Fiona and I arrived in Rafe at 3pm and set off up the hill to find our park. We couldn’t believe the park we’d been given for the next two nights but it would have to go down as one of the best parking spots ever. The image above shows Gary and Dianne enjoying the view from right in front of Rosie.
Our wee spot in the world. Rafe, Rosie and the Tracker
The view looked right out over the Castlepoint Beach and lighthouse. After meeting our immediate neighbours who very kindly gave us a some freshly caught Groper and a crayfish, Gary and Dianne arrived in Rosie and then Rob, Helen and Chloe not long after. They were thrilled with the park too.
Nice fish bites from our neighbour cooked on the induction cooker.Ready for New Year
As it was blowing quite hard, we decided to set up the induction cooker like you would a BBQ as there were no flames to blow around.. It did the trick nicely with the fish and later Fiona’s curry for our tea.
A great night watching the fireworks over the beach.
Diane, Gary, Fiona, Helen and Rob
Thanks you all for supporting us here and we hope you have a great year for 2017.
The last time we stayed at Wenderholm, we stayed in the public carpark by the beach. Although we had a great night and its a great spot, compared to other Auckland CSC parks where Motorhomers were safely fenced off, this was somewhat of a disappointment.
Click on the images for Hi Res or a slideshow
After discussing this with our veteran Auckland parks motorhoming friends, Rob and Helen, they told us that the Schischka park was THE place to go so here we were and it was fabulous.
There is a big electric gate with a digital keypad and after a 500 metre driveway it opens up to a massive grassed parking area by the water with brand new flush toilets in the middle. There are also some baches where you can stay if you don’t have your own accommodation.
Schiska house where you can stay
Schiska House from the CSC parking
The new loos
Rafe parked with the Estuary
The Puhoi Estuary
The Walk to the beach
Couldrey House
The Beach
We could only spend one night here but it is stunning. We went for a walk down a waterfront track to the beach and checked out the old Historic Couldrey House. There are new toilets there too. There are walks all over the hill there too so plenty to do and see.
The camp from the Estaury
A great place to stay and so handy to the big smoke of Auckland too.
One of Rafe’s tracking maps below.
Every now and then when you’re off the main roads and you start looking for a good place to stay, you find a little purler.
We were in Matakohe after having a look around Tinopai. The weather was on again off again rain so we checked into the Matakohe Holiday Park which is just past the museum. The off season cost for both Fiona and I was $34 for a powered site which I thought was pretty good given the facilities were all in good nick and included a dump station.
Don’t forget to click on the images for hi res or a slideshow
What a huge welcome from a really friendly hostess who couldn’t do enough for us. We were shown to a park which had a view over the harbour with plenty of room around us. There seemed to be a picnic table and a bit of grass around every park along with plenty of taps scattered around for water. The park also had a nice community feel there as many of the guests knew each other and they were very welcoming as well.
Our view of the water.. weather wasn’t helping
We’d only been there an hour or so (around 4pm by then) and by 6pm, it went to being quite empty to pretty chocker and many of them seemed to be regulars. In the morning, we topped up with water, tested the dump station and we were off.
Kids area with a view
Chalets you can stay in
Busy by 6pm
Love the home made signs
Wonderful hosts and a nice little park if you’re in that neck of the woods.
The NZMCA parks are amazing value. Where else can you stay for $3 each overnight and have that nice warm fuzzy safe feeling of not waking up with a mattress van or worse a few inches from your pride and joy.
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The Entrance
We checked out the Rainbow Falls park recently and after some pretty heavy rain too. After seeing some comments about how slushy it was, its nice to see enough gravel has gone down to provide parking for 6 or so big Motorhomes or Caravans. I gather this is slowly going to spread as the grass grows. Great idea.
The local crew have done a fantastic job of the gardens around the Lighthouse too.
Great Gardens too
There were only two caravans there when we arrived and with a fine day forecast for the next day, we made plans to walk down the river right next door with the amazing Rainbow Falls, down to the historic Stone Store. The idea was to have lunch down there and walk back.
Interesting too that the Falls were used to generate one of NZ’s power as one of the first power stations.
We hopped over the fence and got about fifty yards to find the track had been closed off due to “upgrading” so took the car out for a look around instead. I wandered around the top and got some piccies of the falls which was about as far as you could go.
We have been here before in the middle of Summer and it truly is a magic spot. Fiona did the walk last time and I met her down there.
Outside the Stone Store at Kerikeri last time we were here.
Its a lovely spot now and will be popular in Summer and once the Gravel program is finished, it’ll be a great all year round spot to stay.
Well done to those involved.
The Netspeed Speed test from this site.
