Category Archives: Close to home

Close to home, Shows

Covi Motorhome Show 2023

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They never disappoint despite the fact that this was smaller than previous years. It was cancelled last year due to Covid too, so many were really looking forward to this one.

I arrived on the Wednesday afternoon to arrange the Dethleffs Owners group parking next in the Alexander Park carpark pretty much behind the scoreboard which was a primo spot.

Click on any Image to ENLARGE.

Dethleffs parking

There was a race meeting on the Friday night. Fiona came over after work in the car and we went out for tea at the Lone Star under one of the new Apartment buildings next to the grandstand. The front of the restaurant all opened up to the track so you could watch the racing which was amazing.

Alexander Park right next door.

When I was about 20 odd, one of my roles as a junior Herald Photographer was to do the night trots. It was a mission as the horses are largely black and the background is black too so a bit of chemical trickery was required to make it happen with the low light on film 🙂  think 1970’s.

Our parking for the event

With all the storms we’ve had recently, Alexander Park raceway suffered some pretty awful damage to their track and had to relay the track. The pile of shells was our windbreak from the southerly wind if one was to eventuate 🙂

On with the show ….  One of the highlights of the show for me was to see the new Kiwi Caravan made by ACM Motorhomes. It’s called the Romotow and is modelled on the principle of a Swiss army knife.

The Robotow is a polished looking beast. I’ll let the pictures below tell the story. The list price is $429k.

Click on the Gallery below for an Enlarged Slideshow of the Romotow!

ACM is owned by a very clever qualified boatbuilder, Chris Cunard and they repaired my floor in Rafe a few years ago when it started to misbehave. I now have one of the few motorhomes in the world where the vinyl now matches across all the hatches in the floor! Very tidy job and you can see more on ACM here.

The Morelo Palace

The other thing I was pleased to see was the Morelo Palace with a small Toyota half out of the rear garage. They’re an impressive motorhome and have everything that opens and shuts.

Click on the Gallery below to see enlarged images of the Palace.

The trend to smaller Motorhomes and Caravans still seems to be the way things are going.

Click on the Gallery below for an Enlarged Slideshow.

The new Dethleffs Just Go on a Ford chassis.
Dethleffs Just Go
Dethleffs Just Go
Thredbo Caravan
Thredbo Caravan
Thredbo Caravan
Trailites
Interesting slide on Ute Motorhomes.
Central RV Caravans
Autotrail Tracker

There was an interesting little teardrop there too at 28k too.

It was nice to see the fine crew on the NZMCA stand again with #1 Motorhome.

The smiley faces at the NZMCA stand
#1 NZMCA

The show was quite a bit smaller than previous years but just as interesting and with all the main players there.

RV Super Centre
Second Hand area outside.

A big thanks to David Culpan for helping us with the Dethleffs parking.

Rafe’s tracker map to our parking at Alexander Park. – Armada GPS
Close to home, Waikato

A break away from the chaos at Kaiaua

The new NZMCA park has been open for a few months now but what a spot.

Click on any Image to Enlarge

The Park

After several weeks of dreadful weather and with Rafe just sitting on the pad, it was time to bust out while the weather was good.

The pub in the background

We set off about lunchtime and headed down the Motorway and headed out towards Miranda with hardly any traffic on the roads at all. Arriving an hour or so later with the sun streaming down, we parked up at the Kaiaua Park. It’s a beauty! With the Bayview Hotel right next door with a track through to the pub and the famous Kaiaua fisheries next to them, there is definitely no excuse for being hungry or thirsty 🙂

The Bayview Hotel next door

After a visit to the pub and finding them busy, we decided on Fish and Chips, and they were huge! I kept a piece of fish for the next day 🙂

Kaiaua Fish and Chips!

After lunch at the Hotel, which was fantastic, we headed off to Rays Rest for an hour or two. 

Click on the Gallery below for a look at Rays Rest

We have not been there since it was redeveloped by a storm a few years ago but it still looks pretty good to me.

Seafood Galore!

We decided not to stay though and headed back to Kaiaua and settled for a G&T at the Hotel.

