Tag Archives: Museums

Hawkes Bay 22

On the Run Home

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We had been lucky dodging the worst of what was the storm Hale but the tail was alive and well.

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The iconic Lord of the Rings Isite centre in Matamata -iphone image

We decided to cut the trip a bit early and head for home via “somewhere in the Waikato”.  Fiona wasn’t keen on Te Aroha as there had been some earthquakes there so that narrowed things down a bit.

It was pouring with rain with some big easterly puffs of wind and generally pretty unpleasant.

Great parking

I found getting through Tauranga with its Motorway system changes is always a mission and twice before I’d missed the turnoff to get to the Kaimais before Mt Maunganui and today we did it again. This time we followed a motorhome in front to see if he knew another way through, but it ended up being a case of the blind leading the blind and 15 minutes or so later, we were back where we started. We eventually found a tollway though to the Kaimais and were away laughing.

By the time we got across the Kaimai road, we were ready to call it quits and my immediate thought were Matamata for a late lunch and then Firth Tower… nice and close and since it has been about 6 years since we’ve been there, we were well overdue for another visit.

Firth Tower

It’s a great place and now run by the Matamata Historical Society has changed a lot since our last visit. It’s well worth looking at our last visit as we the pictures I took back then had the benefit of some good weather 🙂

Some of the neat buildings from around the district

The Motorhome Parking is now marked out and with more Powered sites and a complete overhaul of the loos, it’s a great spot for overnighting. It was also blowing dogs off chains, but we were well sheltered behind some big hedges and trees.

Click on the Gallery below to see this amazing Museum Enlarged

In the McCaw House
In the McCaw House
The school
A corrugate Iron Roller
Firth Tower
In the tower

As I’ve said, the remnants of the storm were still with us, and it looked a bit grim but check out the pictures for an overview. Check out our previous visit 6 or so years ago for some sunshine in the images 🙂

Looking down through the mirk from the tower.

A great spot to stay and good value for $15 per vehicle including power and access to loos and really nice people too.

Rafe’s Tracker map to The Firth Tower – Armada GPS
South Island 2022

Those lovely old buildings in Oamaru

This is a seriously amazing place. I just love the way the good folk of Oamaru have looked after and encouraged their heritage.

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The Historic area is just something else. It doesn’t matter how many times we come, there is always something new and different to see.

I especially liked the welcome to Orclanders post Covid on the back of an old truck.. just lovely.

Wonderful welcome
The other side of the Orclander truck 🙂

We stopped in for lunch one the way from Geraldine and Dunedin.

Click on the Gallery below for a Slideshow

At the historic precinct
Interesting cafe
Iconic for Oamaru

Its really interesting looking at the records of the Criterion Hotel which reveal that one of the past owners were the McLeod brothers who owned it for some time. Fiona’s Dad’s family came from Timaru and Geraldine. It would be interesting to see if there was a connection there.

The wharf

A great spot with plenty of great Cafe’s and things to see and do.

Those nice old buildings
South Island 2022

Geraldine charm

This is one town that if I was going to leave Auckland, I’d go here. Its also Fiona’s dads family home and Fiona’s aunties old house is well known around town. Her Aunties car is also in the Geraldine Car Museum.

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We would normally stay in Peski’s just out of town but we had planned to host some old Devonport friends who invite us to dinner every time we are here so we thought it’d be nice to shout them to a nice meal in the local Hotel.

Ollie and Pam

Ollie and Pam run a B&B just out of Temuka and he is a professional Chef so as they same in the game, it must be nice to occasionally have someone else cook up a nice feed for you.

Oodles of room
Nice new cabins

We checked in at the Geraldine Top 10 which was effortless and very hand to the Geraldine town centre and the pub!

The new Barkers setup

I remember last time we were here, there was a big house in the main street which was for sale and if my memory serves me right, they were asking only around $400k for it! I twitched a bit but it needed a lot of money spent on it. I see that Barkers bought it and have put their new shop and Café behind. The House has been superbly done up and is now used as a B&B. Nice!

The main street

After going out for a look around and after being tipped off by the very friendly lady in the Hardware shop, we checked out the new Gin distillery in the main street where you can taste different Humdinger Gins fresh from their still.

The Museum
Crafty shops .. best cheese around

One of the noticeable things about our walk through the town is the lack of foot traffic and everyone was VERY appreciative of us spending in the town. The locals were still hiding from Covid so it seemed. A shame for the retailers.

Later in the day, we walked back to Rafe (about 5 minutes!) and got organised to meet Pam and Ollie at the Village Hotel. I had Roast Pork .. WOW.. amazing. And it was like a mini mountain of amazing food!

The top 10 is a great spot and so handy to the town.

A great town and nice to see Pam and Cam again.

