We arrived in Wellington from Turangi later in the day and parked in the fantastic Plimmerton NZMCA park which was pretty busy. While we were enjoying a nice glass of wine, more Motorhomes and Caravans rocked in until it was pretty much a full house!
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The Plimmerton NZMCA park
Our neighbours were doing fish and chips from the Plimmerton fish and chip shop so we joined them and later ate them together down at the Plimmerton beach. Very pleasant!
Fiona’s cousin Shona and her other half Mark live right opposite the Fish shop so we tried knocking on their door for a surprise visit. It was fantastic to see them and they were bowled over by our appearance at their door.
Wellington Railway station
The next morning, we caught the train into Wellington Central from the Plimmerton station and one thing I’ve always liked about Wellington station is its amazing design.
Amazing building – Wellington Railway Station
After having a coffee at Fiona’s favourite French Café, we walked down towards the Macs bar by Te Papa for lunch. Very civilised I thought 🙂
Wellington Railway station
On the way there, I couldn’t believe the dearth of people in central Wellington streets. Wellington is usually alive and kicking but not today ( mid monday morning in Covid red zone).. very sad for the retailers.
Where is everyone
I did a shot down one of the main streets, Featherston street, and there were no people or cars for blocks. Hopefully this comes back after Covid settings ease.
Down by the water in Wellington
The sky started to look a bit threatening and I didn’t have any wet weather gear with me so I started to head back to the train station leaving Fiona to come back later.
the Marina in Wellington
A fun day in Wellington. The next morning we were on the Bluebridge ferry.
Over the last few trips we’ve done to the South Island, there’s always been something getting in the way of us getting to Stewart Island. Last time, it was a stonking great tax bill that we weren’t expecting that made us change a few things. It later turned out to be incorrect.
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The new NZMCA park at Turangi.
This time, we had our ducks in a row and all was looking good as we headed down Auckland’s southern motorway towards Turangi. It has been a few years now since our last attempt at the south island so we were looking forward to the month or so on the mainland.
The idea is to head straight to Stewart Island and tick it off before anything gets in the way 🙂 and then Milford sound on the boat and anything else we find along the way. Exciting times!!
A Nice park like setting.
We’d penciled in the new Turangi NZMCA park as it is years since we had a good look around Turangi.
Cruising in to Turangi, we had a quick look around the town before going to the park. Checking in at the park.. its a biggy with two levels of parking. Its like it is set up as the grand circle and the stalls but nicely done.
Being only 10 minutes walk from the township, its a great place for checking out Turangi.
Its also quiet and secure too. A great place to park on your way south (or north). Well done to the volunteers who set it up.
After we left Cambridge, we both decided we weren’t ready to go home so we headed east and while driving decided on heading to Mount Maunganui. I’ve got several friends who have stayed at the campground at the beach and I’ve been wanting to give it a go.
Up and over the Kaimai’s and onto the mount was easy and we arrived not much after midday.
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The reception people were fantastic and we were given #1 park which they said was a bit of a treat as it was a Sunday night. #1 park is right next to the surf club and as close as you can get to the beach… absolutely a primo spot.
The Campground
There was a beach volley ball competition right on the other side of the surf club which was a final of a competition and it was well set up with a big audience watching. A real buzz.
Beach Volleyball champs
There was an endless stream of people walking along the boardwalk, both up and down the Mount, only feet from our bumper. We were right in the thick of it!
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The Boardwalk and Volleyball setup
Beach Volleyball champs
Walking the Boardwalk
Cabins with a view
Great Location
The Campground
I went for a walk around to get the lie of the land and some images and had just posted one with my phone on Facebook when we got an immediate reply from Fiona’s cousin, Malcolm and Michelle who had just arrived at their apartment along the road. They had come from Raumati beach.
An hour or so later and we were having tea with them in Rafe looking out at the beach in front of us.. magic.
Right on the Beach
We were going to check out the hot pools which are half price if you stay here but crashed instead.
The next morning, we had a coffee with Malcom and Michelle at their apartment and then headed home. Its a great place to stay and we were very fortunate and lucky to get on the front row so to speak but I think doing it again, a few rows back would be just fine for me.
A very well setup park with new ablution block and everything that opens and shuts..
