Unique Sustainable Bus at Covi SuperShow

9 March 2016

Unique Sustainable Bus at Covi SuperShow

‘Leave it better than you find it’ is the message proudly displayed on a very unique colourful bus that is home to the Sturrock family that will be on display at the Covi NZMCA Insurance Motorhome, Caravan and Outdoor SuperShow that starts on Friday.

Committed to contributing positively to communities, businesses and the planet, Campbell and Nikki Sturrock sold their house in Auckland and are spending at least a year travelling throughout New Zealand in their converted bus, a 1978 Mercedes-Benz 0305 they have called The Loop, with their three school age children.

Campbell says their adventure of a lifetime is a real life experiment in building a motorhome using sustainability principles. “To us this means the thoughtful consideration of people, the planet and profit in the choices they make and the businesses they work with,” he says.

The family want to ‘do good’ and shine some light on other people and organisations ‘doing good’ for nature and communities as they travel. They family call this ‘leaving it better than you find it.’

The bus has been completely rebuilt by Sam West and his team at Motorhome Repairs Auckland Ltd. It runs on New Zealand made Biogold biodiesel. “It’s a sustainable choice not only for us in our 1978 11ltr Loop Bus but for any Kiwi driving a diesel vehicle,” Nikki says.

“Biogold is a renewable, made from waste vegetable oil, environmentally friendly fuel that can directly replace conventional polluting petroleum diesel and result in substantial reductions in our tailpipe emissions, our carbon footprint and greenhouse gases.”

Campbell says they aim to run the bus on at least a 60 percent blend of Biogold although as time goes on they hope to increase this percentage. “We are thrilled to be using 100 percent Biogold for our water, space heating and cooking.”

The couple installed additional solar panels and extra battery storage capacity to run their electronics and an electric car. They say they were lucky to be working with some recognised experts in electronics including David Reid from Reid Technology, Nigel Chang from Century Yuasa batteries and Ron Gorter, an electrical wizard with years of experience on Round the World yacht races.

“Even though a lot of the conversations about watts, amps and voltage went right over my head, working with such smart, innovative people has been inspiring,” Nikki says. “They were so interested in what we were doing, and so helpful and determined to see us succeed. We are now driving on sunshine. What can be better than that!”

Nikki says one of her favourite things in the bus is the simple yet technologically advanced toilet from Nature’s Head as it produces a dry crumbly soil conditioner instead of sewage. “As gardeners and tree planters we have a keen interest in soil health and to use what is essentially a soil manufacturing machine that does not use chemicals or pollute fresh water is something we are truly excited about.”

The bus has a never ending range of sustainable resources and solutions, including the fridge compressors which are under the shower floor to utilise the waste heat energy, carpet tiles made from recycled fishing nets and an alcohol fuelled portable Clean Cook Stove.

The family sourced Freeset T-Shirts through Liminal Apparel, part of an ethical Christchurch Co-operative. Freeset is a fair trade business in India that manufactures organic cotton T-shirts. It was founded by Kiwi couple Kerry and Annie Hilton who provide dignified employment to women and girls trapped in Kolkata’s sex trade.

The couple say the whole Sturrock family are chuffed to be invited to the Covi SuperShow, New Zealand’s largest annual motorhome, caravan and outdoor expo being held this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Auckland’s ASB Showgrounds in Greenlane, where they look forward to sharing their thoughts on the importance of sustainability and the choices we make every day while show casing their very unique mobile home.

The show attracted over 18,000 people last year with everyone attending this year going in the draw to win the Gate Prize of a four week motorhome holiday in the UK and Europe is sponsored by the RV SuperCentre.

The show showcases the best motorhomes, caravans and accessories from New Zealand and around the world with a number of exhibitors launching new models and products exclusively.

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