One of the things that winds me up or stresses me for some strange reason, is catching ferries with Rafe (or like the Chunnel with Ralph). I think its just having to be somewhere at a certain time and usually involves waking up to an alarm early too but its always fun and interesting.
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Wellington Harbour
The check in time for our Bluebridge ferry was 7am and we were there at 06:30. We were first!
Oriental Bay
Around 7.30, we were pointed towards the ferry and parked up with some other Motorhomes and went upstairs. As I left Rafe, I clicked on the handbrake but thought later, possibly not as hard as I could have but I needn’t have worried. It was in gear and the sea was calm.
Leaving Wellington
Upstairs in the lounge, we sat down and I ordered Bacon and Eggs for us both, which was good as getting up early, we hadn’t had any breakfast. It was one of those superb Wellington days as we left the harbour.
Evans bay and the Airport
As we got around and into Cook Strait, the wind was blowing nearly 30 knots from the North West. The sea was still calm. Yep, the handbrake thingy did cross my mind but then the sea was flat as a pancake.
Two girls trying to get some pictures of each other in the wind on deck.
I went for a walk around the ship as we nearing the Tory Channel and there were a couple of girls up on the Observation deck trying to get pictures of each other in the wind. It was hilarious.
Getting close to the South Island. The interislander leaving the Tory ChannelEntering the Tory Channel. North Island behindThe old Perano Whaling station
Getting into the Tory Channel and everyone came out on the observation deck as the wind had dropped right off.
Rafe with the handbrake on with people getting off at Picton.
We were in Picton early and when I got back to Rafe, I found that I had in fact put the handbrake on properly and had no need to even think about it 🙂 just my imagination ! Its like putting the keys somewhere daft and how often do we all do that.
Picton looking great in the sun.
With the usual Bluebridge efficiency, we were off the ferry with ease and on our way to Blenheim.
For our last night in Wellington before the ferry, we thought it would be sensible to get a bit closer to avoid the weekday traffic with our early check in being 7am at the Bluebridge terminal.
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The NZMCA App screamed out the Petone Club as a good place to be and we cruised in the late morning to this massive park.
Petone Club
There’s plenty of room to park and they’re very obliging and helpful. They have a Buffet going for lunch and dinner and you’re very welcome in the bar. Just remember to take your NZMCA card with you.
Our parking.
The parking area is huge and all sealed. The power is a bit awkward as it is all in a bunch of 4 plugs right next to the entrance to the Motorhome parking area so its throw your leads over the fence.
The entrance to the parking area. The power is on the gatepost outside.
Our lead was just long enough to reach but it all works and for $10 a night, a fantastic place to stop. There are also toilets and a shower that can be used too.
We went for walk down to the local Pak N Save for some basics, which is about 20 minutes walk away.
Later in the day, we invited our next door neighbours over for a drink. John and Margaret hail from Masterton and were staying in Wellington. After a pleasant hour with them, we went into the Petone club for a spectacular tea for $9.50 each and a Sticky Date pudding.. Yum! All washed down with a huge $7 glass of chardy.. also Yum!
Some of our china plates that we bought a few years ago in Oamaru that we use in Rafe, had deteriorated. Fiona had managed to find some new ones the same sort and colour on Trade Me so on the way south, we had to pick these up in Porirua.
Fiona with some of her China
This time she got a Teapot, 6 of each, cups and saucers, small side plates, bigger side plates, bowls and dinner plates all for $190 !! ..
A panorama of the park when we arrived.
After getting the China, we headed straight for the new Plimmerton NZMCA park and it looks fantastic. There had been a working bee on ealier and it was pretty busy. I counted over 40 Buses and Motorhomes there.
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Fantastic new Dump Station
The new Dump Station looks great in the middle and its really handy to the Railway Station. A great spot.
We called our son Alex who is currently working in Wellington amnd he popped out for tea. The next morning, we got up early and caught the train into Wellington City. Its an easy walk from the park and only takes 25 minutes and then we walked around to a French cafe for brunch.
The shed and the Iron maiden
View from over by the Railway Station
Railway Station
Wellington Railway Station
Inside the station
Alex met us at the cafe, then we went for a walk around the city. Very pleasant.,
You know you’re in Wellington when you see this.
Alex later dropped us off at Rafe in Plimmerton and stopped for a cup of coffee and then headed home.
When we left !
I’m impressed with this park and have to say, the crew here have done a great job with it. Fiona was keen to stay a third night but as I’d booked an early ferry during the week, I thought we might be better closer in for our last night with the early morning weekday traffic.
