Tag Archives: Free Parking

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 🙂

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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
South Island 2022

Lovely Arrowtown

In the morning we left left Gary, Dianne and Ian to continue their journey and headed off towards Arrowtown with the intention of possibly staying the night. When we arrived, we couldn’t raise anyone at the only campground in town so decided that after a look around, it was probably better to head back to Creeksyde in Queenstown which is closer to Arthurs Point where Fiona’s cousin lives.

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Arrowtown never disappoints and its one of the few towns around that really knows how to welcome Motorhomes with its amazing parking down behind the town.

Great parking for Motorhomes
The River behind

We arrived mid morning and the sun was shining and it looked fantastic. It was time to do shopping so Fiona was in heaven. After a couple of hours of cruising up and down the main street, we stopped in at a Café for lunch.

Can’t get enough of these buildings!

Arrowtown has a fantastic Museum which is well worth a look and is one of the few towns in NZ that still has a cobbled kerb. The main street also still has the proportions designed for the old horse and cart days so it really shouts out its Heritage and History. The buildings also make great images and they’ve done a great job of keeping it well maintained and making it work as a Tourist destination. I still think though that this is definitely one of the towns that is missing visitor numbers due to Covid which is a real shame.

We set off early mid afternoon to check back into Creeksyde in Queenstown.

Cobbled Kerb

Fiona got in touch with her cousin Jan and she came down to pick us up for drinks at their lovely home in Arthurs point for drinks. It was really nice seeing Rob and Jan as we haven’t seen them for a while. After a few hours, Jan dropped us back at Creeksyde.. a great day out!

Rafe’s Tracker map to Arrowtown and to Creeksyde – Armada GPS
Rotorua

Lunch in the carpark

Our friends from Christchurch, Rory and Henny were in town for the NZMCA AGM Rally with their friends from New Plymouth so it was a must for me to catch up with them as they had seen Fiona during a shopping trip, but I had missed them.

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Downtown Rotorua!

Rory and Henny and I met years ago when I was away on a blog hunting expedition on my own and we bumped into each other in Coromandel of all places. It turns out that Rory used to buy ice creams from my Grandfathers General Store in Diamond Harbour when he was a small boy.  Later we worked out that he also knows some of my other cousins in Christchurch too.. small world 🙂

The UCC on the left and Rory and Henny’s new Burstner on the right

While parked down by the waterfront in a carpark, I thought I saw Rory and Henny roaring round the corner next to me and when I rang a few minutes later, it turned out it was them. They were heading for the supermarket and we arranged to meet after that.

Rory decided that we’d head over the a bigger carpark where we could comfortably fit three Motorhomes in while we had lunch without upsetting the car parkers.

Nice view

Rory had a plan and setup his near new Burstner Lyseo with  Tony and Sheri from New Plymouth, with an area in between where could put out chairs and tables out for a bit a knees up for lunch.

It was really nice seeing them both again and also meeting their friends Tony and Sheri and their UCC Mercedes based Motorhome.

Lunch with a great view and there were lots of Motorhomes there, possibly having a break from the rally.

Rafe’s Tracker map to the Carpark – Armada GPS
Coromandel 2020

On the beach at Tapu

On the way up the coast to Coromandel is a little village called Tapu. It is roughly 20k’s up the coast from Thames and has two motor camps and a free parking area on the beach.

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The Parking area

I pulled in to the free parking area on the way up the coast and joined with three other overnighters nicely backed into the trees looking out at the amazing beach.

Nice beach

Several of the other Motorhomers had Kayaks and were out fishing off the beach from their Kayaks when I popped in.

A great spot and the price can’t be beaten .. Free!