On the edge of the Waikato river at Karapiro is an amazing complex set up for our competitive rowers. All the top rowing regattas are held here and most of our top Olympic and Commonwealth Games Rowers and Canoeists all train at this fantastic facility.
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Nice parking on the lower camping areaDown by the river
Attached to this is the Campground run by Liz and her assistants and it is HUGE. There are two campgrounds and they’re dead flat. The top one is set back a bit from the river but has a view through the trees and the bottom campground, right on the river.
The Dethleffs Rally on the top campground
We had arranged to host the 2022 Dethleffs Rally here tip toeing a bit around the Covid outbreak which was at its peak. We lost a few due to Covid and about 8 or so more wanting to keep their heads down.
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Rowers finishing for the day
Rowers watching other races.
We spent some time at the Café here which is great too.. nice food and great coffee and an easy walk from the Motorhomes in either campground. Its a great spot for just watching the rowing too with a cuppa in hand.
It is 7 k’s odd from Cambridge and there is a bike trail all the way in so bring your bike. There is a no dogs policy but cats are ok.
During the Dethleffs Rally at Karapiro, there was a group of cyclists who biked into Cambridge on the bike trail.
On the way there the keys to John and Kirstie’s Motorhome somehow managed to break free and were later found by a friendly Cambridge local.
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John on the phone
It was quickly established by the local who the group on bikes were and he set about getting the keys back to John and Kirsty by handing them to a couple of Police officers in a patrol car in Cambridge.
In the meantime back at Karapiro, John and Kirsty were locked out of their Motorhome with the spare set inside.
John Peats pic of Kirsty doing an impression of Spiderman!
A plan was hatched to get Kirsty (the smaller of the two) up onto the roof and to climb in through the hatch above their bedroom. John Peat was hand to get a magnificent picture of Kirsty’s legs in the air half way into the hatch 🙂
The Keys arrive. Kirsty and John with the Police.
About an hour went by and a very kind couple of Police officers in the Police patrol car found time in their program and came to drop off the runaway keys. It was good to see the faces change from concern to smiles for everyone and it was by then time for a cold one.. very timely 🙂
The venue was the Mighty River Domain at Karapiro which was fantastic. Given that the last Dethleffs do a few years ago was here and was a big success and after talking to the camp manager Liz who couldn’t do enough to help me, it was a done deal!
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Just before kick off, we had nearly 50 people coming (limit of 100 red light) but by the weekend, we’d lost quite a few so that was a bit disappointing. A couple caught Covid and others were hunkering down. We’ll try for one next year. So we had about 25 people which worked well.
On the Friday everyone started arriving from the middle of the day onwards.
My GPS sent us to cross the Dam but when I got there, there were limits on both weight and length due to the curve in the dam. We were at the front of the one way queue but managed to back out of the way when the light went green. There was one hardy Dethleffs soul who went across anyway.. he was later presented the bravery award !
Later in the day, Jonas and Irene arrived.. (Mr and Mrs Dethleff of NZ) and Jonas started to cut up a whole lot of meat he’d got from the Pokeno Butchery for everyone.. one of the best around. Just about everyone provided a salad .. a great communal effort and the variety was amazing.
Irene and Jonas with the meat.
I was a bit reluctant to take on this fantastic quality meat and burn it or undercook it so Jonas took on the cooking role which he did to perfection helped by John O on his BBQ.
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The Meat!
Irene and Jonas with the meat.
After tea, the campfire seating plan was retained for a social session and later outside various Motorhomes.
The next day, those who brought their bikes hit the bike trail into Cambridge to a café which was about 7 k’s away.
Fiona and I were joined by a few at the park Café overlooking the lake for a couple of hours until the cyclists returned.
The afternoon was spent with everyone sussing out each others Motorhomes and a good catchup.
For many this was their first Rally or Motorhome get together and the feedback was fantastic.. “when is the next one?” was a common question!
Later we reassembled the circle of chairs and all enjoyed a meal and a few drinks together and more fun times outside some ones Motorhome.
One the following morning, we all caught up at the Café and a group pic to celebrate the occasion.
The Team pic
A good result. Although I’ve been involved in helping previous Dethleffs and NZMCA rallies with parking (one with over 400 motorhomes!) this was something quite different.. especially with the germ floating around.
