After a great night of catching up with Helen, Chloe and Jessica along with Dianne and Gary, it was time to get some sleep for the big 30k ride the next day.
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Getting the bikes ready
The next morning, Helen and the the girls set off to check out the Bay of Islands and we got organised and set off towards Horeke.
The top part of the Trail
We simply crossed the road and headed off down the trail. The first part of the trail is downhill..some of it so steep that you are advised to walk it! The first third is pretty much downhill but then it flattens out and its up and down the rest of the way through to Horeke but the trail is pretty easy and nicely set out.
Riding beside the stream
The middle part of the ride go’s through Snows Farm and past a Lily pond and the track is set in some really nice easy bush and along side a river. The scenery and countryside is amazing.
Dianne and Fiona
Eventually the track comes out to a road and then cross’s over to a huge wooden track built up over the Mangroves on the upper reaches of the Hokianga. From there it is only a few K’s to the pub.
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Fiona and Dianne having a natter before we set off.
Look at the view.. still walking
Di’s corner.. having a rest on the way down.
Fiona going through Snow’s Farm
The Lily Ponds
The Lily’s
Snow’s Farm accommodation for the bike trail.
Snows Farm rest stop. Fiona having a drink
Snow’s Farm
Horeke Pub
Looking out on the Hokianga from Horeke Tavern
The Horeke Tavern Jetty
We were well and truly ready for a G&T and a sit down lunch and the lunch didn’t disappoint! The Seafood Chowder was recommended to us by Noeline at the Rail Stay so 4 Seafood Chowders later, everyone was happy.
Peter the Publican came over to say Hi and it was interesting talking to him. He has owned the Horeke Tavern for more than 25 years so has seen some big changes.
Horeke Pub
Peter runs a shuttle for bikes and gave a us a ride back to the Rail Stay. Gary being a bit of sucker for some more punishment, decided to ride back on his electric bike and did it in really good time too, despite it being mostly uphill on the way back.
Back for a cold one with Rafe later.. Dianne, Jessica, Helen and Gary.
Motorhome friends Helen and two of her daughters, Chloe and Jessica were heading up to Okaihau to stay at the Okaihau Rail Stay. We were also catching up with Gary and Dianne and cycling part of the Rail trail to Horeke which is about 30 k’s to the coast.
Nice layout
Arriving later in the afternoon, we checked in at the Office and met Noeline who set it up and she helped us with power and getting ourselves organised.
First Class
Noeline has been collecting and doing up old Railway Wagons for about 4 years and now has 4 of them set up for accomodation. There is also a Kitchen, Shower and Toilet all looking like a stattion and railway station side buildings. The whole place is immaculatly tidy and clean quite cleverly set out.
Neoline with Maeo the welcome committee 🙂
The Motorhome parking is over a fence on a big paddock. Beyond that on another section is Noeline’s husbands trucking business.
Where Helen and the girls stayed.
The other end
The Wagons
The Neismann and Rafe
The Rail Trail from Opua to Horeke is right opposite and so its just case of crossing the road to do the trail.
Us all settled in.
We were charged $30 a night for two including power.
Sorry no map as the GPS tracker has spat the dummy but Okaihau is about 15ks’ north of Kaikohe.
After a couple of great days at the NZMCA Bell Block park and our 20k bike ride into town and back, it was time to kick back and blob out. We also needed to catch up with a washing machine too so we thought we’d try the Belt Road Holiday Park.
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Port Taranaki
We were lucky to get in after getting someones cancellation so I dropped Fiona off at the Gardens and checked in on my own.
Great Views
After getting rid of the livestock on the windscreen and all around the front of Rafe (Dead insects) I backed into this amazing little park. It was surrounded on three sides by a high hedge giving us quite a bit of privacy so out came the deck chairs and we enjoyed the moment.. as you do.
Rafe with the Hedges
Later after getting our clean washing, we went for a look around the park. There are quite few cabins and lots of people out in their tents. Lots of caravans and not so many Motorhomes.
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Good Rustic Charm
Lovely View
At Dusk
A great spot overlooking the harbour and for this time of the year, it was reasonably priced for a prime spot.
How is this view ?
For the two of us on a powered site it was $50.00
The Netspeed Speedtest
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It was going to be a scorcher so we got the bikes sorted and headed from the Bell Block park down towards the Waterfront to join up to the Walkway.
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Fiona screaming down the hill to the walkway.