Rafe’s Tracker map to Geraldine – Armada GPS
Coromandel 2022

Goldfields with the Boys

Heading for our next stop in Waihi with Ayden and Liam in the back, we stopped just out of Tokoroa when someone spotted a Subway store, the boys favourite 🙂

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At the Goldfields Park

From here we cruised on up to the Waihi Goldfields Railway. A great place to stay and they’ve really tidied it up since we were last here.

Waihi Station

Its the perfect stop as we could take the boys on the Train to Waikino and then later meet their Dad Alex at Ngatea where he would take them to Pauanui.

Grandsons Ayden and Liam with Fiona

I was a wee bit concerned as it was getting late in the day and you can’t really book parks here but there was plenty of room.

Leaving Waihi

The next morning, we went over to the station and got our tickets and were ready for the ride to Waikino. The boys were quite excited and had a lot of fun encouraging the drivers alongside the railway to toot their horns.

Toot that horn

They liked the Taniwha too by the track on the way. After a 20 minute Ice cream stop, we were on our way back to Waihi. If we had more time, we would have taken them over the river to the Victoria Barracks and the Museum .. next time. We did come here a few years ago and biked the trails right to Karangahake. That can be seen here and the Windows walk is well worth doing, see that here.

Click on the Gallery below for a Slideshow

All Aboard
Boys waiting for the train
Crossing the highway
Toots away

When we got back to Rafe, we realised how much progress Alex was making from Auckland so we needed to get cracking ! After a quick look at the big Waihi Mine hole, we set off towards Ngatea.

Checking out the Taniwha

The Goldfields Railway parking has improved dramatically. They seemed to have levelled it slightly and clearly labelled the parking but generally, it all looks great and for $15 a powered site per vehicle, it can’t be beaten.

Rafe’s Tracker map to the Goldfields Railway – Armada GPS
Taranaki 2019

Amazing Museum

While we’re still effectively in lockdown  .. here’s a neat place we went to just out of Hawera a few years ago.. amazing place..

After leaving New Plymouth, we stopped in Stratford Countdown for some Milk and a few essentials and after breakfast and a look around, cruised on to the famous Tawhiti Museum.

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The Handsome Cab man

Started by a local very clever Artist, Nigel Ogle with his wife Teresa, they built this up using local friends and aquaintances to make their lifesized models faces and they look amazing. I love the expressions too.  In 1975, they bought the old Cheese factory where Nigel worked as a boy and this was the start of the Museum.

Looks like some I know 🙂

It is split into three Museums being the local history, the Traders and Whalers and the Bush railway.

The Accountant

Fiona and I elected to check out the Local History which took several hours. This could easily take the whole day if you elected to do all three.

Click on the Gallery below for a Slideshow

The Motorhome Parking
Being helped down
Sharpening
At the shop
The Accountant
The Butcher
A sing song
Oops priceless expressions
Outside
In the tractor and farm museum area
Old Military trucks
Our park
That amazing Mountain

The parking opposite is fantastic with plenty of room for Motorhome parking with separate parking for the cars on the sides.

Great Parking

There is also a well stocked Cafe on site with great Coffee too. A neat spot.

Lovely spot

We’ve decided already we will have to revisit and check out the other bits we missed but an awesome display that really is a must see.

Muller park

We went from here to the Muller NZMCA park in Hawera where we recognised several other Motorhomers who were parked next to us at the Museum! Isn’t it funny how great minds think alike 🙂

Rafe’s Track to Tawhiti Museum and onto Muller Park. The Museum is the Green Dot on the right!
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.

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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.

Europe 2017, Netherlands

Clogs and Windmills

In Arnhem, we met a friendly Dutch Motorhomer who told us about this wonderful little village called Zaanse Schans and that we must pop in for a nosey. So thats exactly what we did and it was stunning.

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Old Buildings on the other side of the river
From the Bridge

Original old buildings and Windmills all restored and many open to the public. It is very touristy but done very well.

Charming houses

We looked for the Motorhome parking but couldn’t find it so parked a few blocks away at a railway station parking area but it was an easy walk to and fro.

Crossing the bridge to Zaanse Schans
The Windmills at Zanse Schans
Barrels in the windmill
The inners of a Windmill
People taking photos of each other
Dianne and Gary with Big feet!
The Clogs being shaped on a machine
Clogs being hollowed out
Clogs on the wall for sale

Many of the houses were set up as museums and all offered something different. We had a nice Latte and one house, and then a Waffle at another and checked out the inner workings of a windmill.

Fiona and Dianne share a pair of Clogs !

There was a great Clog making display with all the machinery and you could buy almost anything with a windmill or clogs on it 🙂

Zaanse Schans

We spent about 3 hours here and then headed about 20 minutes south for Amsterdam.

Northland

Checking out the Kiwis

Kiwi North which is about 5k’s out of Whangarei on the road from Dargaville is also the home of the Whangarei Museum and many of the local clubs with an amazing collection of things that clubs have.. Stationery Engines, Medical Museum, Radio operators, Cars and Tractors, Railway enthusiasts and the list goes on.

