Tag Archives: Free Parking

Close to home, Waikato

Bliss on the Beach

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When we first got our motorhome, Ray’s Rest quickly became one of our favorite freedom camping spots.

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Later in the day

It’s one of the few places in New Zealand where you can park right on the sand, looking out across the water with the Coromandel Peninsula offering some shelter.

Looking south down the beach

A few years ago, this spot like many others saw an influx of largely overseas tourists misusing freedom camping areas. It wasn’t uncommon to wake up with a budget rental van parked just inches from your doorway. Thankfully, updated self-containment and freedom camping laws have put an end to that, making places like Ray’s Rest much more enjoyable again.

A drone being setup for fishing off the beach

Two weeks earlier, I’d been knocked out by Covid, so Fiona suggested I take the motorhome out for some fresh air while she worked, and she’d join me later. Brilliant idea! With the sun shining, I stocked up at Countdown Supermarket and hit the road.

Looking North along the beach

When I arrived, there were plenty of parking spots, though they quickly filled as the day went on. It was great to catch up with several familiar faces, New Zealand really is a small place!

Nice easy pace

I spent the afternoon walking along the beach, soaking in the sunshine, and appreciating just how lucky we are to have places like this to stay. The weather was stunning, and an onshore breeze kept things comfortable—absolute perfection.

Rays Rest is famous for being a bird migration landing zone.

After two blissful days of sea air and sunshine, I packed up, already planning my next visit.

Rafe next to the sand.

Ray’s Rest is still magic, and I’ll definitely be back for more 🙂

Rafe’s tracker map to Rays Rest – Armada GPS
Waikato

Little Waipa

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For years several friends of mine have been telling me how nice this place is, and I finally got to stay here. It is right on the Waikato River just north or Arapuni. It is also right on the Waikato River trail for biking and walking.

I arrived here in the morning and there was quite a bit of room. (Mid-week) There are some pretty flash loos here too, but they are clean long drops.

Its lovely just sitting there with the music on watching the Swans and Ducks and generally taking it all in.

Stunning

A nice spot given it is freedom camping and it just shows how spoilt we are in the Waikato region with the council providing parking like this.

Rafe’s tracker map to Mystery Creek – Armada GPS
Close to home, Waikato

A quick trip away in the cold!

It’s cold and the weather isn’t that flash, but it was time to give Rafe a fright by getting on a highway or two.

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Nigel no mates 🙂

My first destination was the Kaiaua NZMCA park and being a Wednesday afternoon, it was no real surprise to find there was only one other vehicle there, but we were joined by another Motorhome later in the day. It rained most of the day, but it was nice and warm and there were a few movie endings I wanted to see on Netflix to keep me going 🙂

Later I wandered over to the pub next door for a glass of wine and managed to catch the 2nd half of the NZ womans 7’s team winning a medal… fantastic.

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Quiet in Kaiaua
One of the main streets in Thames
The Paeroa Pub
The main street in Paeroa

In the morning, it was still pretty gloomy, but I went for a bit of a walk around with the camera. It is very different here mid-week with unfavourable weather, that’s for certain. Here’s what it looked like a few months ago.

Free parking in Thames
A place to see in Thames

After packing up and stowing things for travel, I thought I’d head for Thames to check out a spot for next year’s Dethleffs Owners group. Finding accommodation for 40 plus vehicles that also takes Dogs that we haven’t been to, is not all that easy.

Our new venue for the get together next year.

After ringing ahead, I later met Kevin who showed me around out next venue which is perfect and an easy walk or bike to the shops. Its in the diary and we’re all ready steady go for early next year.

Free parking in Paeroa

Feeling pretty pleased with myself, I thought while I was out and about, I’d pop out to Paeroa which is only 20 k’s away and settled into a spot in the council provided freedom camping at the end of the main street. A great spot and for $5 I had power too for the heater… it was cold!

The Paeroa Pub

The next morning after a look around Paeroa, I headed back to Auckland stopping at Ngatea for Diesel and the Dump Station. A nice couple of nights away. A flashback to a recent trip to Paeroa.

Rafe’s tracker map to Thames and Paeroa – Armada GPS
Taranaki 2024

Tawhiti Museum

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This is an amazing place setup by Nigel Ogle in an old disused Dairy Factory on the outskirts of Hawera.

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One of the smaller Diorama’s in the Cafe

Nigel has put this together from scratch including making all the characters and models and the attention to detail is absolutely stunning.

It is split into several sections and the last time we were here, we only had time to do one section (several hours). This time we were going to try one of the ones we missed last time, being the Traders and Whalers.

Click on the Gallery below to see an Enlarged Slideshow

In the mower section
The shop

After parking and checking in, we set off to the Traders and Whalers section where we guided through some fairly dimly lit tunnels with some amazing life-sized dioramas with hugely detailed people with flax, rifles, boats and everything to do with early NZ.

