The Grape Escape and the birthday

February 14, 2017 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com 2 Comments

We were off to Taupo to celebrate Fiona’s 60 something birthday with our friends Dianne and Gary. It was all a bit short notice but when Fiona finished work at 6, we were off heading down towards Hamilton and then Taupo.
I’d had a look through the NZMCA App and bible for possible places to stay and I found a place we hadn’t stopped at called the Grape Escape in Cambridge, just off the new motorway.

Click on the images for Hi res

It looks like it is part of a lifestyle farm own by Andrew and Karlene and they provide power, toilet and laundry facilities at a great rate.
Its $5 per person plus $5 for power and $2 if you want to do your washing. All very reasonable. They also have a couple of permanents down the back which is great.

We rang to introduce ourselves and after stopping for tea at Hampton Downs, eventually arriving at Cambridge a little after 9pm, just as it got dark. Andrew was out there, helping us to park and handed me a power cord, all very easy and very nice people too. A really handy spot to know about. The track from Rafes tracking unit is below.

The next day, we headed off to Taupo and headed for Gary and Dianne’s place. We were parked in their driveway next to their garage and I’m pleased we were as it blew. This was the night Auckland got blown inside out with huge power outages.
It was nice to see them again and after a “Happy Hour” Glass of something, we headed into Taupo for me to buy some decent clobber to wear, and then to celebrate Fiona’s birthday at a Restaurant. I bought a shirt which I will call “my special occasion shirt”. Others call it many other things 🙂 but I like it.

Fiona (Birthday Girl), Me, Dianne and Gary .. taken with phone

It was a great night and nice to see them again. After a slightly wobbly night with the wind, we set off northwards the next morning. As I said, if it wasn’t for being parked in Gary’s courtyard with the garage for protection, it would have been a really interesting night 🙂

Northland

The Kauri Museum

February 10, 2017 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com 2 Comments

What an amazing place. A must do if you’re in the Kaiwaka – Dargaville area and well worth seeing.

Click on the images for Hi Res and a Slideshow

Those with self contained vans can stay the night there too and there is also the Matakohe Holiday park a short walk away.

The museum is a fantastic collection of all things kauri and has a full Sawmill Hall full of all the things that were used to prepare and process kauri. There is even a model of bean Rock lighthouse made of Kauri Gum.

An early caterpillar Bulldozer

The Sawmill Hall – amazing

The last Logan kauri yacht

There was also a barrel making display and its amazing how so many other businesses benefitted from the Kauri Industry.

The washing machine section

Extracting gum

Pit sawing

Bean Rock Lighthouse made of Gum

Tudor Collins donated his massive negative library to the museum

Free overnighting outside for CSC vehicles

Local Photographer and famous for his collections of historic images, Tudor Collins donated his huge negative library to the museum when he found it was being set up. There are some fabulous images on display.

Allow at least a morning to do it properly but you could easily spend a day there.

Classic Boating

Classic Boats on Lake Rotoiti – Lots of images

February 6, 2017 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com

Every year at Waitangi weekend for the last 4 years , Alan and I have hit the road in Rafe and headed down to Lake Rotoiti and joined the Lake Rotoiti Classic Boat Association, who have a parade with their lovely boats and a picnic day out on the beach. Its a great occasion where the public can watch from the shore or any other vantage point they can find and enjoy the spectacle.

Click on any image for Hi Res or a slideshow

Rafe with Tim and Pams Chev and boat on behind.

We left Auckland in the middle of the day on the Friday to try and avoid some traffic. We were half successful and we arrived around 4pm and set Rafe up at the Lake Rotoiti Holiday Park. We were given a park right next to our friends from Taupo Shawn and Cathy. Just around the corner were Tim and Pam with their Chev and Miss Belair which they parked right next to us.

Shawn and Cathy's car on the left with Tim and Pams boat in the middle with Rafe — Shawn and Cathy’s car on the left with Tim and Pams boat in the middle with Rafe

After registration, a few drinks and a meal at the Pikiao Rugby League club we returned back to Rafe for a few drinks with our friends and neighbours, Tim, Pam, Shawn and Cathy.

The next morning, we were up early as it was parade day. The previous Commodore of the Classic boats, Fraser had offered us the use of his Tender as a platform for taking some images from the water. Alan was driving so I could concentrate on getting the images and we could use them both here and on his blog, Waitematawoodys.com

Alan on the helm with Frasers house behind — Alan on the helm with Frasers house and boat behind

Fraser came and picked us up from the campground and after a look around his amazing waterfront house on the lake, we went and got settled with the boat.

Enjoy the images.. Click on an image below for a slideshow.

Shawn and Cathy’s new boat

Tim and Pam with Miss Belair

Time for a selfie

Friends from Auckland

Fraser’s Guests watching the parade

Vantage spots

It was a great day with lots of the Classic crews ready to show off their lovely boats and most were dressed in period costumes for the occasion. The winner of the costume award went to the crew of Alberta.

