Tag Archives: Extra Value Parking

Europe 2017, Germany

Coffee by the Castle

1 Comment

Kitzingen is about 350 k’s from Prague and after stopping just inside the Czech Republic border to spend our last crowns on Diesel and lunch, we cruised on into Germany.

Click on the images for Hi Res or a slideshow

Us before the rush

We arrived in Kitzingen about 2pm in the afternoon at a great Stellplatz by the river which was 9 Euros a night plus power at .5EU by kwh. It took two 50c coins to get through the night with just a fridge going and a couple of phones and a laptop charging.. pretty cheap. This works out about NZ$15 a night all up with  free toilets and dumping and it was a stones throw from the centre of a charming village with more of those lovely old buildings.

Gary looking relaxed with Harry and Ralph

We settled down and made a start on a 5 litre bottle of Estrella Wine which I’d bought for about NZ$9 in a Tesco store in Prague. I was assured from another shopper that it was ok to drink but we were a still bit worried about it. It was actually quite nice when you think what it cost 🙂

Fiona walking across the bridge on the right. Lovely old buildings

The next morning, Fiona was off early over the bridge to the baker to get some buns for us all for breakfast then we all went back for a look and a cup of coffee in the square.

Part of the churchfrom the camp
In the town
The View from the camp to the town
You pay for your ticket here and display it in your window
A Euro for your water
The Dump Station
.50 EU for power

Later in the day, the motorhomes started filling up the Stellplatz and parked where ever they could. The place was chocker.

Busy town

A park right by the river with barges to watch go by, close to town and nice and cheap.

Northland

Horses in Kaikohe

2 Comments

I was on my way to the Horeke Tavern but after hitting some gravel road and with 18k’s to go and the weather looking iffy, I thought I’d be a wuss and head back to the Equestrian Centre in Kaikohe for a park for the night.

Click on the Images for Hi Res or a Slideshow

Great parking

I’d just arrived when a smart looking VW Sprinter based van followed me in. This turned out to be some veteran motor homers in their 3rd month away from their home in Alexandra in Otago. They came over and joined me for a happy hour cold one.

This is an amazing place to stay. A huge carpark with power boxes dotted around so you can take your pick. In the middle at one end is a toilet block with showers and a dump station and potable water too. All this for $10 a night. They have made good use of an old red telephone box by making that the place where you pay and register for the night.

The Red Telephone box

The day we were there, the local pony club were practising. Its a great scene.

They are very careful about making sure the gate is locked behind you and for the night with the padlock. While we were there, 4 or 5 police cars raced by in different directions so they must have their reasons 🙂 .. Despite that, we all felt reasonably safe.

The neeaaaybours
HQ with the red telephone box
The toilet, shower block and dump station

The old Ngawha Springs pools are just down the road. I’m not sure if they’re still open though.

Power boxes everywhere you look

A fabulous place to stay in the North and at a great price!

The Netspeed Speedtest .. a long way from a tower!
Download: 5.94 Mbps
Upload: 2.32 Mbps
Ping: 60 ms

Rafes Tracker Map

Rafe’s Tracker map

 

Kauricoast2017

Peace and Quiet

2 Comments

What a beautiful place Pahi is. We’ve been here before I was doing this blog with friends just after some heavy rain. We had to park on the gravel so its not an all weather grassy surface.

Click on the Images for Hi Res or a Slideshow

Looking down from up the road.

Pahi is about 15 minutes off the main highway through to Dargaville. It is at the end of a peninsula south of Paparoa.

A local anti Fouling his boat

When I arrived, I was met with a sign in the office to make myself comfortable in a park of my choice and they’ll catch up with me. For $10 (with NZMCA discount) per person per night with power, it is exceptionally good value and its in a lovely spot in the northern reaches of the Kaipara Harbour.

All tide ramp

Apparently it is one of the few all tide ramps in the whole of the Kaipara.

Just like in the travel magazines!

