Tag Archives: NZMCA

NZMCA Rallies, Waikato

2025 Te Aroha Romp – Lots of Images!

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This is one of those events you just don’t want to miss — and it’s easy to see why it sells out in a matter of days! The Te Aroha Romp is always a highlight on the NZMCA calendar, and once again the Waikato crew pulled off an amazing weekend.

Click on any Image to Enlarge

In the NZMCA park

I arrived at the NZMCA park next door on Thursday so I could settle in 🙂   It’s a nice wee park and so close to town too. With the Romp on right next door, the park was really humming. Russell the camp custodian was having a busy day and doing a great job keeping everything running smoothly.

Terry popping out!

Just after backing into my parking spot, I met Terry and Catherine a couple of vehicles along with their recently acquired Trailite. I joined them later for happy hour, a great crew and plenty of laughs.

The next morning, Russell told me the back gate was open, making it easy to drive straight next door to the event parking. After settling Rafe and opening a few vents, I wandered into the Silver Fern Farms Events Centre to check in. I bumped into Des, the OC of the event, who’s been running it since its early days in Tokoroa. He was in good form and ready to roll!

Click on the Gallery below to enlarge – The Parking

The Entrance

The parkers did an incredible job fitting in over 550 motorhomes and caravans, almost all on the Friday. The horseshoe shaped setup around the main rugby field looked fantastic, a real sight to see.

Over 550 Motorhomes and Caravans!  Click to Enlarge!

That night, Coopers Run kicked things off with a great set in the Events Centre. They were excellent, but I was pretty knackered so retired to Rafe for a quiet movie night.

Coopers Run with plenty enjoying dancing to their music.

Saturday morning, the games began! I spent most of it catching up with friends I hadn’t seen for ages, but I did catch the egg-throwing contest, always good fun.

Jean during the Egg catching competition.
The Egg Throwing

Then came the piping in of the Haggis and the whisky ceremony, followed by the pipe bands.

In comes the Haggis

If you’ve got any Scottish blood, it really gets the hairs on your neck standing up, just magic.

Click on the Gallery below to enlarge. – The Haggis

In comes the Haggis

During the afternoon there was a pipe band competition and a  march of the combined Pipes bands in the main paddock. Seriously good sound 🙂

Click on the Gallery below to enlarge. – see the Pipe Bands

Coming in for the competition.
The judging grandstand
Disppaly on in the main ground.
Impressive marching and the sound was awesome.

After happy hour, I wandered back to the Events Centre for the Paul Madsen Band — a 70s hippy-themed night with some amazing costumes. For just three musicians, they really packed a punch, and Paul’s voice was something else.

Click on the Gallery below to enlarge –  The Paul Madsen Band

Michael and Earl
Paul Madsen
The Paul Madsen Trio

Sunday morning, the rugby was on the big screen, plenty of nervous energy in the first half, but the All Blacks got the better of the Irish after the break. The collective sigh of relief was something to behold!

All Blacks v Ireland

Later that afternoon, Lisa Lorrell took the stage, performing songs from Phantom of the Opera and more. A relaxed, musical way to round out the weekend, topped off with another cheerful happy hour where I met some lovely folks from Taranaki.

Lisa Lorrall

Monday morning came far too quickly. After a quick coffee and a stop at the dump station next door, I pointed Rafe north up the Matamata Road and back to Auckland.

Another great Romp done and dusted, huge thanks to all the volunteers and organisers who make this event so special every year. Can’t wait for the next one!

Rafe’s tracker map to Te Aroha Romp and NZMCA park – Armada GPS
Close to home, NZMCA Rallies

The Stirling Moss Special and Caravan

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Soon after I arrived at an NZMCA Rally in Glenbrook, Gavin and Gladys rolled in with their absolutely stunning Valiant Hardtop complete with a matching caravan. What a gem!

They were living in Australia when they bought this Stirling Moss Special, which was created to promote Chrysler’s Australian designed Hemi Six engine. The car itself started life as a US Dodge Dart, but with an Aussie nose grafted on, a true cross-continental hybrid!

Gladys and Gavin with their Caravan.

Of the 139 originally built, it’s believed that only 11 still survive today, so this is a pretty special machine.

Gavin and Gladys used it in Australia before bringing it back to New Zealand, where it served as their family car for more than 30 years. After that, it was tucked away in a shed for about 15 years before being completely rebuilt for a family wedding.  What a comeback story!

Under the bonnet now is a 245 cubic inch Hemi with a 350 Holley carb, electronic ignition, and high compression, giving around 240 horsepower. It’s also had upgrades to the brakes, suspension, and gearbox, making it a lot tougher for towing duties.

