Check out Okay2Stay

If you are a connoisseur of great food, delicious wines and locally sourced produce, we can highly recommend investing in an Okay2Stay membership for your trip around New Zealand.

The lovely people behind the site have built a directory of 100 locations all over NZ where you can park in the parking lot of wineries, and local food businesses free for one night, in exchange for purchasing something from the vendor during your stay.

All you need to do is sign up as a member, which is just NZD$59.00 per vehicle (not per person) and that is for a full year's membership. Use it for just two night's accommodation and it has already earned its keep! As well as the website directory, they also have an app which can be very handy when you are on the road.

The locations listed on okay2stay are called hosts and they are mainly small producers such as wineries, olive groves, lavender farms, artisan cheese makers etc.

It's important to note that hosts do not provide any services such as toilets, showers or electricity – which is why members' vehicles must be totally self-contained.

In exchange for your free overnight stay, you are expected to purchase some of the product the host makes, for example, if you stay at a vineyard, you are expected to buy a bottle or two of wine. It is designed to be win/win - chances are you will be very happy to purchase some of their quality product to enjoy anyway!

Even if you don't drink wine, there are usually plenty of options in each location and many of the wineries have onsite restaurants, cafes and shops where you can make other purchases.

It is recommended to book ahead of time (at least a day) just to make sure there is going to be room for your van, so just call or email the locations you are wanting to stay and let them know when you will be arriving. The site itself doesn't have any booking functionality.

If you decide to become a member and enjoy staying at these locations around the country, we would love you to take some photos including your Affordable Motor Home at the location and post them to Instagram including the hashtag #affordablemotorhomesnz so we can see exactly where you got to on your trip!