The wharf is great for a walk down or just for a look around. There are some really quirky little houses there dotted around the waterfront, almost like an old fishing village you see in the magazines.

The office
Looking across to Whakapirau
Looking north past Whakapirau
Just like in the travel magazines!
Close to the water
Dawn with Fog
Pahi Hall by the wharf

The camp is a Doc park with the staff being managed by a local committee and apparently it works well. There is an old Hotel which had its license transferred to the Paparoa pub in the 50’s. It is still in great shape but is now a private house. The camp has a dump stations and a recently renovated toilet and shower block.

Looking across to Whakapirau

A lovely spot which you could easily spend a few days at and run by some really nice people.

There was a good 3G Internet signal here but I forgot to speedtest it.

Rafe’s Track to Pahi

Pahi

 

Coromandel 2017

Top Value Parking with Top Value Tucker

2 Comments

The Coromandel Hotel is a real surprise.

The front of the Hotel

By walking down the street beside it reveals a nice private flat powered Motorhome park behind the hotel nicely planted out with Palms and with a nice outlook. It is $25 (for two)a night and includes the use of the nearby Backpackers Toilet and Showers. It also has a dump station.

Click on the images for Hi Res or a Slideshow

Solid ground too.
The Backpackers with the Dump Station, Showers and Toilets.

We arrived early on a Friday and checked in for a weekend at Coromandel. Our friends Dianne and Gary were staying in a motel room in the Coromandel Top 10 right opposite so it worked perfectly.

We went for a walk down to the town which takes all of 10 minutes and enjoyed a cuppa at one of the many cafes down there and after checking into some of the shops wandered back to Rafe. There is a Laundromat there too.

Nicely setup parking and has a dump station and fresh water
The Laundry is easy to spot
Coromandel Town
I love the Husband Waiting chairs

That night it rained and we popped over to the Motel unit and enjoyed a few laughs and glasses of wine before heading to the Coromandel Hotel for tea. It was stunning. Gary and I had a carpetbag steak each, Fiona had a seafood chowder which had huge pieces of seafood in it and Dianne had the roast pork. The best was still to come.. liquorice ice cream with sambuca.. and it was huge. We all hooked in. This is really something to see and even better to eat.

Looking down the back

A neat place to stay and great place to eat as well.

I have done a blog on this before but this is the first time we’ve stayed here and I’m pleased we did!

One thing I did find interesting is like Simpsons Beach, I had to switch the router back to 3G. Although it worked on 4G, It was significantly faster on 3G.. see the speedtests below.

The Netspeed speedtests for this site.

3G
Download: 22.95 Mbps
Upload: 2.41 Mbps
Ping: 67 ms

4G
Download: 5.67 Mbps
Upload: 0.08 Mbps
Ping: 72 ms
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&q=-36.755005,175.499769

Coromandel 2017

The Coroglen Tavern

4 Comments

We were on our way to Whitianga and were told about the magic Mussel Fritters that come from the Coroglen Tavern.

Click on the images for Hi Res or a Slideshow

Jed and Michelle outside their Hotel

3 years ago, Landlady (In the traditional Coro St fashion) Michelle and her other half Jed, bought the pub from Michelles parents and are redeveloping it as they can.

As responsible hosts, they are providing an area for Motorhomers to spend the night after enjoying their hospitality. As Michelle said, “They haven’t finished here yet”.

The Motorhome parking area. Plenty of room.

The Coroglen Tavern is the local for a wide area of Coromandel and is a well known Saturday night music hotspot.

The music area
Inside the bar area
Rafe parked outside

We timed it beautifully with our arrival bang on lunchtime and it was very hard to go past the Seafood Basket and of course the amazing Mussel Fritters. YUM. This is a serious must do!

Mussel Fritters .. YUM!
The Seafood basket

There is parking around the back or we just parked Rafe in front.

