I parked Rafe in the free Motorhome parking by the boat ramp on the lake front and went for a 5 minute walk up towards the shops with the camera.
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Eat st entrance
Walking up the road towards Tutanekai Street, I couldn’t help but notice the new restaurant and eating out area there. A whole block of covered walkway which is apparently partly retractable with Bars, Restaurants and Cafes all along the road on both sides.
It looks fantastic. Because it was only 10.30 odd in the morning nothing was open but I bet it’s a lively area in the evenings. Next time, I’ll come later in the day. It looks like a lot of fun.
On a nice fine day, this is a lovely spot in Clive, right next to the river, and courtesy of the Hastings Council, you can stay here with a gold coin donation.
The River
There’s usually plenty to look at, rowers, people walking, sometimes the odd boatie. There were several buses there and a Motorhome and there was oodles of room for more. Motorhome Parking is under the trees but not in the carpark at the end.
Gorgeous spot!
With the sun beating down and people coming and going on the biking / walking path behind down to the beach, fantastic.
I was trying to upload some images for several blogs and for whatever reason, the uploads kept bombing out so I decided as I was in a bit of a valley, I’d move to Eriksen Park which isn’t that far from Clive.
There are toilets there too but I did see signs talking about it being prone to flooding with high tides and rainfall. Lovely spot but pick the weather.
I felt like spoiling myself and had heard about the new Top 10 Taupo’s new pool bar. A swim in a hot pool and be served a nice Chardonnay sounded like just the ticket to me.
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I arrived at the Top 10 around lunch time which was great after a great run across the Napier – Taupo rd. After spending two nights in the NZMCA Eriksen rd park, I was a little taken back by the Top 10 winter rates for a single person at $27.00. But then thought, everything is spic and span and the new multi million dollar pool complex and so on, it’s not that bad when you compare it to others and I was spoiling myself 🙂
People enjoying the BarOne of the hotter pools
After parking Rafe, it was time to do some laundry and check the place out out before having a swim. It’s nicely laid out with lots of green things (trees and stuff) between parks and the Toilets and Showers are absolutely immaculate and pretty new. There is also Pétanque, Volleyball, Tennis, Trampolines, Basketball and something new called Neos.. There’s plenty for everyone.
The washing was finished so I was off for a swim.
Look how close to the pool I got but a bit noisy
One of the cabins
Kitchen, Laundry and loos
The TV showing Shrek
The Cave
The League is on.. Would be better switched off !
There are no steps which makes it interesting for getting in and out. You sort of slide in and out over a concrete bank. The main hot pool is huge with other hotter and cooler pools and channels from it. There is a cave which is 4 metres deep at one end of the pool with a waterfall over the entrance. And the bar.. Fantastic. You can buy pizza’s, meals, drinks, what ever takes your fancy and there are partly submerged chairs to sit on too. There was a unique system when I checked in where they took my credit card number so all you have to do is give the bar person your site number and sign your name and it’s all done. The prices were very reasonable too .. $8.00 for a big glass of Chardy. Very pleasant.
Enjoying the Sun
There is also a huge TV screen over the pool which had the movie Shrek on when I first got in. Early in the evening, it had the league on which I thought was a bit of an atmosphere killer. It was better when it was switched off in between !.. Each to there own.
Kids watching Shrek
Although this is a commercial Top 10 site and the price is up there at $57 peak for 2 with power, it isn’t too bad when you see what’s there and you’re ready to treat yourself to something special. It’s a novel experience and a first for me here in NZ. This is the only one in NZ like this. Go and spoil yourself.
Well .. It just gets better and better here at Eriksen road. The last time I was here during the Napier Art Deco week earlier in the year, two thirds of it was roped off but now it’s huge.. Massive! What a great park.
Eriksen Park
I was staying two nights and came here so I could get a really good signal for uploading some piccies for these posts but I love it here as you’re well away from boy racers etc and it feels nice and secure.
There were only a handful of other Motorhomes here so there was room for Africa. I can’t imagine that even in the height of summer, you’d ever fill this park and it’s dead flat too. I understand too that there is a new building coming for people to meet and greet without getting wet when it rains, which will be great.
Plenty of room
The first night was good until 4:30 odd in the morning when Rafe started moving all over the place. I thought it was wind but then decided that the movement was everywhere and it turned out to be the earthquake off East Cape. Within minutes, Facebook took off and eventually I got to sleep and woke up around 9 odd.
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I went for a bike ride into Napier which is about 20 minutes away by bike. There are great bike trails here and it’s pretty much straight down the waterfront and you’re there. Fiona had been “encouraging” me to get a haircut so I found a barber and when I sat down, out came the electric clippers and he went straight up the back of my head!! .. It sounds worse than it was but needless to say, it’s one of the shortest haircuts I’ve had for a long long time. It must be what they do in Napier 🙂
One of the few Selfies you’ll see of me .. On the way to the Barber !
Quiet neighbours 🙂
The “office” at Eriksen
I thought he didn’t want visitors but Chris tells me it’s a good wind deflector, even if the wind is blowing into it.
