Yay .. its the end of lockdown.. we’re away again.. almost ! Here’s a couple more posts from early 2017 until we get away again.
Fiona had left Bland Bay and was heading back to town to do other things .. and work so she suggested that I spend another night out on the way back. We stopped in Waipu and had lunch and then Fiona went on to Auckland.
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The cricket pitch with the campground behind
I rang the good folk at one of my favorite spots when the weathers good, Whangateau by Matakana. A great campground run by Auckland City.
In the Grandstand
Today was a bit different as when I arrived, the tide was out and there was a friendly game of cricket with two families involved. One was from Whangaparoa and the other from the UK visiting. They were having a ball. I had to get some piccies.
Looking out to Omaha
Kids enjoying the pontoon
The Estaury
It is a fascinating place to watch as the tide comes in really quickly covering hundreds of metres of exposed mud in just under an hour… Amazing to watch.
The water is coming in
A nice campground if you’re looking for somewhere not to far from Auckland. See my earlier Whangateau post here.
Yay .. its the end of lockdown.. we’re away again.. almost ! Here’s a couple more posts from early 2017 until we get away again.
After a good solid weekend of babysitting, we thought we’d escape for our last night before Fiona had to return to work.
The Peninsula Campground at Awhitu
I wasn’t really in the mood for huge driving for one night so we figured that up the Awhitu peninsula might be quite nice. I called Auckland City and it seems that even in the height of the Summer silly season, you can still use your camping pass at Awhitu and other parks like it.
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Peninsula Campground. Plenty of room.
After booking in on the phone, we were off heading for Awhitu. We arrived around 1pm and settled Rafe down in the Peninsula Campground.
When you book with the Council, the choices are Self contained or not. When you get to Awhitu, it is Brook Campground or the Peninsula campground. I was a bit confused as to where we were supposed to park as there is no mention of SCC and no signposts 🙂
It wasn’t until we had the downloaded map off the council website that we saw two Motorhome emblems on both the Peninsula and the Brook campgrounds with tags saying SCC camping that we were happy with where we had parked.
The Brook Campground which is behind the Brook Homestead and the Peninsula camp is beside the Homestead and closer to the water. Both have nice toilets and great rubbish collection points and both are an easy walk to the beach.
The Cottage
After settling down and having a look around both Brook Homestead and the Cottage, which they used before the Homestead was built, we sat down for lunch and just blobbed in the sun. A perfect spot for watching the planes coming in to Auckland Airport and they were far enough away not to be a nuisance with sound. A lovely spot.
The Brook Homestead
The Cottage
Peninsula Campground. Plenty of room.
Nice Bbq’s with the wood all stacked ready to go.
Nice looking loos
Fiona dumping rubbish she found on the beach.
In the morning, we went for a walk down to the beach and had a look around. The Ranger popped in and checked the park so it was then I knew for sure we were ok where we parked although we were on our own. There was no one else there which surprised me.
The Beach with the tide out. Pipi gathers out on the mudflats
The park is huge and there are lots of great walks which we’ll check out next time we’re here but it’s a great spot and not too far away from the big smoke.
We only had a night to check this place out before having to head back but we have visited here before but not stayed. See the earlier post. It is a magic spot with a nice beach and plenty of places to explore. We’ll be back for sure.
There is good 4g internet here which surprised me, being where it is although it’s not fast but good enough for Netflix.
The Netspeed Speedtest Download: 5.84 Mbps
Upload: 1.55 Mbps
Ping: 54 ms
One of the trips I’ve been wanting to do for ages but I haven’t been able to get Fiona interested in is a trip to Piha. One of Aucklands better west coast beaches, it is dominated by Lion Rock in the middle and is one of the few North Island beaches to have two surf clubs.
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Lion Rock looking fantastic
Over the years the road has improved massively but it is still very windy(curvy) in places and there is no direct route. There are several ways of getting there but the best one I think is via Henderson Valley. Check the map below.
Its a slow 30k odd from the centre of Auckland but well worth it when you get here and its a nice drive.
Lion Rock
The Holiday park is a leased site off the council as part of the Domain but privately run and is on black sand. Its a big park with plenty of room and is only 5 minutes walk to the beach via a bridge over the lagoon.
All that space
At the time of this post, it was $22 per adult with power with new showers and loos close by. There is a cafe right over the road and a General Store next door for anything you may have forgotten.
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Lots of tents
The bridge to the beach
Looking along the beach
Piha Store over the road
Everyone having fun
Parked next to the Lagoon with Lion Rock behind
Dusk
Lion Rock looking fantastic
The beach is spectacular. I popped down here at dusk to find a dozen or so amateur photographers wandering around in a group waiting to get the sunset.
The Amateur photographers doing their dusk pix.
