Kevin and Melissa Wallace escaped from Auckland about 15 years ago and bought their piece of paradise in Port Albert not long after.
Looking over towards Port Albert
The house along with a huge orchard sit on the top of a ridge overlooking the back of Port Albert and there’s a peek of the Kaipara too.
Great parking
Fiona and I arrived in Rafe and keen to check it all out, were there when Kevin popped in and was very happy to show us around and we were invited to check out the orchard on the other side of the house.
Fruit for Africa
After plugging Rafe in and opening some vents, I went for a wander to see what was what.
Part of the Orchard
There is a fantastic shower with a loo, a dump station and UV treated water. It was all there.
We had a great night there and all for $20 for us both.
In the morning, Kevin popped in with some Avocados and a Lemon which was great. Fantastic hosts sharing their lovely place by the Kaipara.
If you’re heading to Port Albert and go about 4k’s past the turnoff, you’ll find it on your left or on the App.
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This has to be one the best Parking spots that I’ve found and I pretty much found it by accident.
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Great Parking
It was set up for the workers originally for Robert and Ruth McLeods Kiwifruit and Avocado Orchard workers just outside Katikati and is now a NZMCA charges apply site. There are Toilets and Showers with Washing facilities and about 20 powered sites set among some fruit trees. It is $10 a night per person with power. I’d just been at the Waihi Beach opening for a couple of days and needed to give camera batteries and my laptop a bit of a shove on power so this was fantastic. There are quite a few long termers and workers there who take a personal interest in keeping the place spic and span. It is a busy little spot but a fantastic place to stop off if you’re on the way somewhere. There is also a family of Pukekos that seem to be pretty territorial and keep an eye on the place as well 🙂
A lovely spot.
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The iconic shape of the VW Combi and the bright colours were hard to miss.
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Tania with the VW’s
The happy voice of Bowentown Holiday Park, Tania was only to pleased to show me through the amazing Combi cabins. With the bright Green and Orange exterior paintjob they almost glow in the dark!
What can you say !
They’re about 4 years old and were originally made in Auckland and are fully insulated, complete with heating and set up very comfortably.
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Complete with Retro Chairs
New owners of the Park, Mike and Bec are planning to plant some gardens around them and restore the colours to that of the original VW’s.
For those who want to stay with Motorhome or Caravan friends, this is the next best thing and in the off season, they’re just $85 a night.
A great sight to see and a fun way to spend the weekend away!
The Bowentown Holiday Park is in one of the best locations with one of the best Beachs !
With a friendly crew and with the NZMCA off season deal of pay for two nights, and get two thrown in, it was just too tempting! Their normal tariff at $23pp powered I thought was very reasonable anyway, given the facilities provided.
With Tania’s cheery voice on the phone and confirming there was a space for Rafe, I was underway.
The Bowentown Holiday Park is at the end of a long peninsula right on the beach. It is well setup up with a newish Amenities block with TV room, Games room, huge Kitchen and an amazing space age looking Laundry. There is also a spa pool area there too. I was offered a park right up against the hill overlooking the beach and the rest of the park. It was a breeze getting in and settling Rafe and I was off for a look around and down to the beach. A magic spot.
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The Beach!
The view from Rafe
What a view
The walk to Waihi Beach
More great parking
The Kitchen
Spacey Laundry
Play area
Looking up to Wahi Beach
On the Boardwalk
The park has just changed hands after 30 something years, with new owners Mike and Bec settling in and only just 4 weeks in, have already got a plan of attack for new improvements. Two of the cabins are well into a full refurbishment with more to come!
New owners Mike and Bec
The beach here though is the feature of course and being right next to it, it just doesn’t get any better. Even in Winter!
A nice park, nice people and I’ll be back soon.
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One of the features of my around the Dargaville loop was coming across Kiwi North.
Run by a charitable trust, it includes the Whangarei Museum, a Kiwi house and much more, all part of a 25 hectare Heritage park.
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NZMCA’rs can also stay the night there with power for just $15 per night. This also gives you a discount to see the Kiwis and the Museum.