While I was sitting in a cafe in Napier recovering from my short haircut, munching on something, I found that I’d missed a phone call while the barber was attacking me.
It was Chris Nuttall who has recently taken over the admin role of http://www.nzmotorhome.co.nz. I’ve met him before when we first got Rafe at a Campercare show so it was great to hear from him. Between us, we decided it would be good to catch up for something cold back at Eriksen. I had an hour to get back, have a shower and tidy myself up. There was a chance too that Shellie and David Evans might pop in too so I was looking forward to meeting them.
Chris and then the Evans’s arrived and we had a very happy two or more hours of catching up. A lot of fun.
Chris Nuttall, Shellie and David Evans .. A fun afternoonThe Sunset outside Rafe when Chris and the Evans’s left.
Ericksen Park. I’m very impressed and what a great spot. I’ll be back again and well done to all those involved in getting it to where it is today.
I was staying at Caroline’s Outback Campground and with a day where it was threatening to rain, I decided to ride into Wanganui town and have a wee look around.
I stopped down by where the ferry is kept on the river not far from Moutua Park and the buildings around there were just something else.
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Quite a few of them were vacant which gave me reason to think that some of the businesses might be finding it tough but despite that, they’re well maintained and just beautiful buildings. I’m a bit of sucker for things like this, old boats buildings cars.. Just nice to see.
While I was there, a maintainence person came about and started painting the funnel of the river boat. I also came across a lady trying to get a picture of the ball on the waterfront without getting herself in the reflections so I was happy to show her how with the built in cracks on the ball. 😀
After an hour of cruising around, I headed back to the camp before the expected rain hit. Great bike tracks and walkways and a neat little city with lovely buildings.
Caroline had a really popular Celtic cafe and bar in the Whanganui City Centre but tragedy struck and it burnt to the ground. Bouncing back from adversity, she purchased the Arohomo Hotel next to the river which was for sale at the time.
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From the street
Over the course of the last few years, she has completely rebuilt the Bar and Restaurant and now Caroline’s Boatshed is one of Whanganui’s finest eating out establishments. Having quite a lot of land behind the Restaurant, with her Caretaker, Bruce, they’ve developed this into a well equipped Motorhome park complete with 30 powered sites, a dump station, showers and a washing machine.
The carpark and Caroline’s Boathouse
At $15 a night for a powered site for 1 or $25 for two, it’s very good value.
The outbuilding at the back.
For me, being right next to the river, a flat bike ride to town, it’s a magic discovery
It was nice to see Chris and Margaret and the others from the forum www.nzmotorhome.co.nz, many that I’ve never met before. Andrew and Debbie from Tauranga, nice to see you too. Given the weather was pretty naff, it was good to see such a good turnout.
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Motorhomes and Caravans as far as the eye can see. Click on the image to enlarge.Interesting power setup
Hundreds of vans parked everywhere and all shapes and sizes. I went for a bite of a wander to have a look for some of the more unusual looking or big/little Motorhomes.
It was also good to see my friends from Miranda, Marama and Rob and also Karen from the Motorhome Friends Facebook page with their Trailites. We were also joined by our fulltiming friends Chris and Gary. Good to see them too.
Many had multi day passes to the show and were in and out every day.
Chris and Margarets Jayco and the Forum Overnighters
Most were there for the full duration of three days. Nice too that so many recognised Rafe and came up to say hello and we could put names to faces. It’s always nice to meet you and get your feedback.
There were zillions of Motorhomes everywhere you looked for the rally. A great turnout. I was lucky to get a spot in close and chose to get a powered site.
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Rafe all plugged in and cosy
It was well organised and the power was nicely laid out for each site.
On with the show . I was really taken with one of the smaller Dethleffs Caravans called the C Go where there were bunks in the back which folded away for extra storage with outside garage access as well. Very clever. These are 7.7m long overall and are 1220kg tare weight and cost $53000 and perfect for a small family.
Dethleffs Cgo Caravan
Dethleffs Cgo Bunk area from inside with the bathroom.
Dethleffs Cgo Garage with the bunks.
The Dethleffs Cgo
Frankia T7400 Bedroom
Frankias T7400 Bathroom
Frankias T7400 living space
Frankia T7400
On display this year as well were the new Frankias. The one I saw was the T7400 which had two single beds with a pull out section which made one big massive bed.
Nicely appointed with a roomy social area at the front. They’re on a Mercedes base and are $190.000.
It was nice to see two Motorhome Friendly towns with stands for their towns, Whanganui and Kawerau, encouraging Motorhomers and people to visit.
Wanganui
New this year is Vantage Rv’s Ute based, go anywhere fold out camping setup called Ute-Opia Camp Canopy which fit on your ute. They start at $7000 and come with as little or as much as you want. Their new Alden dishes which automatically unravel themselves when you simply turn on your TV.. Very natty. They also sell and install the Netspeed Motorhome Broadband system. You can see more of these products at www.vantagerv.co.nz.