The Marina

A fantastic park with room for Africa and having the Pub and Fish and Chip shop handy is a Real bonus!

Rafe’s Tracker map to Kaiaua NZMCA Park – Armada GPS
Close to home, Waikato

Rays Rest

A favourite free parking spot for many.. on the coast north of Miranda.

Click on any Image to Enlarge

Lovely spot

This was probably one of our first parking spots when we first bought our Motorhome 8 or so years ago. Its handy to Auckland, its free and its easy.

Easy parking

If you want shops, museums and pubs, you don’t go to Rays Rest. This where peace and quiet happens with the odd sound of a vehicle whizzing past at 80 odd K.

Flying Kites .. perfect spot
Rafe on the edge

It’s a lovely spot to sit on a deck chair on the edge of the sand outside your Motorhome and watch the clouds go by.

People enjoying the sun

Its been a while since we were here and it was redeveloped by a big storm since our last visit but it still looks much the same. Just as good as it was.

Looking across to Thames

Well recommended if you live in Auckland, are finding diesel expensive and can’t decide where to go for a night or two.

Rafe’s Tracker map to Ray’s Rest- Armada GPS
Close to home

Merry Christmas

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Another year flashes by and we’re into Christmas again… fun times and sunshine.

We’re heading down towards Gisborne where we haven’t been for a while, so we’ll see where we end up!

Thanks to everyone for supporting the blog this year.

More Motorhoming while we can’t travel overseas.

Rafe looking Christmasy

Merry Christmas everyone and Fiona and I hope you have a great New Year… be careful on the roads and if you see us out there, please come and say hello.

Close to home, Northland

Idyllic Sandspit

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This is one of those places that you’ll keep coming back to. It is just magic and there’s a ferry to Kawau too.

Click on any Image to enlarge.

Just Bliss

I arrived early in the afternoon and got myself setup in a corner spot but then realised that under some huge trees, there would be no TV signal.

First thing on the waterfront
Looking over towards the ferry wharf

It’s a fairly casual arrangement, “Park wherever you like except the waterfront spots which are booked for a whole bunch of Ozzies in their Britz vans”. I was only 10 steps away anyway so that was fine:-)

The Ozzies on the water

It was warm, there were people out kayaking in the camps free Kayaks and people out swimming.

The Ozzies catching up
Kayaking fun

I went for a walk across to the Sandpit Yacht club later for tea and sat out on the deck with a nice glass of chardonnay. Very civilised I thought but such a nice spot and the food was fantastic too.

At the Yacht club

Click on the Gallery below for an enlarged Slideshow

You can stay in this.
Close to the water
The Ozzies on the water
Snakes and Ladders
The Boardwalk across thye mangroves to the Yacht club.
At the Yacht club
First thing on the waterfront

Later it was time to head back for a shower in the fantastic newish ablutions block.

Some of the history

There used to be a whole bunch of pretend historic shops around the office area which all seem to have gone which is a shame.. one of the features of this camp but still a great spot to stay all the same.

Rafe’s Tracker map to Sandspit – Armada GPS
Close to home

The Famous Puhoi Pub

One of the iconic Hotels around and just out of Auckland is this wonderful old historic pub. It also has a huge carpark where you can stay overnight in your Motorhome or Caravan.

The Parking area

While I was in this neck of the woods, I thought I’d pop in and check it out.

How the first settlers arrived.

Puhoi started out having three Hotels after emigrants from Europe all wanted to be in on the business. Eventually one bought the others out and the current Puhoi Hotel which was built in 1879 became the communities premier place to socialise.

It has been owned by the same family since 1962.

At the bar

I love old buildings and this one has the charm and grace to go with it. The bar is decked out with every Knick knack you can imagine. It just reeks of character.

Click on the Gallery below for an Enlarged Slideshow

General store
Across the road

You can stay the night in the hotel too if you have friends without their own accommodation. The parking for Motorhomes is just across the road.

I went for a brief walk around the village, and it is like time stood still. The old buildings look like they would have been 100 odd years ago.

A neat little village and nice to place to stop.