The Static Engine Club
I pulled in and parked in one of the two Motorhome parks out in the main carpark while checking in and met by a very helpful lady on the front desk who showed me where everything was and then gave me a brochure specially printed for NZMCA’rs who want to stay there. It also had a map showing what was there along with things to see and do.
The Kauri Railway Station
After parking Rafe in one of the 4 concrete parking pads setup for Motorhomes and plugging in and opening vents, I set off with the camera to have a look around.
Great parking for 4 on a concrete pad with power and toilets too.
One of the features of the park apart from the Kiwi House and Museum is the Grand old Clarke Homestead built in 1886. The Clarke family also had a Butchery, a Laundry, Dairy and Milking Parlour and has been occupied by three generations of the family up to 1972.
Clarke Homestead with the Jane Mander Study
Also next to the Clarke Homestead is the Jane Mander Study which was a turret that was once on top of the family home in Whangarei. Access was by a rooftop walkway. Jane’s Dad owned the Northern Advocate in the early days and Jane went on to be the Editor.
I found this really interesting as in my Newspaper days as a photographer, with the Herald and the Star, I had to work with the Advocate guys during Waitangi day protests along with other jobs. They were a great crew to be with and always very helpful.
The Jane Mander Study
The other amazing thing here was the Oruati Chapel built from a single Kauri log in 1859 and was in Doubtless Bay in the north. It is still used today for Weddings and Christenings.
The Oruati Chapel
There are many of Whangarei’s Clubs based here in their own buildings like the Steam society, the Ham Radios club and many others. Its a very interesting place to just have a look around.
Inside the Oruati Chapel. Made from one Kauri log in 1859!
The old Kauri Railway Station along with a separate reduced scale railway along with Riponui Pah school built in 1898. All really good stuff.
Looking out over the Clarke Homestead to Whangarei
Down one end of the park is a Alexander Clarkes grave. He’s the chap that originally came out from the Uk and built the Clarke Homestead.
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Clarke Homestead
Inside the Clarke Homestead
The Riponui Pah school
Inside the school house
The original Whangarei womans jail from around 1900.
Blacksmiths shop
Alexander Clarkes Grave
A wonderful place to park, plenty to see and do and they really want you to visit them. I couldn’t believe how organised they are for Motorhomers, even having a brochure for NZMCA’rs on what to do and see and complete with the Wings on the cover !
Cultural Parking!
Well worth seeing and doing and great parking.. Go there, they need your support 🙂
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A new addition to the NZMCA clubs network is the Franklin A&P society in Pukekohe.
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Plenty of room
I popped in and their parking is tucked in behind the Saleyards not far from the Racetrack.
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Rose Cottage
Plenty of room
The saleyards pens
A&P building at Pukekohe
On arrival I popped in to the office where I met a very friendly Jannine who showed me where everything was. There are toilets, they allow Dogs on leads and there is oodles of parking with about 10 powered sites. The powered sites are $12 a night and are tucked in with the partial cover of some trees and protected behind some gates.
Smiling Jannine by the parking
It is all very secure and a neat place to stay.
Rafe in a park. Its probably better diagonally
Jannine is doing a deal for the V8’s and being right next door is the perfect location for the event. Its also a few minutes walk into Pukekohe’s main village.
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 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.
After several weeks of sanding, painting and repairing things and generally getting the house on the market, it was time for a well earned break.
Our friends Helen, Rob and Chloe were keen to head to one of our favourite spots at the Pauanui Club at Pauanui.
Mini Golf next to the parking at Pauanui.
To beat the holiday weekend traffic, Fiona and I decided that I would get Rafe stocked up. I would then collect her from work at 6pm and we would head down to the motorway towards Ardmore and maybe spend the night there. We would then go early the next day to Coromandel to try to beat the worst of the traffic.
As we crossed the bridge, there was no traffic ! We got to Manukau, still no traffic until we hit Takanini where roadworks slowed it down to a crawl but after a 1k or so, we were away again ! We decided we’d keep going until we’d had enough and that ended up being Thames 🙂
I’ve never stayed at Rhodes park before but it is just on the left after Thames Airfield before you get into Thames. It is Free parking provided by the local council and its a great place. A great big piece of flat gravel and you can park anywhere.
