UZ - OUR HOME ON WHEELS

IN THE SEARCH OF A NEW HOME

Right after the Welling Rugby Sevens, we started our search for a home on wheels in Wellington. We soon discovered it wasn’t the right place, since the majority of motor homes are sold in Auckland.

Fortunately, we met Paul Steel at a kiwi wedding on the sixth day of our trip. Paul invited us to stay with him in Auckland in the search of a motor home. After having spent a great week in Wellington, we took a bus to Paul in Auckland.

We went to all corners in and out of Auckland to check out some 30 motor homes, which all didn’t meet our requirements. They all had their unique failures, ranging from slipping brakes, sputtering engine oil, totally rusted exhaust pipes, a beautiful Bedford that couldn’t drive at all, to non-technical unacceptable features like interiors with seashells glued all over, moss growing everywhere or campers so full of dog-hair that you instantly become allergic… and often we were simply too tall to fit in the bed.

FALLING IN LOVE

The challenge made us start considering alternative ways of travelling like going by bike, or buying a 4×4 with a tent. With the help of Paul we drove half an hour out of town to view a 1985 Isuzu truck. Immediately we fell in love, though the ceiling was rotten and the interior in a similar state. More important to us, the vehicle did pass our mechanical check. We went for a test drive and bought the truck in an instant, before the other buyer would show up. We drove away without being road legal and celebrated in style with Paul and his carpenter neighbour, whose tools we could borrow. Unbelievable!

LET’S GET THIS PART(Y) STARTED

A month of refurbishing and upgrading followed. We started with a full service, new tires, warrant of fitness (WOF), a new electrical box and an electrical WOF. Also, we made it self-contained, so we could legally freedom camp. We replaced the ceiling and made the roof waterproof, we renewed the insulation, installed a new roof-dome and built in some extra storage.

Some days we started at 8 a.m., other days we worked till 8 a.m. Every day we started with a nice breakfast on Paul’s roof terrace and in the evening there was often a great kiwi meal awaiting us, prepared by master chef Paul. He made sure we wouldn’t eat veggies only.

MEET THE NEIGHTBOURS

While working on the street, all neighbours and other admirers were continuously checking our progress.

After sanding the interior and putting the primer on, we spray painted the dashboard black and the ceiling of the cabin gold and let the windows open to let the paint dry over night. New Zealand is so safe! The next morning we found a 10 litre bucket of white paint and a set of brushes on our front seat. We were wondering who of the nice kiwis could have left it there. A day later the mystery was solved, when a friendly Maori told us he had the paint left over from renovating his house. Evenly surprising, another evening working in the dark, a guy passed by and gave us two head-lights to ease our work.

THE FRIDGE MIRACLE

We had emptied the whole camper except the fridge and were busy painting, when another neighbour (Huw Hielkema) passed by and asked if we needed a fridge, how ironic. This was the only motor home in which we didn’t test the fridge yet. After checking, it didn’t work. Huw appeared to be a refrigeration expert and helped us install his fridge and also fixed the gas-system for the stove.

Not only the people in the neighbourhood were friendly and helpful, but even at big stores we managed to get a nice piece of scrap carpet for free and after our daily material purchases at Bunnings, the staff gave us two giant buckets of jellybeans!

We truly enjoyed working on the camper and couldn’t believe it could get any better.

STEVE THE BUILDER

Yet it could! Another neighbour (Steve the Builder) was busy building his own house and was super amazed to have a mini-project in front of his house, especially done by two women. He offered to build us a tailor-made bike rack which could also hold our spare wheel. When he invited us for dinner he told us he would go to Beach Hop the next morning; the Southern Hemisphere’s biggest classic car event, a two hour drive from Auckland.

INTERRUPTED BY OUR FIRST ROAD ADVENTURE

We decided to put down our work and pack our stuff. Though we had no curtains, lights or facilities yet, we headed down to Whangamata at midnight to not miss out on this spectacular event.

SPECIAL THANKS TO PAUL & HIS NEIGHBOURS

Upon return, Paul (who used to be an electrician) installed new lights, Lotte fitted the carpet and did the final touch and Leonie sew all the curtains and upholstery using the sewing machine of yet another neighbour.

By the end of our project, Paul got to know all his neighbours! We are so grateful to Paul; all of this was possible thanks to his great hospitality and friendliness! The perfect man with the perfect neighbours!

PAINT MAKES PERFECT

The interior picture perfect and fully equipped (and with fully we mean FULLY) we headed to Chris McDell in Hamilton. Chris might well be the best car mechanic ever! He did some outstanding technical work on our truck. We met him when he gave us a ride at the Beach Hop classic car parade. He took us four wheel driving and we could paint our camper’s exterior at Waikato Cranes, the company of one of this 4×4 friends.

Four days of masking, two hours spray painting and one hour removing the masking tape rewarded us with eight months of smiles, positive reactions and invitations all over New Zealand.

UZ – UNSATURATED ZONE

We called our home UZ, derived from Isuzu and standing for Unsaturated Zone, since we painted it black and white inside and out. In Chile we bought another camper to tour through South America. We gave it our signature style and named it UZ2.