We present the results of contemporaneous photometric and spectroscopic monitoring of 20 post-AGB stars from Mt John University Observatory. Photometric measures were carried out using Johnson BV and Cousins RI filters, and the radial velocity measurements were acquired using spectra from an echelle spectrograph. Our programme spanned five years and the stars covered a range of spectral types from B to K in order to investigate the behaviour of post-AGB stars as they evolve away from the AGB. A number of stars proved to be variable in ways incompatible with post-AGB models and are reclassified. Periodicities are presented for a number of stars. Photometrically, HD 70379 was found to be pulsating in two modes with periods of 85 and 97 d. The radial velocities also varied, with the peak amplitude occurring when the photometry was also changing most. AI CMi presented three different types of spectra associated with photometric brightness, with varying strengths of narrow emission lines and molecular bandheads. The Hα profiles in almost all of the stars show evidence of emission which varies on time scales of days to months. The Na D line profiles are generally complex showing between 4 and 7 components due to both circumstellar and interstellar material.