Bay of Plenty

Kiwifruit and Avocados

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This has to be one the best Parking spots that I’ve found and I pretty much found it by accident.

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Great Parking

It was set up for the workers originally for Robert and Ruth McLeods Kiwifruit and Avocado Orchard workers  just outside Katikati and is now a NZMCA charges apply site. There are Toilets and Showers with Washing facilities and about 20 powered sites set among some fruit trees. It is $10 a night per person with power. I’d just been at the Waihi Beach opening for a couple of days and needed to give camera batteries and my laptop a bit of a shove on power so this was fantastic. There are quite a few long termers and workers there who take a personal interest in keeping the place spic and span. It is a busy little spot but a fantastic place to stop off if you’re on the way somewhere. There is also a family of Pukekos that seem to be pretty territorial and keep an eye on the place as well 🙂

A lovely spot.

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Coromandel 2018

A night in a VW

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The iconic shape of the VW Combi and the bright colours were hard to miss.

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Tania with the VW’s

The happy voice of Bowentown Holiday Park, Tania  was only to pleased to show me through the amazing Combi cabins. With the bright Green and Orange exterior paintjob they almost glow in the dark!

What can you say !

They’re about 4 years old and were originally made in Auckland and are fully insulated, complete with heating and set up very comfortably.

Click on the Gallery below for a Slideshow

Complete with Retro Chairs

New owners of the Park, Mike and Bec are planning to plant some gardens around them and restore the colours to that of the original VW’s.

For those who want to stay with Motorhome or Caravan friends, this is the next best thing and in the off season, they’re just $85 a night.

A great sight to see and a fun way to spend the weekend away!

Preparation

Another go with the House

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We tried and we failed earlier in the year after putting the house on the market without any real tarting up. The house had been rented out for a couple of years and needed tidying up. The advice we had was let the new buyers add their own stamp which is what I thought too but the Devonport market seems to be a wee bit pickier than that.

The feedback was the house needed a bit of TLC and everyone seemed scared to come near it!

Blinds cleaned, room, windows, skirtings, doors all painted.

Over the last month or so, we’ve sanded, fixed up and painted all the doors. We’ve repainted 7 rooms through the house including windows, architraves and skirting boards.

Click on the Gallery below to see a slideshow

How the doors were.. freshly dipped a zillion years ago and simply hung as they were.
6 Doors in the hall all sanded, fixed up, filled and painted.
As the stairs were.. some rotten and cracked
The front stairs repaired and painted

We’ve had the garden made over and the house professionally water blasted.. its looking great. We also had some lots of help from stylist friend Stacey, along with Jenna and Fiona with the staging and it looks heaps better.  Lighter and cleaner looking seems to be the name of the game!

Check out the piccies below…Click on the Gallery for a Slideshow

Garden all tidy, everything waterblased, steps painted.
From the back
Painted hallway and loom at those doors
Kitchen the same.
Bedroom was yellow.. all painted.
Painted fireplace, window and door frames
Downstairs media room was a yellow studio.
Living arera not really changed.
New Bathroom
Garage carpeted

The first open homes this weekend and we already have plenty of interest so its looking good. It also has powered Motorhome parking and we have a Motorhomer interested in it 🙂

The official listing

And what we did before.. Click on the Gallery for a slideshow

Lounge
Across the back
Main bedroom
Dining
Living area

Fingers and toes crossed !

Int'l Motorhomes

The New MORELO Palace

And soon one might be on its way to NZ! This will be the first of this make/model of this size in the country..!

This is the last in the series of images of flash Motorhomes  from Jonas in Dusseldorf and its of the new Morelo Palace. Thanks to Jonas for making them available.

Click on the Gallery below to see a slideshow of the interior

In the Uk, these are sold from 186 K Euros. The UK ones are fitted out as follows

IVECO 6.5T Chassis
Meier Chassis
Double Floor
43mm Insulation
Alde Heating
3.0Ton Tow.
SLIDE OUT
CAR GARAGE

I hope you enjoyed his photos.

Int'l Motorhomes

New Model Niesmann + Bischoff Arto 88LF


These images are hot off the press from Jonas Ng who is at the big Motorhome and Caravan show in Dusseldorf in Germany.

Jonas’s comment on this “Impressive” as well :-)..

Click on the Gallery below for a slideshow of the Interior

The new Niesmann and Bischoff is based on the Fiat Ducato and in NZ are 180HP with a 6 speed comformatic gearbox. These start at NZ$280K in NZ.

We met up with our friends Dianne and Gary in the UK when they first laid eyes on their Arto 88F, a slightly different model than this one. They were over the moon and have been since with it being one of the first of its kind in NZ. Check this out for another look at their thing of beauty.

A happy Dianne in the living area while Fiona inspects Gary and Dianne’s unit in the UK 🙂

 

Int'l Motorhomes

The New MORELO Empire Liner

These images are hot off the press from Jonas Ng who is at the big Motorhome and Caravan show in Dusseldorf in Germany.

Jonas is Managing Director and with his wife Irene, they own Zion Motorhomes in Pokeno who also import Frankia, Neismann Bischoff  and Dethleffs Motorhomes.

This new vehicle is based on the Mercedes Benz Atego 1530L… Jonas’s comment “Impressive”!

Click on the Gallery below for a slideshow of the interior

This model starts at 450K Euros and is on either a Mercedes or Eurocargo base chassis depending on the customers needs. Jonas has some other smaller models made exclusively for the NZ market but if you want an Empire, I’m sure he could be persuaded to get you one 🙂

Enjoy his photos.

Coromandel 2018, NZMCA Rallies

Caniwi

Many of you will have seen Nelson and Marees Trailite with Caniwi across its forehead along with the NZMCA wings. Nelson is originally from Canada hence the Cankiwi name!

Click on an image to see Hi Res

Nice big lounge area

They’ve had their van for 3 years now. Amazing as it seems like yesterday when they got it!

The van is a 2015 Trailite Karapiro powered by a 3 litre Turbo diesel on a VW base. They’ve done 32000 k’s over the last 3 years and spent a lot of it in the South Island and it still looks brand new!

Galley

Their favorite spots were the Tekapo NZMCA park and Pinders Pond in Roxburgh..both our favorites too.

The Bedroom

It was nice to catch up with them at the Waihi Beach NZMCA park opening.

Fiona & Chris, two empty nesters put their dreams of doing something different into reality… Living in their Motorhome, come along for the ride.

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