While we were getting ready for New Years Eve, I couldn’t help but notice and amazing retro looking Mercedes based motorhome on the other side of the park.
It was built in Germany as a Micro Supreme branded Motorhome.
Brian, Kim and their daughter Maddie and the Mercedes.
Owned by Brian and Kim from Auckland, they bought this two years or so ago and it became Brian’s project do up. The Mercedes D307’s are really popular in Europe as delivery, courier vans and small trucks and enjoy a great reputation as reliable runners and Brian was saying, he has no problem getting parts for it. All he has done mechanically was put in a bigger radiator which is apparently a must do for motorhoming. It also has a real “unimog” look to the front of it which I think reveals its Mercedes truck DNA.
The retro paint job
The Tv station iutside
Inside, well all I can say is what a great job they’ve done. New toilet and shower area and a new galley area. The minute you walk in, you get this amazing feeling of big volume. Brian has done amazing things with a TV/ sound station including a server for movies, a wifi router and a pop out Tv station in the awning area.
InsideThe Galley
A great achievement by them both, a nice van and although at 1988 it is not really that old, the improvements that they made are amazing and it was nice to see them enjoying Sullivan’s Bay in the sun with friends and family.
Rafe had developed a nasty little irritating rattle in what seemed to be the left front suspension. We thought given the warranty runs out in 6 months or so, we need to get straight onto to these things and get it sorted. I dropped it off last Wednesday morning and took a technician around the block so I could point out the noise. It only appeared on coarse seal but was a quiet as a mouse on smooth seal.
The awning out with our new mat down
Initially it seemed that although they could hear the noise, they couldn’t find a reason for a rattle. The suspension checked out ok and after a few hours of searching, there was nothing else.
A bit of light reading by yours truly on the Fiat forum in the UK showed that they have this issue in Britain too. The Euro’s have smooth seal but they use coarse seal in Britain like NZ. On Monday, they wired it all up with microphones and went for a drive to locate the rattle. To add the sound equipment, they had to take off the tray which is a big piece of black rubber/plastic mat that covers the whole underside of the engine and gearbox area to protect it from dust. The Brits found that they were the cause of the rattle. With all the sound equipment, they couldn’t hear any noise at all so it seems the tray might be the cause here too. We picked Rafe up on Monday and the’ve left the tray off to try it over the new Year period and so far I haven’t heard a thing 🙂 I’ll head back to the engineers in January and have it put back on with some foam to stop it rattling if that’s what it turns out to be.
As always, make sure you click on these images to see them in hi res.
Fiona with Takapuna Beach in the distance
What to do last weekend instead ? We decided to walk around from Milford Bridge all the way down the beach and around the waterfront to Takapuna Beach. Its a great walk and only takes about 1/2 hour.
Milford Beach
Milford Beach
Waterfront homes at Milford
Waterfront homes at Milford
The track around the rocks
Getting close to Thornes Beach
Cable car up the hill
Thornes Beach
Nice waterfront homes at Thornes Beach
Thornes Beach
Thornes Beach half way around
Fishing off the rocks half way around. Rangitoto behind
Fiona with one of the waterfront houses near Milford
Almost Crystal clear
Foreshore houses, Takapuna in the distance
Takapuna Beach in the distance
Looking back to Milford
On the way to Takapuna
Rangitoto with the Pohutakawas
We stopped at Takapuna Beach for a while and watched the launching antics of the masses and the wayward backing attempts. Always a good hour or two’s entertainment although better at low tide 🙂
We walked up to Hurstmere Rd and had a nice lunch in a café there and then walked back towards Milford. There is a little track down to the beach right on the corner with Kitchener Rd so we headed back down along the beach and back home.
Fiona cooling off with Rangitoto behind
We’d only been home for a n hour or so when our good friends Tony and Julie popped in with a bottle of wine and some cider and then spent several hours sitting in the sun watching boats come and go in the marina.
A very pleasant day but I’m REALLY pleased to have Rafe back !
This is their second Mitzi truck, Luton based Motorhome and they’re really pleased with it.
They hit the road full time earlier this year and after driving from their rented out home in Ranfurly to Auckland, they spotted this new van on Trade me. As Gary says, it was the van he’s been looking for forever! So after many will we, won’t we, moments, they bought the van and flew to Christchurch and drove it back up to Auckland.
In the last few months they’ve been back to Ranfurly, worked their way up to the North Island to meet us in Marton last week.
It is 7 m long, has a nice U shaped lounge at the back and heaps of cupboards.
The kitchen areaThe Lounge
A very comfortable, reliable machine with all the comforts of home.
Fiona & Chris, two empty nesters put their dreams of doing something different into reality… Now back in a house, they were living in their Motorhome, come along for the ride.
Bugger It, we are off - www.buggeritweareoff.com 
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