Having been a Valiant owner myself back in the day, I was blown away when they arrived, it looked absolutely spectacular.

Looking out towards the car.

The caravan has its own story too. They found it about three years ago down in the South Island, bought it, and drove it all the way home. The hardest part, they said, was finding one in decent condition that hadn’t been knocked around. They repainted it to perfectly match the Valiant, and now the pair turn heads everywhere they go including at Mystery Creek and other classic shows.

It was fantastic to see them both out there, enjoying their Wheels of Yesteryear.  A real treat for the eyes!

NZMCA Rallies, Rallies

Trains and Motorhomes

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The weather was due to brighten up, and with Fiona working for the next few days, it was time to get Rafe off the blocks before the tyres went square!

Click on any Image to Enlarge

There was an NZMCA rally on that weekend at the Glenbrook Model Railway, and I was pretty keen to check it out.

When I was a wee chap, I had my own model railway layout that took up half a room, complete with viaducts, tunnels, and even lights in the buildings, so this was right up my alley.

Nice parking with a bit of sunshine at Kaiaua

After being an NZMCA member for more than 10 years, it was also probably the first rally I’ve been to in the Auckland area…  so, it was definitely overdue!

The tide was out. The Kaiaua NZMCA park

Since the rally didn’t start until Friday, I decided to spend a couple of nights beforehand at the Kaiaua NZMCA park next to the pub. Always a great spot and the meals there are superb.  I spent a sunny afternoon walking along the foreshore, checking out the Pink Dairy up the road, and wandering down to the muddy marina.

Click on the Gallery below to see enlarged images of Kaiaua

Kaiaua waterfront up by the pink Dairy
The bar at the pub.
Lovely spot in the corner

Friday rolled around, and after a quick stop in Pukekohe to top up with water, I set off for Glenbrook.

Parked next to the ride on track which wasn’t working due to a broken part.

I arrived at the Glenbrook Leisure Time Centre and met John, who was hosting the event and busy parking everyone up, and Rob, who had created the venue from scratch.

The Glenbrook Leisure Time Centre
Parked alongside the track

Just as I got settled, a Glenbrook Steam Train thundered past about 10 feet from the motorhomes, what a great sight! Sadly, I was too slow with the camera (not like me to miss that one!).

Checking out Robs huge model Train project.

Rob then gave us a guided tour of the whole model railway setup, and what an amazing place. He’s built everything himself, the buildings, the track, and even a small ride-on train, all beautifully detailed and clearly a labour of love. It’s a fantastic setup and well worth seeing.

Click on the Gallery (Enlarged) below to see who you might know 🙂

As the day went on, more and more motorhomes and caravans rolled in, and by the 4pm happy hour, the place was buzzing. There were raffles, plenty of laughs, and that great friendly rally atmosphere. Later, after dinner, we even had a bingo night, which was a real hoot.

Saturday was all about chatting and catching up with people, some familiar faces from the Dethleffs Owners Group, which was a nice surprise. I was hoping another train might go past, but being off-season, it wasn’t to be.

The weather held up pretty well too, a bit windy but warm, and only a couple of brief showers that barely registered.

All up, it was a fantastic weekend with great company at a fun and fascinating venue. Can’t ask for more than that!

Rafe’s tracker map to the Glenbrook Leisure Time Centre – Armada GPS
Waikato

Ohinewai Beckons for Things Tech!

And wow, what a turnout! More than 85 motorhomes parked up, not quite in the middle of paddocks, but close enough!

Vans everywhere you look 🙂

This was another slick event, run by Waikato’s NZMCA area chief tech man Des and his team.

Des introducing the first speaker

I rolled in around 11:20am on Friday, thinking I was late, but most people were already settled in, parked up neatly on both sides of the road by Ohinewai Hall, with plenty of space in the paddock opposite. Perfect venue, perfect setup.

Comfy in the paddock
The Hall

After parking up and signing in, it was straight into the sessions:

  • ASB Team – They kicked things off with a really interesting presentation on online scams, showing real-world examples and sharing tips on what to watch for. So valuable for everyone to see.
  • St John Crew – This was one of my highlights. They walked us through the steps of CPR and using a defibrillator. Those machines always seemed a bit intimidating to me, but after seeing how automated and “talk-you-through-it” they are, I’d be much more confident in a real emergency.

After that came Friday Happy Hour, where I caught up with my mates Alan and Keitha from Matamata (they’ve got a Dethleffs Trend). Always great to swap notes about motorhome tweaks and adventures.

