6 years or so ago, Cantabrians Liz and Gordon upsized their Trailite to this beautiful 1999 Mitzibishi Fuso bus. 12 months or so ago, they rented their house in Christchurch out and now it is their home away from home.
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Liz and Gordon with their dog
It was originally a bus for the disabled in Japan with only 4 seats at the back so hadn’t had a huge mileage. With a 12 litre rear engine and running on a 15 ton ticket, it is defintely one of the nicer buses I’ve seen.
Oodles of living space
They left Christchurch late last year and after doing the South Island, are now getting around the North.
Galley
I caught up with them at the brand new NZMCA park in Dargaville in between showers for a cuppa and it was nice meeting them.
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The Dogs spot
The Helm station
The Hand basin
A great couple out enjoying the country in their palace on wheels.
This was my first trip to the brand new Dargaville NZMCA park and its a cracker.
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Close to the water
It is right on the rivers edge with another smaller river on a side boundary and only a few minutes walk to the centre of town.
This was one of my first times of the new check in system and paying on the NZMCA App and it was easy. What a great system.
There are two old heritage buildings on the site with a couple of old jettys on the side of the river.
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The main bridge in
Looking along the Wairoa River
Looing out from the jetty to the Wairoa River
Nice old Buildings
The park
After a wander around watching the river water flow from all the rain we’d had, it reminded me of when I was a nipper just mooching around the waters edge and sitting on old wharves on a quiet day.
2 minutes walk to the Rotunda and the town
I went for a walk into town over the bridge and what a neat atmosphere. The old band rotunda and some public loos are only a few minutes away and although the brown colour of the Wairoa River isn’t exactly beautiful, there is a real sense of history and a real charm about the place.
All weather and safe
We’re very lucky to have this network of NZMCA parks and once the word gets out, this new one is sure to be popular.
The Netspeed Speedtest here (Old Router)
Download: 7.64 Mbps
Upload: 21.01 Mbps
Ping: 44 ms
Matakohe is a neat little spot with oodles of history. The Kauri Museum is a great way to soak up more than 200 years of what went on in the Northland Gum industry and in the local area. You can actually stay here with your self contained Motorhome but it is on pretty sloping ground.
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Just along the road is the Matakohe Holiday Park which has had a bit of makeover since we were last there a year or so ago. There seems to be a bit more gravel, and some new playground bits and pieces. The view on a nice day is just sensational and is a great way to wake up. When I arrived, the forecast was evil. There were gusts of 40-50 knots expected with thunderstorms and even some hail predicted so I checked in at Matakohe to hunker down.
The view
At $20 a night less the NZMCA discount, I virtually had the place to myself on a midweek, winter night.
Even space for a dog
And true to form, only the thunder didn’t arrive but it rained and rained. Although there’s a good view over the harbour, it is still very sheltered and I was pleased to be on a solid gravel ground.
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The Kitchen
One of the cabins
All on my own !
The view
The dump station is easy, the fresh water is easy and although I didn’t use the shower, from our last visit, it all works and looks the business.
I was pleased to be able to get some nice images with some blue sky.
Kitchen, Laundry, Toilets and showers
Nice hosts in a great location on the Kauri Coast road through to Dargaville and beyond, and the view of the northern Kaipara is lovely.
The Netspeed Speedtest here (Old Router)
Download: 17.79 Mbps
Upload: 3.80 Mbps
Ping: 52 ms
After 4 years of service, one of Rafe’s house batteries finally popped its clogs and a visit to the battery hospital was in order.
These images are all done from a cell phone.
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The original batteries
Batterytown came highly recommended by my son Andrew after he’d just upgraded our old boat Rorqual’s, new house batteries. He’d gone from 220 Amp hours to 450 odd something Amp Hours.. huge! .. plus he’d moved from lead acid to AGM’s too.
I’d been reading in some of the overseas forums that some of the British Fiat Motorhome owners had a few issues with the batteries that came fitted with some of the Fiat based motorhomes of the same age as Rafe. And sure enough, I had the same brand as well. Although to be fair, I always thought 4 years was about as much as you could expect from a bunch of house batteries.
They’re not easy to get at in the Globe 4 as they’re under the drivers seat but its only a 10 minute job getting the seat out. If you’re doing it yourself as I did, be careful when you pull the seat out that you carefully disconnect the air bag and seatbelt sensor cables when you lift the seat off the pillar! Its all in one big Yellow plug tucked down the side of the seat.
On a Dethleffs too.. Make sure that you disconnect the Solar Array by pulling the fuse out BEFORE you disconnect the old batteries or you’ll fry the control panel (Expensive!)
