The New Bach

Things have certainly changed. A few years ago travel in a recreational vehicle was still sniffily supposed by some to be for vagrant types. People of disrepute. Trailer trash. How the times have changed.

These days the family bach is more than ever likely to be a recreational vehicle; and many early retirees are renting out their homes, downsizing, and buying a glamorous home on wheels. A recent survey undertaken by the industry’s advocacy body, the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association, reliably estimates the numbers of recreational vehicle owners in this country to be around 60,000; larger than the population of Napier.

A recent survey by Neilsen tells us that our magazine, New Zealand Motorhomes, Caravans and Destinations has an audited monthly readership of 79,000. That’s greater than the population of Palmerston North. So we’re really talking significant numbers of people taking up the lifestyle.
The demographic is changing fast.

Motorhoming was once the province of the active retired. The average age of our reader demographic was 65-85. It is now 45 and upwards with emerging evidence of some 20 and 30 somethings also getting in on the act. It is this variety of young and old enjoying life on the road that makes it such a vibrantly attractive lifestyle.

It took some doing to come up with a list of the best, which included watching seal pups frolic in Ohau Stream and doing the adrenalin fuelled Pouto Sand Safari to mention but two. In the past three and a half years in this job, I have travelled the length and breadth of the country. There is still plenty to discover but I cannot believe how absolutely spectacular it is, and how much wide open space we have.

While in Bali we took an amazing cycle tour from a volcanic mountainside 23 kilometres down through traditional villages and eventually back to Ubud. Among our wonderful companions were a Dutch father and his two adult sons – all extremely well-travelled. All three rate New Zealand as the top country of the many they have visited. I should not have been surprised to hear it.

Many years ago a top tourism promoter exhorted New Zealanders to see their country before they left home. The sentiment is still current. And what better way to travel than with a homely carapace?

You can make the road your home for an investment that is either small or significant. Given the price of the average family home; it’s increasingly likely that the purchase of a family bach will be beyond your reach. So why would you not get on board and join those who have already discovered the joys of the open road?

Peta Stavelli