We headed from Taupo to the Motorhome show at Mystery Creek on Thursday afternoon arriving to find hundreds of motorhomes and caravans had arrived in the short period of time that the gates had been open. I remember last year being stunned at the numbers but this time with us in a different area it was much more noticeable.

We noticed as we drove in that not all where lucky enough to be parked on a level spot and it was about parking where they put you, not where you might want to be. The parking gods however smiled on our motorhome as we ended up on both a level spot and one with unobstructed views down to the Waikato river.

I had noticed in the rear vision camera that we had another Dethleffs in the queue right behind us. So I was wondering as they parked up if we knew them? It turned out to be Graham and Irene who we had met at a Dethleffs get together in Northland a couple of months ago.

It’s quite funny as we wandered around the show to hear the number of salespeople selling various NZ and UK brands commenting about their habitation doors being on the correct side. As Graham pointed out to me later with our door opening out to great views how wrong they where.

The idea of coming to the show was not to buy a motorhome as we are more than happy with the one we brought last year. It was more about having a wander around looking at other models maybe to inspire another blog or to look at the accessories to see if there was something that we really “must have”. Actually we did decided to look at a washing machine but didn’t end up buying one although we may still do so.

Prior to arriving at the show Chris Miller who writes the blog Buggeritweareoff.com had contacted me to ask if we could have a catch up at the show. I though this would be a great idea as Chris has both inspired me and helped us find travel destinations with his blogs. Not long after we were set up I sent him a message letting him know we had parked up and the kettle was on.

Chris and I write about similar things but have a quite different way of going about it by profession Chris is a photographer and so his blogs tend to focus on the visual aspect of things with Chris spending hours on the computer putting galleries together to use in his posts. Whereas I tend to be more about the story and less about the pictures and spend my hours writing and rewriting my story.

Sarah laughed at both of us when she saw us comparing stat’s on views etc she said it was almost like looking at a mirror image of me. In reality though its about ensuring that what you write is topical and interesting with the stats being a reflection of how well received your post has been.

Chris has been writing his blog now for over three years and is now approaching 600,000 views on the site a really impressive number and something that I think shows how well received his blog has been and the way that he has captured the motorhome scene with his impressive photography.

I was very lucky with Chris sharing a couple of his secrets during our discussions. It’s always nice to be able to share what you have learnt and I hope he got something out of the discussion as well.

It was great catching up with Chris (he’s the handsome one on the right) having the chance to share our thoughts about the whole blogging process and compare notes. We will need to do it again soon.

We were wandering around the motorhome show when Joy from Stories from the Road recognised my wife Sarah, probably because I very rarely publish photos of myself as she is far more photogenic than I am. Or at least I think so.

Although we didn’t talk for long Joy and her husband John were at the show for much the same reason as us a bit of a catch up on all things motorhoming also to have a look at some of those much needed accessories that go with your motorhome.

Although Joy has not been blogging for long she is keen to expand her skills. Having won some awards in the past for her photography you can see with what she has already done that the blend of photos and text lend themselves to a very readable blog.

Joy is still experimenting with WordPress the publishing medium for a lot of bloggers so expect to see a few changes to her blog as she finds her blogging feet. Maybe add her to your favourites so you will see the changes as they roll out.

The final catch up at the Motorhome Show was with Karen from TravellingK who decided a couple of years ago that living in a flat in Auckland was not for her. Karen decided that as a professional graphic designer she could take her business on the road and work and live almost wherever she felt like.

Karen looked a few different options and in the end opted for a caravan as the most suitable and affordable for her. From this caravan she has set it up as a mobile studio that allows her to do her graphic design at the same time as filming and editing her video blogs.

That’s right unlike Chris and Joy, Karen shares her posts via video onto Youtube with segments around 8 to 9 minutes with a lot of these about daily life. There are however a number of practical self help videos that I would think would be really useful to watch if you were thinking about hitting the road.

The one thing about being on Youtube with thousands of followers is that you get recognised and while we where having our chat a couple came up to introduce themselves to her. It was nice for them to have the chance to meet her personally and both are avid followers of her vlog.

Whilst the couple had heard of and read my blog I am much more anonymous without having to front a video, I am not sure that I would feel comfortable doing that and admire Karen for her presentation skills.

There are a number of people writing about their adventures both in motorhomes and caravans. In fact between Karen and myself we estimate around 20, and reading these can be a real source of inspiration about places to visit or even a fix for your motorhome problem as some bloggers are also very practical (not me)

Karen has sent me a list she has compiled of other bloggers and I have added a couple of entries I think between the two of us we might publish the links on our websites soon giving our readers and viewers a chance to experience more.

I am still trying to get over all those motorhomes at the show. Someone told me that there were over 1000 parked at the show on Friday night. It was however wonderful to meet three other people who have the same passion I do, telling tales about their lives in either their motorhome or caravan.
Show Mystery Creek - Motorhome Show Ratings

If you are on the road and would like to catch up please feel free to flick me an email mail@johnpedersen.co.nz let me know where you are and we will see what we can do. By the same token if we happen to be staying at the same place you are don’t be afraid to come say hello, it’s always nice to meet new people.

To view the places we have visited click here to see them on Google maps. You can click the links to read the blog about that area.

To view the Ratings we have done for other camps click here