From the Bell Block park to the Wind Wand is about 20k’s round trip so its a good ride and you know you’ve used some muscles when you return 🙂
Coming up to the Te Rewa Rewa bridgeThe Te Rewarewa ridge
The trip is mostly downhill to the Te Rewa Rewa bridge but its a fantastic pathway. Some of its boardwalk but most of it is a wide concrete path which eventually goes through the side of the Fitzroy Holiday Park. We stopped at the Kiosk for a cuppa and something to eat and then rode on to the Wind Wand. Great fun.
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The view from the bridge
Fiona on the bridge
Looking back at the bridge
Coming into Fitzroy camp
The Kiosk at Fitzroy
Looking towards the port
A train going under the path by the Wind Wand
There we left the waterfront to have a quick look at some shops and then headed back along one of the shopping streets and back down to rejoin the Waterfront.
Fitzroy beach
Just fantastic. A great outlook and apart from the uphill bit at the end going up through the houses was pretty easy. .. Well worth doing!!
Heading home
A couple of glasses of wine later with some neighbours in the park and that was us for the day 🙂
One of the places I haven’t been to is Clarks Beach so it was time to go and check it out.
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Looking back at the Campground from the beach
The campground has been let go for a bit but has in the last two years been taken over by some nice South Islanders, Gavin and Suzzanne and their family. Gavin has a background in Education and Suzanne in Health and both were look for a lifestyle change and they’ve definitely done that!
Lots of nice Palms
Over the last few years, they’ve shifted and improved the Dump Station and made a lot of changes to the Laundry and Shower areas.
The view from a cabin
I rocked in and with the weather looking showery at best, although I was offered a spot with a magic view over the Manukau on Grass, I elected to stay on a gravel park further back. A bit of a novelty though was where I was parked was where the old dump station was so I had the privilege of having my grey water hose in there for the duration!
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Some of the cabins
Covered Pool
Rafe’s park
Gavin popped in for a chat and was telling me about some of the things they had changed and some of the new things to come.
Down on the beach. Even the seagulls were feeling the wind
I went for a walk down to the beach right in front of the camp and had a look around.
The Beach
A great place in the right conditions for a Kayak or even a fish. There are Fish cleaning facilities there and it is also Dog friendly with a separate pet area and there is a Golf Course right next door.
A nice spot if you want to get away from it all and not too far from Auckland either.
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One of the great surprises from a wee jaunt around the Waikato has been the discovery of the Ngaruawahia Golf Club.
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A late player at dusk
I phoned Lyn from 50 odd k’s away to make sure that they had space and were open and was bowled over by Lynn’s happy voice on the other end of the phone. It couldn’t have been easier.
30 minutes or so later, I was being shown  a level patch of solid grass nicely protected by a few trees with 3 powered boxes (4 sockets on each) and a picnic table nicely positioned away from the general parking area. It was heavenly!..
At $15 a night per van with power, with the bar handy in the newish clubhouse with toilets and showers available during the day, its fantastic parking.
Nice new building
After settling Rafe down and plugging in, one of my first stops was upstairs to the bar where Lynn was helping out.
Lynn at the bar
I met a couple of really friendly locals there who had just finished 18 holes and were enjoying a couple of beers. They lived and worked in Hamilton which seems to be where a lot of the membership and bars patrons came from but what a nice crowd.
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The riverfront housing next to the Golf course with the walkway.
Looking towards the town
Fantastic Parking with plenty of power points
Showing the main carpark from the motorhome parking
Ngaruawahia’s main street
Lynn showed me where the walking / bike trail is to the Ngaruawahia township along the river which I later walked some of the way along. There is a huge brand new housing subdivision right next door with some amazing houses. I stopped halfway as it started raining and headed back to Rafe but what a lovely spot.
The historic old pub on the corner
A nice place to park with some friendly faces in a nice town.
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I’m really chuffed to get them away as it represents a huge amount of time to put them together.
It has been a lot of fun and a huge learning curve but having been involved in publishing some printed books for the Classic Yacht Association before, it was the next logical step.   I’m not expecting to get rich on them but if it covers a few bottles of Chardy and the odd tank of Diesel, then thats all good 🙂
The first two are now available on Amazon as of today and the others are coming. They are slightly modified from the blog version so they don’t date so quickly and suit a book, and they’re in a fixed format horizontal format to show off the images to their best.
The first one is on our trip to Napier a year or so ago to the Art Deco festival. A great occasion and because its such a great event with some great images, it would be shame not to give these piccies another outing!
The other one is about our trip to the Pinnacles with friends via the Hawkes Bay last year. We were in several Motorhomes and it was a lot of fun. Some great adventures with some unusual places with a concert thrown in too for good measure.
