It is true what they say about New Zealand: “The world in one Country”. As European I have seen a lot of countries especially in Europe but also outside, but what amazed me the most was how much scenery of all those different countries you see back in New Zealand, it’s just amazing!

Our journey started in Christchurch where we picked up our motor home. We had chosen for Cheapa Campa (www.cheapacampa.co.nz) , mainly because the good price-value. The pick-up actually went pretty fast and the woman helping us could also speak German, which was pretty handy for us (she was just lovely and made us in a real ‘relaxy holiday feeling’).

Some people might say 10 days is way to less to see the country, but for our feeling we have seen a lot.  The first day we drove to Kaikoura where we swum with dolphins. We were very lucky that day, as there were a lot of dolphins and they were in a real playing mood. Although the water was really cold it was so much fun, the dolphins actually came so close to you that you could touch them.  After all the cold water we were pleasant with Cheapa Campa’s onboard shower where we could warm up and enjoy a prepared dinner.
That same day we drove to Picton to stay the night there. We decided to go for a drink and ended up in the Seumes’s Irish Bar, which was a lot of fun. They had a band playing who were very good and funny at the same time.

After having a great time in Picton we drove to the Abel Tasman National Park where we did some hiking. As I’m not really much of a hiker it was good fun though, especially with those beautiful views and beaches. The next leg of our journey was to Punakaiki, where we visited the Pancake rocks. It was fantastic to see those rocks and the views were spectacular. It was also informative to see how these rocks were formed. After sleeping so close to the beach where you actually could hear the ocean, we drove to Franz Jozef the next day.

In Franz Jozef we wanted to skydive but we were considering where to, since we heard some stories about a good skydive company in Wanaka. After a while we decided to do it in Wanaka and to visit the glaciers while we were in Franz Jozef. After seeing the glaciers and snow, which was fun we headed to Queenstown to do some shopping and ended that evening, again in the Irish Pub where people were dancing and singing. Good Fun!

After Queenstown our next stop was Wanaka, where we skydived. It was just incredible! I remember being really and I mean really nervous, but what a great experience that was. I had this amazing tandem partner, I forgot his name but he was from Brazil and that guy really helped me to relax by telling jokes. Whilst flying in the air you really feel like a bird and I was doing the craziest moves.

Our final destination was Lake Te Anau, which was really astonishing. We were glad that our Cheapa Campa 6 Berth had a heater as it was pretty cold during the night. After having so much fun and enjoying the most beautiful views of New Zealand our Holiday came unfortunately to an end and we hand in the motor home in Christchurch.

I would definitely recommend Cheapa Campa to my friends, as we didn’t face any problems.  I also would recommend to go swim with dolphins and skydive, which I think were the two most fantastic experiences.

We adopted the pseudonyms Sheila and Bruce for a bit of fun and the blog shows we had plenty of that. We are sold on Cheapa Campa and used them in New Zealand last year as well as in Australia this year. Both times we were upgraded from a 4 berth to a 6 berth for no extra cost and one or two small problems we had on the road were dealt with quickly and efficiently. We travelled more than 20,000 km on our trip. This took us from Perth to Port Augusta then up through the Red Centre to Darwin, down to The Kimberley where we took 6 days in a 4 wheel drive, then back down to Perth. We are both retired and both felt 10 years younger after our trip. Can't wait to go back!!

The blog link contains photograhs and if you want to read about NZ, the links are here.
http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bevj/1/1291967169/tpod.html
and here:
http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/bevj/1/1292700876/tpod.html

Yeah, we finally went on our lives adventure. We had been planning the trip for almost a year and it was the greatest feeling that went through our bodies as we stepped out from the airport and into the warm Australian night. After a good night’s sleep, we went to the office to pick up the car, and we took off on our adventure. First we saw the Great Ocean Road – and what a sight. Because we had our own car and wasn´t on a planned trip, we spent about an hour on the beach at Gibsons Steps. I had been to Australia many years ago, living with a family for 6 months. As we traveled up through Victoria, we went to see the family, and it was an affectionate reunion. After a couple of days catching up, we drove to Sydney. There we went to see The Opera House, which was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon in 1973. After Sydney we spent a little more than a month driving up to Cairns, stopping wherever we wanted and going places we would definitely not have seen, if we had went on a pre-planned tour. Also went to catch up with Claus´ uncle and aunt, cousin + family who live in Brisbane. Claus hadn´t seen them in about 20 years so that too was an affectionate reunion. In total, we had the time of our life and the trip got us even closer together. 

