PWT? Not us!

Now here's something I can't say I've ever thought to do... Pulling into Taupo we hit a few of the local holiday parks to check rates, scenery, facilities, etc... Now up until now, we have pretty much limited ourselves to camp sites as our sleeping options. If we're really looking to spoil ourselves or if the weather just isn't looking like it's going to cooperate and keep us dry, we'll spring for a hostel. But at one of the holiday parks we tried we were offered up a new option – a caravan. A caravan? Yes, a caravan.

We walked around the site for our obligatory inspection of the facilities (communal bathroom, kitchen and lounge areas) and then made our way to the caravan. It is what you would expect I suppose – a camping trailer, pulled straight from the '50s and it could be ours for the low, low price of around $40 per night. Sold! We booked our three nights and quickly settled in. We unloaded practically the entire car, put away dishes, lined the spice rack with all of our seasonings, hung up clothes and felt immediately at home. Clementine, as she was named after a not too extensive period of deliberation, was stocked – queen size bed, two benches for seating, pretty much a full kitchen, closet and a TV. She was, in her own half-century old, musky, dusty way the perfect holiday getaway – and she was all ours.

We have lots of great memories of times spent with Clementine – cooking up some great homemade meals, playing cribbage late into the night, sleeping in late and watching our shows (which consist of Relocation-Relocation, a British show where the two camera-worthy real estate agents help find new digs for rich folk and The F Word, a Gordon Ramsey show where he runs a restaurant with a new group of amateur cooks each week).

It was a sad day when we had to say goodbye, but alas, we had to move on and Clementine had to provide much needed shelter for a new family. Ya, I can't say I could see us back home rolling into a KOA and asking to rent out someone's 50 year old camper. But then again, after the summer of '95, I'm never going back to a KOA again. (Please refer to the Tillamook County Sheriff's Office judicial records for further information... Sorry again Mom and Dad.)