Just Cruising
Rallies

Zion Owners Group Rally

This year it became part of the Covi Rally and Show as it has grown so much with Zion’s new brands. The more the merrier and more to talk about 🙂

I arrived at Ellerslie Racecourse around the middle of the day on the Friday and within minutes met Gary and his wife Alison who have a Dethleffs Esprit which is very similar to Rafe in layout, length and size and only a little younger.  As it turns out I used to work with Gary’s Dad who was an editor at the Auckland Star when I was an 11 year old on work experience when I was at School.  Small world and we had lots to talk about.

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Racing this time. Behind the jump. Gary’s Esprit on the left, Rafe on the right.

When we first arrived there was a bit of confusion as to where to park so after a big Frankia moved from the inside of the Steeplechase jump, I moved in to the hole and Gary parked beside me. We had just finished parking when we bumped into several other people we knew too.

Rafe parked in front of the Steeplechase jump

I was supposed to go to the show that afternoon but it all got a bit too social so I stayed put but it was a great afternoon. When the volunteer stand workers returned home, there was a gigantic happy hour squeezed in between Rafe and Gary’s Esprit.
Lots of fun and we met a lot of new people.

The Happy Happy Hour
Jonas and Irene talking to Gary with the hat in front of Rafe

The owners of Zion Jonas and Irene, joined in too and it was a fun night.

Irene and Jonas with the Happy team

The next morning was showtime. I caught the bus to the show and returned early in the afternoon.  I was really looking forward to the Zion meal which was being hosted that night by Jonas and Irene out at Melba Restaurant in Manukau. We were picked up in Buses and after a great night, dropped off back to our Motorhomes.

All different sorts

Gary, Alison and I joined their friends Grant and Jo in their Airstream Bar which was parked near us for a few drinks afterwards for what was a really funny night. 😂

Good Parking

Lots of fun with some nice people. Thanks to Jonas, Irene for a great night at Melba.

Rallies, Shows

Covi Rally 2020 at Ellerslie Racecourse

This never disappoints and although this year possibly wasn’t as big as previous years, there would have been at least 400 odd Motorhomes and Caravans.

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The volunteers did an excellent job parking everyone and there was a Bar open for a couple of the nights if you felt the need for some cold lubricant 🙂

From the Stand

There was also a special area for the Dethleff, Frankia, Morelo and Neismann and Bichoff Motorhomes.. more on this later.

Rafe on the left in front of one of the Steeplechase jumps
All shapes and sizes

The buses called around regularly to ferry people to the show at the showgrounds, the weather was fine, it couldn’t have been better.

Smiles from the Volunteers

Thanks again to the Volunteers who make it all happen.

Looking toward the stand
South Island 2019

You can stay in your Motorhome at this Historic Hotel

Having done the section of the Bike Trail all the way to Alexandra, we thought it best to move towards Clyde. The GPS was suggesting the road over the hill from the Ida Valley into Ophir and down from there.

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The Old Cottage at Ophir

There was an old Stone Cottage on the hill just as we came into Ophir so we had to stop and get a pic even though we know nothing about it 🙂

The Bacon Butty 🙂

We headed off to Chatto Creek to have a good look at the Pub and Historic Post Office. While we were there I had an amazing Bacon Butty and Fiona had a Seafood Chowder. Both fantastic, HUGE and under $20.. great meals!

Fiona’s Seafood Chowder

In the grounds of the Pub is the original Chatto Creek Post office which was in use up from 1892 up until 1975. After that it had a short stint where it was a sleep out in Alexandra but it was soon retrieved and reinstalled to its orginal spot. Fancy borrowing a historic Post Office !

The Post office

A really interesting spot that has had its moments, the Pub even completely losing its roof during a wind storm in the late 1990’s but it is looking great.

The pub as it is today
As it was some years ago – a picture on the wall.

They are happy for Self Contained Motorhomes to overnight in the carpark and there is plenty of room. The Otago Rail Trail passes just behind the pub so its handy if you’re doing the Trail and they have accommodation as well.

A nice pub in a good spot.