(Pre Aerial upgrade)
We were out having a walk towards the upper end of Coromandel, trying to walk off a great tea that we’d enjoyed the night before:-)
Nicely set out grounds
As we passed the Coromandel Hotel, I remembered being told about some parking for Motorhomes that was available behind the pub. It is not marked on any of the apps and doesn’t appear in the bible so it was time to check it out.
The Hotel
Walking down the side street, beside the Hotel is a backpackers and then what they call the Kampa parking. What a neat place. There are 16 powered sites available on grass for $20 a night per van with 2 people. Apparently the pub puts on some nice meals too and you’re not too far from a bar 🙂
The Backpackers and a dump station
I’ll be trying it next time we’re there. It looks nice.
We were going to take our grandson Ayden for a school holiday trip to Rotorua but unfortunately, he came down with a germ and after another night with his Mum and Dad on the ranch in Ardmore, he was still too crook to travel.
Fiona and I thought we’d try a new campground out at Martins Bay at the end of the Mahurangi Peninsula overlooking Moturekareka Island and also a bit of Kawau. A lovely part of the world and we were pretty much the only people there on our second night.
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Rafe looking lonely
The Motorcamp is one of the Auckland City commercial campgrounds like Whangateau and Orewa. They were having an off peak special of $15 a person so given the rain and the showers were rolling through, we thought we’d give a shot.
Powered sites along the beachfront
Its a huge campground with lots of permanent caravans with decks and addons but there are also plenty of powered sites, I think in the region of 130 odd I saw somewhere.
The Balcony parking up the top.
Caravans everywhere you looked
Washing Time
The boat wash down area (coin operated)
Holiday Homes
Looking down at Martins from the Scandretts track
A Kowhai half way up to Scandretts
Martins Bay with Kawau Island
A good facilities block with token and 50c showers and a well setup kitchen and TV room. Being in a popular fishing area, there is a boat and fish washing area and a separate storage area for boats and tractors.
Above the main part of the campground on a hill, there is a raised area with views over the whole bay where you stay if you pay a wee bit more.
From the Scandretts track with Martins bay and Whangaparoa in the distance
On our first full day, we set off along the beach past heaps of baches for a walk up to Scandretts Park. Its an easy walk up a well worn track up to the top of the hill and you can walk down to Scandretts Bay, or several tracks take you out to a pah at the end of the point. The views are amazing.
Scandretts Bay looking towards Takatu Peninsula
We had rolling showers with lots of fine periods while we were there and they had just had lots of rain so quite a bit of the park was roped off to recover.
Moturoa Island and Whangaparoa in the distance
A nice park which I reckon would be packed in summer and very handy to Kawau Island and the other islands.
We were heading to Wanganui to catch up with our old neighbours Terry and Lisa but on the way, I had heard about a campground in Kapiti which had a shower and toilet shed for each Motorhome site. I had to check this out.
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Rafe and our helpful neighbour
It was a real treat having our own little self contained bathroom just outside the door. While we were in town, we would see if we could catch up with Fiona’s cousin Malcolm and his wife Michelle, and have them for tea.
We arrived at Kapiti Holiday Park around 4pm and were shown where to park in “Windsor Lane”. Each named avenue is surrounded by huge high hedges protecting everyone from any winds.
The avenues
The hedges also mean you have to be mindful of the direction you park if you want TV reception. My very kind neighbour pointed this out to me when I backed in and he realised that I wouldn’t get a signal where I was, but if I turned Rafe around the other way, my dome would be further from the hedge and would get a clean signal. Good to have that local knowledge. Thanks neighbor! The little shed had its own shower, toilet and handbasin in with its own hot water cylinder. There was also a gully trap next to the shed on the outside for waste and a freshwater tap at the back along with a power point. Everything you could ever want and very convenient.
Delicately cut in to the hedge
We could easily do a dash for the shower in the morning with a towel around us without anyone noticing ! With winter prices it was $40.00 for the night for us both.
Rafe in the zone
Inside the shed
Kapiti Island
The meal went well and it was great to see Malcolm and Michelle.
Just over the road was Paraparamu Beach so we were off for a walk and see the coast. Kapiti Island looks huge as it is just off the beach.
Fiona having a walk on the beach with Kapiti Island behind.
A lovely park and quite a novelty with the little cabins.
The weather was about to go downhill dramatically and as there was a deal going on the Campermate app at Holdens Bay Holiday park for $14 a night, it seemed sensible to take up the offer.
Click on the images to see Hi Res or a slideshow
Lots of room in winter
A couple of nights plugged in with the heater on to clear some posts, sounded like a good idea. There were hot pools there too.
Rafe all settled in before the afternoon rush.
Its a big park with lots of rental apartments and plenty of powered parks and being a cold winters day and about to get colder, it had more motorhomes there than I expected.