Only one of my batteries had died but you can’t put a new battery alongside an old one as the old one will kill off the new one in double quick time.
Top down of the new Batteries Handbrake lever on the right
The brand that came recommended in the UK was the German brand Varta and they were getting a much better run out of them than anything else. This also was the brand that Batterytown recommended as well so I was pleased about that.
Apparently they have some new technology silicone on the plates which stops the sulphation on them which stops them performing. This apparently gives them a lot longer service life and effectively increases their badged Amp Hour capacity to some degree as well.
It could be marketing stuff but it all sounds good and if its working for the Brits, it must be ok.
Greg load testing them.. passed with flying colours
So after fitting them I was off to get them tested, just to give me peace of mind. I have in the past fitted brand new house batteries on Rorqual and found a couple over the years with dead cells straight out of the plastic wrapping !
After the load test.. from 10v up to 12.6 in a blink!
So all good.. we’re off now for another 5 or more years hopefully with some new Varta batteries.
One of my all time favorite places in the world is Mangawhai. We’ve even (I have anyway 🙂 ) thought about buying here for later years 🙂 I’m not winning that one though… so far.
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Heading up this way midweek with some fairly dubious and cold weather forecasts, it was the first on my list of places to check out.
Great Spot
Noela was very helpful in the Mangawhai Holiday Park office and showed me where everything was. There are two parts to the camp with the office in the midde. I was given a spot on the northern end right on the waters edge which was just magic.
Nice and Quiet
With just a small hop over the rail and a trot down the beach, you can actually go for miles. There are a couple of good walkways too around to the surf beach (10 mins) and a walk up into the hills which takes you further along by the Mangawhai Heads surf beach.
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At the other end
Tides Out
Nice and Quiet
The cost for a powered site for 1 was $20 with really nice toilets and showers. Water was right on the park.
Looking back to Mangawhai
There’s something about Mangawhai which I really like. Maybe its just the laid back atmosphere. The Museum is amazing too and is just up the road.
Looking back
I spent the night there before catching up with some old friends Les and Liz who have a sizeable lifestyle block up here with an amazing old villa. They escaped the rat race of Auckland some 13 years ago and just love it here.
Tides Out
A really nice spot and I bet it is busy in Summer.
The Netspeed Speed test here ..with the old router.
Download: 7.25 Mbps
Upload: 0.68 Mbps
Ping: 75 ms
When you’re self employed and the busy time is the weekend, its hard to get away and clear the head.
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Rick and Suzanne with their Caravan
Cafe owners, Rick and Suzanne from Greenhithe, were my neighbours at Mangawhai and they were having a quiet few midweek days away in their Elddis Caravan before having to head back and get back into it again.
Galley and Living space
They’ve had their 5.4 metre Avante for nearly 3 years and although they’ve been mostly doing short trips to escape their work, they have been up as far as Cape Reinga.
Galley area
The Elddis is one of the better English caravans and is really nicely kitted out. This one has the dinette and one end, with Kitchen amidships and a french bed on the right with the bathroom across the back. It is a popular layout and when you see it you can see why. There is still plenty of room to move about in.
French bed
One of the accessories that they were really happy with was the awning for over their door which looks great for a windy or showery day.
When I first arrived, they arrived soon after and promptly set up a table for lunch with a very celubrious lunch with wine. It looked fabulous. They certainly know how its done. 🙂
Living area
One of the other interesting things with the Elddis Caravans is that they are now part of the massive Hymer Group.
Our friends Rob and Helen were keen to get out to play Motorhomes and we were keen too!
As the weekend weather was looking pretty naff, we thought somewhere local would be the ticket. After some false starts, we settled on Pinewoods at Red Beach.
I last came here a year ago and back then they were setting out some new concrete parking for Motorhomes. Thats all done now and it looks great and apparently they’ve been working really well. So well that they’re looking at putting some more in.
Nice concrete pads
Pinewoods is run by a company of Bach owners and the Motorcamp is run as part of this.
Some of the baches up on the hill
The showers and access to a nice TV lounge, and Kitchen are included in the price. There is also a coin operated Laundry for those who need this.
More Baches
The forecasted weather was bang on and it was naff but we had a nice time in Rafe for happy hour. Helen had made a nice Lasagne and we added some chicken and bits so we moved to the Tracker later. A great fun night.
The best table Tennis table I’ve ever seen!
Early in the morning, I went for a walk around to see if I could get some updated piccies around and after that the others went for a look around.
From Jacobs Ladder looking towards Orewa
Right at the top of the camp, there are some well fenced concrete steps which run down the cliff to the rocks called Jacobs Ladder. From here you can see right up to Kawau and across to Orewa.
