This year we’re celebrating 20 years of motorhome travel after swapping from touring caravans and never looking back. The incredible experiences have been endless and the time spent converting a campervan in New Zealand is one memory we’ll always cherish.
The search for a van and chance of travels in a self-build camper was just beginning. We’d always fancied trying our hand at doing our own van but we never dreamt of actually converting a campervan in New Zealand of all places.
Sitting under the shade of a large pine tree, to protect from the searing sun of a New Zealand Summer gave a break from work underway. It was an enjoyable challenge, which turned into so much more than a camper build.
The year was 2018 and this was our second visit to New Zealand in the space of a few months. The trips were last minute, a bit out of the blue and certainly never planned.
Why buy a van? Converting a campervan in New Zealand
At the time, we had one son working in New Zealand and another training there. It wasn’t something we expected, two children suddenly living on opposite side of the world to us. This was the moment our travels changed for a few years, as flights to New Zealand became part of our lives.
Our first trip in early 2018 came with a mix of hotels, apartments and a rental campervan to begin exploring. New Zealand has a big campervan rental market, but hiring for months at a time was too expensive.
It wasn’t our first experience of motorhoming in New Zealand. In 2002 and 2003, we took a couple of trips there, hiring a motorhome and touring both islands. So, we did know a little bit about the process and New Zealand itself.
Wanting a self-build – Converting A Campervan In New Zealand
Converting a van into a campervan wasn’t just an overnight idea. Far from it, it’s something we’d thought about for some time back in the UK. So much so, it was a bit of a standing joke amongst family.
Finally, an opportunity on the opposite side of the world came our way during a trip to Australia and we couldn’t wait to give it a whirl. Although we also bought and converted a van into a campervan in Sydney, it didn’t quite work out as expected. So this time, we knew what to look out for and how to do things a little differently.
Searching For The Right Van
Searching for the right van at the right price wasn’t easy. We already knew after our search in Australia, it’s time consuming with different to vans to the UK.
The search began with “Trade Me”, New Zealand’s answer to e-Bay. Soon we were scouring ads of second hand campers and realising they were quite pricey and scattered all over New Zealand. This was a problem because distances to travel in New Zealand can be much longer than the UK, due to no real motorway network and miles between towns.
Deciding on a new van
After hiring a car to help with the search, we began looking for a new van to convert into a campervan. Giving up on a second hand search was realistic, seeing it could be hours to drive to look at one, only to discover it wasn’t right for us.
Instead we found a new LDV V80 at a garage in the North Island. This was going to be perfect, as it was high enough to stand in, came with 3 travel seats and enough room in the back for a fixed bed, toilet and kitchen area.
Another bonus were windows in the rear doors, and it was boarded with a floor covering too. This was going to be a great help for converting it into our campervan.
Buying The Van – Converting A Campervan In New Zealand
With only one van available at the LDV main dealer in Hamilton, we then had wait for the end of the Christmas Holidays. This was because the compound for new vehicles was at the Port of Auckland, which wasn’t accessible until after the holidays.
After the deal was done and payment made, we were ready to collect the van and begin the conversion.
Buying the van was an easy enough process, as was the insurance too. Once the holidays were over and with the keys to the new van, we were ready to drive to a campsite and begin the conversion.
Campsite stay
In the beginning, we didn’t have anywhere to convert the van into the campervan, so drove to the nearest campsite in Hamilton. The owners were really obliging, as we explained what we were here to do, and they were happy to have us.
So long as we were respectful and didn’t leave a mess, the campsite owners welcomed us. After showing us to a quiet corner where we put up our tent, we were able to get straight to work on the van. Sleeping in the tent and storing our bags and equipment in the van.
The town which has everything
Fortunately, Hamilton is a town which has everything available. It’s large town and we soon learnt, if it wasn’t on the shelf, someone was soon making it for you.
The town had every kind of manufacturer, making every kind of product. It was unbelievable with all the bits and pieces available pretty much instantly. The people there were so willing to help and easy-going too. We soon found nothing was too much trouble in helping us with our conversion.
With a fabulous country awaiting explore, we set to work straight away. The only initial stumbling block was the Christmas holidays, when Kiwi’s take their extended Summer break.
This meant many businesses didn’t re-open until the second week of January, which left us waiting in our tent.
A chance meeting
On our visit to New Zealand earlier in the year, we rented a camper which had a battery issue. This later turned out to be the best problem we could have wished for!
To check out the battery, the rental company sent us to a guy in Hamilton, called Jason. On arrival at the unit, we couldn’t believe our eyes. This workshop had everything you could possibly think of for building a campervan and we were in awe.
Coming from a motorhome business ourselves in the UK, and it having been our hobby for years, we were like kids in a sweetshop.
We were met by Jason and a whole box of Easter Eggs as an apology for the battery trouble. In life you sometimes hit it off with people in an instant and Jason was one such occasion.
Helping hand
It turned out, Jason’s company built campervans for the rental company, it was so interesting to find out how the business worked and see fleet of rental vans being converted.
He was so obliging when we met him, we were really impressed with his campervan and boating business. So much so that we kept in touch afterwards without realising just how much his knowledge and kindness would help us later on in the year.
Fast forward to our next trip and we decided to pay Jason a visit to show him our new van and ask if he had a water tank we could buy.
As soon as they re-opened after Christmas, Jason and his partner, Amanda welcomed us with open arms.
Not only did they have the water tank, but they insisted helping us out with the build. Before we knew it, they were offering us to stay and make use of their tools and facilities.
In the end, they gave so much help in our camper conversion, we don’t think we could have done it without them.
New Friends
Jason and his family even gave us a key to their yard and a place to park up for several nights. Opening their work cabin with a hot shower and loo too.
Jason’s Dad, Kim, was a real character entertaining us with so many stories from his 72 years.
We still feel blessed to have met Jason and his family. We couldn’t thank them enough for their generosity towards us. There are some really good people in the world and Jason is one of the good sorts.
Self-contained – Converting a campervan in New Zealand
New Zealand has a system similar to Aires known as Freedom Camping. In many locations, a campervan needs to be self-contained to stay there.
To prove our campervan was self-contained, we arranged for an inspection from an independent assessor.
We knew what we needed to build into the van, so made sure it was going to pass.
It included fitted water tanks, large enough for a few days use and a permanent toilet area. Luckily we had standing height, so the rest was relatively simple.
Thankfully, after driving to the inspection assessor, our campervan passed and was registered self-contained.
Happy campervan travels
Our campervan conversion took about 4 weeks to finish and by that time, we were ready to hit the road.
It had been such a great experience and learning curve, returning to New Zealand until the events of March 2020 brought an end to our adventures.
Eventually, our campervan was for sale, but it was such an interesting time in our vanlife memories and we’re so grateful to have spent so much time there.
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