Winners of the costume awards — Winners of the costume award

After the parade, everyone headed over to Wairau Bay for a picnic and catchup. It was great to catchup with old friends and meet some new people and see their boats.

The Barge at Wairau Bay

People getting ready to picnic

One of the things about the lakes is there are no tides so they run their boats up in the sand and step off their bows with ladders onto the beach. Some choose to anchor and get picked up by the barge.

rotoiti-2017277www — A tough day at the office 🙂

A great day on the water finished off with a beer at a bar which was accessible by boat and then back to the camp.

There are lots and lots of pictures duplicated on Waitematawoodys.com taken by me with Alan on the helm.

Rafes Track back from Lake Rotoiti.

Friends, My Motorhome

Tracking the Tracker

February 4, 2017 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com 1 Comment

And now it is for sale!
http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/caravans-motorhomes/motorhomes/7-79-metres/auction-1224306268.htm

East Coast 2017

High Tea at the Chateau

February 2, 2017 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com 4 Comments

We arrived at the Whakapapa Holiday park with 10 minutes to spare to make our pre booked High Tea at the Chateau. I quickly plugged in Rafe and we locked the door and we headed off down the road.

Click on the images for Hi Res

It’s was an interesting experience as I’m not very practised at these High Tea things. There are three tiers of goodies to eat. Dianne and I shared one platter (if that’s what they’re called) and Gary and Fiona shared the other.

Apparently you start from the bottom with the cucumber Sammies and work your way up to the sweet things on the top level. All very interesting.

The Chateau is an amazing old building. Although it has been well looked after, it reeks of another time. It’s a shame that all the joinery has been changed to aluminium but I suppose that’s so they can double glaze and so on but it has been done nicely.

The campground is quite interesting in that it hovers over a river from further up off Mt Ruapehu.

The river behind the parks. The parks are on the left in the trees.

The Motorhome parks are all in between carefully cut out parks in between trees with rock and wood boundaries and all nicely flattened.

Dianne and Fiona heading back. Rosie can be seen through the trees.

There is an amenities block just down from the parks.
Nobody was terribly interested in having dinner after all the goodies from the High Tea so we had a few drinks in Rafe until around 9.30 and then all retired for the night. There was no Internet but we were given free access to the camp wifi. An interesting park.

And Rafe’s Track to get there..

Rafe's Track to Whakapapa Holiday Park — Rafe’s Track to Whakapapa Holiday Park

East Coast 2017

Cruising by the River

January 30, 2017 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com 3 Comments

Staying at Mangaweka! What’s there? .. A fabulous campground by the river and a neat wee town bulging with personality 🙂
Gary and Dianne had finished up in Taupo and we’re ready to come out to play again in Rosie. We arranged to meet at the riverside campground at Mangaweka. I’ve been wanting to try the riverside camping thing for some time and the reviews show these campgrounds are pretty good.

Click on the images for Hi Res or a slideshow

Rafe and Rosie with the cliffs of Mangaweka

Fiona and I arrived early in the afternoon which was just as well as it had been really busy and it was first in best dressed. At $9 per person including power it was sensational value. We met some really nice caravanners parked in the centre, who were packing up to go, said we could grab their spot which was nice, and just as they left after 20 minutes or so, Gary and Dianne arrived in Rosie the XLI.

Fiona, Gary and Dianne on the bridge between the two camps

We plugged in, settled down and then set off over the bridge to pay at the Awastone Resort which is setup to be a little more upmarket than the campground.
Both campgrounds are owned and run by Paul and Tricia and their family. The bar, cafe, cabins, with gravel based parks and power right by the river, are $38 for a night for two. We could not go without having a few glasses of wine with homemade sausage rolls on the deck in the sun. After that we walked back over the bridge to celebrate Gary’s birthday. It was good to see them again. We we’re going to celebrate Gary’s birthday in Martinborough .

The next day we walked into the village to check it out. It’s an interesting town as State Highway 1 was moved to bypass the Main Street quite a long time ago and all the old buildings are still there. It’s like time stood still. We met a friend of one of the shop owners and it seems like there is a real arty, creative sort of community getting established there.

The Barbers shop

The Mangaweka Hotel

The kitchen facilities

Rosie and Rafe with Gary lounging

After having a look around and a cuppa at the cafe, as we headed back to the Campground, we tried to collar a couple of escaped sheep from a paddock and return them but after 20 minutes or so of pretending to be Sheep dogs and losing badly, we gave it away and carried on after making sure the sheep were heading away from State Highway 1. Isn’t it funny how the sheep can spot some townies pretending to be shepherds a mile away 🙂

This is another classic case of a place that’s usually a thoroughfare for most of us being completely overlooked as a neat destination. With both campgrounds here on either side of the river with different price points, they’re well setup for your next visit.