The Ute-Opia and the Alden Dishes
I was also impressed with the new Jayco Silverline caravans with the pop outs. I was talking to my friend Chris who has one and apparently the new pop outs with Jayco are now leak proof and dust proof and reliable so that’s great. Heaps of room with high suspension and built for the Aussie rough roads will go anywhere. They seem to be reasonable value too in the late $90k ‘s for the one I looked at.
Jayco Silverline
Jayco Silverline Bathroom
Jayco Silverline
The Kampa Awning on the side of an Autotrail
Inside the Kampa Awning
Dethleffs XLI
In the garage of a Dethleffs XLI
The eating area
Kawerau
Electric Bikes
One of the things which was notable this year was the new Kampa air awning room which clips on to your Motorhome or caravan to create a room outside. This one is inflatable and simply blows up and comes complete with opening windows, blinds and insect screens for $1600 approx. Thule and Fiamma also make similar types of this which clip on to your awning.
My only concern with all these was that in most Motorhomes, the fridge is by the habitation door which is covered by these awnings so how does this work with freedom camping and with the Gas exhaust from the fridge.? They’re a fantastic idea and a great way to increase useable space but so far when I’ve asked the question from several retailers, no one seems to have an answer. If you’ve got the Grandkids out in them for the night, you would want to be plugged in somewhere with the gas off or have a big window open. As I say, a fantastic idea but some caution required if people are sleeping in them.
The Pavilion was full with exhibitors which was great and most that I talked to on the first day, we’re having fun and selling plenty so that’s great.
The Campercare stand.
The Pavilion ended with a great Food Hall area with the usual chips, drinks and other food vendors. One vendor there had fried bread with cheese and spring onion with cream cheese which was lovely.
Plenty of Motorhomes
It’s seemed to all run like clockwork and was a well presented show.
Heading for the Countdown supermarket at Kilburnie after a quick trip down from Paekaekareki was easy. There was plenty of parking over two car parks and I got heaps of stuff for us both for a few days. After nearly two weeks of unsupervised travel, I’d spent the previous two days tidying up the van, washing the linen and getting things shipshape for Fiona 🙂
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In Evans Bay
It was time to head for the airport and pick her up from the flight from Auckland. I hadn’t been to Wellington airport for a while so I was a bit unsure of how Motorhome friendly it might or might not be! Wee bit stressful !
After getting a fright at how low the canopy was for the pick up area, I opted for the departure ramp and all was fine !
We made it safely to Evans Bay after that and it was nice to be able to switch off, open the vents and have a cup of tea and work out what we were doing.
After we’d had lunch in a French Cafe in town by David Jones, we walked to the main War memorial museum to see the Peter Jackson display of World War 1. It was amazing with the usual high quality displays. The realism was quite something.
Tank tracks above
It was interesting as my Grandfather drove one of these old Tanks in the Somme in the First World War. I remember as a 4 year old him telling me stories of how they used to cross the German trenches with these monsters. I won’t spill all the gory details but it’s interesting that now that I’m nearly 60, I can still remember exactly what he described 🙂
I used to love listening to his stories and he loved telling them. He was a real character.
Apparently he turned up to his own funeral after the war at his home town in Little Downham, Ely. He saw someone in the street and asked where they were.. “Oh Bert, they’re all at your funeral down at the church!” His mother was so pleased to see him that she scraped the mud of his coat and put it in a little tin. My son Alex has got that tin with the dirt today along with medals and other important family stuff. … Great stuff for a 4 yr old 🙂 .. And his peppermints in the old Mark 1 Zephyr were good too !
Outside the Memorial
Soldiers on the ramps
The Entrance
In the Trenches
The tank above the trenches
Back to the show.. I didn’t realise the scale and how big they were compared to infantry soldiers and the crews.
Poignant Memorial
The display was stunning and I reckon it’s a must do if you’re in Wellington. The very last display is quite poignant too of an older chap in a field of poppies with a young boy.. Fantastic display.
In Wellington, I received a message from my old friend (and work colleague and Motorhomer) Grant suggesting that we should go and check out the Roxy Theatre in Miramar.
Click on the images to see Hi Res or a slideshow As it was only a few K’s away from our base at Evans Bay, we set out to check it out and it’s a thing of beauty.
Owned jointly by Richard Taylor and Jamie Selkirk of Weta Workshop fame, it is simply stunning. They’ve owned it for quite a long time but due to their work commitments with the movie industry, they had to put the renovation job on hold until a few years ago.
It was once a shopping centre so it has been a big do up job.
Some of the art
The Cafe and Shop
Upstairs with the ceiling
There is a really nice cafe on the ground floor but the decor and attention to detail with old movie cameras, the art and a huge ceiling mural is just stunning.
In the middle of Miramar shops, it’s something you must check out.
The Weta cave is at the other end of Park ave, which is also worth visiting too. There is easy Motorhome parking in the surrounding streets so easy to get there. Thanks Grant for telling us about it.
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.
A whole block of covered walkway which is apparently partly retractable with Bars, Restaurants and Cafes all along the road on both sides.
Next time, I’ll come later in the day. It looks like a lot of fun.
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