Tag Archives: History

Northland

Staying with the Kiwis

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.

Click on the Gallery below for a slideshow

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 🙂

The Netspeed Speedtest for here (old Router)
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Ping: 55 ms

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Northland

New Dargaville park with History

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This was my first trip to the brand new Dargaville NZMCA park and its a cracker.

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Close to the water

It is right on the rivers edge with another smaller river on a side boundary and only a few minutes walk to the centre of town.

This was one of my first times of the new check in system and paying on the NZMCA App and it was easy. What a great system.

There are two old heritage buildings on the site with a couple of old jettys on the side of the river.

Click on the Gallery below for a slideshow

The main bridge in
Looking along the Wairoa River
Looing out from the jetty to the Wairoa River
Nice old Buildings
The park

After a wander around watching the river water flow from all the rain we’d had, it reminded me of when I was a nipper just mooching around the waters edge and sitting on old wharves on a quiet day.

2 minutes walk to the Rotunda and the town

I went for a walk into town over the bridge and what a neat atmosphere. The old band rotunda and some public loos are only a few minutes away and although the brown colour of the Wairoa River isn’t exactly beautiful, there is a real sense of history and a real charm about the place.

All weather and safe

We’re very lucky to have this network of NZMCA parks and once the word gets out, this new one is sure to be popular.

The Netspeed Speedtest here (Old Router)
Download: 7.64 Mbps
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Ping: 44 ms

Rafe’s Tracker Map
Northland

Views of the Kaipara

Matakohe is a neat little spot with oodles of history. The Kauri Museum is a great way to soak up more than 200 years of what went on in the Northland Gum industry and in the local area. You can actually stay here with your self contained Motorhome but it is on pretty sloping ground.

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Just along the road is the Matakohe Holiday Park which has had a bit of makeover since we were last there a year or so ago. There seems to be a bit more gravel, and some new playground bits and pieces. The view on a nice day is just sensational and is a great way to wake up.
When I arrived, the forecast was evil. There were gusts of 40-50 knots expected with thunderstorms and even some hail predicted so I checked in at Matakohe to hunker down.

The view

At $20 a night less the NZMCA discount, I virtually had the place to myself on a midweek, winter night.

Even space for a dog

And true to form, only the thunder didn’t arrive but it rained and rained. Although there’s a good view over the harbour, it is still very sheltered and I was pleased to be on a solid gravel ground.

Click on the Gallery below for a Slideshow

The Kitchen
One of the cabins
All on my own !
The view

The dump station is easy, the fresh water is easy and although I didn’t use the shower, from our last visit, it all works and looks the business.

I was pleased to be able to get some nice images with some blue sky.

Kitchen, Laundry, Toilets and showers

Nice hosts in a great location on the Kauri Coast road through to Dargaville and beyond, and the view of the northern Kaipara is lovely.

The Netspeed Speedtest here (Old Router)
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Northland

On the Estuary.. Stunning

One of my all time favorite places in the world is Mangawhai. We’ve even (I have anyway 🙂 ) thought about buying here for later years 🙂 I’m not winning that one though… so far.

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Heading up this way midweek with some fairly dubious and cold weather forecasts, it was the first on my list of places to check out.

Great Spot

Noela was very helpful in the Mangawhai Holiday Park office and showed me where everything was. There are two parts to the camp with the office in the midde. I was given a spot on the northern end right on the waters edge which was just magic.

Nice and Quiet

With just a small hop over the rail and a trot down the beach, you can actually go for miles. There are a couple of good walkways too around to the surf beach (10 mins) and a walk up into the hills which takes you further along by the Mangawhai Heads surf beach.

Click on the Gallery below for a slideshow

At the other end
Tides Out
Nice and Quiet

The cost for a powered site for 1 was $20 with really nice toilets and showers. Water was right on the park.

Looking back to Mangawhai

There’s something about Mangawhai which I really like. Maybe its just the laid back atmosphere. The Museum is amazing too and is just up the road.

Looking back

I spent the night there before catching up with some old friends Les and Liz who have a sizeable lifestyle block up here with an amazing old villa. They escaped the rat race of Auckland some 13 years ago and just love it here.

Tides Out

A really nice spot and I bet it is busy in Summer.

The Netspeed Speed test here ..with the old router.
Download: 7.25 Mbps
Upload: 0.68 Mbps
Ping: 75 ms

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Close to home, Day Trips, Marine, Quirky things

Everyone has a Jetty

Over our boating years, we have had some amazing moments in both Bon Accord harbour and around Kawau so being driven around on the ferry so we could have a good look with a commentary was a real treat.

