Northern Advocate
  • Northern Advocate home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei
  • Kaipara
  • Mangawhai
  • Dargaville

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northern Advocate

Jonny Wilkinson: Sold for a song - 1970s retro caravan has new owner

Jonny Wilkinson
By Jonny Wilkinson
Northern Advocate columnist·Northern Advocate·
6 Nov, 2020 04:00 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The caravan, similar to this one, sold for $200 because of a listing gaff on Trade Me. But there's a bright side, writes Jonny Wilkinson. Photo / Getty Images

The caravan, similar to this one, sold for $200 because of a listing gaff on Trade Me. But there's a bright side, writes Jonny Wilkinson. Photo / Getty Images

A DIFFERENT LIGHT

We will be selling our house in the not too distant future. It's a process that I don't particularly relish. The violation of weekends through open homes, the intense negotiations and high stake haggling.

But preceding all this is 'The Preparation'. The enormity of decluttering after years of unbridled consumerism is dawning on me.

We have a relatively small three-bedroom house and it's chocker. My wife frequently enjoys hunting and gathering at second-hand and thrift shops.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Our interior displays the quarry of such a past time. One of her more flamboyant purchases was a retro caravan. A tiny Anglo Sprite from the mid-70s. We had visions of restoring it to become a writer's studio or a library, a place of solitude and reflection.

However over the weeks then months then years it turned into a rather expensive outdoor ornament that slowly got more dilapidated over the years.

It did get put to use last year when one of our daughters used it for her art studio/art storage place. Now that she has moved out, however, it is back to being a two wheeled redundant symbol of 70s Kiwiana.

Jonny Wilkinson's mid-70s Anglo Sprite caravan which had been stagnating in the backyard for some years.
Jonny Wilkinson's mid-70s Anglo Sprite caravan which had been stagnating in the backyard for some years.

In this time of shedding our superfluous paraphernalia the caravan was a prime target to get rid of.

My wife suggested that we advertise it as being free for removal because "removal" was going to be like mission impossible as the caravan had been stagnating in the backyard for some years.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Hang on" I said, "I think those old caravans are quite popular, don't low ball it! Why don't we put it on Trade Me with a $1 reserve and see what happens?".

I was promptly delegated the task of listing it. For some reason my iPad wasn't liking the Trade Me app and I had to resort to the limited visual real estate of my phone.

I managed to rather unskilfully stumble past the option between an auction and a classified listing and unwittingly forced myself into putting down an asking price.

I put down $100 thinking I would go back and edit it to be an auction. Naively I then paid for the Trade Me listing which sent the listing live into the ether.

Discover more

Does the disabled community need cakes and babies?

12 Sep 02:00 AM

When a combover just doesn't quite cut it anymore

26 Sep 01:00 AM

Jonny Wilkinson: When good times turn bad

09 Oct 04:00 PM

What happened to the disability voice in election result?

23 Oct 04:00 PM

I kid you not, no more than 30 seconds later my phone started ringing. It went ballistic! It didn't stop with people wanting to buy it. I instantly realised that I had clumsily under-priced the caravan which is why it was attracting so much instant attention.

There was no going back. After the second phone call we sold it to a couple from Hamilton who offered us $200 not because we were negotiating but they obviously felt guilty at paying such a low price.

I felt sickened. I was vaguely nauseated that I had managed to foolishly deprive ourselves of a potentially exorbitant price.

When I started to vocalise my discontent, I realised Sally was looking at me with her head cocked and eyebrows raised in disbelief at my reaction. "It's good to have it sold," she said, "to people who obviously want it and know what they are doing."

The next morning the enthusiastic purchasers arrived at 7 o'clock in the morning. They had left Hamilton at 3am. They were enraptured with their prized purchase. Luckily they had come equipped with a large flatbed trailer, wheels, winches and all the necessary gear to execute the somewhat tricky extraction.

Watching the caravan go to its new attentive owners I had a mild epiphany that this transaction was actually a symbiotic swap that unloaded what was an unwanted problematic relic into the arms of a pair of practical appreciative beholders.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Sometimes things just work out.

• Jonny Wilkinson is the CEO of Tiaho Trust - Disability A Matter of Perception, a Whangarei based disability advocacy organisation.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Northern Advocate

Northern Advocate

Arrest made after woman suffers injuries in alleged Whangārei assault

06 Jul 02:05 AM
Northern Advocate

'Absolutely superb': Northland shines in hosting international rugby

06 Jul 01:53 AM
Northern Advocate

'There's still a lot to do': Road safety concerns despite $47m upgrades

06 Jul 12:00 AM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Northern Advocate

Arrest made after woman suffers injuries in alleged Whangārei assault

Arrest made after woman suffers injuries in alleged Whangārei assault

06 Jul 02:05 AM

An 18-year-old man was arrested on Friday after a woman approached the police station.

'Absolutely superb': Northland shines in hosting international rugby

'Absolutely superb': Northland shines in hosting international rugby

06 Jul 01:53 AM
'There's still a lot to do': Road safety concerns despite $47m upgrades

'There's still a lot to do': Road safety concerns despite $47m upgrades

06 Jul 12:00 AM
'Very cold and shaken': Kayakers found after using phone torch to alert rescuers

'Very cold and shaken': Kayakers found after using phone torch to alert rescuers

05 Jul 11:52 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northern Advocate e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Northern Advocate
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northern Advocate
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP