Where to this year? Here’s some other ideas..
Click on this link to see some trips we’ve done around Northland
The latest post will come first so scroll down to the bottom to get a chronological order.
Enjoy
Cruise ideas for the new year – Northland
Cruise ideas for the new year – Coromandel
Another idea for the Summer..
Click on this link to see a trip we did around Coromandel late last year.
The latest posts will come out first so scroll to the bottom to get the chronological order 🙂
Enjoy
Cruise ideas for the new year – Taranaki
Its that time of the year again. Where shall we go this time ?
If you click on this link.. you find a trip that we did a wee while ago around Taranaki.
The newest posts will start at the top so scroll down and work your way up if you want to see it chronologically 🙂
Enjoy
Always fun at Pahi
Pahi is a lovely spot and my go to place for a real Blob out.
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It has a very reasonably priced community campground run by the locals and just recently they have invested in some gravel so can provide some all weather parking which is great. I’ve been here after some heavy rain in the past and it was very boggy so a great improvement.
I didn’t get the chaps name who served me in the office but very helpful and cheery.
After settling down Rafe, I went for a walk down to the Wharf where there was a local painting his boat. It was an older launch probably in the early 1920’s odd and he was doing a great job. I had a great chat to him while watching his roller dry 🙂 He would have been happy chatting all day but thought I’d better cut it short so he could finish the job 🙂
Back at Rafe, I joined the neighbours who had two Caravans from both Dargaville and Whangarei for a natter.
Click on the Gallery below for a Slideshow
The childrens play area
The Office
The parking area with the old Hotel in the corner
Close to the water
The Community Hall by the wharf
How to get here.., From the Brynderwyn turnoff. Head to Paparoa and turn left down the Pahi Peninsula until you can’t go any further. Its about 5 k’s from Paparoa.
Another great hideaway on the Kaipara harbour and great parking at a great price.
Bliss at Tinopai
Turning left at the Bryndrwyn’s is the Kauri Coast road which heads all the way to Dargaville and beyond to the Hokianga Harbour. About 27k’s along is the little settlement of Matakohe where the Kauri Museum is and about another 20 k’s off to the left is the lovely little settlement of Tinopai.
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Its down the end of this peninsular that juts down into the Kairapa Harbour where you’ll find the Tinopai Campground, right on the waters edge.
With Fiona at work and this being somewhere I’ve wanted to come and see, this was me for a couple of nights. At $10 a night with power right on the waterfront, it doesn’t get much better.
There are Toilets and $1 showers along with a small Laundry.
After settling in Rafe and putting some chocks under the front wheels, I went for a wander. Right next door is the Marina.. VERY tidal with all of the boats sitting in the mud at low tide.
Click on the Gallery below for a Slideshow
Right on the water
Looking out to the Kaipara
The wharf
The Marina right next door
Resting in the Mud
The colourful ablution block
The Laundry
I’d only been there an hour or so when a local on a quad bike came around giving away fish. I didn’t have any filleting gear so politely declined but what a fantastic atmosphere. Later that day, Sue the campground lady popped around giving away fruit off a tree..
The following day Lillian and Lester arrived with their Dethleffs Esprit and parked right next door and we enjoyed a couple of cold ones out of the wind later in front of Rafe.
Tinopai used to have a service station which sadly has closed so you do need to be aware that there are no shops or services here. Its very remote but you can get an Internet signal if you have Netspeed or WN.
A lovely spot to come and get away from it all and very reasonably priced.
800 000 Hits!
The last 100000 has been a bit of a slog but we finally got there.. Its actually more than 820 000!
I remember the moment when we hit 600 000. I was on my own in Coromandel at a neat campground by the river so had plenty of time to think about it. Fiona was at work.
Thanks for being great supporters of these pages and now heading for the Million mark.!
Rafe’s new Landscaped Park
One of the challenges we all have as Motorhome owners is where to park our Motorhomes. Over the last month or so, we’ve been progressively been making space for ours.
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In the last two weeks, one of the bigger changes we’ve made to our new place in Devonport is hard landscaping of our front yard. It includes a flash new raised Garden which Fiona has always wanted. A parking area for our visitors as parking is a premium around here and a few green things around Rafe’s park and making it easier to get Rafe in and out of the park.
A very good friend of my son Andrew, Ryan and his wife Jordan have done an amazing job. Ryan’s speciality is concrete but he has done a lot in the landscaping area too so we’re really chuffed with what we’ve got on a small difficult site. Ray helped too with redoing the fence and the raised gardens. A great job folks.
We’ve only been here a couple of months. In that time, the concrete parking pad has been extended for Rafe, Hot water cylinder replaced and moved outside, a heat pump installed, the Laundry shifted around to be more functional, and now this amazing Garden.
While the Garden was being done, the fence had to be rebuilt as all the railings were knackered. The posts and palings were reused into an arty random fence.. We like it, the neighbours like it but quite a few don’t 🙂 we can always trim it later !
We also left a few bits at the front off to make it easier to get Rafe in and out 🙂
Click on the Gallery below to see the progress!
Grass scraping
The carpark being formed
dumping dirt into the raised beds
fine tuning 🙂
Dirt in the beds
More dirt
Just about ready
Gravel arrives for carpark
smoothing out
tap it down
Weed mat
Down goes the Stones
South Island Stone in the North Island
Looking good
All done with plants
Much better
A big thanks to Ryan, Jordan and Ray for their fantastic efforts.
Thats it for now for a while on the house so we’re back in Rafe on the road for summer.
Big Windows
Parked just a couple of rows across was a flash big German Caravan called a Vivaldi made by Tabbert.
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Brent and Natalie from Papamoa are the proud owners of this fantastic Caravan and most afternoons of the Timber Town Romp, there was a Happy Hour set outside this van. The others in the Happy Hour were mostly Brent and Natalie’s neighbours at Papamoa where they are based.
I popped over and joined them one afternoon and the next morning went over for a chat and a look see. One of the first things you notice are the massive windows.
At 8.65 metres long, its a biggie but apparently tows well. With 800 watts odd of Solar power and massive storage, theyre never going to have the lights dim 🙂
Click on the Gallery below to see a slideshow
The bedroom
Lovely dining/Kitchen area
Galley
The Vivaldi
Brent and Natalie
From the front
After buying the 2005 model van 3 years or so ago from a dealer in the South Island, where they used to live, they’ve now been “everywhere” but their favorite places are up North.
A nice Caravan and well set up for some fantastic trips to come.
Swinging high at Arapuni
Slightly off the beaten track south of Karapiro but part of the Waikato River Trail is the little town of Arapuni. Its an amazing spot with a really impressive historical Swing Bridge and an old power station built into the side of a hill.
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The Swing Bridge was built in the early 1920’s so that workers for the power station could get to work. The power station is the oldest and the largest in capacity and was opened in 1929. It is now under the protection of the Historic Places trust and signs at the site, show the effort that went into protecting it from possible Japanese bomb attack during the war by camouflaging it.
And just down the road from the bridge, Leonie runs a great Motorhome and caravan site in her back yard which is a flat paddock, where NZMCA’rs can stay for $10 with power, toilet and shower. There are modern 10 power points and its really easy parking. You might need levelling ramps in some areas but its all very easy with an honesty box and simple instructions.
The site is an easy walk to the bike trail and to the town and to the Swing Bridge which is spectacular. Its well worth the walk and is only 10-15 minutes away on foot, either along the road or via the bike trail just outside the park.
Click on the Gallery below for a Slideshow
Leonie’s Parking Toilet and Shower block
Dump Station
Washing up
The neighbours
One of the old Turbines from the power station.
The Cafe in the main st
I’m not one for heights now I’m getting a bit older and a bit more sensible, so it took me a couple of go’s before I went out in the middle of the bridge 🙂 .. but in my defence, there was a lot of wind 🙂
I’m pleased I did though.. check out the image below.
On the way back to Rafe, I stopped in at the only shop on the main road which happily is a Cafe. I stopped for lunch on the way back to Rafe. The food is great and they do a great coffee too!
Leonie’s Motorhome Park is fantastic and we’ll be back with the bikes to do the trails around here.
Rotating Tyres
During my travels through the last NZMCA Motorhome show in Auckland, I bumped into Phil Jackson at Carters. He made a point of reminding me to make sure I rotated my tyres to get the best out of them but at that stage they had only done 5000k’s odd, but now that they’ve done 10000 k’s, I thought I’d better get on with it 🙂
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So I duly made an appointment with Carters Tyres in Highbrook, where I had my tyres fitted and they were happy to rotate them for me. Carters are a big supporter of the NZMCA and if you’re looking for tyres, they give NZMCA members a pretty good discount. They saved me a fortune.
The Tyre Technician for the day was Mohit who was ready to get stuck in as I rolled in.
One of the traps with the Dethleffs wheel covers is they have some Alun nuts as a decoration and a couple that are actually functional. Sometimes its a bit of a mission to pick the real ones. The plastic ones have to glued back on if you get them by accident !
Mohit successfully navigated his way around that and whipped all the wheels off one at a time and rebalanced the wheels for the front as he refitted them.
While they were off, its amazing seeing them side by side to see the wear. On their own it was hard to see but definitely the wear can be seen next to each other. In the pictures, the front tyre is on the left.
As Rafe is a front wheel drive vehicle, the back wheels are just being dragged along behind for the ride so there is minimal wear until they’re on the front so tyre rotation is really important if you want to get even wear from your tyres.
An hour later, we all ready to go again. .. for another 10 k’s until the next rotation 🙂
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