Preparation

Oops… Another bumper repair.

I can clearly remember how upset I was when I reversed into a hidden post and damaged the rear corner bumper, not long after we first got Rafe 9 years or so ago. I had all these feelings of wanting to turn the clock back and things I could have done, too late, damage done. Time to get it fixed.

In those early days, I was able to get a spare “Lamp Holder” as they’re called, and it was a 5-minute job for Vantage RV to stick it on. They stick on with Velcro so they’re expecting you to break a few… it was then $150… They’re now $1100!!

Since then, I’ve managed to break a few on both sides. It’s usually just the plastic join breaking a part of the way up and an easy glue job with Gorilla Glue. The Gorilla Glue expands and fills all the gaps and is very easy to sand.

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All glued up and a rough hand sand.

The hidden pole I hit this time though was a real wallop and the corner piece disintegrated into 4 different pieces.  A much bigger job than usual.

So, I repaired it in two chunks, the side bit of 3 bits into 1 part and then glued that after 3 hours to the back panel. A bit of Gaff tape was used to hold it together while the glue went off. The next morning, I was able to sand it and it didn’t look too bad from a distance :-).  Enough to get home from Rotorua.  See the pic above.

On with the Ados Body Filler

Once I got home, I got the sander out and gave it a real clean up. Then I put on some Ados Automotive two pot body filler.  Great stuff which allows you to fair it properly.  See above and below, sanded.

Ados Body filler sanded by machine with final hand sanding to go.

I had to add bits a few times as I wasn’t happy with the finish and because it’s on thin plastic, it doesn’t allow you to sand the filler as much as you probably could on metal… I got there in the end also dodging the rain too.

The side that didn’t need doing which I did as well to match. Note the join in the panel.

The last bit was sanding it up to 800 grit by hand to smooth it all out and then masking it.

Then on with the paint.  The paint I used which is the same colour as the bumper. It is certainly within a whisker of it, anyway.  I used Colour Lab’s Premium Gloss paint putting three coats of paint on and then 4 coats of Premium Clear High Gloss.

The LH side masked and sprayed.
Right hand side masked and sprayed.

It certainly cost me a lot less than replacing both panels although I did replace the two marker lights as they were only $20 each.

LH side all done

Because I shaped the damaged side to hide the join completely, I had to do the other side to match 🙂

RH side looking spiffing.

I think the result is pretty good and now I’ve got the hang of this Ados Filler, I reckon I can do it better next time…!

Close to home, Great Beaches, Waikato

Bliss on the coast, a new Favourite!

Matariki weekend started with big traffic queues, so we thought we’d wait until Sunday and catch the traffic going the other way. Keeping it close and keeping the fuel costs down, we thought we’d head towards the Kaiaua NZMCA park with the superb hospitality provided by both the Pub and the Fish and Chip shop.

We last popped in here for our first time a few months ago.

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Interesting weather

We arrived at Kaiaua NZMCA park around the middle of the day on what was a grey day. There were already several 5th wheelers, Caravans and a few Motorhomes there but there was plenty of room.

As I got out of the Motorhome to register in the shed, I met Mia and Hans who were right next door to us in there new Benimar from Taupo. They were veteran Motor homers who have travelled extensively through Europe in a Motorhome. They spent a year travelling and some of their adventures sounded amazing.

Not long after this came Steve and Caroline in their 8m Delaware from Whitianga. Nice to meet them too.

The Marina

After checking out the river next to the park, we headed to the Pub next door for a pizza lunch. It was superb and very good value.

As we walked into the pub, we walked past a whole lot of vintage Morris’s out in the carpark. A lot of car and bike clubs come here for lunch in weekends and do a loop back up the coast.  Lovely seeing the old cars.

The Morris club dropped in too!

We went for a walk around Kaiaua after that ending up at the pink shop up the road a bit.

The Pink Shop
Kaiaua Beach looking down towards Rays Rest

 

Later in the day, we headed over to the Pub where we met both Steve and Caroline. Hans and Mia were sitting at another table and came over and joined us and we heard about their amazing trip through Europe including Turkey. Fascinating!