These will both be available here by clicking on the covers above.
Ads will be appearing soon on the side of the Blog and you can keep up to date on this from the Books page.
Some time ago, I also did a blog about some older european images that I had posted for sale as prints etc. Again, I’m not expecting to get rich on them but some of you expressed an interest in getting some of them. They’re now available here.
A big occasion for me as a Blog person but there is more to come. .. Stay tuned 🙂
I love those weekends when you have nothing else to do but drive a short distance, enjoy your Motorhome for a couple of nights with a party in between and then go home to recover 🙂
Well .. this was one of those and it was fun!
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It was our old friend Angela’s 50th birthday and it was at Rob and Angelas small horse farm at Waihi.
Waihi Station
I’ve always loved Waihi and one of those character towns and a good place to stay.. the Railway Station. Now $15 a night with power or $10 without, it is very handy to everything and and its fun watching the trains come and go.
Train arriving in from WaikinoA couple of extra passengers
We’ve been here a few times, once with friends Rob and Helen and Gary and Dianne when we walked/biked through the Karangahake Gorge and Waikino. Lots of fun.
We arrived late on Saturday, parked, watched some TV and then hit the hay.
The park behind the station
Angela and Robs place is on the other side of Waihi and kickoff was midday. We did have a sudden mad moment when we thought about walking it but with bottles of wine etc, a taxi sounded like a much better idea.
Angela and Rob at the party
We met some really nice people and it was nice to see Angela and Rob in their rural home.
The birthday girl blowing out the candles
Its funny when you go to these places and meet people and they went to the same school as you or lived around the corner and you feel you should have met them earlier but didn’t. Thats how it was with several people .. amazing!
About 5pm it felt like it was our time to go… We rang the cab but no sign of her so we started walking back. Several more calls to the cab on the way. No response so half an hour later, we were back at the Railway Station.
Fiona and I had both taken 6 months off for a trip to Europe and to go around the South Island and we were really looking forward to it..
After getting back from Europe in early August and with our house still rented out, we immediately went to Taupo to pick up Rafe who was being cared for in Gary’s shed by Gary’s neighbour Chris… kind chaps that they are !
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Welding on the feet
We returned to Auckland to get a few things done like drop down steadies on Rafe and a couple of other things and then we were off.
Rafe and Ian and Lynda’s XLI
We left Auckland and first stop was Taupo with Gary and Dianne, who we’d been around Europe with and other Motorhome friends Ian and Lynda. A few nights there, a night in Mangaweka, then to Wellington to catch up with my son Alex who commutes from Auckland, then onto the ferry and the adventure began.
Dianne picking the girls up for a tiki tour around Taupo
The highlights:
Best Park over property (POP) –Â Peski’s in Geraldine where we spent nearly two weeks.
Nice parking
Best free Parking – Lowburn on the lake front.. a week of perfect weather helped here 🙂
The View
Best NZMCA park – probably a tie between Tekapo and Ranfurly. Tekapo is stunning amongst the pine trees right on the lake and Ranfurly, dead flat with a dump station next door, rubbish and water and right in the middle of town !
Amongst the pines with Ray and Margaret on the right
The road through the vineyard through the Kawarau Gorge
The kawerau River from the road
Jessa checking out a Pinot Gris at Mt Rosa
Lunch at the historic Gibbston Valley Tavern
The Ophir Bridge
The Function Centre – Omakau
The front of the Hotel
Starting off at Ranfurly Railway Station
Fiona arriving at Wedderburn
Once the tea rooms, now a museum.
The Dunedin Railway Station
Along the Platform
The Taieri train
In the Railway Station
The Pergola with a peep of Dunedin at the end.
Outside the ballroom
Waimate Markets
The main street at Rush hour 😉 Waimate
The Oamaru Wharf
Plenty of room
Sue (Peskis) with her new Letterbox
The gardens at Peskis
Fiona checking out the Hats
Cheers at Geraldine
Where’s Rafe
One of the performing groups
Fiona with her great auntie Jeannie’s Morris
The interior of Johns truck
Fiona with the Cadburys Chocolate
Lake Tekapo late on our first day
Love the different layers in the colour
The Stone Church with the tourists
Happy Hour with all our visitors at Tekapo. Cell pic
A bridge across the river
Great camping
Across Lake McGregor
Our neighbours Jim and Lynley back at the NZMCA park
At Omakau
The first Tunnel
On the way back to Omakau
Nice !
