Our home base at the moment is the historic port of Lyttelton on the east coast of Aotearoa's (New Zealand) Te Waipounamu (South Island). The port has a Maori history going back several hundred years. Three successive phases of Maori tribe settlement took place on the peninsula. Waitaha were the first settlers, followed by Kāti Mamoe, and then Ngāi Tahu took over in the 17th century. It was probably not until 1815 when sailors from the sealing ship Governor Bligh landed that Europeans first set foot on Banks Peninsula. In 1827 Captain William Wiseman, a flax trader, named the harbour (now known as Lyttelton Harbour) Port Cooper, after one of the owners of the Sydney trading firm, Cooper & Levy. We purchased our 1996 Toyota Hiace 4WD Custom with rear seats still fitted and have worked for the last 2 months to convert it into a certified self contained camper. And so, our first trip was an easy 2 night trial run to Orton Bradley Park to iron out teething problems