Click on the Gallery below for an Enlarged Slideshow

New arrivals
Fiona coming back from the pub
Next to the park
The Marina
The Pub
Ducks in the river around the park.

Hans and Mia joined us next door for a fabulous meal at the famous Fish and Chip shop right next to the pub.

The Fish and Chip shop
The NZMCA park from the bridge

It’s a great little village Kaiaua and the park is fantastic. Being this close to Auckland, it’s an easy escape for a few days which is exactly what we were looking for. It was a real bonus meeting some interesting people as well.

Rafe’s tracker map to Kaiaua – Armada GPS
Rotorua

It doesn’t get much better than Ngongotaha

After our fun at the Holiday Park, we were looking forward to a stress-free night at Ngongotaha with power to watch the rugby final. I haven’t tried the new Kiwi camps power system yet, so it was all new and it works well.

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Looking out to the lake

We cruised into the NZMCA park there around 10:30 and checked out the scene for parking with power. After finding plenty of space near the power posts, we went back to buy a Kiwi camps tag at the 4 square and after loading some money on the tag and setting up the app, we plugged in and we were away .. easy peasy.

Great Outlook
Nice place to stay.

A cup of tea was deemed necessary and then we caught a bus into downtown Rotorua. After wandering around the very impressive newly done up Lakefront, we watched some Helicopters, Jet boats and Seaplanes come and go.

We walked over to Eat st for lunch and then walked up to the big barn shops (Farmers, Briscoes etc.) so I could get some shoes.

Eat st

After a cup of tea stop and one of Fiona’s other favourites cafe’s, we caught a bus back to Ngongotaha NZMCA park and prepared ourselves for a night of good Rugby.

Click on the Gallery below for an Enlarged Slideshow

There was a great soccer game going on right next door so we sneaked through the gate and watched. A nice game and apparently by two of the top teams.

Next door
Our neighbours Taupo V Ngongotaha
The Grandstand at the edge of the NZMCA park

We have come here quite often over the years but haven’t been here recently. It’s just lovely and always easy and I have to say, as a “power” person, I really like the addition of power for those who want it. It’s so easy and it is really nice to have at one of our better parks.

Nice place to stay.

A lovely night and a great game of Rugby too!

Rotorua

Close Lightning strike in Rotorua

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A few days away in Rotorua sounded like a good plan so after restocking the fridge and topping up with a bit of water, we set off for Rotorua. Straight down the motorway with the new Hamilton bypass, it was too easy.

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We arrived at the Rotorua Thermal Holiday Park early in the afternoon and after plugging in, we headed straight for the Hot Pools. The last time we were here, I took a lot more images so check it out here.

The unusual Covered Boardwalk with the Facilities in the middle.

The park is quite different from your average holiday park in that is has a covered boardwalk that surrounds the park and meets at the newish ablution block. It means you can park close and avoid getting too wet if its pouring with rain to get the facilities. Clever.

After an afternoon of a few swims as you do, we settled down for the night. The forecast was evil with heavy rain and maybe some thunder too.

About 4am, we were woken up by this massive thunderclap and huge lightning. You could feel the vibration of the thunder through the motorhome even through the bedding! There were a couple of more strikes and then things settled down to just heaps of rain and wind.

In the morning, we woke up to a fridge which had been on power, a bit slow to respond and it was decidedly warmer than it should have been. We thought maybe it had been spiked.

Reading the Herald on the iPad, we saw that at the Golf course just a 100 or so metres away over the road, a Cyprus tree had exploded, and bits went flying up to 50 metres away after a lightning strike. We figured this must be what we heard at 4am.

The Facilities

The fridge was still a bit lethargic so after talking to my son, he suggested (I should have thought of this) that reset the fridge and try it on gas until we get back to Auckland to save our food. The fridge worked brilliantly and when we got home, we tested it on power with some ice and glass of water and it passed with flying colours 🙂

Outside the French Cafe

After getting over the fridge and getting things together, we headed into Rotorua on a bus and headed to Fiona’s favourite French Cafe in Rotorua. As always, the food was fantastic and from there, we went for a wander through the shopping area.

Fiona at her favourite French Cafe

Rotorua always has that holiday feel to it with the thermal smell and all the touristy stuff happening. It’s a great spot and we can never get enough of it. The Hot pools of course make it even better.