Rafe’s Tracker Map to Chatto Creek
South Island 2019

In the Paddock at Oxford

The Oxford Workingmans club was handy to the Anzac day service the next day so we thought we’d check it out. It was also handy to the cemetery where we went to check in on my Grandparents and see how things looked there.

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Workingmans club

At the cemetary, the headstone was in a bit of a state and you could barely read it so we thought we’d get some potent cleanup stuff and take to it with a stiff brush. It came up really well and looks fantastic.

Fiona cleaning the Headstone
The end result!

After that, we went and checked out the local Workingmans club which has free accomodation for Motorhomes in a well separated paddock out the back.

Our neighbour in the paddock

We decided to join the Oxford Workingmans Club and after enjoying a couple of wines, we bought some Fish and Chips and headed back to Rafe. They’re fantastic people there and very helpful. A place to remember.

Rafe’s tracker map
South Island 2019

De Molen Windmill

We’ve passed through Foxton several times and every time have said, we should have stopped to check out that Windmill.. well, this time we did and what an amazing project.

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The Windmill

It is modelled on a 17th century Dutch Windmill with some modern changes to meet NZ building codes.

The Milling gear in the Windmill

De Molen was setup by two Dutch immigrants Jan Langen and Cor Slobbe and opened in 2003. It was established as a monument to all the Dutch immigrants that came to New Zealand and bring tourism and create some employment for the town.

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Rafe parked behind the library
The Dutch cafe next door
Looking across the town
The Windmill

There is easy Motorhome parking behind the Public Library right next door on grass. Admission is $2 for a self guided tour and from the top, you can right out to Foxton beach and also a great view over the town.

Looking out to Foxton Beach

Its well worth doing and Fiona and I also saw the Rembrandt paintings on at the Library right next door. A really interesting hour or so,k

Rafe’s track to the Windmill
Auckland Parks, Close to home

Narrow Neck Sunshine

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Our first night out of the house was spent at a friends Garage Forecourt in Devonport. Mark very kindly said we could stay the weekend but the first two nights away from the house were fantastic and with the remnants of a cylcone bearing down on us, it was nice to half tucked under his forecourt verandah.

We met our regular Friday night friends Alan, Grant and Robyn, just around the corner at a Bar and enjoyed some good nerve settling banter with them before joining them for a great Italian meal up by the Victoria Theatre in Devonport. Fantastic night.

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Waking up early on Saturday, Rafe’s grey tank said it was full (which it wasn’t) so a quick trip was made to the dump station at Albany and we did a complete dump and top up of fresh water so we were right for a few days. Fiona followed me in the car up to the lockup with some last minute leftovers from the Packers like vacuum cleaners and cleaning stuff to squeeze in the door 🙂 .. It is packed to the rafters literally !!

Good easy parking

With the weather improving, we headed to Woddall Park in Narrow Neck, a well known freedom camping spot. Its interesting as one of the recent less than intelligent moments from our Council was a decision to ban Motorhomes staying at this park without any discussion. The locals however were outraged and promptly got them to reinstate the parking as the presence of Motorhomers meant the hoon element had completely dissapeared.
Fan bloody tastic ! .. A classic case of Council plonkers making arbitrary decisions and not listening.

My intermediate and High School years were spent not living very far from this beach so I know it pretty well.

Fiona lived on the beachfront reserve for a few years as it was Army housing as her dad was CO of Fort Cautley, so she was really familiar with it too.

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Yachts being setup
Great Beach
And theyre off

A lovely spot. The day we were there, there was a big day for small yacht racing out on the beach.

Its neat to watch the Dads all pitching in helping their kids rig their yachts and set them off racing.

Dad’s waitiung

Lovely to see them having a cuppa at the club house and waiting on the beach and helping them in too afterwards.

Narrow Neck with Browns Island behind

The pictures tell the story really but a fabulous spot for a night and great walks from here to Cheltenham and most of the way to Takapuna too.

Rangitoto Island

There is also a bus stop to the ferry or to Takapuna right next to the park.

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Rafe’s Tracker Map