Parking area

We were then led to a big underground cave like area with a moat and a 20 odd person boat. With some others, we got into it and were taken through an amazing area of sound, light and more life-sized dioramas of early New Zealand showing early Maoris trading flax and Muskets with settlers. So well done. I believe it was a collaborative effort with Weta Workshop, so I wasn’t able to photograph any of it. Just amazing and a must see.

Trading

After that we went through to see some smaller displays of early whaling and trading then onto the Cafe for a really nice coffee. They have an amazing selection of traditional cakes, and we chose a couple of beauties.

In the Tractor area

Across the road is very easy Motorhome parking on a big patch of grass next to the car parking.

As I said a must see if you’re in the area.

Rafe’s tracker map to Tawhiti Museum and onto Wanganui – Armada GPS
Taranaki 2024

Dethleffs in the Driveway

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As we left Mokau, we were invited along with Steve and Rosemary to stay at Greg and Shona’s place in New Plymouth. They are also part of the Dethleffs Owners team and Graeme and Shirley were going to be there too.

Us on the left in front, Steve and Rosemary’s Esprit GT behind and to the right, Greg and Shona’s Advantage.

I was a wee bit nervous after repairing part of my Chassis at the back which gets scraped occasionally on high forecourts and driveways as there was a huge camber at the end of the driveway, but no damage was done 🙂

It was lovely to catch up with Greg and Shona and it was very kind of them to put us all up in their driveway with power too!  We had a fantastic dinner together and a lovely night in the driveway.

In the morning we all set off in different directions. Fiona and I set off to New Plymouth city to see the famous Len Lye Gallery and have some lunch and Fiona was keen to see some shops 🙂

The Len Lye centre with the White Swan behind.

Our next destination was all about New Years eve 🙂

The reflection of the White Swan hotel in the Len Lye centre

Thanks again guys for having us in your driveway and thanks for a great night. It was great to see Graeme and Shirley again too.

Rafe’s tracker map to Waitara – Armada GPS
Waikato

Antique Heaven in Paeroa

On the way from Waihi, I saw that the free parking in Paeroa was empty so I figured it might be timely to visit Countdown for some food and a look around Paeroa.

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It was quiet when I arrived 🙂

I parked Rafe, paid for the parking and it was time to check out Paeroa… in the rain. It was pouring down. The Antique shops are amazing, but I had a feeling that there were a few more.

Antique Alley

Peter at Granvilles

It wasn’t until later in the day when I popped into the Pub opposite the parking, The Paeroa Hotel that I found out sadly that several shops had not made it through the Covid lockdowns and the downturn that went with it. Several Antique shops too. Its always a shame to see a business fail especially when its outside your control to some degree like the Covid lockdown.

The Hotel was fun. I met several of the locals, had a few laughs and after a couple of glasses of wine headed back to Rafe.

Downtown Paeroa

The parking is essentially free unless you use power. That costs $5 a night and it’s all laid on by the Hauraki Council. It’s great to see a council that recognises that if you give Motor homers access to where the tills are and something to buy, buy they will so it’s a win win 🙂

Later in the day

Anyway, it’s a fantastic facility and so handy right in the middle of town.

I have always stayed in the Paeroa RV centre. Great folk there and a reasonable price but it’s a good half hour walk from town.

Rafe’s tracker map to Paeroa – Armada GPS
Cape Reinga trip 23, Northland

Mangonui, the Home of great Fish and Chips

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Years ago, we had friends up here who lived in Hihi. We used to come up here and stay over the New Year period with them and other friends.  We stayed in a pup tent under a Ti Tree:-)   It was always heaps of fun and Mangonui was the local big town if you like.

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The Famous Mangonui Fish Shop

So, Mangonui was on the must do list for this trip. We stopped at a parking area just as you enter the town with Toilets, a dump station and is also a freedom camping area between the trees. A nice spot.

The parking by the water.. Toilets, and Dump station along with freedom camping.
The Old Oak Boutique Hotel

We then walked about 15 minutes around to Mangonui Fish shop passing all the lovely historic buildings, the Pub, a big shopping building, the over the water 4 square store, and lastly the fish shop.

Walking along the waterfront
The 4 Square shop

It’s a great spot and the fish is so fresh having the boats come in right next door. Some of the Lemon fish is actually caught from the shop.

Click on the Gallery below for an enlarged Slideshow

The parking by the water.. Toilets, and Dump station along with freedom camping.
Opposite the parking area
The walk into Maunganui
The Old Oak Boutique Hotel
The Famous Manganui Fish Shop
Local Fishing wharf
The Hotel
Neat Buildings
The walk back to Rafe

After an hour or so of indulging in this delicious food, we walked back via and ice cream shop opposite to Rafe and started heading north again.

Close to home, Shows

Covi Motorhome Show 2023

They never disappoint despite the fact that this was smaller than previous years. It was cancelled last year due to Covid too, so many were really looking forward to this one.