Heading in

The next morning, Wireless Nation put on a lively session with skits (featuring NZMCA volunteers!) about the 3G shutdown and the end of Windows 10 support. Lots of laughs and some useful info too.

Wireless Nation

After lunch, we heard from Craig from Google, who gave a fascinating talk about what’s coming up in tech. The big buzz was around self-driving cars. Craig has been in one in the US and reckons he feels safer in it than with a human driver in traffic. Big call but exciting to think about where this is heading.

Craig from Google.

Later in the afternoon, people could get one-on-one help with the
NZMCA Travel App, General tech issues (thanks to SeniorNet) and Internet questions with Wireless Nation.

The day rounded out with Happy Hour at 4pm followed by some fantastic live music from The Coopers Run Duo.

Across the road

On Sunday morning, there was a final get-together before heading home.

I came away really glad I’d gone. Even with my pretty solid internet/tech background, I learnt a lot, especially about CPR and spotting scams.

A huge thanks to Des and his team for putting on another superb event. I’m already looking forward to the Te Aroha Romp in October. If you haven’t got your tickets yet, get in quick. It’s always a fun one!

Rafe’s tracker map to Ohinewai – Armada GPS
Taranaki 2024

Small world stuff at Ohakune

With all the trips we’ve done over the last 10 years or so up State Highway 1, I thought it would make a nice change to head across to Ohakune and check out the other side.

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The Ohakune Club

We arrived in the middle of the day and with the door to the Ohakune club shut, we walked into the town for a look around. We checked into a Bar there for a sly Gin and Tonic while watching people come and go, and bought some of Ohakune’s famous Eclairs to take back to Rafe…. and they didn’t disappoint 🙂

Downtown Ohakune

Later, we checked into the club and bought a drink at the bar.  While we were having tea, we met some nice people at the next table who it turned out, grew up in Devonport! They also owned a house in Devonport too, in Roslyn Tce.. “What number?”, asks Fiona. The reply was .. jeepers that’s our old house that we sold four years or so ago.

The back lawn Ohakune Club

It turns out that Rob and Jane bought it as a bit of a wreck as it hadn’t had anyone living in it for a few years. I had scrim on the walls, no light fittings and no taps on the plumbing! It was also smaller at the back and downstairs.

Amazing… it then turned out that we both knew someone from Taupo where they now live who parked in our driveway once… crazy 🙂

We spent another very pleasant half hour or so more with them before heading back through the rain to Rafe.

Rafe’s tracker map to Ohakune – Armada GPS
Rallies, Waikato

Te Aroha Romp – The Scottish Games

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Today is the day – Let the Games begin!

First were the coffee carts who must have done a roaring trade both strategically parked at each end of the park and fantastic coffee too.

Click on any Image to enlarge

Popular on Saturday morning

Then came tossing the Gumboot, Throwing the Hammer and throwing the Caber.

Throwing the Gumboot
The Caber
Throwing the Hammer

There was a 50-minute walk in 5 minutes and also some egg throwing too… 🙂

The walk

A lot of fun and in perfect sunshine. The Motorhomes parked around the grounds got their chairs out and watched in comfort with their morning teas and biscuits 🙂

The Grandstand
The Grandstand for the games

After this the Hamilton Pipe Band came on with the pipes and drums which sounded amazing. You can’t beat a good pipe band.

Hamilton Pipe Band
Hamilton Pipe Band
Hamilton Pipe Band

The games carried on then we had the ceremonial entrance of the Haggis lead by one of the senior pipers and with Chairman of the NZMCA Waikato group carrying the Haggis with the Whiskey following behind.

The Haggis being piped in.
Michael with the Haggis

I’ve never tried Haggis before but it’s really nice and found myself partaking when I was offered seconds 🙂 Must be the McLean blood in me!

In the afternoon there was a jazz group called the Flaming Mudcats on the stage which I popped over to check out. They were really good with a chap on the double bass.

Check out all those Motorhomes

In the evening, it was back in the hall for another band called Landslide, a Fleetwood Mac tribute band where we sat with our Dethleff Friends from the group. Nice to see them again.

Saturday night with Landslide

After a lie in on the Sunday morning after the rugby, Fiona went for another walk into town while I chatted to our Dairy Farmer neighbours from Rotorua, Tony and Teresa. There were a lot of discussions about the rugby and that Brit in the bunker 🙂 as you can imagine.

Click on the Gallery below for an enlarged slideshow

Hamilton Pipe Band
Hamilton Pipe Band
Hamilton Pipe Band
Hamilton Pipe Band
Hamilton Pipe Band
The Haggis
The Caber
Throwing the Gumboot
Throwing the Hammer
The walk
Throwing the Gumboot
Neal with his Highland gear 🙂
Harmonic Resonators on the Sunday night.