Holdens Bay is on the eastern side of Lake Rotorua just south of the airport. Its a little out of the way but apart from the odd plane, its a nice quiet spot with great facilities. You can also walk to the lake which is only 5 minutes away and there is a technology museum almost next door. With the deal and forecasted bad weather, a great spot to hunker down.
Nice Kitchen and toilets
The Pool but not pool weather
Looking into Rotorua
NZ is such a small place. I’d no sooner settled Rafe down when I heard a frantic tooting and looked around. There was some people that I’d met the night before in Taupo and put them onto Campermate.
A young Dutch graphic designer with his theatre nurse wife, Stephen and Angelique with their 3 year old son. A really nice couple who were into their third and last week of a NZ campervan tour. They had got the same deal I had and were staying one night before pushing on towards Auckland. I also bumped into them a few days later at Miranda Holiday park, one of my recommendations for their last night. We’ll hopefully catch up with them in Rotterdam when we get there sometime next year.
For those offshore, Campermate is a free cell phone app which shows where Campgrounds, dumpstations, free parking, petrol stations etc are on a map and use your location but also has deals. Well worth getting if you’re touring NZ.
Holdens bay towards Rotorua
Its such a neat place Rotorua with so much to do and has a calming atmosphere to it and of course all the Thermal stuff happening.
It always amused me by the foresight of the Rotorua team with their signs pointing out where not to park in the NZMCA Ngongotaha park, if you wanted a TV signal.
Click on the images for hi Res or a slideshow
Ngongotaha looking fantasticThe park from the driveway
This was due to the huge trees all down one side of the park. There was one tree really that was the culprit for the TV reception problems but I understand they were all a bit rotten so had to go for safety reasons after a limb fell.
Look at that view
Although I thought the trees looked great and I was a wee bit concerned when I heard they had gone, it does look fantastic.
The Dump station
From the back looking out to the lake
I also understand that the area down the front is about to get a makeover and be made ready for more parking.
Lots of rot in the stump
Great work guys.. it’s one of the better parks around.
We were on our way back to Auckland from Kerikeri when we found out our old friends Gary and Chris were at Uretiti Doc park for a few nights. We thought we’d surprise them.
As we arrived right on the dot for “elbow exercise time” (with a glass in hand) at 5pm. We started on some wine while Fiona made us all a nice chicken tea.
We weren’t far into the conversation when Gary filled me in on the new Netspeed Router firmware upgrade and what a difference it had made for him.
With all of my speed tests around the country and comparing notes with Gary’s tests, it became very obvious that his speeds were generally 5 mbs a second or so faster than mine. I put that down to the fact that the sides of his van are fibreglass and the sides of mine are composite with an outside shell of aluminium. I’d assumed from that despite us having external aerials, that the router in automatic mode with aerials, was favouring the internal aerials which gave Gary a better signal. Well. .. No more 🙂
The good folk at Netspeed have released a router firmware upgrade which gives you the option to tell the router to only use the external aerials. The firmware upgrade is free but you will have to install it yourself or get someone slightly techy to do it for you. Netspeed will also do it over the phone with you too. It only takes five minutes and is not complicated and well worth doing. The big thing with this upgrade is not to be rushed and let the upgrade finish before fiddling with anything.
Wait for that magic moment when you get the box pop up that says “Success!”
Back to our elbow exercise.. While chatting away, Gary brought out his laptop which had the upgrade file on it for my router and in a few minutes had it installed on my router. In Uretiti, I immediately went from 2 bars of 4g to three and that added about 15 Mbps odd to my download speed as I was able to get my roof aerials really pumping rather than let the router do as it pleased with my useless internal aerials… Useless inside a metal cage anyway.
What a wonderful sight
Thanks heaps Gary.. We had a great night. Nice to see you both again too.
The Netspeed speed test at Uretiti earlier
Download: 24.42 Mbps
Upload: 2.45 Mbps
Ping: 49 ms
After with the external aerials pumping!
Download: 46.62 Mbps
Upload: 3.39 Mbps
Ping: 35 ms
Connection Type: Wi-Fi
The upload speed is still awful but it is an iffy spot but it’s well worth doing the upgrade !!
How to do the upgrade.. Call Netspeed for the link for the download then download the right file for your router.
Log into your router as administrator.. For security reasons, I’m not going to tell you how to do this here but look at your router instructions.
Follow the instructions in the following screens.
The login screen on your router once you’ve logged in. Open browser.. Type in 192.168.1.1 to get here.This is in Update. Click on Local update to upload your file and WAIT until it finishes!Once it has finished, you can go to this screen in Settings and set your aerials up. I’ve got mine on External only
Have fun and enjoy the extra speed. Call the fine team at Netspeed if you get stuck or need help.
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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