Rafe’s Tracker map to Puhoi – Armada – GPS
Close to home

New Parking at Red Beach

It has been a wee while since we’ve been here at what used to be called Pinewoods. We used to come here quite often as it was close and a nice break away without driving too far. With the cost of diesel being what it is, I thought it was time for a visit!

The weather wasn’t perfect as a whole week of unsettled weather was due a few days away, but it was stinking hot.

Click on any Image to Enlarge

The new parking area looking out towards the beach.

I checked in at the office and found that the old parking area with the very clean and tidy but basically in a bachy style building was not the first-choice area. They’ve now got a new very swish new parking area in an area that used to be a paddock you walked through to get to the beach.

It is set out with a big wide concrete driveway in a half circle arrangement with concrete parking bays running off that. A neat setup as it doesn’t matter where you’re parked, there is an easy angle to back in.

This also comes with a swish new facilities block, a kitchen, along with several showers and toilets.

The entrance

The kids a play area has been souped up too with the addition of a flying fox and other gear too.

Click on the Gallery below for an Enlarged Slideshow

Looking out from the creek to the beach.
The original camping area.
The entrance
Some of the old baches
Looking out to Orewa from the rocks

I always remembered this place for its big concrete table tennis table. Easily one of the best around.

The amazing table tennis table.

Once I had Rafe settled, I walked over the park for a look around. The bachs all dotted over the hill and as I understand it are still all managed by a collective board. At the top there is also the famous Jacobs Ladder which is a set of steps going down the cliff although there is a sign saying you shouldn’t go down due to the erosion on the cliff.

The original camping area.

Funny who you meet in strange places.  After I took the photo of the new area and posted it on my own Facebook page, a friend Adele was saying what a nice motorhome her friend Gordon had in the foreground, so I went over to meet him.  Having been the owner of several Dethleffs, I’m certain we’ve met before, but it was nice to meet him again.

The Beach

Back to the campground.  Across the new campground is a locked bridge behind the surf club to cross the creek to the beach The creek surrounds the campground on three sides.  It’s nice to be parked so close to the beach and not far from the big smoke for fuel!

A nice park with very friendly people.

Rafe’s Tracker map to Red Beach – Armada – GPS
Close to home

Ardmore’s Flash new paint work

Ardmore NZMCA park is one of our better parks so it we were looking forward to a break from the house and the grotty weather for a week of sunshine watching the world go by.

Click on any image to enlarge.

Our youngest 9 yr old Grandson Liam goes to school in Ardmore where they used to live until last year and Dad Alex, had a week in Canberra for business so Liam needed someone to get him to school and feed him for the week. We live in Devonport so the easy way was to take Rafe out and stay at the park and walk him to his old bus stop not far from the entrance of Ardmore.

For the first couple of days Fiona was working so it was time for some walks during the day, take some piccies and read Newspapers. The sun was out, it was warm in the sun but was cold in the shadows but generally a big improvement on a few weeks ago.

Ardmore park

I met the custodian and Grant and Liz who honestly made me feel exhausted just watching them work on the park. It was almost non stop!  .. and they’re really nice people who were so helpful.

On the Wednesday morning Fiona drove out in the car which was good as we could get around and leave Rafe in the park so we got to get a few things and go out for lunch and check out some shops while Liam was at school.

Eye on the line

On the Friday morning, our last day, Grant popped his head in the door and said we had to vacate temporarily so the road markers could come in and give the park a flash new paint job on the parking areas.

The new paint with everyone on the grass behind.

There were about 10 or so Caravans and Motorhomes and one by one we shifted into the slightly damp grass paddock next door. We were a bit lucky having only one Caravan behind a light van losing traction which we pushed out. No harm done and everyone was still smiling 🙂

Click on the Gallery below for an enlarged slide show.

The Pink Caravan
Nice seeing the sunshine again

The painters were only there for a couple of hours and made it look easy while we all watched on. There were a few jokes about wobbly lines and late nights but they did an amazing job.

A Flashback to 2015.. Click on the Gallery to view

Back in 2015

From coming here when the park first opened, Ardmore park is looking really good and is a credit to all those volunteers who have pitched in over the years.

