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TEST<br />
EVERYTHING<br />
“DON’T KNOCK IT TILL<br />
YOU’VE TRIED IT”<br />
ROAD TRIP living<br />
WORDS: JEFF MORRIS<br />
Last edition, we had a chance to experience the Britz Navigator motorhome. This edition smorgasboarder<br />
NZ man, ‘Jiff’ got to compare notes and spend some quality time in the Maui Mercedes Ultima.<br />
When the smorgasboarder “All Black” edition<br />
needed to be distributed around the South<br />
Island, a call to our friends at Maui for a van<br />
was definitely the smart choice.<br />
“A two-person camper would be great if one<br />
is available please.”<br />
What I got was a luxury Mercedes Ultima<br />
campervan, and thought “Well this’ll do nicely,<br />
thanks very much.”<br />
Throw in 700 shiny new magazines and a bag<br />
of gear and let’s go! There was still plenty of<br />
storage room left.<br />
I got a call from home on Tuesday morning...<br />
Really bad weather heading my way, minus 5<br />
degrees and plenty of snow forecast.<br />
“No problem Dear. Maui have supplied snow<br />
chains, two duvets plus blankets and I’m not<br />
afraid to use them.”<br />
After seeing everyone in Christchurch and<br />
talking my head off as usual, I realised the day<br />
was disappearing and I better get down to<br />
Timaru before closing time.<br />
Grabbed some supplies for dinner and<br />
breakfast and got into town well after dark.<br />
Again, no problem: Turn on the heater, nuked<br />
a meal in the on-board microwave and settled<br />
down to a few wines and a DVD.<br />
Outside temperature minus 1 but who cared?<br />
With a shower and toilet on board plus the<br />
van being so spacious I wasn’t getting on my<br />
own nerves and I definitely didn’t have to go<br />
1<strong>12</strong> jul/aug 20<strong>12</strong><br />
outside to change my mind. Talk about selfcontained!<br />
Feeling romantic, I put on the downlights<br />
and enjoyed the 5-star atmosphere. After a<br />
comfortable two-duvet night’s sleep, I awoke<br />
to find a winter wonderland outside.<br />
After some breakfast, I unplugged the van<br />
(jeez, it’s cold out here) and hit the road,<br />
dropping off mags as I went to Dunedin.<br />
Queenstown, Wanaka, Lake Tekapo – the van<br />
drove like a dream, was really comfy in the<br />
driver’s seat (no sore back) and after all that<br />
snow the scenery is unbelievable.<br />
Arriving back in Christchurch on Thursday<br />
night there was snow and ice everywhere,<br />
but once again the van had no trouble in the<br />
challenging conditions. A busy few days, but<br />
the Maui Ultima made it a comfortable and<br />
stress free breeze.<br />
To book see maui-rentals.com<br />
Baby it’s cold outside, but it’s warm in here.<br />
SPECificationS<br />
• Suits two adults<br />
• Three different bed configurations<br />
• Shower and Toilet<br />
• 3 burner gas stove, exterior slide out<br />
gas BBQ and Microwave<br />
• Fridge/Freezer (80 litres)<br />
• Floor safe<br />
• Radio, CD player, LCD screen and DVD<br />
player with external Speakers<br />
• Awning is available for hire on request<br />
• Internal walk through access<br />
• Solar panel<br />
• Pressurised hot and cold water<br />
• Air conditioning and heating<br />
• Exterior fold-out table<br />
• 140 litres fresh water tank<br />
• 80 litres waste water tank<br />
• Plenty of storage room for surfboards<br />
LEFT: A more summery vision of the Ultima...<br />
BBQs in the sunshine on the beach! Photo: Maui
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