After decades of public life - including stints with councils in Bluff, Southland and, most recently, Queenstown and Arrowtown - Lex Perkins (75) thought he was riding off into the sunset, without an agenda in front of him.
But his next unpaid job might just have emerged.
During a farewell at Arrowtown's Athenaeum Hall on Sunday, Lakes District Museum director David Clarke, a former councillor, implored: ''Don't get tempted to become the head of the New Zealand Motorhomes Association.''
That would be tough - there is no such body.
Mr Perkins and Arrowtown's ''first lady'', Wendy, are quitting the historic town to embark on a four-year motorhome trip.
Mr Perkins' departure has sparked a by-election for the Queenstown Lakes District Council's vacant Arrowtown ward seat.
Mr Clarke quipped: ''I can't for the life of me understand why Lex would want to give up 1000-page agendas, phone calls about potholes and wandering dogs, heritage buildings, trees - to go to some remote, sandy beach, sip chardonnay and cast out a fishing line.''
The council's chief executive Adam Feeley, who lives in Arrowtown, presented Mr Perkins - renowned for his daily walk up local gut-buster Tobins Track - with a book on tramping tracks of New Zealand.
He added: ''Not all councillors are loved by their staff but you are a definite exception to that.''
The Athenaeum Hall's air was of excitement-tinged sadness, with envy in some corners.
Mr Perkins' mentioned a 2012 electoral review in which the Arrowtown ward was only narrowly retained.
He said: ''I think it's just so critical that there's a member here in Arrowtown.''
Nominations close on March 5.