I arrived on the Wednesday afternoon to arrange the Dethleffs Owners group parking next in the Alexander Park carpark pretty much behind the scoreboard which was a primo spot.

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Dethleffs parking

There was a race meeting on the Friday night. Fiona came over after work in the car and we went out for tea at the Lone Star under one of the new Apartment buildings next to the grandstand. The front of the restaurant all opened up to the track so you could watch the racing which was amazing.

Alexander Park right next door.

When I was about 20 odd, one of my roles as a junior Herald Photographer was to do the night trots. It was a mission as the horses are largely black and the background is black too so a bit of chemical trickery was required to make it happen with the low light on film 🙂  think 1970’s.

Our parking for the event

With all the storms we’ve had recently, Alexander Park raceway suffered some pretty awful damage to their track and had to relay the track. The pile of shells was our windbreak from the southerly wind if one was to eventuate 🙂

On with the show ….  One of the highlights of the show for me was to see the new Kiwi Caravan made by ACM Motorhomes. It’s called the Romotow and is modelled on the principle of a Swiss army knife.

The Robotow is a polished looking beast. I’ll let the pictures below tell the story. The list price is $429k.

Click on the Gallery below for an Enlarged Slideshow of the Romotow!

ACM is owned by a very clever qualified boatbuilder, Chris Cunard and they repaired my floor in Rafe a few years ago when it started to misbehave. I now have one of the few motorhomes in the world where the vinyl now matches across all the hatches in the floor! Very tidy job and you can see more on ACM here.

The Morelo Palace

The other thing I was pleased to see was the Morelo Palace with a small Toyota half out of the rear garage. They’re an impressive motorhome and have everything that opens and shuts.

Click on the Gallery below to see enlarged images of the Palace.

The trend to smaller Motorhomes and Caravans still seems to be the way things are going.

Click on the Gallery below for an Enlarged Slideshow.

The new Dethleffs Just Go on a Ford chassis.
Dethleffs Just Go
Dethleffs Just Go
Thredbo Caravan
Thredbo Caravan
Thredbo Caravan
Trailites
Interesting slide on Ute Motorhomes.
Central RV Caravans
Autotrail Tracker

There was an interesting little teardrop there too at 28k too.

It was nice to see the fine crew on the NZMCA stand again with #1 Motorhome.

The smiley faces at the NZMCA stand
#1 NZMCA

The show was quite a bit smaller than previous years but just as interesting and with all the main players there.

RV Super Centre
Second Hand area outside.

A big thanks to David Culpan for helping us with the Dethleffs parking.

Rafe’s tracker map to our parking at Alexander Park. – Armada GPS
Close to home, Great Beaches, Waikato

Rays Rest

A favourite free parking spot for many.. on the coast north of Miranda.

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Lovely spot

This was probably one of our first parking spots when we first bought our Motorhome 8 or so years ago. Its handy to Auckland, its free and its easy.

Easy parking

If you want shops, museums and pubs, you don’t go to Rays Rest. This where peace and quiet happens with the odd sound of a vehicle whizzing past at 80 odd K.

Flying Kites .. perfect spot
Rafe on the edge

It’s a lovely spot to sit on a deck chair on the edge of the sand outside your Motorhome and watch the clouds go by.

People enjoying the sun

Its been a while since we were here and it was redeveloped by a big storm since our last visit but it still looks much the same. Just as good as it was.

Looking across to Thames

Well recommended if you live in Auckland, are finding diesel expensive and can’t decide where to go for a night or two.

Rafe’s Tracker map to Ray’s Rest- Armada GPS
Hawkes Bay 22

Springvale Suspension Bridge

About 45 minutes after we left Taihape, we arrived at this very popular camping area right by the river. We stopped in a parking area with other Motorhomes for lunch and a look around.

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The new and the old.
Looking back where the road used to go.

Built in 1923 and opened in 1925, the bridge allowed farmers to get their wool through to the port in Napier. In 1970, the road was realigned and replaced with today’s modern bridge. The original bridge is now maintained by the Heritage New Zealand.

Fiona checking out the old bridge.

Looking down from the bridge

When Fiona was living in Waiouru as a child, she remembers doing several family trips to Ongaonga to see her Grandparents. The road took 5 hours to get from Taihape to Napier in their Triumph Herald on the gravel road. You can imagine it with 3 kids in the back over that distance. Sounds like a fun trip 🙂

Click on the Gallery below for an enlarged Slideshow

The bridge
Camping in pairs
Parked for lunch

It truly is a lovely spot, and I can see why people like to camp here. There were a few people under the trees in tents along with several Caravans and Motorhomes.  Several cars were down on the shingle by the river with people having a crack at catching something.

Camping by the river

We walked up to the bridge so I could get a piccy of Fiona on the old bridge. It’s great to see our heritage being looked after like this.

People enjoying the river

We easily spent a couple of hours there chatting to other Motorhomers after having something to eat. A lovely spot.

Rafe’s Tracker map to the Springvale Bridge – Armada – GPS