What a journey that was! There were 2 false starts on other vans, before I actually returned to one that I’d passed on earlier. It seems others weren’t keen on it at all, as I was the sole bidder. Woohoo!

Since being quarantined here in New Zealand back in March, I started thinking about how awesome it would be to fit up a van. Originally I’d thought of doing it in the States, however I’ve always wanted to tour around NZ in a van, so heck, this is the PERFECT opportunity!

After months of searching, I finally got it! I’d been looking for a Toyota Hiace, 4WD, diesel, high roof, AND a manual. Ends up, I might as well have set my sights on dating a Victoria Secret model… let’s just say, supply is low and demand is high! Ultimately I found two for sale; the first one disappeared the same afternoon it went up on TradeMe, and the second one had a rear main seal leak and heaps of rust. I couldn’t bring myself to spend the $6K+ NZD the seller was asking for it, especially after my friend had gone by to inspect it and couldn’t give me the full go-ahead. I put in an offer, and truth be told, I didn’t really believe he had another buyer who’d offered $500 more than I did, Another lesson learned, Kiwis are honest people; this is not like Los Angeles. When he said he had another offer, it wasn’t a sales tactic. Time to rewrite that awful conditioning.

I’d seen another van that checked all the boxes, it was even new (relatively speaking…it’s a 2001), however it was a Dyna, not a Hiace, and it just looked funky. Like a work truck that someone had stitched a van back to. Kind of Frankensteined. Yet, it kept coming up, and nothing else was. So, I decided to call the owner and inquire. Again, a super straight-shooting seller; this chap was originally from South Africa, and selling it on behalf of his friend who’d travelled back to the US and couldn’t come back anytime soon. It was one-owner and had spent all of it’s life as a workhorse for a vineyard, although for the last year it’d been sitting under a tree with nothing to do.

Itching for adventure, as soon as the bid closed on Sunday night, I booked a flight on Tuesday morning from Auckland to Blenheim in the South Island. My first flight since COVID began, and it was June. It’s probably the longest time in the last 4 years that I’d gone without flying. This flight was full, and for the most part, everything seemed pretty normal – one of the perks of being “stuck” here in New Zealand.

The seller came to pick me up at the airport (I love this country!) and after a quick test drive, handed me the keys and a one-page document to sign and hand over to VTNZ in order to change the registration. I asked where I should send the payment, and he said he’d email me the bank info later – no stress. With that, he took off and headed back to work. Here I was, key in hand, a “new” van, and a full tank of gas, and I hadn’t yet parted with a single dollar for the pleasure of it (well, I did pay for the flight). After filling out the paperwork for the transfer of ownership, I made my way to Picton to catch the ferry for Wellington where I’d spend the night then begin making my way north to Mangawhai.

More of the adventure to come…