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Lidgards and Kawau Yacht club

We left Rafe about 9:30 from the Sandspit Holiday Park and wandered along the road to the wharf to get our tickets and check in.  So, after having a cuppa at the café on the wharf we set off about 10:30 for Kawau.

Mansion House

Being an Island and only accessible by boat, Kawau Island has only a handful of roads and a handful of vehicles.

His and Hers

Almost all the houses only have water only access and the way they’ve been built either on top of a hill with their own chairlifts (think electric Wheely Bin on a rail :-)) with a jetty at the bottom or on the water. Some of them are amazing but I suspect most would be either baches, occupied by retired folk or who don’t have to commute.

Kawau Yacht Club

We were on the Royal Mail boat which started at Vivian Bay in the north and worked its way around to Bon Accord Harbour and Mansion House Bay and then down to South Cove where there was mail to be dropped off. On the way back to Mansion House Bay for lunch, we passed the Old Copper Mine.

Click on the Gallery below for a Slideshow

Their own little harbour!
Passengers getting off at Mansion House
The descent of the wheelie bin!

Kawau was huge source of copper in the mid 1800’s with a community of around 300 related to the Mine and its output at its peak. By the 1800’s it all fizzled out and most of the miners moved on to the Gold Fields.

The remains of the Copper Mine

After a walk around the Mansion House and the coffee shop, we eventually made our way back to the ferry. It was nice barreling along at 15 knots in the sun with a glass of Pinot Gris in hand.

Friendly Peacocks on the lawn

We walked back to Rafe in the Sandspit Holiday Park and prepared ourselves for a meal at Sandspit Yacht Club.

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Close to home, Day Trips, Great Beaches, Quirky things

Right On The Water

They’ve had a lot of rain up here so the Sandspit Holiday Park crew suggested that we stick to one back from the water just to make sure we don’t sink!

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Nice parking

My old boating friend Alan and I were in need of some time out of the house so we decided a few days before to check out the Sandspit Holiday Park and do a trip to Kawau on the ferry. Sounded like a plan thought I so off we went early on the Friday afternoon. It is only 42k’s from Auckland and with little traffic, we were there at 3.30pm.

Its a lovely little park with a lot of permanent Baches and Caravans but what a neat spot.

With an NZMCA discount, it was $23 each a night. With their very new Showers and Kitchens, its a delight to stay at. There are a whole bunch of older interesting buildings there too and Horace the Morris is a feature as well.

Click on the Gallery below for a Slideshow

Snakes and Ladders anyone
Horace the Morris
One of the Quirky wee cottages you can stay in
Out of the way
kayaks available too
Rafe by the water

We stayed two nights with a ferry trip to Kawau in between. Lucky with the weather, after getting back from Kawau, we walked along to the newly setup restaurant on the top floor of the Sandspit Yacht Club and caught up with Motorhome friends Rob and Helen who live not far away from there.

The ferry a few minutes walk away.

The last time we were here, unbeknown to me, they had some issues with the drainage system for the bathrooms which used to be a real problem apparently in the height of summer.

The new Drainage system

This has all been upgraded and put up the hill out of the way and hasn’t been an issue since.  Nice friendly hosts who were happy to help with anything. ..

A shot from the ferry. You can see Rafe in the middle.

A great spot and handy to the Kawau ferry and the new Marina at Sandspit.

The Netspeed Speedtest for here.
Download: 7.34 Mbps
Upload: 2.10 Mbps
Ping: 23 ms
I think the tower was playing up a bit as we had some difficulty with the connection over the two nights.

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South Island 2015

Old stuff

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Shantytown near Greymouth is always an interesting place to stop.
Some neat stuff to see.   Another old post. Enjoy

The Shantytown train and station
The Shantytown train and station

This was a great way to spend a day when I suspected that it might another tourist tatty type of setup but it was anything but. We spent a good few hours looking over the various bits of old furniture, clothing, printing equipment used by the Greymouth Star, old houses, a ride on a steam train and much much more.
After checking out a water powered stamping battery, after a small wait, we were on a steam train to check out a sawmill 1k up in the hills.

Remember, you can click on any of these images to see the higher res version

Madam checking out the waterwheel
Fiona checking out the waterwheel

Fascinating to see the steam engines setup expressly for pulling logs out of the hills and one was operated by two pre teen brothers.

Cobb and Co buggy and shed
Cobb and Co buggy and shed
Train at the station
Train at the station
Two young boys check out the Train
Two young boys check out the Train
The Tin Pub
The Tin Pub

After this, we walked down through a gold mining town largely built of corrugated iron with a pub, a gold mining merchant and some houses.