Sanne C. Leth, Denmark, 2011

We picked up our 4wd poptop camper from Perth, it was 40 degrees and we couldn't wait to get the aircon on and start our road trip.  First stop was Fremantle, a beautiful portside city with awesome markets with plenty of cafes and bars. From there we drove straight towards Bremer bay with an overnight stop at Broomhill. Bremer bay and the Albany coastline are magnificent with the coastal scenery dominated by the rounded granite rocks and headlands.  The wind is strong and cool from the south a real comfort after leaving the 40 degree heat of Perth. In the next few days we visited Denmark, a cool alternative village with great Saturday markets. Not far away we climbed the valley of the giants tree top walkway, the tingle trees are massive a great walk for all the family. Next destination was peaceful bay a very low key spot great for surfing and fishing. That night we headed back to the forest for a well deserved rest. The next day we spent driving to Pemberton to tackle the centenary tree, a 75metre climb up a giant karri tree with metal spikes driven into the tree to make a ladder. This is definitely not for the faint hearted but a must do for the thrill seekers. The journey then takes us back to the coast where we visit Augusta, with Cape Leewin lighthouse being the attraction. The remainder of the trip we head up the coast towards Margret River for days of vineyards, surfing, snorkelling and exploring this exciting part of the country.  The caves are a hidden treasure, cool breezes and haunting limestone formations.  The final two days we make our way back to Perth to drop of our camper, it served us well and we highly recommend this holiday, very memorable...Rick and Reggena 

We had just been informed that due to Passports being short of Expiry (3 Months) that our Asia Trip was off so we contemplated how to fill in some of our Holiday, We secured the hire of a Cheapa Camper online, only to be told in a subsequent mail that the local site was out of Cheapa Vehicles and they offered to upgrade us to one of their Apollo Campers, a Newer vehicle at the same price (I was impressed) We turned up the next day and picked up our new temporary home. We were run through the full procedure in the use of the Vehicle and supplied with a good range of maps and a list of discounted sites for Apollo members.

With a full tank of diesel and a fine day we headed south to drop in on friends in Dawesville and then on to Bunbury. The truck hauled the load well, (3L Toyota) and we made good time. We camped at a Powered site in the Bunbury Motor Camp where we set up in the dark with little fuss. Next day we packed up and headed to Bussleton where we had a coffee in the car park off the Jetty. On to the Bustle highway and we spot a Shell Museum a private collection now open to public viewing, MAGIC said my wife as she was blown away by the number and colours of all the undersea collection. We bought some and headed away south again, turning right to visit one of the underground attractions,

Mammoth Cave lived up to it's name and was a great stop at a steady 15 degrees C we enjoyed our time looking at pristine Underground rock formations... then on to the Caves road to find a Winery. Found the Swooping Magpie and picked out a couple of lovely reds to go with tea and headed south. Pulled off the highway for a Coffee and the wife sees a dead snake, almost dried out of its skin, (Into the collection...) Camped in Margaret River motor camp that night and slept well... The cooking and camping equipment worked well for us and it was great to hitch up to a powered site and have Air-con when we needed it. Our Journey took us to the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, on through Denmark to an eco-camp where we saw a Black Parrot couple, up the Diamond Tree and the Elevated Tree walks and then into Albany where we camped at their city camping park.

Some Kookaburra's cracked the dawn early and we set of North west. We took the Highway to the Boddington/Pinjarra Turnoff and headed to Mandurah, Very pleasant country and the Van was not missing a beat. We camped at safety BAy where we cleaned out our evidence in preparation for returning the camper to Apollo.

The following day we headed into Perth and returned our clean camper to our happy and friendly staff who checked out that all was in the state we took it out in, then we headed across the road to our hotel (Formula !) to stay the night before we caught our Train back to Kalgoorlie...