I haven’t been able to get away recently so here is a post that was first published July last year.. fantastic campground which is also participating in the NZMCA Campsaver scheme.. enjoy.
From the moment I stepped out of Rafe at Ruakaka Holiday Park, everything about this place is HUGE. There are more than 260 powered sites and the camp is spread out over 13 hectares. The camp is divided into several regions each having their own ablution blocks.
The land that it sits on and its layout and the views are absolutely sensational. Everywhere I looked I could see nice images.
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My view
It also is a participant in the NZMCA’s Camp saver program and owner Anne-Marie says it is working well for them. They also do off peak weekly stays too.
On the waterfront
I was interested to see their information sheet included how to park within your site to ensure that everyone has 3 metres separation. I think this is good news as many Holiday Parks parking is far to close for fire safety.
Great parking
I was a bit lucky to get one of the waterfront sites facing out to Marsden Point and Bream Head even though it was pretty exposed to the easterly nasties that came through, it was really nice to wake up to a great view when the weather played the game.
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On the other side of the peninsular
My view
A bit gloomy then
The weather wasn’t that flash with an amazing thunder and lightning storm coming through with showers before and after but there was enough fine weather to get some nice images.
And just around the corner
This campground though has it all.. the views and the sites are spectacular with great facilities.
Ruakaka Beach is just down the road and there is a Bird Sanctuary to walk through too.
I’ve always wanted to find out about a POP that was reputed to be really popular on the Waharau coast and thought maybe now is the time.
Just north of Kaiaua and the famous Rays Rest, it is the perfect place to spend a few days if you wanted some of the nice things like power and a toilet.
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Lots of parking spots
I rang Andrew, the owner of the Pop and asked if they were open .It was all good so off I went. I spent two days there and it was just bliss.
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The Beach over the road.
The Seal on the rock
Shags not happy
The Creek
The Copper
Shower Tree
Classic Loo
Andrew’s parents purchased the 200 acres of scrub in the 60’s and then had to turn it into a farm.
Rod, the campground manager’s office is in the truck
There is a small Kauri forest on the back of the farm which you can walk up to. The bigger Kauris have all been milled decades ago but its a nice reminder of what was once there.
The camp is a classic with a small stream running most of the way around one side. There are 4 powered, graveled sites, all on different levels plus some unpowered on grass sites.
The levels of parking
The loo is a classic recycled corrugated iron shed but it all works. One of the most popular items here is an old copper for heating the water for showers. With plenty of firewood on hand, you light the fire, heat the water, put in a 20 litre container (provided) and there is a winch for winding it up a tree. That’s the shower mixer with some cold water to get the right temperature. You can also use the hot water in a private shower over a bath setup if you’d prefer. A great setup! and apparently it is really popular.
Almost directly across the road is a beach on the edge of the Firth of Thames looking straight out to the Coromandel Peninsular.. just bliss.
The Seal on the rock
After parking Rafe and checking out the Camp area and being followed everywhere by a very friendly chook, I went for a walk down to the beach.
Dusk at the beach
While I was just watching the antics of the Shags sitting on the rocks, there was some movement in the water nearby. It was a Seal who climbed up on the rock ruining the Shag’s day 🙂 He was now King of the Castle.. Andrew told me later that he’s been coming to the beach for years every year since he was a pup.
There aren’t too many places left in this world where you can get a powered site for 2 for $12 and with a big welcoming smile. A lovely spot, great hosts and a fantastic place to go if you just want to do very little.
Rafe’s tracker map to Kauri View Farm – Armada GPS
One of the lovely little gotcha’s that come with a Motorhome is the occasional failure of the Air Bag ECU. They’re only small, about a size of a fat CD Case and they’re usually easily accessible. In a Fiat Ducato, they’re just under the cover with the Starter battery but they’re an absolute bugger when they go wrong!
They’re also very essential for getting a WOF or a COF as if the error light shows for the airbags, you won’t get a certificate.
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The ECU unit
I had one go in Rafe when it was just over a year old(six years ago) and fortunately it was in the middle of a COF period and while there were no spares in the country at the time (par for the course so it seems), Andrew Simms told me to come back in a month while another one came here from Italy. The cost if I was paying for it I believe then was about $1050 including fitting. Luckily it was covered by warranty.
