And a U-turn

March 2010

Despite our excitement over the caravan we looked at, it wasn't long before some nagging doubts set in.

It started off with thoughts of how our lifestyle would work. Carrying water is challenging in a caravan; the weight from the water makes the van much harder to tow. Also, the small size of the tanks means you need to fill up (and dump the waste water) more often. Likewise, putting in a decent bank of batteries with solar panels to make us independent of the grid would add to the weight of the van.

This would probably mean we'd end up staying in caravan parks more often, for the convenience of power and water. And that would add to our cost of living, so the money saved in purchase would get chewed up.

But the real decider came the next day when we were on the road home to Wellington. Travelling south along the shores of Lake Taupo, we saw a campervan pull into a lovely rest area north of Mission Bay. You can't really see into this rest area from the road, but it is right on the lake's edge with lots of trees and grassed areas.

We realised we'd never be able to do that when towing a caravan. Pulling into somewhere like that without scouting it first means you risk getting stuck, either on a rough access road or because there is nowhere to turn around.

So, the caravan was struck off the list again. Back to the search for a bus or motorhome.