Around the other side is a direct track through to Red Beach which comes out behind the Surf Club.
Red Beach
At $18 each with the NZMCA discount, its priced reasonably and is a nice place to stay and if you live in Auckland, its not far away.
Just recently, the good folk at Netspeed showed me a new secret weapon for my Wifi. A new router and its FAST!
Neat, something new
The big differences apart from it having some new shiny hidden bits that bring in a stronger signal and better management of the aerials, is that the new router is 2.4ghz and 5 ghz and also Wifi AC. The old router is Wifi N and 2.4 ghz only.
What does all this mean I hear you ask. Even as an ex ISP manager myself, I had to look it up to find out and this is what I found.
Once you have setup the router which you can do by just turning it on, its that simple. The router will send two signals for your phone or ipad, the 2.4 or the 5ghz. Its your choice which one you use.
New Router
The 2.4ghz is slower but can reach further but is susceptible to interference from some other devices as it works on a crowded frequency. This is what most of us use now and is probably good for using outside and around your Motorhome.
The old Router with the new.
The 5 ghz is much faster as its a higher frequency but doesn’t do distance but within your motorhome, you won’t have a problem. It is FAST believe me!
The old and new back on
The other Major difference….
The Wifi AC is nice and shiny and new and as one techy told me, it is the difference between a Ferrari and a sedan. It has a lot more speed, supports a lot more people on the same router and does what is known as beamforming. As I understand it, this means it finds out where you are and strengthens the signal is your direction. Sounds a wee bit spooky 🙂
The speed improvements are something else.
Here’s what I got in our driveway in Devonport.
With the old modem..
Download: 41.77 Mbps
Upload: 33.28 Mbps
Ping: 51 ms
With the new one in the same location, the same day.
Download: 94.6 Mbps
Upload: 29.6 Mbps
Ping: 41 ms
While I did the speedtest, as the dial only goes up to 60mbs, I was waiting for the guage to snap 🙂
The new Router in place
Its fast. If you want one of these new shiny things and turbo charge your Netspeed connection, get in touch with the friendly crew at Netspeed.
Over our boating years, we have had some amazing moments in both Bon Accord harbour and around Kawau so being driven around on the ferry so we could have a good look with a commentary was a real treat.
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Lidgards and Kawau Yacht club
We left Rafe about 9:30 from the Sandspit Holiday Park and wandered along the road to the wharf to get our tickets and check in. So, after having a cuppa at the café on the wharf we set off about 10:30 for Kawau.
Mansion House
Being an Island and only accessible by boat, Kawau Island has only a handful of roads and a handful of vehicles.
His and Hers
Almost all the houses only have water only access and the way they’ve been built either on top of a hill with their own chairlifts (think electric Wheely Bin on a rail :-)) with a jetty at the bottom or on the water. Some of them are amazing but I suspect most would be either baches, occupied by retired folk or who don’t have to commute.
Kawau Yacht Club
We were on the Royal Mail boat which started at Vivian Bay in the north and worked its way around to Bon Accord Harbour and Mansion House Bay and then down to South Cove where there was mail to be dropped off. On the way back to Mansion House Bay for lunch, we passed the Old Copper Mine.
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Their own little harbour!
Passengers getting off at Mansion House
The descent of the wheelie bin!
Kawau was huge source of copper in the mid 1800’s with a community of around 300 related to the Mine and its output at its peak. By the 1800’s it all fizzled out and most of the miners moved on to the Gold Fields.
The remains of the Copper Mine
After a walk around the Mansion House and the coffee shop, we eventually made our way back to the ferry. It was nice barreling along at 15 knots in the sun with a glass of Pinot Gris in hand.
Friendly Peacocks on the lawn
We walked back to Rafe in the Sandspit Holiday Park and prepared ourselves for a meal at Sandspit Yacht Club.
Some of you probably aren’t aware of the number on the top right of the blog but thats the total number of hits that have come our way.
The Hits on the right
You’re not alone and its really interesting where everyone comes from. Most hits come from NZ but there are a lot of you from the UK and around Europe as well. The Dethleffs Users UK have been big supporters too.. Thanks Richard!
Where the hits came from over the last year.
We started the Blog way back in August 2015. One of the first posts was about a Fiamma clothesline I installed on the bike rack on the back of Rafe which as been really useful and it was nice to see that it got some good hits again just in the last week!
When Fiona and I went to the South Island last year, it became very obvious how often we were recognised and how well read the Blog actually is. Thanks to everyone that made themselves known .
It was really nice to meet so many of you and get your feedback.
Thanks again for your support.. Now to get to the Million Hits!
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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