During the afternoon, there was an Accordion player, Annie Gong with come music sounds that she had made and versions of some well know songs, which sounded like a whole orchestra. It was well done. There were also raffles being held backed by NZMCA sponsors and others.

Harmonic Resonators on the Sunday night.

That night there was another band called The Harmonic Resonators which was essentially a family group which did some great harmonic singing. Think Crosby Stills and Nash but with some Te Reo as well along with lots of old favourites. They were fantastic and had great voices.  Everyone in the hall were there to the end with a standing ovation. 🙂

Click on this to enlarge!

700 Motorhomes! see if you can find yours!

The weather was really starting to deteriorate with wind coming in but to a large degree, we were sheltered by Mt Te Aroha. The wind was coming around it though but that changed it to a south easterly which worked well as we were all parked pointing to the south. Over Sunday night, it blew dogs off chains, and we rocked and rolled. Some left later on Sunday to avoid the forecasted gloom 🙂

I was just pleased that the ground was so well prepared so there was little chance of getting stuck.

We were going to go over to the hall again for the final farewells and raffle results, but the weather was awful, so we decided to take advantage of a spell in the rain and head for the gate before the rush.  Once we got to Ngatea, we refueled, emptied tanks and had a cup of tea.

The whiskey tradition.

Thanks for a fantastic weekend, great entertainment and as I said at the beginning, very well organised and we’re looking forward to the next one. 🙂

Rafe’s tracker map to the Te Aroha Romp – Armada GPS
Rallies

Te Aroha Romp – The Rally and amazing first night.

After the huge success of the Tokoroa Timber town Romp over several years, the move to Te Aroha was only going to be better. Michael, Des and the team from the Waikato NZMCA committee have well and truly done a fantastic job over the years and I was really looking forward to it.

Click on any Image to Enlarge

Sheltered by the Mountain

It was explained to everyone at the beginning that the show was only on with some strict rules from the council due to their sensitivity of have nearly 700 Motorhomes, Caravans and Buses parked on and around their footy ground. It probably didn’t help that some rain arrived on the morning before the parking got underway but the parkers did an excellent job getting Motorhomes and Caravans to vary the route through to the parks so there weren’t great big tracks created.

Rafe with the soccer field behind

We were parked in the middle between the soccer and rugby grounds on some very solid and what felt like well drained ground which I was pleased about as there were some dire predictions of what was to come towards the end of the weekend.

Ready for the Rugby

The event went from Friday through to Monday with the weather packing up on the Sunday night. Many people left before the weather deteriorated on Sunday.

The parkers heading for a beer after a busy Friday

After parking Rafe, we opened vents and then went for a walk into Te Aroha across conveniently walkway across the river. The first port of call was a cafe for a coffee and a scone and then Fiona walked further on to have a look at the shops.

One of a few sculptures in the street

We’ve been here several times before to a Waikato rally and for a look at the town. It’s a lovely spot. Check out these links.

After heading back to the park, I went for a walk around and bumped into old friends Tim and Pam who I haven’t seen for years. Tim and Pam were involved with the Classic Boats on Rotoiti, and we used to catch up every year down there when I was involved with the Classic Yacht Association. Great to see them.

Click on the Gallery below to see the Concert enlarged.

One of the sights
Ready for the Rugby
The White Goat band Friday Night
The White Goat band Friday Night
The White Goat band Friday Night
The White Goat band Friday Night
The White Goat band Friday Night
Dancing between the tables Friday night
Dancing between the tables Friday night
Dancing while sitting 🙂
Dancing between the tables Friday night

Great to see a good number of our Dethleffs Group here with their Motorhomes and having fun. I also caught up with Neal who with his team have parked all vehicles for years on these rallies and is stepping down from the role this year. He’s a real gem and a great character.

Neal with his Highland gear 🙂

Later on Fiona and I headed over to the Hall with some lubricant and settled down for a great night with a band called the White Goat band.

They were fantastic doing all the old favourites that everyone knew. Most were up dancing all night and were there until it finished.

Dancing between the tables Friday night
The White Goat band Friday Night
The White Goat band Friday Night

A great night and we still had the Highland Games to come the next day ! Next post 🙂

Rafe’s tracker map to the Te Aroha Romp – Armada GPS
NZMCA Rallies, Shows

The Covi Rally at Ellerslie Racecourse

Having helped park a couple of these Rallies, they are a BIG job for the volunteers who put these together and with this one, Neal and his parking team kept the bar high with their direction and parking skills.

