Spaceships Record Breaker

Spaceships Record Breaker of the week: This week there was a new record set for the longest ever Spaceship hire – an English couple have taken away the honours with a mammoth 244 day hire!! That's over 8 months!!

We are sure the unlimited supply of DVD's they have access to (and of course NZ's stunning scenery), will keep them occupied during their time here.

Update from Neil

I have had a fantastic week; two days at the Spaceship factory watching them work – it is all hands on deck at the moment (including extras from places like our painters), to get our new fleet on the road for next month. (I will bring beers down next time I promise). Then a day in Nelson for meetings – wow this is a beautiful country; and then a couple of days trying to sit at my desk.

We also received our first new 'Hybrid' Spaceship this week. This is an amazing thing – and a world first we believe (for Spaceships and campervans) – in that using Toyota's famous technology it runs on both an electric and a petrol motor (which also charges the batteries when they are flat). This makes it about twice as economical as an ordinary vehicle – cool hey. It even (for some unknown reason) has stars on the dash panel to light up the dials, and a flash TV display to show how little fuel is being used. Hybrid Spaceships will be on the road and available to hire from November 1st.
Lots of cheers,
Neil

New Office!

We have been even busier than usual. Stray and Spaceships have both moved offices in Auckland and Christchurch over the past week. We had totally outgrown our old Beach Road space in Auckland and now have two new places. A large office warehouse in Penrose (between the city and the airport) where we have set up a flash workshop for Spaceships, storage for camping gear, a wash bay and parking for Spaceships and Stray buses, customer 'meet and greet' area, cycle track, beach volleyball area... (I may have made up the last two – but the point is that it's large and flash, and allows us to do everything to the highest possible standard. Our second office is for customer support only and is in the middle of town on Fort St – it's got pretty pictures (well, it will next week), comfy seats, a good stereo and crew who know our stuff – Daniel from Spaceships is the manager and Nathan (aka Dribbles) is also back working for team orange! It's also where sales reps Liz and Craig work from... Spaceships in Christchurch have also moved to a bigger warehouse space where Spaceships can be stored, cleaned and dispatched from.

Spaceships just got Beta

Travelling in New Zealand got a whole lot 'beta' with the launch of the new model Spaceship Beta at TRENZ this year (available to book via our website from October 1st).

The bigger, brighter and even beta new Spaceships are custom-fitted 2004 Toyota Previas that have enhanced features and new additions, including a portable toilet enabling travellers to reduce their 'impact' on the environment and still travel off the beaten track.

The Beta model Spaceships have larger, reformatted storage space, a 15 litre fridge, upgraded gas cookers and a larger, 25cm TV and DVD player.

The vehicle's side and rear awnings have also been improved to ensure optimum comfort, enhanced outdoor living and ease in assembly. The original Spaceships concept has been a great success to date, winning the Tourism Award for Innovation in 2006; not content to rest on its laurels the Company has continued to look at ways to improve upon their existing model. This has prompted the release of this new model Spaceship.

James Rolleston, the General Manager of Spaceships NZ, said: "Spaceships have been described by many of our voyagers as being like a good car to drive with more useful features than a campervan; the new model allows us to offer a greater selection of useful features for the more discerning traveller at the same time helping to reduce the environmental impact of the Spaceships fleet".

The Beta Spaceships will be introduced to the existing fleet from September 2008. This will create a two tier fleet with 200 of the original 'Alpha' model Spaceships and 50 'Beta' vehicles being on the road for summer