A nice park and I’m sure it is going to be well used and enjoyed by many.
After spending our last night in Auckland with eldest son Drew and his partner Jenna in Milford, we set off in the morning, bound for Taupo.
Rafe and Ian and Lynda’s XLI
We were heading for Dianne and Gary’s home in Taupo to meet other fulltimimg Motorhome friends Ian and Lynda, who arrived earlier in their Dethleffs XLI.
Dianne and Fiona made a spectacular curry for us all and we had a lot of laughs and lots of fun.
Dianne picking the girls up for a tiki tour around Taupo
In the morning, we all went to a local Cafe and then for a look around Taupo. Another great night with everyone and lots more laughs and Fiona and I were off to Rafe for the night. In the morning we caught up briefly with everyone for a cup of tea and then we were off, heading further south.
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Rafe at the campground
The Explanation
The powerstation
The old Pumphouse on the side of the river
The Mangaweka River Bridge with the cliffs
The river with the camp on the right
Fiona on the bridge across the river
We stopped at the Army Museum in Waiouru for lunch which was great and then carried on to Mangaweka.
Rafe at the Mangaweka Campground
We stayed at a neat wee Campground in Mangaweka last Christmas with Gary and Dianne and its a fantastic place right by the river. The same people own another more upmarket Campground with a bar and eating area right over the bridge.
Look at those cliffs!
There is also an old Power Station just along the road with an old dam. Apparently Mangaweka was one of the first to have its own streetlights and electricity in the country, all driven by this local dam.
Fiona at the old Power station
At $7 a night each with power with our NZMCA discount, it is spectacularly “reasonably priced” but I understand the price with soon be $9 per night with no discount. .. Still very good value in a lovely spot.
One of the discoveries we made in Europe was the huge impact on life in a Motorhome when you have drop down steadies. Our Uk rental, Ralph had quite squishy air suspension and had a couple of steadies on it but being a rental, the steadies had been damaged. The thread had been stripped on one side but we were able to get enough out of it to make a difference.
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Welding on the feet
From this, I made a decision that we would get some added to Rafe when we got home to NZ.
The other discovery was finding better door catches for holding the doors open against the wind. The ones that come of the Dethleffs and a lot of other brands are small plastic things which are as effective as an ash tray on a motorbike 🙂
Waiting for Bolts
While we were looking through the huge Motorhome accessory store, Berger in Berlin, I found bigger catches for roughly 2 Euros a pair and got 3 pair for the habitation door and the garage doors at the back of Rafe.
Dropdowns clipped up
The day came when we could get the Drop Downs installed and while we were there, get the catches changed.
One of the Alko Drop Down Steadies about to be installed
Waiting for Bolts
Bolting up the dropdowns
Cleaning up the base
On wit the new clips
Grinding
Vantage RV had some Alko Drop downs which had brackets made for another Dethleffs customer who had changed their mind and so were left with them in their store cupboard.
One ready to go
The ones they had were set up for an A class vehicle which is higher that Rafe so they had to be shortened and have the feet re welded on.
The old clips
They look fantastic, they work well and although Rafes suspension is a lot stiffer than Ralphs being a lot younger, they work brilliantly.
Clips all finished
The catches make a huge difference too and it was all done in a couple of hours. Brilliant!!
Without wanting to annoy our old neighbours, we spent a couple of nights down by the Marina in front of my son Andrew’s house while we sorted out some Winter clothing for the South Island. It was nice to catch up with some of our old friends around the marina and such a nice place to stay.
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Beside the Marina
There were still two nights to go before we were catching up with our Devonport friends before our South Island trip so we thought we’d treat ourselves to Takapuna Motor Camp and check it out since we’d voted for it to stay.
The Tide is in and what a view.
At $47 a night for two on a waterfront site, it seemed to be to be on the pricey side but once you see the site on a good day, it is just magnificent and on our second morning, I received a text from good friend Alan asking if he could “come for a coffee at our Waterfront Mansion”.
Close to the water parking.
The Camping ground is great. It is only small so I could imagine it would be easily and often booked out on school holidays and Christmas Holidays.
You can rent these.
Standard Sites are $42 and they also have chalets and caravans you can stay in. Loos and showers are free and are fantastic. The shower I had was one of the best ever with real pressure.
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The new Chalets
The Kitchen
On a quiet Sunday afternoon, we would watch people have fun with their boats on a low tide here. Lots of fun and games.
Digging for things. Takapuna Beach behind
Nice outlook
The walkway right in front.
