She may be small, but she is a star

Oh the stories Hettie could tell.

The pint-sized red and white caravan is not only a movie star but a real head-turner.

Owner Sophie Gollan, of Wellington, left Mount Maunganui yesterday with Hettie, and partner Gustavo Garcia, after a three-day stay at Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park.

Miss Gollan and Mr Garcia are on a one-month holiday around the upper North Island, and said their dinky caravan got them lots of compliments.

Measuring a mere 3m, Hettie has the year 1989 printed on her registration, but Miss Gollan, 28, suspected she was 10 to 20 years older than she let on.

Originally yellow and white on the outside, and "retro brown" on the inside, Hettie was bought 2 years ago and promptly given an extreme makeover.

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Miss Gollan, a nurse, had always wanted a caravan and when she spotted Hettie for sale on Trade Me, she knew she was perfect.

She purchased her in Raumati for $4500 - a bargain for a star. Hettie featured in the 2008 New Zealand movie Second Hand Wedding and sleeps three people.

Miss Gollan said Hettie's name was short for Harriet. "I had just returned from doing a nursing contract in Alice Springs and managed to save a bit of money, part of [which] went towards the caravan," she said. "The place I was working in was called Hettie Perkins and I thought it was a cute, old-fashioned name that suited the caravan."

Inside, Hettie's floor is black and white check, and a vintage theme stretches from pastel wall motifs of birds and butterflies to bunting and floral cushions.

Mr Garcia, an accountant from Argentina, has been on a working holiday in New Zealand for 11 months.

This is the 29-year-old's first time holidaying in a caravan and he said Mount Maunganui was the best place he'd visited in New Zealand.