Retired Kaitāia mechanic Joe Oliver with the Log Inn caravan he’s built from scratch to resemble a giant log.
Retired Kaitāia mechanic Joe Oliver with the Log Inn caravan he’s built from scratch to resemble a giant log.
The Country looks back at some of the biggest and best stories of the past 12 months, including readers' favourites, huge news events and those yarns that gave us a glimpse into rural lives and livelihoods across the country.
Originally published November 9.
Northlanders are used to seeing giant logs on the back of trucks, but ‘retired’ Kaitāia mechanic Joe Oliver’s latest caravan elicits plenty of double takes from other motorists - it’s been built to look like a giant log.
In a well-used shed in a Kaitāia backyard Oliver, under his trading name Joebilt, has named his marvellous creation Log Inn and he reckons he’s spent about 8000 hours since 2019 building it from scratch, with some internal finishing work still to be done.
“It’s been a very interesting, but long task doing it. It’s a bit different from others you see, but I’ve always got a project or two on the go.”
He has already used it on the road a few times and says it definitely has people looking twice as he glides past.
He started Log Inn after seeing the round caravans a Dairy Flat caravan enthusiast named Geordie had built, though they were finished to look like space rockets.
“I thought they looked pretty good but I didn’t want a rocket, so thought I’d go for a log. I told Geordie what I was doing and I built mine at [2.45 metres] diameter, compared to his, which were about [1.8m].”
After making the decision he wanted a log, the next job was building it. He did most of it by hand after buying the axles and steel from Auckland. He’s bent all the piping for the frame and bodywork by himself, and got the people at signwriting.co.nz to create the vinyl wrap of the bark for the outside.
Northlanders are used to seeing giant logs on the back of trucks, but Joe Oliver’s Log Inn caravan unsurprisingly turns heads when he tows it behind his truck.
And it looks so good that the wrap itself has won some big design awards. It won three categories at the Pride in Print 2023 awards, including a Gold Award. It was only pipped to the Gold Award in the NZ Sign and Display Awards by the Team NZ America’s Cup design, with the Log Inn design getting the Silver.
He decided against holding up a protest red flag about the decision and conceded defeat to the AC75 foiling monohull yacht that Emirates Team NZ used in the Cup.
Joe Oliver’s latest caravan Log Inn gets plenty of attention whenever he takes it on the road.
“Not bad to lose to Team NZ, I suppose.”
So, what next for the 79-year-old mechanic who supposedly retired quite a few years ago?
"Don’t worry, I’ve got heaps of projects on the go to keep me busy. And I’ve got plenty of old tractors that need to be restored - if I ever get a bit of spare time to do them."
Mechanic Joe Oliver reckons he’s spent about 8000 hours constructing Log Inn caravan that’s head turner on the road.
A quick look around Oliver’s numerous workshops, with the various projects he has on the go, shows he won’t run out of retirement work to do any time soon. He starts most mornings about 8am and often doesn’t finish until well after 6pm - with possibly more time spent on them on weekends - but he doesn’t think he’ll stop any time soon.
“But I’ve probably got more projects to do than years,” he said.
