When it comes to the holiday plans of New Zealanders, all is not as it seems.
Although as a nation we have a reputation for overseas travel, it appears we also like to stay close to home - very close to home.
A new survey into Kiwi holiday habits - conducted on behalf of holiday home website Bookabach as it launches a public vote to find New Zealand's best bach - shows we are most comfortable getting away from it all by not getting all that far away from it all.
Northlanders for example, like to stay up north for their holidays with 76 per cent of them saying this is their preference. The top destination for Aucklanders (54 per cent) and those living in the Waikato (63 per cent) is nearby Coromandel while if you live in the Tasman area at the top of the South Island you like to holiday in, well, Nelson or Golden Bay.
As for the folk of Otago and Southland in the deep south - yes, you guessed it, they like to stay close to home too, a majority preferring to relax in Queenstown.
The survey comes as public voting is underway in the annual Bookabach Bach of the Year awards. Now in their fifth year, the awards are run across eight different categories with a Supreme Award going to the best of the eight category winners.
Bookabach general manager, Peter Miles, says the survey, completed last month, was compiled from more than 1000 responses.
It also shows the classic Kiwi bach is far from dead - more New Zealanders preferring a classic 60s or 70s retro bach (23 per cent) than a modern one (just 14 per cent saying they would rent these).
Holidaying by the beach is overwhelmingly the favourite. Up to 79 per cent like to be by the sea - this figure rises to 84 per cent for Kiwis with children - with the second most popular destination being by a lake. Staying in a bach in the mountains and the bush also rated highly.
Miles says Bookabach has access to more than 11,000 bachs' throughout the country and the awards aim to recognise the very best available: "Every little detail the owner organises for travellers helps make an experience memorable which is why we're proud to run the awards," he says.
Miles says many bach owners go the extra mile for their guests and he has heard of one instance where they obtained medicines in the middle of the night for a family with a sick child.
Last year's winner of the top award, The Treehouse on Waiheke Island, is run by husband and wife team James and Kate Clairmont, themselves no strangers to going the extra mile.
In fact Kate Clairmont has become a sort of Waiheke Island cupid in the eight years since the couple moved to Waiheke and opened The Treehouse - a stylish and secluded romantic getaway.
In that time it has not been uncommon for her to pitch in and help set the scene for nervous guys preparing to ask the age-old question of their chosen ones: 'will you marry me'?.
"I had one recently who really didn't know what to do," she says. "So I arranged everything for him; I got flowers in, organised champagne, candles and music - all while he took his lady off to dinner.
"She said yes, so that was great," she says. "They're not the only ones, we've had quite a few people get engaged here."
Clairmont says she enjoys being in a business that is a far cry from her previous life in the corporate world: "I trained as a nurse," she says, "but spent many years as national sales manager for 3M selling medical products to hospitals, doctors and pharmacies. I was with the company for 10 years here and in London and I got to the stage when I didn't want to do it anymore.
"My husband was also in the corporate world and we both wanted to live somewhere more peaceful, so we quit our jobs and came to Waiheke."
Setting up the Waiheke Island Cheese company (made from sheep's milk), the couple also opened The Treehouse which sits on the same property as their home, and raised a family of two, a son and a daughter.
"We've met lots of great people through The Treehouse," she says. "We get couples mostly but we've noticed in recent years a big increase in the number of people coming from overseas."
Now they're on the move again. Needing access to more sheep as their cheese business grows, the Clairmont's have bought a farm in Hawkes Bay big enough to take up to 300 sheep - but intend to keep their Waiheke property listed with Bookabach.
This year's Bookabach Supreme Award will be judged by interior stylist LeeAnn Yare and media personality Goran Paladin, best known as host of the DIY show Our First Home.
Anyone can vote for the eight category winners (these are best setting, hospitality, family friendly, pet friendly, eco friendly, design, charm and urban).
To vote and see the list of finalists visit bachoftheyear.co.nz