New Zealand, was great. The first day I landed in Auckland, we got into our camper van and hopped right into my wonderful New Zealand experience. Our first drive was off to Rotorua were we stayed two nights and went to visit Hells Gate to see the mud pools. Then we took our way to Wellington were we went to visit the Te Papa museum of New Zealand. We got to see great art work and the beautiful New Zealand got to learn more about New Zealand's national bird The Kiwi. I loved learning about the Kiwi. Then we made our way to South Island were we visited Nelson, Picton, and Abel Tasman National Park. In Abel Tasman we celebrated new years day on a eight hour kayaking trip, which was cool way to look at the different kind of beaches. On New Years Eve we went on the 'beach' and gazed at the fireworks. After our two night stay at Abel Tasman we went back to North Island were we made our way back to Auckland were stayed our last three nights. We went to watched the Sheep Hurdling which was really cool. I personal thought that dogs were trained really well. The rest days we spent in Auckland City, and there we walked the harbor and watched some ships leave. I loved New Zealand and my trip there it was really cool to stay in a camper van, I had a blast.

This road trip had been years in the making, we had talked about doing it since we all met and we fine tuned the details once we were actually away travelling. It was to be a 14 day campervan trip up the east coast of Australia, starting in Melbourne and finishing in Cairns. Little did we know how drastically this trip would change despite all our planning!

Firstly, a few days before we were due to leave two friends had to drop out, too late to change our booking the four of us left decided to go ahead and continue with the trip as planned. We picked up our Cheapa motorhome 6 berth campervan and started off to Sydney. We knew it was going to be a long day of driving ahead but we were eager to reach Sydney and make the most of our few days there. We arrived about 10pm (after a long detour through the city due to a road closure!) and then got up early the next day and headed to circular quay where we jumped the ferry to manly in the hope to get a fab view of both the opera house and the harbour bridge - unfortunately the weather had other ideas and a cloudy drizzle descended on the harbour! In Manly the weather lifted so we got our fantastic photo opporunity on the ferry back into the harbour. From there we walked through the Rocks and climbed the Pylon Tower - a cheaper alternative to the bridgeclimb walk. That night we where in a bar having drinks with friends when we saw the news footage on TV of the horrendous floods which had occured in Toowoomba earlier that day and which were hitting Brisbane as we watched. We couldn't believe it - not only was our trip in jeopardy but people had lost their lives and homes in this tragedy.

The next day we called Apollo for advice, we knew we wouldn't be able to do the same route and didn't know what our options were. We spoke to a really helpful representative who promised to call us back with alternative drop off locations. We headed to Bondi Beach to enjoy the sunshine, felling uncertain for the future of our trip. Apollo called us back as promised and advised we could change our drop off location to either Sydney, Melbourne or Adelaide free of charge due to the excepional circumstance. We decided that we really wanted to still try and get to cairns, and decided on a route that would take us from Sydney to Adelaide, and then through the red centre going to Uluru, onto Alice Springs and then up and across to Cairns! With our new route in mind we needed to leave Sydney ASAP! After about 5 hours of driving we arrived in Wagga Wagga for an overnight stop, then up early as we wanted to reach Adelaide before nightfall. What we estimated would be a 9 hour journey turned into a stressful 13 hours as we experienced torrential rain non-stop, so much so that the rear window in our campervan started to leak in rain water! Once we arrived in Adelaide we realised that our plan to reach Cairns was too ambitious and that there was no fun in spending so many hours driving each day! The next morning we called Apollo and explained about the fault with the window and again their helpful representative arranged for us to take it into the Adelaide office for a replacement vehicle. Once their we explained that we wanted to now drop the van off in Adelaide as we wouldn't be able to reach Cairns, and again Apollo and their staff were happy to help due to the circumstances.

It felt like a fresh start and with our new route we had more time to enjoy Adelaide and spent a lovely couple of days chilling out on Glenelg beach. Our first stop on our drive into the outback was in a place called Woomera - famous for its rocket launches and a town which previously the public were prohibited from visitng but which now the old army barracks was now used as a campsite! The next day on the road again we were overwhelmed by the vast expanse of land in all directions, and we loved the fact that the few people we drove past would always wave hello! We stopped for some lovely homemade cake and coffee at the Cadley Homestead and then arrived about 5pm at our next overnight stop, Kulgera. Here, not only did we have the luxury of a swimming pool to cool down in but we were greeted by friendly staff and so enjoyed a couple of cold beers in the bar that night.

The next morning we arrived at the Ayers Rock Resort so we had time to make use of the fantastic facilities before driving to Uluru for the first time to watch sunset. Having our own campervan here was brillaint as we didn't need to spend money on any tours to the rock, we could just choose which lookout point we wanted to go to and drive there ourselves. Sunset was spectacular, the colours were filtered through the clouds and spread across the sky. The following morning we rose at 5am to catch a magical sunrise at Uluru, then battled with the flies to walk around the base of the rock! The next day was dedicated to Kata Tjuta, the equally stunning rock formation, as we rose again for sunrise and completed the valley of the winds walk, just before the area was closed due to the extreme temperatures!

After an action packed few days we left the red centre and began our journey back to Adelaide, but not before stopping off in Coober Pedy. Although we stayed above ground in our campervan in this town which is as famous for its underground houses as well as its opal mining, we managed to experience the cooling benefits of being below ground by heading to the an underground pub!

Back in Adelaide and back to below 40 degree temperatures, we reflected on our unexpected trip to the outback, and despite our intial disappointment at not reaching Cairns we were happy with the adventure we had just experienced!

For our Christmas 2010 holiday we drove to Queensland in a campervan. We were planning this trip for a number of months, intially in a VW Combi, but luckily enough, at some stage we upgraded to a Cheapa Campa with electricity, a fridge and a cooker. Just about every time we talked about the trip my boyfriend mentioned how he wanted to go to Bellingen to see the Flying Foxes.

Now what is a Flying Fox you ask. Well in his words – “a cross between possum and a bat” (a possum, if you are wondering, is like a bit squirrel but fatter and likes to nest in house roofs).

Now Bellingen, about half way between Brisbane and Sydney, has been famous for many things including red cedar trees, forming part of the Waterfall Way (very picturesque I might add) and is the setting for many of Peter Carey’s novels. But for my better half it was all about the Flying Foxes that migrate every day at dusk from a forest of a tiny island, to feed on fruit, pollen and nectar up to 40 miles away and unlike other species of bats have good eyesight.

Family fun well that's not quite what I thought about the 3 of us in a camervan for a week, who would be the first to crack being in such confined spaces....Interesting question next question did we all make it home alive? Well the answer to both of these questions is.......nobody cracked wow amazing! And Yes we all made it home alive wonders will never cease.
1st stop Nudgee rd to pick up the camper. It's starting to rain, I'm think oh no we are definately gonna crack! After getting a "free upgrade" things are looking good! Ok all signed up and we are off!
We start heading to Bribie Island stopping to organise the van and have some lunch by the time we got there the caravan parks were all closed lucky we are in our campervan we dont need a caravan park we can find a parking bay.....or not! So we drive on to Noosa, nice still raining are we going to make this week?
After catching up with great family friends and spending the night on the driveway in comfort in our lovely home away from home,we start off again for Hervey Bay, after getting the lovely photo of the 3 of us in the camper!Nice family shot I might add!
Now I'm ready to see the sights on the way. The big pineapple is definately on the agenda, hold on it's closed but I didnt come all this way not to get a picture!
Having a tourist drive around Hervey Bay well look there's the beach to bad it's terrible weather no swimming for us at the moment but still worth another picture. pulling ito a carpark "Look out the big shark wants to eat our camper!!!"
After such of busy time on the way back to Brisbane for our drop off The Appollo desperately needed to call in to the Ettamgah Pub for a hard earned cool beverage!
I'm not sure who needed the drink more myself or Cara Mel our trips mascot who also featured in the driving and navigating of the Appollo.
Over all it was a greta trip the campervan was the best idea and we ALL made it home alive!