We left on the Friday and headed home.

Rafe’s Tracker map home from Ardmore NZMCA Park – Armada GPS
Close to home

Merry Christmas

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Another year flashes by and we’re into Christmas again… fun times and sunshine.

We’re heading down towards Gisborne where we haven’t been for a while, so we’ll see where we end up!

Thanks to everyone for supporting the blog this year.

More Motorhoming while we can’t travel overseas.

Rafe looking Christmasy

Merry Christmas everyone and Fiona and I hope you have a great New Year… be careful on the roads and if you see us out there, please come and say hello.

Close to home, Preparation

All the Stone Chips have gone!

One of the things we should have done when we first got our Motorhome 7 odd years ago was to put some protection on the bonnet against stone chips. I remember Fiona mentioning it at the time but I was too eager to use the new toy!

Years later after progressively touching up the stone chips on the bonnet leaving pimples of touch up paint, it was time to either repaint the bonnet or tidy things up.

Click on any Image to enlarge

Masking out the design

Having just had the bumper done up after it dropped all its paint, I needed to have the decals that Dethleffs originally put on replaced on the newly painted bumper.

Jeremy applies the white base.

My son Drew was involved in Drift Car racing and met Jeremy years ago who is a sign writer extraordinaire who is also a dab hand at wrapping cars and anything else. Drew introduced us by phone so off I went to Jeremy’s workshop get the new decals.

Jay doing the other side with the white base.

Jeremy is an old school sign writer who can still do signs with a brush.. sounds to me like a photographer who still knows how to process a roll of film 🙂 I liked the sound of that.. nothing like experience!

He immediately looked at the images I had of the original decals and said “I can do much better than that” ! Jeremys right hand man Jay was there on one side while Jeremy was on the other.

On goes the blue
Applying the blue over the white.
Jeremy trimming the blue shape

Jeremy’s version of the Decals were quite a lot bigger but followed the contours of the bumper much more closely and also met up with the pattern on the sides of the van much better so it all looked a lot more streamlined than the original Dethleffs effort. I was over the moon.

Click on the Gallery below for blow by blow slideshow

Jeremy applies the white base.
Jay trimming the base
Half in half out!
Jeremy’s custom sticker for his car
On goes the blue
Applying the blue.
Jeremy sanding the “pimples” on the bonnet.
Applying the protective bonnet cover.
Jay squeezing the water out
Squeezing out the water.
Trimming off the bonnet cover.
Wow all finished

Next came the bonnet which I was only going to get Jeremy to tackle if it wasn’t a huge job. Jeremy took one look at it and after a comment like “easy peasy”, we were off.

Jeremy sanding the “pimples” on the bonnet.

Jeremy got some very fine wet and dry sandpaper and with some water, gently hand sanded all the little pimples of touch up paint that I had applied down so the bonnet was smooth. There was also a Globe 4 decal on the bonnet which had to go too.

Applying the protective bonnet cover.

The bonnet then looked like a bluey grey colour which looked awful. I think Jeremy could tell I was a bit nervous so he cut off a tiny bit of bonnet protector and after wetting it, stuck it in the middle of all the horrible grey and immediately, it took on the lovely deep blue I was used to! It was a WOW moment.. I was amazed and it was a high gloss too.

Squeezing out the water.

Jay appeared with a sheet of the protector big enough for our bonnet and between them, they wet it and the bonnet and on it went. The next 30 minutes or so were spent squeezing out the water but it looked absolutely amazing. The best part was that out of the 40 or so original stone chips on the bonnet, the sanded paint filled up the holes left like a filler so you could really only see a handful of them afterwards.. A HUGE improvement.. Its like a new bonnet.

Jay tidying up at the end

Watching the process was awesome too.. with the new technology products now it really was something to see.

Wow all finished

If you’re looking to do a stone chip tidy up or do something with your Motorhome or Caravan, you can find Jeremy and Jay at Big Brown Industries in the Wairau Valley.  www.bigbrown.co.nz

Jeremy and Jay with the end result