There were about 10 or so Caravans and Motorhomes and everyone had plenty of room. There as a good Internet signal there too but I forgot to measure it!
We woke up in the morning around 7:30 to the phone ringing which Fiona answered and it was Rob saying that they were at Drury on the Southern Motorway stopped in traffic. We made a decision to get up and get going in case the traffic extended to the Coromandel road and got cracking.
Plenty of space
As it turned out, it only took us about 40 minutes to get to Pauanui and we were there shortly after 9am. Rob, Helen and Chloe arrived about an hour or so later.
One of the Hanger homes
The Club parking is superb and it is extremely good value. At $10 including power, toilets, a cold shower(if you have no option) and access to their bar and superb meals. It is also right next door to the Airfield with homes with built in hangers alongside the runway. There is always something to see and do. The town is an easy 5 minute walk away as well with some nice Cafe’s and a small supermarket. It is also right next door to a great Mini Golf park which was busy for most of the weekend.
There were 4 Motorhomes there when we arrived and there was plenty of room for more.
Rafe and the Tracker in the park
Some positive feedback for them. There is room for more Motorhomes there down one end but the 8 power sockets are on two poles where they could spread this over three poles and increase their turnover but its fantastic as it is!
Great Beach with Slipper Island behind
We went for a walk around to see our son Alex’s family about a 1k away who were staying in Sarah’s family bach. Grandsons Ayden and Liam were there too so we took them down to the beach about 100 metres away.
Pauanui is a great surf beach with the famous Slipper island just off shore.
Liam and Ayden digging in the sand. Chloe, Rob, Helen and Fiona further up the beach.
That night, Alex and Sarah and the boys came around and we all went to the Pauanui club for a few glasses of fizz and they had tea.
Ayden and Liam digging holes on the beach
The next day, they all walked around to the Pauanui Waterways and had a look at this amazing development. Rob, Helen and Chloe climbed up to the top of Mt Pauanui which is a feat too!
Pauanui Waterways
All in all, over three days, it was nice to be in one spot for a period and just be able to blob and check out what was just around the corner.
We last caught up with friends Rob and Helen before we went to the South Island last year but saw Helen in Lowburn so it was good to see them with Chloe as well.
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The Tracker and Rafe in the Campground
We headed up to a neat wee campground in Leigh called Leigh Central. With the weather being off and on sunny and the odd shower but lots of easterly wind, we knew we were in for a few good puffs.
The view across to Tawharanui
We’d only been there about half an hour when Rob turned up with their Tracker and Helen and Chloe arrived later.
Its a small campground which is part of a Motel complex right in the heart of Leigh.
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Kitchen
Smart Motels
Outdoor area for Happy times
A monster being weighed
Weighed Fish
We’d just arrived when the owner Ian popped out to welcome us in. Ian and his wife along with another couple own the complex and have been progressively upgrading it and it looks great. It is run on an honesty system at $20 per van per night, great value and with a view out over the water to Tawharanui Peninsula. There are plans to add Toilets and Shower which are there now but not hooked up and there is a full kitchen and lounge area with a big open fire which would be great in winter.
Nice lounge for winter
It was really nice to see Rob, Helen and Chloe again and we had a great night updating each other with all the news.
The next day, after a big sleep and lie in :-), we walked around to the Leigh School where there was a weigh in for a big Fishing competetion that had been on. There was a huge Marque and lots of stalls for food and it looked set for a big night with live music too.
We walked around the road to the well known Sawmill Cafe and had a beer and a nibble before coming back to the campground and enjoying some great Fish and Chips from the shop next door to the campground.
Mathesons Bay.. check out the wave
As we left, we drove down to the Leigh Wharf area which is really interesting. An easy walk from the campground too. Mathesons Bay is just around the corner and we checked that out as well.
Mathesons Bay Beach
A great place to stay, nice hosts and not far from anywhere. We’ll be back.
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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.
Bugger It, we are off - www.buggeritweareoff.com 
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