Growing up in Invercargill, Nicola McCloy did many a roadie with her family in a Datsun 180B.
For the new book Let's Get Lost, the Auckland-based writer went on the Kiwi road trip to end all Kiwi road trips – and photographer Jane King went along for the ride.
Nicola and Jane kicked off their trip with a sunset bottle of rosé at Long Bay Motor Camp in the Coromandel and thought things couldn't get any better, but they were lucky enough to happy discoveries the whole way, she tells Kathryn Ryan.
They allowed themselves plenty of time to make discoveries on the way and made a lot of u-turns.
"Those brown tourism signs can throw up some absolute gems."
As a keen swimmer, one of Nicola's favourite spots was a 'historic swimming pool site' near the town of Kumara on the West Coast of the South Island.
They saw the sign, u-turned and came across the preserved remains of a swimming pool from the 1920s.
"Standing there and imagining what that would have been like full of people was just absolutely amazing," she says.
A lot of Kiwi towns have had to reinvent themselves in recent years, Nicola says.
She was impressed with how the Central Otago town of Ranfurly went 'Okay, what have we got and how can we make the best use of it to get people to come here?' and created a tourist industry around art deco architecture and their place on the Otago Central Rail Trail.
The Southland town of Tuatapere got its reputation as the 'sausage capital of New Zealand' from the legendary butcher Tuatapere Sausages, and even though that business has closed down other local establishments now specialise in sausages.
One North Island trip highlight was meeting the late Eketahuna cheesemaker Biddie Fraser-Davies of Cwmglyn Farmhouse Cheese factory, Nicola says.
- Listen to an interview with Biddy Fraser-Davies here
Although they tried to avoid the "beaten track" as much as possible on their road trip, she can confirm Northland's beloved Mangonui Fish Shop lives up to the hype.
Nicola's road trip recommendations
Wendelton – a guinea pig village near Nelson
Blair Sullivan's Lost Gypsy Curios & Coffee in The Catlins
- Take an audio trip to the Lost Gypsy here
Kotuku Cottage (accommodation near Hokitika on the West Coast of the South Island)
Reefton (a town on the West Coast of the South Island)
Maruia Hot Springs (in the Lewis Pass National Park)
Stu's Wild Pig Farm in Whitianga
