Geoff and Amanda Snell own Caravan Connection, an East Otago-based business which imports caravans from the United Kingdom.
Since establishing the business in 2008, UK-born Mrs Snell estimated they had sold about 200 used caravans.
They recently became the only dealers in the South Island for Swift, one of the largest manufacturers of caravans in the UK, adding new caravans to their repertoire.
How they ended up selling caravans, from premises in Palmerston, was an interesting story and followed a few diverse career paths.
Originally from Otago, Mr Snell went to the UK shearing and met his future bride in 1995 when he worked at her parents' pub. At that stage, she was running her own magazine, a free publication similar to a What's On guide.
They spent a decade travelling and also living in the UK, having been married in 1997, before moving to New Zealand with their two children.
The couple ran a lunch-bar in Whakatane before heading south to Otago, where Mr Snell was shearing and later worked at the Macraes gold mine.
That was followed by a six-month stint in Spain, where he was shearing in 40degC heat, and the decision was made to return to New Zealand.
First, Mrs Snell wanted to go to England and spend time with her family and so they bought a caravan to live in for a month in the UK.
But when they went to sell it, they discovered they could not recoup what they had paid for it just a month earlier and Mrs Snell decided to have it shipped to New Zealand.
They "scraped" together the money and bought another caravan, so as to have a pair.
Once back in New Zealand, they sold both and made money on them.
Mr Snell returned to work at the mine while his wife bought another two caravans, then two became four, four became six, and so a business was born.
It eventually got too big for Mrs Snell to handle on her own and her husband left his job two years ago to help in the business.
The couple, who live in Waikouaiti, bought premises in Palmerston, next to the railway station, to house the caravans.
Prior to that, the vans were parked at the camping ground in Waikouaiti.
Mrs Snell was fortunate she had contacts in the UK who could look at possible purchases for her and sourcing them was not a problem as there was a "huge" market over there.
"I'm lucky I can cherry-pick our caravans. If something's scruffy, or damp, or [damaged] basically, we don't buy it," she said.
The caravans were shipped in containers and took between six and eight weeks to arrive at Port Chalmers. After picking the new deliveries up, they went "through them with a fine-tooth comb".
It was a fun business to be involved in and the family itself loved caravanning, which was probably why they ended up working with them, she said.
They got more time to go on holiday during the winter months, as it was a little less busy, and they enjoyed parking up in the snow and going skiing. One of the good things about UK caravans was they were well-insulated, she said.
August 2011 had been their busiest month to date, and this month was shaping up to be the same, with three caravans heading to new homes last week.
It seemed to be the time of year that people were thinking about the need to start looking, ahead to summer holidays.
Mrs Snell attributed the popularity of caravans to their affordability, saying that baches and cribs in New Zealand had "pretty much gone out the window now" for families.
She was excited about the Swift dealership, saying she had access to the entire new range, and the Swift caravans had the "ultimate layout". The couple also recently bought three boats and would see how that market went.
The two run the business together, preferring that to having the "hassle" of staff, and they wanted to keep it that way, she said.
She was more business-orientated, while her husband did the "nitty-gritty work" and they made a good team.
The business was run on an appointment system and the good thing about having a showroom in Palmerston was the central location, as they drew holidaymakers from Canterbury, North and Central Otago, Dunedin and Southland.