Click on an Image to Enlarge

Chief parker Neal with his 3m stick

This year like last year, the parking costs were covered by Covi organisers along with a free bus service which ran in a cycle every half an hour or so… it worked beautifully. There was also a storage area at the Show where you could securely store any goodies purchased and pick them up on the way back on the bus… a great idea.

Plenty of white Motorhomes

I’m not sure how many people were at the Rally but a general estimate I would say it was at least 500 vehicles on the first day all beautifully parked by Neal and his team from the Waikato group with Counties pitching in too as a joint parking effort.. well done guys.

My little place in the world

The best part for me at these events was catching up with friends I haven’t seen for a while who have come for the show.

A great effort and well done to all those Volunteers.

Rafe’s Tracker map to the show Motorhome parking – Armada GPS
NZMCA Rallies, Rallies, Shows

The 2021 Covi Motorhome Show

I always look forward to these mainly for the new gadgets which this year, was the Drones which you can take away and use them for fishing.

Click on any Image to enlarge it

Drones that can fish!

The Star of the show for me though was ACM’s Freedom Platinum Elite. The one in the show is customised for wheelchair access but it is HUGE inside. ACM is owned by a Boatbuilder Chris and the Elite just reeks of a quality build everywhere you look.

Click on the Galley below for a look at the Platinum Elite

Looking forward in the Kitchen lounge in the ACM Platinum
Looking back in the ACM Platinum
The Bathroom in the PACM Platinum
The outside of the ACM Platinum
The ACM Platinum

The Vivaldi made by Tabbert was the first one of these I’ve seen new having seen one in Tokoroa at the Scottish Games event. Beautifully appointed and well made and really popular in Europe.

Kitchen Dining area in the Vivaldi

Its really nice to see them arriving here.

Click on the Gallery below for the beautiful Vivaldi 

Vivaldi Exterior
Looking down the hall to the Bedroom in the Vivaldi
Vivaldi Bedroom
Kitchen Dining area in the Vivaldi
Dining in the Vivaldi

Recently I helped some friends buy a Burstner Lyseo and it was my first opportunity to see one up close if you like.

The Burstner Lyseo

They have an amazing 850kg payload! Some of its competitors in its class, only have half that, and with the Police just getting ready with their in road weigh stations, I’m sure it’ll be a big seller.

Click on the Gallery below to see the Lyseo

The Burstner Lyseo
Lyseo Galley
Looking forward in the Lyseo
Lyseo Bedroom
The Lyseo Lounge area
The Burstner stand

It was great to see some of the travel destinations like Awakeri Rail there and also the Top 10 Holiday park team.

A happy man from the Top 10 organisation.
Awakeri Rail Trail

I was there on Friday and it was busy from 10am on and a couple of the dealers I spoke to seemed pretty happy with the way things were going.

Click on the Gallery below for Show Images

No 1 NZMCA
The happy team at the NZMCA stand
RV Super Centre
RV Super centres smaller vans
Niessman and Bichoff
The Autotrail Commanche
Commanche Bedroom
AutoTrail Commance shower
Outside the Autotrail Commanche
Trailite Country
Dethleffs Caravans
Inside a Dethleffs Exclusive Caravan
The Dethleffs Exclusive caravan

Another year another great show.

Plenty of white Motorhomes at Ellerslie Racecourse

 

Waikato

The NZMCA Show Park and Stay

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Seeing 600 plus Motorhomes and Caravans as your first view coming into the top of Mystery Creek is always a nice experience. And the first person I see at the bottom helping with the parking was Noel who I met at Tokoroa a year ago.

Click on an Image to enlarge

What you see as you drive in.

When I was at last years Tokoroa Timber Town Romp last year and its coming up again this year at the end of this month, I helped with the parking. With Noel and a few others, we parked more than 400 vehicles and although it was a long day, it was a lot of fun.

The goings on in the parking area 🙂
Rafe in the park

Once I’d parked Rafe, who should come rocking past on his electric bike but Neal who was organising the parking both then and now.  He was saying that the team had parked nearly 800 vehicles in Hamilton so far.  Given  the  effect of people getting over lockdowns and everything else, that’s a great turnout and a job well done for the parking team.  This was just after lunch on Friday with two days to go!

Great show. Click on the image to enlarge.

They did a great job and everywhere you looked, just about completely surrounding the main Pavilion were Motorhomes and Caravans. A great sight. Nicely done Team Waikato !

Rafes Tracker map to Mystery Creek – Armada GPS