We finished off at Farmers and Noel Leeming and some of the big shops.  A cruise back on the Bus and we were back in for another swim in the Hot Pools. Bliss.

Rafe’s tracker map to Rotorua Thermal Holiday Park – Armada GPS

 

 

Great Beaches, Taranaki

A Quick trip to the Naki

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Some of you may remember the Auction for Hospice Taranaki set up by my old friend and boss Rob Tucker in September last year.  Rob organised some of his old work colleagues and other close news photographers to each provide their 3 favourite images for the auction. They were framed and mounted and various businesses in New Plymouth banded together to donate their services to make it a huge success. The Auction raised over $200.000 for Hospice Taranaki and really helped them out financially.

The three images I contributed to the Auction taken during my time at the Auckland Star below.  Click on the images to enlarge.

Tina Turner at a press conference under TV lights.
Micheal Winslow outside the Regent in Auckland.
Run for your wife. One of the last shows at His Majesties Theatre in Auckland before it got bulldozed. L to R: Geoffrey Hughes (Coronation Street), Timothy Lea (Confessions of a Windows Cleaner) and Windsor Davies (It aint half hot mum) were staying at the White Heron lodge in Parnell where I met them early one morning.

I used to work as a photographer at the Herald with Rob. I was his first appointment when Rob was appointed as one of the youngest Picture Editors the Herald ever had. He had worked in Taranaki, at the Auckland Star and in the UK. The Herald did a really good video of Rob’s career highlights which you can see here. Rob was also appointed a medal in the recent Kings Birthday Honours for services to Photography.

A couple of weeks ago, Rob sadly passed away after fighting cancer for the last few years. The day we knew would come arrived, but it never makes it any easier when you lose a good friend.

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On the drive down

So, I jumped into Rafe and set off for Fitzroy Holiday Park to attend the funeral which was in Rob’s hometown of New Plymouth. The weather wasn’t fantastic, but I still managed to get some nice moody images coming down the coast into New Plymouth.

Lovely Coast

I checked into Fitzroy Holiday Park and the next day at the funeral caught up with my old darkroom buddy and fellow Herald Photographer Ross Land. We both started within a year of each other as young 20 yr olds, both appointed by Rob so have known Rob for over 40 years. As Rob was confined to a wheelchair, Ross was Rob’s right-hand man at the Auction, helping with the mounting, putting the book together and helping get the Auction under way. Despite the loss of our good friend Rob, it’s always nice to see Ross.

At a get together at Rob’s place 6 or so years ago. LtoR, Rob, Rob’s brother Jim and me. Rob’s wife Bonnie took the photo.

I also caught up with a few other photographers and Journalists present including Robs brother Jim who was my boss at the Auckland Star for 5 years or so in the 80’s. It was also really nice to see Robs wife Bonnie and their family.

Click on the Gallery below to see an enlarged slideshow

Well used walkway
The Kiosk and surfclub.
Water isn’t far away.
Cabins

Fitzroy is one of those Holiday Parks you never get tired of. It’s in a great location right on the beach and the facilities are fantastic and its reasonably priced at this time of the year. It’s also handy to the city.

There is a walkway/bike lane that runs all the way up the coast and back into the city which is amazing.  It runs through the front part of the camp and a really popular coffee Kiosk just outside.  It’s a really popular place for the surfers and the walkers and bike users, both on the walkway and beach are nonstop.

Surfy heaven.

A lovely town.   Farewell Rob.

Rafe’s tracker map to New Plymouth – Armada GPS
Close to home

The Easy Fresh Air Options.

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I was a bit unlucky to catch a bug doing the rounds, so we couldn’t get away over Kings Birthday weekend.  It then hung around for another week 😐

The following week came around and Fiona suggested I get out of the house and escape in Rafe and get some fresh air! Yippee ..  What a great idea!

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Just over the road early in the morning.

The easy bolt hole from Auckland, the Hot Pool at Miranda or the Kaiaua NZMCA park and blob out by the coast. It’s just lovely to be back out on the road.