Its funny as I remember when I was working at The Auckland Star, we used to get called on to judge various photographic awards for these Camera Clubs. The people were always very friendly and it was interesting to see what they were up to. Generally it was a PR thing from the Star’s point of view and we tried to help with ideas where we could. I remember judging at the North Shore Society awards a couple of times but can’t remember any of the others.
Finished for the day
I met one of the members and gave him a few ideas while we were wandering around Lion Rock on the black sand. It was great to see them out there having some fun.
Sunset
After that, I wandered back to Rafe through the black sand and had a drink with my neighbours. A great night.
One of my neighbours Jo doing massages !
Lovely spot, close to Auckland and reasonably priced with a great Beach.
This has to be one of the nicer places to park a Motorhome and it is the NZMCA’s park in Whitianga.
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Great Motorhome parking
After arriving around lunch time, we set off on the bikes to check out the town and eventually stopped in a cafe in town for lunch. After that, we biked around the waterfront to check out the Marina and a general nosey around.
Plenty of room
I was expecting it to be chocker block but it was just pleasant with smiles in the sunshine.
We headed back to the camp to meet our neighbours Andrew and Annette and see their very new Autotrail Scout Motorhome. Interesting layout and bags of room too. It turns out that Andrew was at the same primary school with Fiona in Waiouru when they were in the primers.. small world 🙂
paddleboarding
A nice night there and in the morning all the locals were in the canal, swimming, radio controlled yachts, paddle boarding.. a great place.
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Boats and water
A big house opposite
Our little spot
Kids jumping off the bridge
boating
biking
paddleboarding
Andrew was telling me that the site is apparently going to be a future Hotel.. lovely spot!
The Pauanui Club parking is just the best. Even when its busy.
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The park
Our Grandchildren’s other Grandparents have had a bach down here for a long time so Alex and Sarah head here with the kids when they can. Its a lovely spot too just up from the beach and easy bike riding from the Pauanui Club for us.
Lots to do
We also caught up with an old school friend of Fiona’s who have a house down here too. Evan and Janette bring their family down here too and it was nice to spend an eveing with them as well.
Parked in Pauanui
The parking area was as busy as it has ever been with several regulars commenting on how busy it was. At one stage there were 3 vans who couldn’t get near a power plug, and for those that did have power, the main circuit breaker popped in the mornings when all the toasters and jugs went on. All in all though it is fantastic value and theyre just the best to deal with.
One of the old timersup up and away
Next door all the holiday makers with vintage planes had bought them over from Auckland for the Whitianga air show so it was neat to see them doing their thing.
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The park
The Mini Golf course next door
Skateboard park
perfect parking
Nice veges at the park
We went for a walk into the shops which are only minutes away via a tunnel and it was amazing to bump into so many people we knew… a bit scary 🙂
The Township
A great few days in a nice place and the nice thing is you can bike everywhere !
I hope everyone had a great New Year and enjoyed the sunshine. There was plenty of it !
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Cooks Beach
We spent the New Year with our Family (Sons and Daughters in law and Grandchildren) on the Coromandel Peninsula and it was fun. We also caught up with our Motorhome friends Bruce and Judy who have Rafes twin at their home near Whitianga.
Flaxmill bayInteresting cliffs
We headed up the windy road to Cooks Beach and had a quick look around before heading to Bruce and Judy’s place. They had their friends Graham and Shirley coming for tea as well with their new Roller Team A class. We would be parked together on an empty section across the road which was really handy.
Rorqual (right) with Whitianga behind
Earlier while we were on Cooks beach, we spotted Rorqual now being looked after our son Andrew and Jenna. They were on another friends boat down an Cathedral Cove but would catch up later.
Looking down on Rorqual left and out to Cooks Beach.
We headed up the Shakespeare Hill reserve at the end of the beach to the lookout up the top and could see from Cooks Beach, all the way around to Simpsons Beach and beyond on the other side.
Looking across to Whitianga from the lookout
The track is pretty steep in parts but an easy walk to the top and well worth it for the view in all directions. Looking down from the lookout we could also see Rorqual anchored in Lonely Bay by Cooks Beach.
Rorqual
Back on the beach there were some amazing Rock formations.. very typical of this area..
Amazing rock formations
Andrew and Jenna were dropped off back to their boat and headed in to the beach in their tender and we met them on the beach and then walked back to Rafe.
Bruce and Judy’s Motorhome.. same as Rafe
It was neat catching up with Bruce and Judy again and meeting their friends. Shirley is a really amazing painter shirleycresswell.com so it was really interesting talking to her and Graham about where they’d been and what they had done.
Rafe in the spare section
Later Andrew and Jenna headed back to Rorqual before dark and we later headed back to Rafe. Nice to catch up with them too.
A fantastic warm up for New Years Eve !