Rafe's Track to Mangaweka — Rafe’s Track to Mangaweka

East Coast 2017

Charming Greytown

January 26, 2017 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com

After we arrived in Greytown, we started looking at where we going to stay. The GPS directed us to a neat little POP on the side of a local contractor, John and his wife Rosie. They have century started growing pumpkins on part of his 5 acres in the middle of Greytown. Lovely people who couldn’t do enough for us.

Click on the images for Hi Res or a slideshow

We setup on their POP area which is half grass and half gravel. From the street you wouldn’t know any of this existed and it was so quiet.
We walked from their into Greytown shops, about 10 minutes walk and spent the afternoon in Greytown. The whole town basically is set around the Main Street which is full of original old buildings still being used and maintained.

The next morning, Rob, Helen and Chloe left to head up to Taupo to go to a NZMCA Rally for kids which was happening. After our farewells, we headed around to the local campground so I could charge up some batteries and flick the hose over Rafe to get the salt off from the pinnacles as it still hadn’t really rained.

The campground is great and very reasonably priced. It’s huge and incorporates a huge playground and very much dominated by those in tents which is great so see.

Christmas Presents ?

Tent city

One of the cabins

The Motorhome area

The facilities are nice and clean and it’s all nicely setup. Our park was a bit small for us but the manager was quite happy for us to cover the next parking hole but I managed to park it diagonally within the lines quite easily.
Nice park, great manager and close to town. I think it cost us $32.50 for two including power. At this time of the year, that’s pretty good in my books.

Uncategorized

I want one 😃

January 25, 2017 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com 2 Comments

And now its ….SOLD

update….sold .. In 24 hours!!

East Coast 2017

The Pinnacles

January 23, 2017 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com

We were all quite looking forward to checking these out as apparently, they’ve been used in one of Peter Jacksons movies. I’m not sure which one.

Click on the images for Hi Res or a slideshow

We left Martinborough early and set off south towards the Pinnacles. They’re about 30 odd K’s from Martinborough so they’re a good hour south.
The South West was blowing at around 30-40 knots and we were getting some good puffs on the road. The road is pretty good being sealed all the way but as you get closer, it is quite exposed and at one point, there is a causeway where the waves were virtually crashing on the edge of the road with plenty of debris lying around.
We were pleased to get there. Rob, Helen and Chloe had beaten us there as we had stopped for Groceries and had a look around Martinborough before leaving.

Our park in the corner. Of the Doc camp — Our park in the corner of the Doc camp

Rob had a spectacular spot at the Doc camp there, tucked into a corner, protected by trees and bush with plenty of room for Rafe.
After settling down with a cuppa and getting organised. We set off up the valley towards the Pinnacles.

Rob resting 🙂

Doc suggests a 1.5hrs easy walk round trip. I would say this is understated and would be a 2 hr trip with the last K being a good uphill slog in gravel. Those who know me will tell you that I’m not the fittest trooper on the planet but if I can do it, anyone can but it is a wee bit more that what Doc say it is.
It is spectacular and is well worth the slog mostly up the side of a stream. I commented to Rob on the way back that I felt a bit like Daniel Boon given the slightly eery almost desert like landscape similarities.

We set the chairs up behind Rafe and the Tracker out of the wind, wheeled out some portable music and started on a wet debrief of the day’s activities as you do :-). A nice day in the sun checking out some neat stuff we’d never seen before.

Rafe’s track to the Pinnacles

East Coast 2017

Martinborough by Bike

January 20, 2017 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com

The weather was great, there was still a bit of wind around but that’s normal for the Wairarapa apparently.

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**Helen, Fiona, Rob and Chloe outside the first Vineyard**

Rob, Helen and Chloe had hired bikes for the day. I unloaded our bikes off the back of Rafe, put some air in the tires and we were off.
Martinborough is setup around a square which makes navigation really easy.

The first vineyard to visit was diagonally opposite the Martinborough Top 10 which is where we’re staying. We were there for the first hour and then moved onto Margrains where we had lunch before and were familiar with their wines.

My perfect house :-) — My perfect house 🙂

It’s amazing how the same or similar grape and wine type can taste so different with just half a kilometre or so between them.

Click on the images to see Hi Res or a slideshow

A person with a sense of humour

Chloe with the bikes at Margrains

Ye olde Hotel

Helen and Rob with Cjloe at the first Vineyard

The food was great and the wine even better with us buying a few bottles between us.

We’d just arrived back at the Motorcamp by bike after having a good nosey around the town, when the wine was dropped off at the campground.

It’s a great wee town Martinborough. Being nice and flat, it is perfect for bike riding and exploring.

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.

	Warmenhj on Over the Hill to Woodville
	Kath Ingram on Heading South for the New Year
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And now its ….SOLD

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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.