Sharing our Miles of memories winners submission:
TrailLite nostalgic moments by Diane and Max
January 1974, the 1972 18ft 6in TrailLite caravan is packed and hitched to the 1966 Chev Impala car and Mum and Dad are ready to roll. Off to do a trip around the South Island with another couple and their caravan. During their travels, Mum wrote letters to her five daughters of their adventures along the way. What an amazing time they had. Up until this time my parents had owned caravans for over 10 years. My dad’s passion was fishing and white-baiting on the Awakino and Mokau rivers in North Taranaki. Their younger grandchildren could all tell many tales of holidays and caravan rallies that they had with their Gran and Grandad travelling around the North Island.
Fast forward to 2015. My husband and I had been retired for a year, thoroughly enjoying our free time, going away for trips in our motorhome until in May 2015 we decided to try a spell of living on the road. We packed up our house (daughter and family were moving in) and during the packing, I found my mother’s letters of their South Island trip. I typed the letters up and made a booklet of their travels, gave a copy to each of my sisters and invited them to join us in retracing our parent’s trip of a lifetime. My hubby had identified 92 places that Mum and Dad had visited, so we had a challenge and goal to visit as many of the places as possible.
In July 2015 hubby and I purchased a 2002 8m TrailLite – what a dream motorhome, all the bells and whistles that we needed to live comfortably during our journey around our beautiful country.
So, 43 years after my parent’s South Island trip, in January 2017, we set off with our little Maltese/Bichon dog and based our sights on my parent’s trip around the South Island. One sister and her husband travelled with us for most of the time in their converted bus. What a journey and the nostalgia I felt in many of the places that we visited, knowing that my parents had been there before me.
Mum had kept a record/diary of everything, including costs of petrol and camp fees and we had many a giggle when we compared prices ie at Havelock they purchased 1lb of scallops for $1.30, at the Takaka wharf they bought 1lb scallops and 2 flounders for $1.95, at Ruby Bay they stayed in a motorcamp and the cost was 50c per night (at Richmond it was $1.50). Part way through their trip, after having travelled 2711 miles (4363kms), it had cost $132.80 for petrol and $84.15 for 31 camp sites. I wasn’t as diligent as my mother in record keeping, but on our trip, we did from New Plymouth and return and recorded 5480kms at an approx. cost of $1450.00 for fuel only.
Excerpts from Mum’s letters:
We arrived at Greymouth about tea-time where we had quite a bit of excitement. A man saw our TrailLite caravan and followed us to the camp. The Tasman Towing hitch is made in Greymouth and sent to Pukekohe. All of the firm was very excited about seeing it on a caravan for the first time. Several came after tea to see it. Dad was very pleased to find out about it and learnt how to operate it. They found it had never had any oil put in one part so now it goes much better. We had to take the caravan down to the factory next morning before we left for Hokitika…
While parked up at Queenstown , we had a visit from a couple who owned a 22ft TrailLite caravan. They had been travelling round in it for 9 months. It was the most luxurious caravan I had ever seen…
And now to today – in 2023, after 8 years of living in our TrailLite, hubby and I returned to live in our home, but our trusted motorhome is parked in the driveway, ready to go on that next trip. Our grandchildren have all had sleepovers in our motorhomes, we have parked at some very interesting locations, and we’ve had many, many happy hours with our motorhoming friends.
I just wish I could share my memories with my mum and dad of the amazing life we have enjoyed while travelling in such comfort in our TrailLite motorhome. I know they thoroughly loved the layout and ease of everything in their caravan. My dad would be amazed at the journey that TrailLite has progressed since he bought his first caravan from the company. And he would have been so proud to know that we chose a TrailLite as our second home.
Diane & Max.
