Nat Mobile ready to head off on campaign trail

National insiders are dubbing it the Nat Mobile, but you can bet their opponents won't be calling it that ... nor the Bat Mobile either.

National leader Don Brash will get the party's campaign bus on the road in Auckland this morning.

He'll take it for a spin through Henderson and other parts of west Auckland before heading to Hamilton. The bus will head south from there and is expected in Wanaka by the end of the month, when the parliamentary recess ends.

Dr Brash won't be on board all the time, but its journey has been timed to coincide with his engagements in the provinces, where the party is trying to raise its profile.

Other MPs are also expected to use the bus, which is officially named the Party Vote National bus.

Giving National the party vote is the key message the party wants to take to "middle New Zealand".

It's not the first time National has used a bus for campaigning. Jenny Shipley used one in the lead-up to the 1999 election.