestyle6 min readAutomotive
Tribute For Two
To give you a brief history, the UK-based manufacturer Auto-Trail Company started manufacturing motorhomes in 1982, after many years as a motor-caravan repair business. In 1984 they had a distributor established with Brownhills, a small retailer at t
RV Travel Lifestyle5 min read
New RnR 5!
You won’t miss us on the road – our new RV has been graphic wrapped all over and we are looking really good. • RnR 1 was our four-berth 2005 ex-Maui rental motorhome 6 months• RnR 2 TrailLite gave us a treat with a 1997 model for 6 months• RnR 3 Kea
RV Travel Lifestyle6 min read
RnR - Rosie’s make-over
Lockdown got everyone making lists; we must tidy this, paint that, plant gardens, bake or learn to cook – something. The Rock and I pondered painting the interior of Rosie (our 1998 Ford Transit four-berth ex-rental motorhome), but ordering a paint c
RV Travel Lifestyle4 min readAutomotive
Double Drop-down Delights
Sales at SmartRV have been pumping, as with most of the RV dealers around the country. There is no doubt owning a caravan, motorhome or RV of some type is the goal of many across the country. We checked out a couple of models, then got the keys for a
RV Travel Lifestyle1 min readComputers
READERS & SUBSCRIBERS BE IN TO WIN A PM300-BT WORTH $1890RRP
The growing popularity of motorhomes and caravans in New Zealand has also seen a rise in the number of devices and conveniences connecting to the power supply which can quickly drain the batteries or even overload them. To help manage the demand, bat
RV Travel Lifestyle3 min readAutomotive
All New Piazza Is Here!
Winter is over and with our thoughts now turning to Summer Holidays and Weekend getaways the timing could not be better for our latest offering from the Royal Flair range of Caravans to arrive. Not for the shy & retiring types! Our newest 21’ Piazza
RV Travel Lifestyle3 min read
Upcoming EVENT GUIDE
When: Sept–Oct 2020 Where: Central Hawke’s Bay W: www.thespringfling.nz This year’s Spring Fling is a wonderful showcase of the region with gorgeous events at our historic homesteads, stunning coastal walks, boutique markets and the iconic Taniwha Da
RV Travel Lifestyle1 min read
Endeavour NZ Itinerary Specialists
Endeavour NZ Itinerary Specialists are a privately owned New Zealand professional travel itinerary specialist company for holidays in New Zealand. They create the finest holiday itineraries for you, with the most professional care and dedication. Stu
RV Travel Lifestyle1 min read
Remco Lead Carbon batteries
If you’re looking for the best cycle performance in lead-acid battery technology, you should check out Battery Town’s new Remco Lead Carbon batteries. How much of a battery’s total ampere hours (Ah) you use, and how often you do this, hugely affects
RV Travel Lifestyle1 min read
Mini Wine Tables
A Kiwi-made innovation from Kathy and Trev O’Neill in Waihi, handcrafted in the shed, a perfect compact table to take one wine bottle and two wine glasses, with its own carry bag. • 35cm diameter, stands 40cm high• Ideal for: Camping – Motorhomes – B
RV Travel Lifestyle1 min read
NZMCA Members Elect First Female President
History has been made with the election of longstanding member, Sharron King, as the NZMCA’s first female President in its 65-year history. After more than 9 years as President – Bruce Stanger says he wishes Sharron King and the Board all the best. W
RV Travel Lifestyle1 min readCooking, Food & Wine
MyCoolman™ Extend Range
The MyCoolman™ range of top-load fridge/freezers has been extended with the addition of four new products. An entry level thermo-electric 9-litre cooler/warmer kicks off a revised range that also includes new 30-litre and 85-litre sizes of compressor
RV Travel Lifestyle2 min read
Projecta Boosts RV/Caravan Power Management
The growing popularity of motorhomes and caravans in New Zealand has also seen a rise in the number of devices and conveniences connecting to the power supply … which can quickly drain the batteries or even overload them. To help manage the demand, b
RV Travel Lifestyle3 min read
RV Road Books
Dr Warren Feeney RRP $79.95 SCAPE Public Art Trust It’s been 20 years, 20 extraordinary, exciting, mind-expanding years, since SCAPE Public Art began to revolutionise the open spaces of Ōtautahi Christchurch – and public arts practice in Aotearoa New
RV Travel Lifestyle3 min readCooking, Food & Wine
Road Kai
Book Credit Recipes extracted from Stuck Together by Sarah TuckOzich, Released for sales from 19 October, published by From the Kitchen RRP: $65 We have one copy to be won. Tell us the in the subject line Road Kai and the volume number of this issue.
RV Travel Lifestyle5 min read
Road Trips Galore
To watch videos of Caspar’s adventures visit his facebook page or watch on youtube Caspar’s capers We are stuck at home again and working, with the vehicles all parked up, woof woof a bit sad. For a while there, we were away so much I didn’t know whe
RV Travel Lifestyle1 min read
Letter to Caspar
Woof woof to you Casper, I’ve got my paws crossed to win the Interislander Ferry Voucher so we can visit the mainland! I have filled in my competition entry attached (Answer: Page 39) and a photo of me in my motorhome. Don’t think this is going to be

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