Fast forward 6 or 7 years to October ’21.. After provisioning Rafe for a trip away in the Countdown supermarket carpark, I started Rafe and there were the dreaded lights on the dashboard.
Right next to the start battery
With more Fiats now in the country and the parts situation just as chaotic, there is a chronic shortage of these units and they were now $1100-1200 depending on where you went.
The bottom cowl below the glovebox needs to come off firstThe ECU with one plug removed for access to the second bolt .. 3 bolts. Slide over the green clips to unplug.
On trawling through Facebook, I came across Shayne Cooper, The Circuit Specialist who works in Manukau repairing these units for anywhere between $300-500 depending on the unit and the fault.
I took my unit out to Shayne and he cheerily said “a couple of days” but also said he was busy so I left it for over a week before I rang back and it was ready.
Shayne working on an Airbag ECU
Talking to Shayne afterwards, the most common problem seems to be the data in the Eeprom getting corrupted. Shayne gets in there with a Hex editor and manually tidies it up so it can work again as advertised.
According to Shayne, although there are faults in other ECU’s apart from Fiat Ducato’s it does seem to be a lot more common in Motorhome installations which is interesting.
Shayne thought it might have something to do with Solar panels or something like that.
A Dodge ECU on the bench
He’d spent a bit of time on it finding some issues on the PCB as well (sounds to me a bit like dry joints). I rushed home to put it in and it was great.
Day two I had to move Rafe and there was the error again so out it came and back to Shayne… a few more days and I had it in my hands again and reinstalled it.. this time perfecto.. and it seemed a lot more of a solid start. I was encouraged and started it a few more times just for good measure 🙂
In place ready to go
Shayne had said that he found some muck in there sitting under a capacitor pulling down the voltage to 2 volts! .. easy fix.
Shayne has just been frantic with these things and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better…. Its a big disappointment for Fiat owners especially.
I know of several people who are waiting on these units to arrive but they aren’t expecting anything much before April and there are a lot of them.. think 100 plus! That’s a lot of Motorhomes without certification for many months..
The dealers need to look at making an effort to get these units repaired as most of them can easily be repaired for less than $400 instead of being replaced at $1200 odd. .. such a waste of money.
I’m just so pleased we’ve got Shayne here to fix them. There is someone in Wellington too I believe who can do this as well. A friend of mine who had this issue a while ago put me onto crashdata.co.uk as well in the UK. He found them really good so that’s an option too.
Update: There’s a chap in Taupo, who’s sorting these out too. Wayne Frost of Car Computers NZ Ltd. Phone 027 288 4837
Heading for our next stop in Waihi with Ayden and Liam in the back, we stopped just out of Tokoroa when someone spotted a Subway store, the boys favourite 🙂
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At the Goldfields Park
From here we cruised on up to the Waihi Goldfields Railway. A great place to stay and they’ve really tidied it up since we were last here.
Waihi Station
Its the perfect stop as we could take the boys on the Train to Waikino and then later meet their Dad Alex at Ngatea where he would take them to Pauanui.
Grandsons Ayden and Liam with Fiona
I was a wee bit concerned as it was getting late in the day and you can’t really book parks here but there was plenty of room.
Leaving Waihi
The next morning, we went over to the station and got our tickets and were ready for the ride to Waikino. The boys were quite excited and had a lot of fun encouraging the drivers alongside the railway to toot their horns.
Toot that horn
They liked the Taniwha too by the track on the way. After a 20 minute Ice cream stop, we were on our way back to Waihi. If we had more time, we would have taken them over the river to the Victoria Barracks and the Museum .. next time. We did come here a few years ago and biked the trails right to Karangahake. That can be seen here and the Windows walk is well worth doing, see that here.
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All Aboard
Boys waiting for the train
Crossing the highway
Toots away
When we got back to Rafe, we realised how much progress Alex was making from Auckland so we needed to get cracking ! After a quick look at the big Waihi Mine hole, we set off towards Ngatea.
Checking out the Taniwha
The Goldfields Railway parking has improved dramatically. They seemed to have levelled it slightly and clearly labelled the parking but generally, it all looks great and for $15 a powered site per vehicle, it can’t be beaten.
Rafe’s Tracker map to the Goldfields Railway – 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.
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