Head North You Say? Part 1: Transportation / Lodging

Wow. Time to dust off some cobwebs.

As many of you know, roadtrips are one thing that Carly and I both really enjoy. In the past, we've gone to Raglan, Hamilton, Foxton, Taupo and other exciting places. Heck, our honeymoon was one giant roadtrip! Each time, we became more autonomous, first staying at hotels, then camp sites, then, during our last trip, sleeping in our Legacy.

The legacy was a terrible experience, but the idea of being completely self-contained stuck. Combine this with an unhealthy obsession with the concept of an off-road capable mini van that I've had since we first came to New Zealand on our honeymoon and you get this:

It's a 1996 Mitsubishi Delica. Essentially, Mitsubishi has taken their off-road offering, the Pajero and slapped an L300 body on top of it. I've been looking for one basically since we got here, and, two weeks before we were scheduled to go, this showed up on trademe. I bought it pretty much outright, and, after an inspection, knew well the issues it had.

After picking it up, I drove it over to O's to get some basic work done on it to make it worthy of our trip. New CV boots and new front shock absorbers went on. The next day, (the day before we were scheduled to leave) back at home I did the oil, filter and air filter. I went to start the engine to drive the truck off the ramps. No go. Nothing. The dash lights would light up but no turnover of the engine. Long story short, two days, a car alarm specialist and an auto-electrician (both mobile btw, as it would have been impossible to tow the truck out of our driveway) we were ready to go.

We decided to keep the middle seat and build a wooden platform for the back. The plan was to use the middle seat, spun backwards (it does that :) ) and the platform for the inflatable mattress, storing everything underneath. It mostly worked.

The problem is that Carly and I are both planning on making the most of this vacation by going diving and kiting respectively. This means we have a LOT of gear. Add camping gear, clothing, chilly-bin and cooking supplies and we very quickly realized we'd overpacked. We've since trimmed down and stowed most of the cruft we are never going to use on the trip, but we still have it in the car, which makes life a bit challenging when setting up for the night. The good news is we're taking copious notes of what's used, what's not, what worked and improvements we can make for next time.

But, at least we were on the road!

Next up, Napier.