We started in Sydney and then went to Alice Springs and collected campa van.  The start was a bit delayed due to the van wasn't cleaned and ready to go but once we were on our way we had a fantastic 34 days.  From Alice Springs to Perth via the Nullabor plains.  We are in our sixties and would recommend other seniors who are considering visiting australia to take the plunge and hire a van, well worth it.

Visiting New Zealand is one of my family dreams which have comes true. At the beginning, I want to rent a car but went someone told me to rent a motorhome, my wife and I started searching in the internet under Apollo Motorhome and the moment we discovered about it, we feel attracted with it. Therefore we decided to book online prior from our arrival.

During collection of the Cheapa Campa campervan, we have been entertained by the sales reps with full of courtesy and explanation. We has been provided with a complete travel guide booklet, plenty of maps and tour GPS. Being a first timer using campervan of course makes us difficult to handle it but with all the guidance and knowledge given, it really helps a lot.

Exploring New Zealand without tour guide and driving campervan with 4 kids, not really understand how to read the map, confuse and a lot of unstable circumstances make our 1st day journey quite miserable coz everything was first time to us. Luckily @ 8.30 pm we found a place to park at Miranda Holiday Park and we are so lucky again coz normally they closed for check in @ 8.00 pm. The lady at the counter was so helpful and from her we discover a lot about site parking. We have done a mistake by not referring to the Holiday Parks Campgrounds directory though it has been provided to us at the Apollo office.

1st night stop at the site camp, such a golden rest and chance for us to view the entire travel guide booklet and plan our next move. From there, the rest of our journey was very smooth and pleasant. Each day of our trip give us unforgettable memory and history to our life. With such a big family like us, touring with campervan is much more convenient rather than hire a car and check in at the hotel or motel. We don’t have to pack and unpack our stuff, worry about where to sleep and to find a toilet, because everything basic equipment is complete in the campervan. We can cook, shower, watching TV and sleep there. It’s like bringing our own house to our vacation. It was really enjoyable.

7 days with campervan and a total of 9 days at New Zealand gave wonderful and splendid vacation. We don’t realised the day is passing by because we are so excited visiting one place to another. Even though we have 9 days there, we still not able to recover all even the North Island because the are plenty of interesting place to go.

Went we reach our home country, we are so eager to share our story and pictures with our fellow friends and relatives. All of them are very excited and amazed with our vacation with campervan because none of them heard about motorhome before. Even two of them already been to New Zealand twice but haven’t explored about it. When we told them that Cheapa Campa campervan is affordable and share our experience, there are also excited to rent a campervan if they come to New Zealand in future

As my friends, I and family are also determine to come again and of course to discover the South Island and no doubt that on our next trip, Cheapa Campa campervan will be our choice to accompany us throughout our journey. No such word can describe our expression how the feeling of our enjoyment. All of the wonderful places, marvelous experience, excitement trip and splendid vacation will always be on our mind and in our heart. We hope that we will have the chance to come again and spend longer time there.

Thank you to Cheapa Campa for being a part of our amazing and fascinating experience in New Zealand even though it was all our 1st time. It does really don’t disappoint us.

Hayley and I fell in love with Neil (Camper van). We hit the open road 12/12/10 departing from Christchurch and making our way up north. Our most memorable moment was at Castle Point, Masterton NZ!

On est toujours un peu frustrés dans un pays qui fait 17 fois la France... On sait qu'on ne pourra jamais tout voir mais le centre de l'Australie autour d'Alice Springs nous attirait plus particulièrement. Peut-être tout simplement parce que c'est au centre, stratégiquement placé sur le tropique du Capricorne!

Donc 2h30 d'avion (soit l'équivalent d'un Paris-Casablanca!), et 1h30 (!) de décalage plus tard, nous voici arrivés à l'aéroport d'Alice Springs. Nous nous attendions à une toute petite ville mais bien que n'ayant que 25000 habitants, Alice est la seule ville importante à plus de 1000 kilomètres aux alentours et donc on y trouve tout ce qu'on veut: des hôtels à profusion, des supermarchés, une rue piétonne... et même un Mac Donald (où peut-on y échapper ?)!

Nous avons donc récupéré notre camping-car tout confort qui allait nous accompagner pour les deux semaines suivantes.