We went for a walk one night into the Takapuna main street, Hurstmere Rd, for an ice cream, an easy 15 minute walk.
Rangitoto Island
I grew up about a block away and went to primary school about three blocks away so I’ve been keen to see what its like but living locally, I’ve never had a need to stay here but I can say its absolutely a primo spot. It is handy to everything and being right on the water with a view of Rangitoto like this, it doesn’t get much better.
Great Beach
There is also a really nice Café right next door and the coastal walk goes all the way around to Milford from right in front of the Campground.
We spent a nice couple of nights with the two Grandsons and their parents at Ardmore and then we headed off to Port Waikato for our last night away for the weekend.
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The Jandal Wall
The last time I came to Port Waikato in the middle of last year, the camp was run by a very helpful French chap who couldn’t do enough for you.
Last year in October, the camp was bought out by a Hapu of Tainui and the welcome we got from manager Mathew was unbelievable.
He’s a lovely guy and again was just so helpful. With the new management comes some enthusiasm to do a few deals to rev things up in winter. The deal we had was pay for one adult and get another one free for a powered site which was amazing. Where else do you get this with all the other facilities too 🙂
The Powered sites
After finding a nice spot for Rafe and settling down, Fiona and I decided to walk the 1k or so down to Sunset beach. A nice easy flat walk and the beach is amazing. There is something that is quite magical about our West Coast beaches.
The wild west
The Tv room and Kitchen
A local bach
The front fence
We spent an hour so taking it all in and then headed back to Rafe.
Sunset beach
As it was a holiday park and despite the cold weather, the park was reasonably busy with plenty of caravans and lots of Bach owners in their permanent chalets in the park.
Great decorating skills
Some have gone to some trouble to set them apart from the others.
Along the beach
The rain came down overnight which we expected and we enjoyed a leisurely run home with very little traffic.
On the Estuary
Its a great spot, the camp is well setup and with Mathew on the handlebars now, you’ll really enjoy your stay. Check it out.
We popped in at Waipu on the way home from further north to find that the Caledonian park has now got a Gravel driveway from St Mary St which is fantastic news.
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Lovely parking
Often we’ve been there to stay and its either been wet or about to rain and although the parking under the trees is pretty well drained and solid, the road across the end of the footy field to get to the parking, is often a bog and impassable.
From the carpark. You can see the parking under the trees on the right.Once boggy and mucky!
Staying out in the carpark when there is a rugby event on is not really my cup of tea and although we’ve done this when it has been wet, its not really a relaxing area to be in with cars coming and going.
With the hall behind
So good news. A great park for NZMCA’rs at $10 a night with power and toilets and so close to Waipu, its a wonderful place to stay.
This amazing campground started out as a picnic area in the early 1900’s. About 1949, all 34 acres of it was developed into a campground and run by the Rodney Council. As time went on the council decided it wanted to divest of its interest in the Campground. The local bach owners got together and wisely formed a company with the bach owners as shareholders and the Pinewoods campground is run as part of this.
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Looking towards Orewa. Baches on top of the cliff. Orewa in the distance.
There is a green with a stage and a big screen for movies and entertainment for kids in the summer. Plenty of neat play equipment and lots of lawn to run around on.
Some of the baches
Many of the current bach owners have been coming to Pinewoods all their lives with parents or even grandparents, and lots of children looks forward to the Christmas holidays when there is films, fishing contests, talent shows, beauty pageants, a sports day, and even tennis and golf tournaments (for the not so young).
Rafe and one other in the new area.
Neat table tennis table
Play equipment
The stage and the screen
Motorhome and Boat parking
A Map of this huge area.
The newly developed concrete pads. before they were grass.
From Jacobs Ladder looking towards Orewa
It really is a well set out place and HUGE.
The new pads with new power boxes.
The Motorhome park I stayed on was one of ten new concrete pads with new power boxes and plenty of water taps and even grey water disposal every second or third site.
Baches forever.
Toilets and Showers were handy and and spotlessly clean.
With the NZMCA discount, I was charged $16 a night in the offseason which I thought was very reasonable.
From Jacobs Ladder looking towards Orewa
I went for a walk around when I first arrived as the weather was due to deteriorate. I ended up right at the top of the Camground where there is a very robust set of concrete steps down to a small private beach called Jacobs Ladder. Apparently it is very popular for fishing off the rocks.
From the bottom of Jacobs Ladder
Around further is access to the Red Beach Surf life saving area which the camp helped setup years ago. A neat sandy beach and safe for the littlies for swimming. I’ll be back, a great spot with friendly staff too.
