After spending a couple days with a sudden lurgy and coming right, we needed to get out into some fresh air. Where better than the free parking at Gulf Harbour but by the time we got ourselves organised, it was 3pm. Maybe it might be Shakespeare Park I thought as it would probably be busy at Gulf Harbour. After trucking along the bends and obstacles along the length of Whangaparoa we arrived at Gulf Harbour. It was chocker! No sign of the 3 metre rule even.. Every single space was full. Most unpleasant I thought and dangerous so off to Shakespeare it was.
My only hesitation with the Auckland Parks is not the money. It’s just the tedious system they have to clock in each time. I tried to be helpful with the nice lady on the phone and suggested that they need someone to write an app for phones or iPads but that didn’t seem to be well received. I thought after I got off the phone that suggestion was probably going to do her out if a job.. Silly me!
Anyway, Shakespeare CSC park is a lovely place to stay and well worth the effort. We arrived just as the sun was lowering with a nice red warm tint over everything. With no wind, it was nice and warm. There were a few Motorhomes and a couple of caravans. Three Motorhomers I talked to were quite local, two from Helensville looked like they might be brothers with their families and an older couple from Orewa. Nice.
Remember, you can click on the images for Hi Res or slideshows
As it got later, the day trippers all left and we were left to the peace and quiet. We cranked up the Internet to see how it would go. Our neighbours from Helensville couldn’t get data but could get texts so it’s not a flash area for throughput. I did a speed test and got 3.5 Mbps down and 2.8mbs up so not great but about the adsl speeds we used to get in Devonport so based on that, pretty good really. Fiona was back into her movie on Netflix so she was happy.
We had a good lie in as it was Sunday.. Be rude not to I thought. I immediately thought of our friends Gary and Dianne who have me on about “not being a morning person” as it got later and we were still lying in the scratcher reading the papers on our ipads😎.
We were a bit shy in the vege department so we got up and scooted along the road to the Manly vege shop and had a wee drive around the Manly waterfront. A few gave us a few strange looks as we got Rafe around the narrow windy back streets but all good. After getting back to Shakespeare, most of our neighbours were leaving or about to leave and we had the place to ourselves.
We had some lunch and went for a walk down to see the other campground at the end of the beach for the non self contained. It’s a lovely spot with flashish toilets and a place to wash your dishes. A much bigger park with lots of picnic tables scattered around and rubbish tins. Nicely setup I thought.
Then came a walk along the beach through lots of Oyster catchers and seagulls back to Rafe. A nice place to stay. We’ll be back!
Bugger It, we are off - www.buggeritweareoff.com 
Those ARC parks are just super aren’t they. Checking in – yup – depends on who you get on the phone. Yes, it’s white, check the make etc. I suppose they must check that the certification is in order. For Shakespear, you usually have to make very clear that you are getting the right gate code too. We’ve been given the wrong one on several occasions. One of my favourites too once you are in. We buy the annual pass, pays for itself in about 6 nights I think. Love your pages btw.
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Thanks, it’s a great spot. I thought Sullivan’s was good too.
We bought he Dic pass last year but given most if the Doc parks in mikes from Auckland, it was a mistake really.
We’ll get the ACC pass this Tim though but it runs from June to June.
Thanks for the compliments!
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Agree with your comments re check in. Even with a pass, which is well worth it, it can be tedious. How hard can it be. Quote pass number, van rego no of occupants identifying question. Job done.Enjoy reading your stuff especially that good stuff about mobile broadband.btw I believe ACC pass runs Sept to Aug with some exclusions
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Thanks Ron. I’ll probably wait until then. Cheers
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