A Miners hut
On the way to the Stamper Battery
Fiona gold panning
Under the mountains
Rafe in front of the house plugged in. The visitors area on the very left.
The boat club down by the NZMCA park
Parked behind the Gate in Cromwell
Ross is a great character.. the birthday boy.
The pools at Hamner
Fiona enjoying the heat.
Look at all that water.
Fiona at the market – Nelson
The Church cafe – Richmond
The bar at the cellar Door
Lots of Motorhomes on the deck
Mt Ruapehu
Ian and Gary with all the polishing toys!
We met some wonderful people along the way and had some nice 5pm catchups in some fantastic places.
Fiona on the bike ride on the way back to Lowburn alongside lake Dunstan
The weather was superb. Fiona reckons we only had 1 wet day in the South Island! I reckon it was 3 but the weather really looked after us, if anything it was quite hot with a record breaking 33C in Cromwell on the day we decided to do a bike ride from Lowburn to the Historic Precinct and back !
The Historic Precinct
The difference in Fuel prices between the different parts of NZ was quite noticeable with the highest I saw at $1.48 a litre for diesel around Hanmer and the lowest $1.19 in Cromwell. We filled up in Takanini before we left at $.98 a litre! As Fiona says though Hay Ho.. when in Rome !
Happy Hour at Peski’s
One of the things that really surprised me as we went around was how many people recognised us from this Blog and who made themselves known. It was fantastic to meet you and to hear your feedback. We’re fast approaching 400,000 views which is amazing in less than 2 years!
We’re back in Auckland with our feet up for a bit before we set off again.
While we were in Tekapo with our neighbours, Ray and Margaret who have been living in their bus for the last 4 ½ years or so, we found out that we had probably missed the best part of the Rail Trail while we were in Ranfurly. We had a few days up our sleeve before catching up with Helen in Lowburn so we decided to spend another couple of nights at one of our favorite stops in Central Otago, the Omakau Hotel.
The Omakau Hotel is well setup for Motorhomes with a whole set of Ensuite cabins and concreted Motorhome parks out behind the Hotel. See my previous blog on this.
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We were travelling from the NZMCA park in Cromwell so it wasn’t that far.
Getting ready at Omakau behind the Hotel
We used the time to have a good tidy up. Vacuuming and washing Rafe inside and out! The only problem is that the fresh water in these parts has a high level of calcium which dries on as water spots.. ugly! At least it was clean 🙂
At Omakau
The next morning, we up early and set off on the bikes to Lauder on the bike trail. The first bit to Lauder was slightly uphill but barely noticeable. There were a couple of bridges but it was largely a dead straight track across open fields most of the way to Lauder.
Arriving at Lauder
We stopped briefly at Lauder for a couple of sandwiches which we took with us and a glass of water.. the last of the big spenders !
Viaduct 1
From here is was a slight uphill grind up to the hills until we came to a curved viaduct crossing a river which was amazing. We stopped here for a look then headed onto some amazing tunnels which had to be walked through.
Real lord of the rings type of landscape
Both tunnels were reasonably short. We continued a slight climb through a really rocky Central Otago landscape to cross the main Viaduct.
The first Tunnel
From here we were on the edge of the Ida Valley and could pretty much see right down towards Ranfurly.
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The road to Lauder
Glass of water and a cake and we’re off again
At Lauder
The first Viaduct
Off the first bridge
Looking back
On the way back to Tunnel 2
Crossing the second Viaduct
Amazing view. Apparently this Viaduct took three years to build and the workers lived up here in the hills in little shacks. It must have been pretty unpleasant. There are some great signboards which give you the history as you go along.
Viaduct 2 took three years to build.
It was sandwich time before heading back to Lauder. We’d done the bits we missed !
Viaduct 2 with the Ida valley behind
The ride was great and it was nice to see the Tunnels and Viaducts that we had missed. We worked out that we did approximately 36k’s there and back.
On the way back to Tunnel 2
This was the easy bit. Feet up downhill really all the way back to Omakau. We stopped in at Lauder for a cuppa and something else to eat before heading back to Omakau.
In the tunnel
While we were in Lauder having a cup of coffee, I received a phone call from my old neighbour, Terry. He was on the road on his way to Alexandra and was keen to catch up.
Fiona nearly back at Lauder
We arranged to meet at Omakau and we had not long been back when he arrived armed with a bottle of Chardonnay and some cheese and biccies.
On the way back to Omakau
It was really nice to see Terry and we ended up having Tea at the Omakau Hotel which was great.