And down a short pathway, Red Beach looking stunning.
Gary and Dianne did a great job as tour guides and we really appreciated their great company and the effort they went to so we could see a bit of Europe from a Motorhome.
Dianne and Gary in their old stamping ground, Prague. They were on the Charles Bridge here with the Prague Castle behind on the hill.
The original idea was to try for Estonia and back from the UK but once we got to Brugge from Calais, we decided it was going to be far too much driving and we simply wouldn’t see anything in 5 weeks for driving so we opted for a shorter course through Holland, Germany, a week in Prague, (Gary and Dianne lived here for 3 years) back to Germany to check out the Niesmann and Bichoff factory, Luxembourg, Northern France and back to the UK.
Gary and Dianne’s new Arto 88
It was all good but from a picture perspective, probably Stow on the Wold and some of older Architecture in Prague and Germany. The villages in Northern France were amazing too.
A happy Dianne in the living area while Fiona inspects 🙂
After seeing Gary and Dianne’s new Arto 88 Niesmann and Bichoff, Gary was able to organise a tour through the factory which was fantastic as they are all built by hand with minimal automation.
The factory is in Polch, Germany which wasn’t far out of our way from the Czech Republic to France. In the end we decided to go through Luxembourg as well and have a look there too.
A happy wee Ralph at Hanover
Ralph was fun but after 3000 odd km’s, I was starting to pine for something like Rafe as Ralph was hard yakka by comparison. I didn’t realise too when we hired it that it was flat out at 90 odd k so it slowed Gary and Dianne down too which was a bit of a let down but we had fun and everything worked. Its a classic case of if I was to do it again, I’d do it differently.
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At Paddington with the amazing roof
A visitor from Hawkes Bay checking out the Baker street sign
The Ministers tavern with the cathedral behind
The Shard behind the Tower of London
The Tower Bridge
Fiona outside Westminster Abbey
Fiona outside the Roman Baths
Hilary and Fiona in Bath
Gary and Dianne with the beast behind
Fiona and Dianne with the Hymers waiting to board the train.
Where are we. Fiona, D ianne and Gary looking for clues
Visitors enjoying the Canal
People getting together
Windmills on the river
Fiona and Dianne share a pair of Clogs !
Fiona with a big sample Diamond
Madame Tussauds in the Dam square
Drinks time
The wall
A happy Wurlitzer player at the Brandenburg Gate
You can see a persons head popping up through the concrete blocks at the Jewish Memorial
The outside of the cathedral. Note the dark stones on the left. The rest are new!
The inside of the Cathedral
The ceramic mural of past Kings and Queens
The old historic Trams
The old Town by Charles Bridge
parts of the Old Town with Prague Castle
Old Town Square and Tyn Cathedral from the rooftop.
The Castle above the town
The Grand Hotel Pupp looking back from the river.
The View from the camp to the town
A Panorama from the Castle
Koblenz square
Koblenz from the ferry
Outside Notre Dame
In the Echternach Village
Echternach now (After)
Gary, Dianne and Fiona outside a closed champagne place in Wez around the corner from the Pub.
Pastries and Free Wifi. Dianne, Gary and Fiona.
Fiona, Gary and Dianne getting into the shopping
Great atmosphere
Watching the action outside the pub
The camp
Fiona puts a poppy down at an unknown Soldiers grave on the way to Arras
The Marina Sands Hotel
Inside the Marina Sands Shopping centre
The pool and the gardens with part of the container terminal in the background.
The whole trip was over nearly 2 months and cost a total of about $16000 NZ so was a cheap holiday given that we saw and did so much. Ralph was NZ$7000 of that for 5 weeks so it was pretty good really.
I picked up a bug in the last few weeks which I’m still trying to shake which was a bit of a bugger but still it didn’t slow us down 🙂
Singapore was fantastic.
One the way to Marina Sands
We always seem to be flying through here so it was nice to actually stop for a few days and see all the changes. Its a great city and we both really enjoyed seeing Chinatown, cruising up the harbour and all the new buildings. The Marina Sands area was amazing too.
Fiona at Marina Sands. The shopping centre on the left.
Over the whole trip though, I can’t say enough about Gary and Dianne and their patience with us as they really were fantastic and we had a huge amount of laughs and fun with them.
Gary and Dianne on the Mosul River
Thanks heaps to you both again for everything and also storing Rafe in your XLI/Nibi shed while we were all away. We’re both looking forward to catching up with you both when you get settled with Nibi in NZ, or whatever you end up calling the new beast.
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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