Click on the Gallery below for an enlarged slideshow

The dog area
The pool
The bike trail to Kaiaua

The weather forecast was awful, and it was cold, so the easy choice was a few days at Miranda.

Miranda is close and easy, especially when it’s a bit on the cool side with not too much driving and not too much diesel. On the way, Rafe clicked over 100,000k’s too!

The new Childrens area

A few days in the pool meeting some nice people was fun.With the NZMCA park at Kaiaua, it’s great to have some extra options with Motorhome accommodation and right next to the pub and Fish and Chips too. !

The irony of the trip is at the end of three days, I still wasn’t quite right  but it was really nice to get away at a great place.

A nice few days in Paradise!

Rafe’s tracker map back from the Miranda – Armada GPS
Close to home

LED’s that don’t last forever :-)

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After 9 years and 94000 plus k’s, the LED running lights on one side of Rafe’s bumper had decided to fade on me and the driver’s side were significantly duller than on the other side. This is apparently a symptom of them on their last legs. I thought I’d get ahead of the curve while they were still dying and get some new ones and arrange to have them replaced just in case I got on the wrong side of the COF people.

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And After with the new LED’s

First port of call was to my trusty reliable friends at North Shore Diesel who have done the services on Rafe since new, to see what the trouble was. Within 20 minutes or so, their workshop manager, Nandra had narrowed it down to dying LEDs on one side rather than water in a connection or similar. Nandra was able to get the part number for me off the current ones making it easier to get a replacement.

I found one on a site in the US quite easily, but most vendors were either out of stock or new stock was almost double the price in US$. Looking further afield, I found a place in Latvia that had them at the old price 213 Euros plus about $30 freight.

The Kit from Latvia

They arrived about 3 weeks later and last week, I booked it in with our local bumper experts, Fleets Street Panel beaters just around the corner from us. They had the bumper off just about year or so ago to sand it and repaint it after the Italian paint fell off it due to NZ’s harsh UV light so I figured they would be familiar with it and all the body tools to get it off.

The Bumper on the floor with the LED Cluster on the right . Pic Nathan Hale

Being short staffed, Nathan (the CEO/Owner) did the job himself, and although there was a stray bolt that wouldn’t play the game, it came together well. He took these photos to show how it all looks stripped down.

Click on the Gallery below for an enlarged slideshow.

Pic Nathan Hale
Gee its ugly with the bumper off :-)Pic Nathan Hale
Close up of the back of the cluster on the bumper. Pic Nathan Hale
The LED cluster. Pic Nathan Hale
The Kit from Latvia Pic Chris Miller
And After with the new LED’s Pc: Chris Miller

So, we’re back in business for another 9 years or so. I always thought LEDs didn’t give up but it’s amazing how they do. Apparently, there are some on a new popular brand that only last 2 years before giving it all away.

The LED cluster. Pic Nathan Hale

In the last few weeks, I’ve been contacted by a couple of people who have a similar setup to mine and similar aged vehicles with driving lights so it’s good to know how we deal with it.

The Hella Part number  for Dethleffs Globe4’s  is : 2PT 010 458-701

Cape Reinga trip 23, Northland

Waipu Caledonian Park

One of my all-time favorite places to stay and very good value. It’s also close to a couple of great Restaurants and Bars for later in the evening. I see too that the loos have had a bit of a do up which is great. Nice bright Scottish paintings on the outside.

Click on any Image to enlarge.

On the way back from Whangarei after topping up with fuel, we stopped in to see some of our old boatie friends from Auckland in Ruakaka. After lunch with Chris and then a pop in with Tina and Mark and their family, we decided we would just stay in Waipu in our old favourite park.

The Museum

They had just had a big festival there and some of the trucks had carved up the wet ground quite badly, so you had to be selective about where you parked! I parked on the outside edge closest to the driveway where it was unmarked and pretty dry.

Nice and safe next to the gravel.

It was blowing dogs off chains, so I set Rafe back a bit from the trees just in case and also for a TV signal 🙂  The weather looked iffy too!

The plan was to get something in town to eat but in the end, we snacked in the van and had an early night given that we were heading home the next day.

A great 10 days or so away and nice to do the bits we’ve never seen in Northland.

