Barry swapped bach for motorhome: NZ family adventures

From Barry’s Bach to Bazza’s Burstner, Barry has always loved spending time in beautiful places. Now that he’s bought his own motorhome, he’s found he can help others embrace the outdoors while earning extra income to fund his family’s adventures. Read on to learn how Bazza’s Burstner became such a popular motorhome rental on Camplify and the effect it has had on Barry’s life.

What inspired you to buy a motorhome?

We used to have a bach in Ohakune, which I bought about 20 years ago. We loved driving there from Auckland, getting out in the countryside and going to the snow. Now we have two kids, who are 10 and 12, and though we’d spend summer at the bach when they were younger, it went unused most of the time because of the length of the drive. A friend of mine bought a motorhome four years ago and told me it was going great. He said he often rented it out and that was the first I heard about owning and renting a motorhome. It wasn’t long before we sold our bach and bought a Fiat Burstner. We call it Bazza’s Burstner.

Tell us about Bazza’s Burstner – what do you love about it?

We went for a six berth because there’s a permanent dining table, so we can stay up after the kids have gone to bed and play cards.

"Since buying it, we’ve been getting away with the kids more often and have seen a lot more of New Zealand."

Sometimes we’ll drive for 45 minutes to spend a night at Shakespear Park, which feels like we’re in the Coromandel. When I was a kid, my family would often go tent camping in the Coromandel, but having the motorhome means a much faster setup and packdown time, so we get out more. We can pack on Thursday night and leave straight after work on Friday.

During the holidays, we can go away while I work as I’ve been working remotely since Covid. I’d rather be by the beach and having a post-work swim than at home, plus it means the kids spend less time on their devices and more time outside.

How has your experience with Camplify been?

We were moved over to Camplify from the Mighway platform. I’ve noticed a lot more bookings through Camplify, perhaps because they have a bigger customer database; I'm not sure, but it's great for us.

"We’ve earned around $55,000 in rentals so far, but looking ahead to the trips already booked this summer, we’ll be bringing in over $30,000."

The support from Elle at Camplify has been great. Nothing is too much trouble and she has a wealth of information to help you get going with the rental process. Being able to talk to a person who knows your setup means it’s more efficient to get your questions answered and the extra income is really helping me and my family out. I’m a super happy customer.

How has listing your motorhome with Camplify helped to support your family?

Last July, we took the kids for a week-long holiday in Fiji for the first time and hiring out the motorhome a few weeks prior actually paid for half of the trip. We also have two one-month rentals this summer, both of which will end up in Christchurch, so we’re going to fly down as a family and see a bit of the South Island before tiki-touring our way back to Auckland.

Why do you think Bazza’s Burstner has been so popular?

Because we decided on the six-berth vehicle, Bazza’s makes for a comfortable four-person holiday with a fifth or sixth person still being an option. There don’t seem to be many six-berth motorhomes available for rental and I offer free unlimited Wi-Fi with a 4G router, which means people coming here from overseas don’t need to worry about getting a SIM card to stay in touch. There are 540 watts of solar panels keeping the large battery bank topped up, so you don’t even have to stay at a powered site. All these things make holidaying a lot more fun and flexible.

I always try to make the holiday as easy as possible for campers. I keep in touch with them via WhatsApp while they’re travelling, in case they need any advice, and send out a welcome email explaining everything they need to know about Bazza’s Burstner before we meet. This makes for a simpler handover, and they have the email to refer to if they forget something, like how the central heating works. This gets great reviews on the website, and that gets more rentals.

Planning a campervan road trip through New Zealand? Check out Bazza’s Burstner here.