Rafe parked outside

Jed and Michelle and their staff were very helpful and as I said, the food was something out of this world. Try it 🙂

Coromandel 2017

Cruzin in Thames

8 Comments

The  sign said “Park in an empty park, plug yourself in and make yourself comfortable and we’ll be round”. .. or words of that effect. We were just parking when a huge smile appeared around the corner of the next door Motorhome helping us to park.

Click on an images for Hi Res or a Slideshow

I’d heard all about Cruzin N Stop before and was keen to try it out. It is right in the middle of Thames and is perfectly located for checking out the shops and cafes so I was immediately scoring huge brownie points with Fiona 🙂

Rafe in the park

For $20 including power for NZMCA members with toilets and a shower. Its a neat wee place to stay right in the middle of things. Its not a place you would go for a holiday given that it comes with in town distractions but its safe, handy, good value and the people are really helpful.

We stayed the night here on route to Coromandel. The road up the coast was closed due to slips and washouts and after a stroll around the town and a good gander at some antique shops, we headed back to Rafe and settled down some good old fashioned Netflix movies while it rained. Fiona on one TV, me on the other 🙂

Gordon outside Cruz N Stop
The Junction Hotel

The next morning, we walked the other way and after a visit to the Dump Station, we were off over the hill.

The Brian Boru Hotel

A neat spot to stop for a night or two, very very handy to everything in Thames and great people. At $20 with power and other facilities in the middle of town, it’s pretty reasonable.

The Netspeed Speedtest for this site.
Download: 33.20 Mbps
Upload: 23.19 Mbps
Ping: 48 ms
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&q=-37.137629,175.542751
Rafe’s Tracker Map

Bay of Plenty

The Razza Waihi Beach

What a great place.  Perched on a hill looking over Waihi Beach looking out to Mayor Island and views right down to Bowentown.

Mayor Island
Mayor Island

We were helping friends Rob and Helen celebrate picking up their new Autotrail Tracker. The campground volunteered that the RSA courtesy van was coming and we could get a ride to the famous Gunners Restaurant.

Click on the images for Hi Res or a slideshow

Rob, Helen and Fiona arriving in the van.
Rob, Helen and Fiona arriving in the van.

It was a Saturday night so their overnight parking was pretty busy but not full and looked fantastic. The NZMCA card admitted us to the bar and to the restaurant. We opted for the carvery at $18 a head and it was absolutely amazing. There was also a salad bar which was great too.

Parking on the Saturday
Rob in the queue
The food .. Yummy spuds
The Beef Carvery

After a few drinks, we headed back in the courtesy van to the campground. A great night

The Razza parking area
The Razza parking area

The next day, Fiona and I decided we would have to give the parking at the RSA a go so after having had a good look around the area, we arrived around 3pm and clocked ourselves in for the overnight stay and for a drink at the bar. A perfectly fine day, views for Africa it was an nice place to be. We’d both vowed that we wouldn’t do the carvery again but I ended up eating that anyway 🙂 ..and every bit as nice as the first night.
While there is no cost for overnight parking, it is expected that you at least buy a drink or even a meal. You won’t regret it either 🙂

Not far to walk home:-)
Not far to walk home:-)

In the morning, we were woken up with a knock on the door. It was an RSA person asking us to move to the carpark so the diggers could tear up the grass to turn it into a gravel park as it turns into a mud bog in winter. No worries.. the lady at the bar had told us this was coming but no one knew it was the next day.

The Grass getting dug up
The Grass getting dug up

It was an easy move but I felt a bit for the Caravanners but it was received with good humour .

A wonderful place to stay, eat and drink and for friendliness they are unbeatable.

The Netspeed Speedtest for this park

Download: 42.58 Mbps
Upload: 10.70 Mbps
Ping: 63 ms
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&q=-37.406769,175.935864

Rafes Tracker Map

Our track from Athenree down to Bowentown and to the RSA

 

NZMCA Rallies, Rallies

The Massive Rally at the Races

This is just bigger than Ben Hur.. There must be more than 450 Motorhomes and Caravans here and they’re still piling in.