Rafe’s tracker map to the Waipu Caledonian Park – Armada GPS
Cape Reinga trip 23, Northland

The Hundertwasser Art Centre

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I don’t know how many times I’ve photographed and driven past the loos at Kawakawa, but Fiona and I had both seen the publicity on the new Art centre in Whangarei and it was on the must do list 🙂

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Nice easy parking

We arrived in Whangarei just after lunch after stopping in at Manganui for a piece of fish and a Scallop or two for morning tea 🙂

Very styley 60’s 🙂

With the weather looking decidedly dodgy with wind and rain, I decided on the Whangarei Central Holiday Park which is easy walking distance to anywhere in town. It’s also very reasonably priced with very nice people running it. Everything works and its handy!

After settling down Rafe, we set off with our umbrellas towards the new art centre, about 10 minutes’ walk. It’s amazing! The first thing to do while it was not raining was to check out the dome and the roof garden. There are some really rare trees from the islands there too with curled leaves… interesting but to think how quickly this has come together, it’s amazing and on the roof too.

Back downstairs on a wavy tiled floor, you feel almost like you’re on the water. Up one floor for the gallery on Hundertwasser are lots of examples of his art and design, and basically several rooms on how he did what he did and when. Really interesting artwork but with his unique style.

Fiona in the tower. The Marina in the background

He also had an amazing motor Sailer which I think he might have sailed out from Europe.

We spent an hour or so here and then went for a coffee at the Centre’s Cafe.

Some of the art

By the time we finished here it was time for tea. We found an arcade in the main street full of Restaurants and bars and eventually settled on an Indian Restaurant called Tumeric. It would have to be the best Indian meal we’ve both had for some time and was very reasonable. Amazing food.

Click on the Gallery below for an Enlarged Slideshow

From the tower out over the roof top garden towards the city.
Looking out from the tower
Lots of tiles and Coulour
Fiona in the Gallery

It was getting dark as left the restaurant and we ambled our way back to Rafe at the Park.

Outside our new favourite Indian Restaurant 🙂

A really interesting day starting in Ahipara, Manganui for Fish, ticked off the Hundertwasser building and a great Indian meal… what a day:-)

Rafe’s tracker map to the Whangarei Central Holiday Park – Armada GPS
Cape Reinga trip 23, Great Beaches, Northland

By the beach at Ahipara

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After leaving Awanui, we were going to head to Ahipara. Fiona mentioned that she’d never been to Kaitaia so we were off to see Kaitaia which was on the way. We were going to stop for a coffee but couldn’t find any easy parking. After a visit to the Dump Station, we had a quick look around and decided to head on to Ahipara which is just short of 14k’s away.

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The road entrance to State highway 1 to Cape Reinga 🙂
Looking back to Ahipara and the road around to the headland.

As we entered Ahipara there were two Cafe’s which were really busy… so we checked in at the Ahipara Holiday Park being the only place to stay.

Just in front of where we were parked.. huge parking area.

Although slightly on the expensive side, the parking spots were bigger and flatter than I’ve seen anywhere so that more than made up for it.  The Loos and Showers were really good too and there was also free Wi-Fi if we’d wanted it. It was only 10 minutes’ walk away to the beach. You generally get what you pay for these days 🙂

Check out the room!

After setting up Rafe and opening vents, and plugging in, I took the camera for a walk down to the beach…. The bottom end of the 90 mile beach! I looked around for anything that looked anything like what I could remember from years ago with the beach buggy, but it all looks very different from what I remember… it was a long time ago though.

Looking north towards Cape Reinga!
People enjoying the water.

I went back to the camp and Fiona, and I took Rafe to the Cafe we saw coming in and had a really nice lunch and then went for a drive down to the bottom end of the beach along the foreshore road.

A local friendly Goat

It’s amazing looking up the beach, you can see the bend of the land going right up to the cape. There were a few people having a swim and enjoying what is probably the end of Summer. A great spot.

After an hour or so we motored back to the Holiday Park and blobbed for a bit.

Later in the day.

The wind had died down a bit later on and the sun was shining so it was nice with the stereo on and with all this space, no neighbours 🙂

Rafe’s tracker map to the Ahipara Holiday Park – Armada GPS

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.