The main street
The main street

We stopped for lunch in a reasonably priced cafe in the village and moved in to the town hotel, the church, the newspaper office, Hannah’s shoe shop, and a hospital. I’ll let the pictures tell the story from here but it was a well spent several hours and well worth doing if you’re in area – 10ks south of Greymouth

Me and Gary having a rest !
Me and Gary having a rest at the end of a long hard day!
South Island 2015

Buller Diggers

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Another Oldie ..

Buller Gorge from the road
Buller Gorge from the road

Murchison was a great spot. Having water and the dump station in the park was a treat. After sorting out Rafes various tank levels, we headed towards Westport.
Once in the Buller gorge, I really wanted to get a water rushing over boulders pic but where the road was close to the river for this shot, there was no where safe to pull up a 4.4 tonne Motorhome safely.
After going through Fiona’s dark moments from the previous day for missing out on the crafts and cheese shops, I was determined to find some interesting stuff to stop at and we found it.

Motorhome parking at Lyall
Motorhome parking at Lyall
Lyall Motorhome parking
Lyall Motorhome parking

Marked on the map as a “rest area” but also listed as a DOC Motorhome overnighting area, was the old Gold mining town of Lyall. The town went bust in the 1880’s and has all gone now but there are walking tracks, several swing bridges, a cemetery and signs of old gold mining all around the area.
There were half a dozen Motorhomes and a couple of caravans, many of their owners off hiking the paths through the remains of the town.
Fiona and Chris went off for a trot and found the cemetery and some of the bridges.

The river through the trees
The river through the trees
The river form the swing bridge
The river form the swing bridge

A really interesting stop and a really sheltered spot for Motorhomes if you wanted to stay the night.
Leaving there our next stop was Inangahua where the big earthquake was centred. There is a museum there with lots of information about Lyall and the earthquake in Inangahua which is well worth a look. We also stopped at the cafe next door for the most amazing pies. Mine was Chicken curry with cashew nuts, made on site with the most amazing pastry. Chris and Gary commented on how good their pies were too.

The cutout for the road in the middle
The cutout for the road in the middle
The cutout rock over the road
The cutout rock over the road

We were back on the road and heading through the Buller gorge crossing several one way bridges and an amazing cut out of a cliff, also one way. Fiona managed to get a picture of it as we drive through it on my cell phone. I looked in the rear vision mirrors at Gary behind and there wan’t a lot if room around the van with the overhanging rock. Quite something !
Half an hour or so later, we arrived at the NZMCA park on the waterfront at Westport after a quick trip to the supermarket.

Madam on the beach
Fiona on the beach

A walk on the beach and a bbq tea and the day was done. Another great spot to stay. Blue skies and the wind has dropped off. A great day in paradise.

Coromandel 2018, Friends

Party in Waihi

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!

Click on the Images for Hi Res

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 Waikino
A 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.

People getting off

A neat day out in a lovely town.

The Station with the parking behind

My previous blogs on Wahi have much more on the town and the trip through the Gorge.

There is good Netspeed Internet available here but I forgot to do a speedtest.

Rafe’s track to Waihi
Martinborough

A Break in Greytown

Greytown is one of those lovely little towns that just oozes charm and is full of history.

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With up to 35C heat, we thought a trip to the Greytown pool next door to the wonderful little Greytown Holiday Park, well it would be rude not too! The pool is free being provided by the kind citizens of Greytown and it must be slightly heated as it was about 28 C in the pool!

The Gypsy caravan which you can rent at Greytown Holiday Park

The Holiday Park is fabulous with Ken and Nina at the helm. Ken is a real character and couldn’t be more helpful. At $35 for 2 with the NZMCA discount with power, it is very good value. And of course the use of the pool next door !

Fiona checking out one of the oldest Greytown Cottages in the Museum

We were both keen to check out the Shoc Chocolate shop which is almost part of the local Museum.

Inside the Cottage

The Cobblestone Museum is amazing and has a collection of several of the oldest buildings in the area.

The original Cobblestones

There were also a few clever people in the area. One called Donald Donald who invented the wool press and got world wide patents for it. This is back in the late 80’s. He was also well know for inventing a wire fence strainer amongst other things.

Click on the Gallery below to see Hi Res

Inside the school house
The Schoolhouse
The inside of the Church
A Church in the Museum
Donald Donalds barn at the Museum
Rafe in the Greytown Holiday Park

A local Church, Hospital, School House and others were well set out in an area where there was originally the Transport Hub for the area with the original cobbles still intact.

A very mod front entrance of the Museum

And afterwards.. the Shoc Chocolate shop was a great place to stop too.