Just a bit of housekeeping …
Now that we’re permanently in our new house in Devonport and I’m doing a bit more photographic work for clients, I’m finding it much harder getting content to publish posts as often as I was.
So this year, the posts will be mainly photos with captions and when there is something to publish
Pahi is a lovely spot and my go to place for a real Blob out.
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The parking area with the old Hotel in the corner
It has a very reasonably priced community campground run by the locals and just recently they have invested in some gravel so can provide some all weather parking which is great. I’ve been here after some heavy rain in the past and it was very boggy so a great improvement.
Great outlook
I didn’t get the chaps name who served me in the office but very helpful and cheery.
Looking down from the road
After settling down Rafe, I went for a walk down to the Wharf where there was a local painting his boat. It was an older launch probably in the early 1920’s odd and he was doing a great job. I had a great chat to him while watching his roller dry 🙂 He would have been happy chatting all day but thought I’d better cut it short so he could finish the job 🙂
The new Gravel
Back at Rafe, I joined the neighbours who had two Caravans from both Dargaville and Whangarei for a natter.
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The childrens play area
The Office
The parking area with the old Hotel in the corner
Close to the water
The Community Hall by the wharf
How to get here.., From the Brynderwyn turnoff. Head to Paparoa and turn left down the Pahi Peninsula until you can’t go any further. Its about 5 k’s from Paparoa.
Painting the boatLovely beach
Another great hideaway on the Kaipara harbour and great parking at a great price.
Turning left at the Bryndrwyn’s is the Kauri Coast road which heads all the way to Dargaville and beyond to the Hokianga Harbour. About 27k’s along is the little settlement of Matakohe where the Kauri Museum is and about another 20 k’s off to the left is the lovely little settlement of Tinopai.
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Its down the end of this peninsular that juts down into the Kairapa Harbour where you’ll find the Tinopai Campground, right on the waters edge.
The Campground
With Fiona at work and this being somewhere I’ve wanted to come and see, this was me for a couple of nights. At $10 a night with power right on the waterfront, it doesn’t get much better.
There are Toilets and $1 showers along with a small Laundry.
I was parked in Chris’s Parade.. yahoo
After settling in Rafe and putting some chocks under the front wheels, I went for a wander. Right next door is the Marina.. VERY tidal with all of the boats sitting in the mud at low tide.
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Right on the water
Looking out to the Kaipara
The wharf
The Marina right next door
Resting in the Mud
The colourful ablution block
The Laundry
I’d only been there an hour or so when a local on a quad bike came around giving away fish. I didn’t have any filleting gear so politely declined but what a fantastic atmosphere. Later that day, Sue the campground lady popped around giving away fruit off a tree..
The following day Lillian and Lester arrived with their Dethleffs Esprit and parked right next door and we enjoyed a couple of cold ones out of the wind later in front of Rafe.
Neat spot
Tinopai used to have a service station which sadly has closed so you do need to be aware that there are no shops or services here. Its very remote but you can get an Internet signal if you have Netspeed or WN.
A lovely spot to come and get away from it all and very reasonably priced.
Slightly off the beaten track south of Karapiro but part of the Waikato River Trail is the little town of Arapuni. Its an amazing spot with a really impressive historical Swing Bridge and an old power station built into the side of a hill.
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Looking up to the Power Station
The Swing Bridge was built in the early 1920’s so that workers for the power station could get to work. The power station is the oldest and the largest in capacity and was opened in 1929. It is now under the protection of the Historic Places trust and signs at the site, show the effort that went into protecting it from possible Japanese bomb attack during the war by camouflaging it.
Leonies Motorhome parking
And just down the road from the bridge, Leonie runs a great Motorhome and caravan site in her back yard which is a flat paddock, where NZMCA’rs can stay for $10 with power, toilet and shower. There are modern 10 power points and its really easy parking. You might need levelling ramps in some areas but its all very easy with an honesty box and simple instructions.
Neat parking
The site is an easy walk to the bike trail and to the town and to the Swing Bridge which is spectacular. Its well worth the walk and is only 10-15 minutes away on foot, either along the road or via the bike trail just outside the park.
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Leonie’s Parking Toilet and Shower block
Dump Station
Washing up
The neighbours
One of the old Turbines from the power station.
The Cafe in the main st
I’m not one for heights now I’m getting a bit older and a bit more sensible, so it took me a couple of go’s before I went out in the middle of the bridge 🙂 .. but in my defence, there was a lot of wind 🙂
I’m pleased I did though.. check out the image below.
The Power Station from the bridge
On the way back to Rafe, I stopped in at the only shop on the main road which happily is a Cafe. I stopped for lunch on the way back to Rafe. The food is great and they do a great coffee too!
Leonie’s Motorhome Park is fantastic and we’ll be back with the bikes to do the trails around here.
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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