Looks impressive from the entrance.. click on this to enlarge it.

Due to the weather being rather nasty last weekend, the Barfoot and Thompson Races were postponed to coincide with this rally and the races were on while the Motorhomers were crossing the track into the centre. … Between the races of course.

Click on the images for Hi Res or a Slideshow

One of the last races

All in good humour and as the day went on, little groups popped up all around the rally with gatherings for a few quiet cold ones while the horses galloped around the track. A great atmosphere.

Race with the stand in the background

It never ceases to amaze me how the good folk of the NZMCA who put themselves out there and go the extra mile for the benefit of everyone else. The Covi/Spoton team organised this rally from scratch and had a roster to make sure that everybody that needed some help or guidance got what they needed and were happily and safely parked.

Dusk on the first night

It was disappointing to hear that a few NZMCA members who failed to check whether their dogs were allowed, made a scene and got unnecessarily nasty for our cheerful volunteers.
Come on guys.. Common sense… Racecourse, horses and dogs don’t go together.. especially when there is a race meeting on.  For those responsible for this display of bad manners, it’s nice to think that we could be be respectful and helpful for those volunteering and doing their best for the  rest of us.

The NZMCA marshalls Happy Hour

On the positive side, one of the volunteer Rally Marshalls, Jim was telling me that a couple of members who arrived with dogs just to see where they could go, were very thankful when they were redirected to another parking spot just around the corner where dogs were permitted… Nice !

The team also organised a great free bus service to the show which was fantastic.

The Rally from up in the stand

A great rally, some nice people and thanks to Auckland Racing Club, Ellerslie racecourse and of course the Counties NZMCA team for having us there.

And from Rafe’s Tracker.. for those offshore

Ellerslie Racescourse for those off shore

Covi show story next up.

East Coast 2017

Nice easy parking with power at Pauanui

2 Comments

One of our favourite places to stay is the Pauanui Club. For $8 a night including power and water and membership of the club for 24 hours, this is extremely good value. We had not long stopped and plugged in and paid for our stay when one of the Directors of the club, Robin, who is responsible for the development of the property popped over for a chat. A really nice guy. He was telling me that the plan over the next year is to add a laundry facility and Hot showers for Motorhomers. There are toilets here already but they’re also adding to those too. It’ll be sensational!

The bikes are ready to go
The bikes are ready to go
Pauanui
The Pauanui Club with the new Showers, Laundry and Toilets area to be in the building on the right

There are 6 powered very flat sites and all surrounded with trees for the wind.   We arrived here from Taupo for two nights to see the grandkids who were staying here. They were only an easy bike ride about 10 minutes away so it works well.
PauanuiJust next door is a full Golf course, a mini golf course which is fun and the legendary airfield with the hangered house alongside for the aviation enthusiasts.

Click on the images for Hi Res or a slideshow

Hanging out the washing as your neighbour rocks in!
A Yak outside while you enjoy a beer
New Power and water poles

On our first day, my son Alex, Sarah and the boys came around on their bikes and we sat out in the sun by the mini golf course.
We took the boys through the mini golf the next day. Liam (3) insisted that the golf club had to be back to front and played it like hockey. Ayden (7) was saying that two or three hits were only one ! :-). They were having fun so to us it didn’t matter.
There is a dump station is just down the road and while there, we stopped for a few minutes to watch the locals out with their jet skis and beach toys.
PauanuiThe Pauanui club also has a full kitchen and bar so on our last night before heading back to Auckland, we were going to have a meal there but for some unknown reason it wasn’t possible so we walked to the nearby town centre and had a great meal there.
We’ve stayed here before. The previous blog can be seen here.

Friends

The Grape Escape and the birthday

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

A toilet right behind
A toilet right behind

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.

The locals
Some of the neighbours

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.

Rafe's Track
Rafe’s Track

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
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 🙂