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One of the Kiwis  – pic supplied

The big attraction though is the Kiwi house where you can get up close with them. This is the first time Fiona and I had ever seen one this close and with one of the volunteers close by telling us all about them was amazing.

Click on the Gallery below for a Slideshow

Octagonal Chapel
Car ethusiasts
Stationery Engines
Niagara Lifeboat being restored.
Another well know homestead
Ride on minature trains.

They are actively involved with a Kiwi breeding program to try and stop the decline in their numbers and their modern Kiwi House makes it so easy to see them right up close. We were inches away from them!

A Nugget in the museum found in Hukerenui

The park is also currently refurbishing the Clark Homestead along with an amazing Octagonal shaped Chapel and other outbuildings.

See images inside the house from my last visit.

Clark Homestead being done up

There is the old Kauri Train station and the old Whangarei Woman’s Gaol there too.

Whangarei Woman’s Gaol

To make it easier for NZMCA’rs who would like to check it out, they also have parking for up to 4 vans with power, toilets and showers for just $15. There is also a discount for access to the Kiwis and the Museum for NZMCA’rs too!

The parking for Motorhomes

I’ve popped in here before but this was Fiona’s first time and its a great place with plenty to see and do.

Every Kiwi should do this and with international visitors being hard to come by due to Covid, make sure you pop in next time you’re up that way 🙂

Rafe’s Tracker map to Kiwi North – Armada GPS
Northland

A Gentleman’s car made by Gentlemen

This is the description of the Packard car by the creator of his Packard Museum, Graeme Craw.

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Graeme started the Museum in one of his farm sheds in Anawhata in the 1950’s. Over the years his collection expanded to Engines, Motorbikes, Earth moving machinery and other interesting stuff.

Lots of Packards

He eventually moved the collection to Maungatepere where it is now. Now run by Graeme’s sons family, it is a not to be missed stop off on the way from Dargaville to Whangarei.

Click on the Gallery below for a Slideshow

The Parking
Traction Engines too
Motorbikes
I feel old when I see this !
Old Ford
Model T

Its an amazing collection of cars, tractors, earth moving equipment, telephones, sewing machines and more. One of the stationery engines there even dates back to the 1860’s.

Phones
Army Indians

Not far from Kiwi North, it is about 5 k’s out from Whangarei and there is fantastic motorhome and caravan parking there too.

Rafe’s Tracker map to the Packard Museum – Armada GPS
Northland

Convoy in Russell

Leaving Rawene early, I headed out through quite thick fog towards Russell. “The Maui Convoy” was due back today from a quick 24 hr excursion through Manganui, staying overnight at the Hihi Holiday Park which they all raved about so I must do a trip up there sometime soon.

The guys on the ferry did a great job on trying to get Rafe over to Russell without scraping the back but getting off was a big long scraping metal sound…. horrible but there was no damage.. just a cleaning of some dirt off the chassis.

My sideways park up the top

Once I was happy there was no harm done, I set off to Russell and checked in at the Top 10 who are doing quite a good off season rate if you give them a few days notice.

Great view.. taken the next morning.

The parks are a bit smaller but they found one that suited Rafe’s nearly 8 metres and the view was spectacular. All the parks have a grey water waste gully trap and everything is absolutely in tip top order.

I plugged in, opened some hatches for some fresh air and set off into the town which is just a few minutes walk. Its a special place here with the History and the old buildings.

Looking across towards Paihia

I wasn’t long down there when one in the convoy Grant rang to announce his arrival and was on his way down to set up a tennis game. All those in the convoy are members of the Ngataringa Tennis Club in Devonport.

Grant .. all concentration

So we sat in the plastic chairs (the Grandstand) on the court for a Wimbledon experience 🙂

The fans In the Grandstand

I didn’t catch who the winners were but we were then off to the Duke of Marlborough to watch the rugby being played at Eden Park. Great game..

Click on the Gallery below for a Slideshow

Looking down over the park
The Kitchen dining room
Looking up at the Kitchen area
Looking down at the lower parking area.
Colourful bins
Big park
The finish.. Dave, Craig, Grant and Paul
Craig playing a shot
Grant off for a shower

One of the drivers Malcolm who was travelling with his wife Bonny is a real gem on the piano. They live in Whitianga. Malcolm found a grand piano in the bar and off he went. Everybody was hugely impressed and with a few glasses of wine behind us, it was a whole lot of fun !

We were all starting to get a bit hungry and there was no food left at the Duke so we adjourned to the Sportfishing club next door where they whipped up some fantastic meals for us.

The Duke !

This was the last day of the Convoy. All the vans had to be handed in at 2;30pm in Mangere the next day!

Grant off for a shower

A bit of pool playing and then we walked back to the Holiday Park.

A great day and a lovely town. Coming here for just one day as we did is not a very clever idea, I’ll have to come back for more 🙂

Rafe’s tracker map to Russell