From Beach Hop to Blog Hop!

I am very excited about being able to share my new book; Vintage Caravan Style with you all very soon and to get the party started our special pre-launch blog hop kicks off tomorrow the 13th April.

To give you a taste of what is inside the book, we have chosen a select group of bloggers to have a read and let us know what they think of Vintage Caravan Style.

The bloggers we have chosen all share a passion for creative style and vintage and their blogs are always a pleasure to read.  If you want to know more about creating and decorating the delightfully unique small spaces of your dreams, then this blog hop is for you. I am sure that you will gain lots of valuable insights and maybe even a few giveaways too!

Here’s the line up of fabulous bloggers that will be reviewing Vintage Caravan Style over the coming weeks. They all have great style and lots of inspiring ideas and tips and I feel really privileged to have such a great bunch of people to work with.

Do make sure you visit their blogs to see what they make of the book by clicking on the links below:

April:
Sun 13^th – The Forties Floozy
Tue 15^th – Ultra Swank
Wed 16^th – Owl Really
Thu 17^th – Vavoom Vintage
Fri 18^th – Cut and Chic Vintage
Sat 19^th – Cassie Fairy
Sun 20^th – Constantly Alice
Thu 24^th – Simply Fresh Vintage
Fri 25^th – Lipstick Gypsy
Sun 27^th – Restyled Vintage
Wed 30^th – H is for Home

Mon 14^th – Cottage Industry

MAY:

Thu 1^st – Vintage Frills

Sat 3^rd – Modern Retro Woman

TBC – Little Vintage Trailer 

TBC – That Vintage Caravan

TBC – Britain Does Vintage

TBC – Livin Vintage

You can keep track of all the blog hop posts, order copies of the book and keep up to date with all the latest info on the launch of Vintage Caravan Style on the Stitch, Craft, Create Blog.

Vintage Trailer Style

Buying, Restoring, Decorating and Styling the Small Spaces of your Dreams

By Lisa Mora

My new book Vintage Caravan Style (Vintage Trailer Style in the USA) comes out next month and the lead up to the launch has begun with an upcoming blog hop to stir up interest in the book.

It's so exciting! I can't wait to see the final result! This book was  a great opportunity to showcase so many of the amazing photos I have taken of caravans and trailers from all over the place that never made it into Vintage Caravan Magazine as well as sharing the many tips, advice and suggestions I have collected over the years on buying and restoring older caravans and camper trailers.

The book is 160 pages long and contains over 350 photos all drawn from the Vintage Caravan Magazine archives.  Full of inspiration, drool-worthy restorations and a variety of styling options, it is my hope that this book will inspire those who may just be dreaming about getting an older caravan to take the plunge and make their dreams come true.

I will keep you posted on developments as we get closer to the book launch!

Rusty Nuts Hot Rod Show!

Waihi Beach, New Zealand 22nd March 2014

Cresta went to her first New Zealand car show on the weekend - The Rusty Nuts Hot Rod show at Waihi Beach.

We cruised with the Beach Hop crew from Whangamata along the winding hilly roads to Waihi Beach. The scenery was just beautiful, through rolling green farm land and fern-filled forests, I am always amazed by just how beautiful New Zealand is and cruising along in an old car makes you appreciate it even more.

The  car show was held right on the beach and the cars all parked up on the sand - crazy!

 This too cool for school Woody Wagon looked right at home

The Beach Hop prize giveaway cars got to test out their newly installed running gear and pose for a few photos the winner of the prize draw gets to choose between the Mustang, a Falcon surf wagon or the Zephyr (the Falcon was still having its interior done so wasn't at this show)

This Zephyr comes with a matching vintage caravan and some lucky winner will taken them home for the cost of a $5 program! 

I had lots of fun getting so many great pics in the lovely afternoon light 

They had a great band called the Recliner Rockers playing on the sand - gotta love that double bass!

What a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon - chilling on the beach, listening to some live music and ogling over all the luscious chrome and immaculate machinery...

Even though I'm more of a classic and custom girl than a muscle car fan - This shot was one that I was particularly happy with - I just love the composition of it and the light, so I turned it into a black and white and it became pure art...

Cresta had lots of photos taken of her and even blokes appreciated her - these cars were a lot more popular in New Zealand than they were in Australia and so many people came up to me and said that they either used to have one, learned ot drive in one, or their parents had one... 

it made me happy to have my not-quite-so-flash as the other cars Cresta get so much love.

Of course to me she will always be the most beautiful car in the world!

Betty goes to New Zealand

Having attended the Beach Hop in Whangamata, New Zealand for the past couple of years and seeing all the Australian cars coming over for the event, I thought it was time for Cresta and Betty to come and join me this time.

Last year I met a lovely couple John and Jean Wilson who had brought their hot rod and teardrop caravan over from Australia to New Zealand for the 2013 Sony Beach Hop as part of their traveling tribute their daughter who had tragically passed away in the Victorian Bush fires the year before. I saw them again at the Camperdown Cruise in October and Jean helped me out on my Vintage Caravan Magazine stall - thanks Jean!

This year Vintage caravan Magazine is sponsoring the Vintage Caravan Show at the Beach Hop, so fellow sponsors of the Beach Hop: Famous Pacific Shipping kindly offered to provide safe passage of my car and caravan. Despite my anxieties, the whole process was so much easier than I thought it would be.

We drove down to Brisbane and over the Gateway Bridge to the Brisbane wharf where I signed in at the shipping company and was given a high visibility vest, a visitors tag and directions on where to go. The pink duo sure caused a stir on the wharves I can tell you!

The staff were all super helpful and quite a few photos were taken while we lined up alongside container-laden trucks waiting our turn to load.  

When it was time to hand over the keys to the driver who would move Cresta into the shipping area and he saw the car his first reaction was "I'm not driving that!" but when he got in and drove it he didn't seem to mind at all and he even asked me to take his picture!

Before I knew it, it was time to kiss Betty goodbye and bid her bon voyage - I found that my heart was fluttering madly and I was actually quite nervous about the whole thing, but it was obvious that good hands and that they would take very good care of her and the Cresta.

The whole journey only took four days on the water and another few days to get her cleared through customs in New Zealand where she flew through all her mandatory safety checks and was pronounced safe and solid enough to drive on New Zealand roads. Yay!

Beach Hop Whangamata - here we come!

The 2014 Sony Beach Hop is one from the 26th - 30th March in Whangamata, on the Coromandel Peninsual in the north island of New Zealand. The Vintage Caravan Magazine Retro Caravan Show will be held at the Whangamata School on  Saturday 28th March

Cresta gets pinked!

Well the decision was made and after much deliberation, hesitation and contemplation the Cresta is now pink.  Now that it is finally done how do I feel about my decision? AMAZING! I love her more than ever. She is now, without a doubt of hesitation, the car of my dreams...

The most exciting part of the process was hitching her up to my caravan "Betty" and seeing the pink duo together for the very first time - they look soooo cute together.

Our first outing was down the hill from Maleny to the Ettamogah Pub at Aussie World - about half an hour's drive away where we attended the Australia Day Car show.  When we arrived the organisers were so happy to see us pull in. After having the event cancelled due to bad weather for the past two years, it had taken us this long to actually make it to this show. Although the weather was a bit grey and gloomy the crowds still flocked in and the reactions to the pink Cresta and Betty were incredible.  We ended up winning the viewers choice award! I was so happy that I cried! It was so nice to know that other people loved my pink babies as much as I did and I was the happiest woman on the planet.

It was so funny hearing so many people laugh and seeing the smiles on their faces when they noticed Cresta's new curly eyelashes

And that makes me happy too!