Tag Archives: NZMCA parks

North Island road trip 2016

All of Eriksen

Well .. It just gets better and better here at Eriksen road. The last time I was here during the Napier Art Deco week earlier in the year, two thirds of it was roped off but now it’s huge.. Massive! What a great park.

Eriksen Park
Eriksen Park

I was staying two nights and came here so I could get a really good signal for uploading some piccies for these posts but I love it here as you’re well away from boy racers etc and it feels nice and secure.

There were only a handful of other Motorhomes here so there was room for Africa. I can’t imagine that even in the height of summer, you’d ever fill this park and it’s dead flat too. I understand too that there is a new building coming for people to meet and greet without getting wet  when it rains, which will be great.

Plenty of room
Plenty of room

The first night was good until 4:30 odd in the morning when Rafe started moving all over the place. I thought it was wind but then decided that the movement was everywhere and it turned out to be the earthquake off East Cape. Within minutes, Facebook took off and eventually I got to sleep and woke up around 9 odd.

Click on the images to see them in Hi Res or a slideshow

I went for a bike ride into Napier which is about 20 minutes away by bike. There are great bike trails here and it’s pretty much straight down the waterfront and you’re there. Fiona had been “encouraging” me to get a haircut so I found a barber and when I sat down, out came the electric clippers and he went straight up the back of my head!! .. It sounds worse than it was but needless to say, it’s one of the shortest haircuts I’ve had for a long long time. It must be what they do in Napier 🙂

One of the few Selfies you’ll see of me .. On the way to the Barber !
Quiet neighbours 🙂
The “office” at Eriksen
I thought he didn’t want visitors but Chris tells me it’s a good wind deflector, even if the wind is blowing into it.

While I was sitting in a cafe in Napier recovering from my short haircut, munching on something, I found that I’d missed a phone call while the barber was attacking me.
It was Chris Nuttall who has recently taken over the admin role of http://www.nzmotorhome.co.nz. I’ve met him before when we first got Rafe at a Campercare show so it was great to hear from him. Between us, we decided it would be good to catch up for something cold back at Eriksen. I had an hour to get back, have a shower and tidy myself up. There was a chance too that Shellie and David Evans might pop in too so I was looking forward to meeting them.
Chris and then the Evans’s arrived and we had a very happy two or more hours of catching up. A lot of fun.

Chris Nuttall, Shellie and David Evans .. A fun afternoon
Chris Nuttall, Shellie and David Evans .. A fun afternoon
The Sunset outside Rafe when Chris and the Evans's left.
The Sunset outside Rafe when Chris and the Evans’s left.

Ericksen Park. I’m very impressed and what a great spot. I’ll be back again and well done to all those involved in getting it to where it is today.

Coromandel 2016

Weekend Off

Fiona and her sister Sara had organised a girls trip to Wellington and I wasn’t invited 🙂 

Danby Field
Danby Field

So I thought about a trip up around Coromandel for a few days on my tod. My first night was at Danby Field in Thames where there were plenty of holes free. 

I met my neighbours and their friends with their new Trailite and Burstner Ixeo which was interesting. The new Burstner Ixeo is like one of the new Dethleffs where they’ve completely done away with a permanent bed and rely solely on a drop down bed from the ceiling. Instead of having a bed at the back, the whole back area is devoted to a shower, toilet area and storage.  I’m not sure that it’s my cup of tea but it’s an interesting way of reducing the overall length of the Motorhome and still have plenty of space for a big social area at the front.

Morning in Thames
Morning in Thames

The next morning with it being windy, I had an early start and set off towards Coromandel town up the coast road. After having a couple of close shaves with reckless logging truck drivers coming the other way, I got to Coromandel quite early and headed straight to the NZMCA park in the town. 

Looking towards Corormandel from the top of the hill
Looking towards Corormandel from the top of the hill

With all the rain we’ve had and with it being quite low lying land, it was a mud bog but after only a few minutes parked there, I met quite a few people who were all parked together on a tar sealed area on the side. 

One caravanning couple, Rory and Henny, from Christchurch were traveling with their friends from Whakatane and the more I got talking to him, the more members of my family he knew, some probably better that me!  Small world stuff. It turns out that Rory grew up in Diamond Harbour where my grandfather had the general store, was postmaster and the local real estate agent as well. He remembers buying ice creams off my grandfather when he was a kid and described him to a tee. .. Wow.. He also knew some of my Christchurch rellies on my Mums side too.

I also met a couple in a CI Motorhome that we’d previously met in the NZMCA Ngontotaha park and some others who had recently received their brand new Dethleffs Trend. It was nice to talk to them too.

Seeing the amount of mud there and with another good thunderstorm and rain due that afternoon, I thought it would be prudent to check in at a local Campground and spoil myself in preparation for the Illume festival that night.

Bay of Plenty, Hot pools

The Route March

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I picked Fiona up from work after at 6pm and we headed to Ardmore park to meet Rob, Helen and Chloe in their Autotrail Tracker.

Early start and it was cold!
Early start and it was cold!

The park was chocker as there was an air show on for the long weekend starting the next morning so we were up early and after getting some diesel in Papakura, we were on the motorway heading south.

Remember to click on the images for Hi Res or slideshow

The frost at Ardmore
The frost at Ardmore

The holiday traffic hadn’t started yet. At the bottom of the Bombay hills, there was really heavy fog and it didn’t really lift until we got to Paeroa.

At  9:30 am, we were having morning tea at the Talisman Cafe at Karangahake. We’d been here before and it’s a great place to stop with a motorhomes as there is a huge park right opposite by the swing bridge beside the river. See our earlier blog on Karangahake here.
About half an hour later, we passed through Katikati and met Rob and Helen buying Limes and Manderins on the road to Sapphire Springs.

Rosie arriving.
Rosie arriving with Gary and Dianne.

Gary and Dianne arrived shortly after from Taupo in their newly named “Rosie”. It’s great as I can now refer to her as Rosie rather than “the XLI”!

Kids playing in the river
Kids playing in the river

Sapphire springs is a lovely little camp built around a meandering river. There are quite a few cabins and permanent caravans there but it is well setup with clean loos and showers, and of course, the hot pools.

Rosie, The Tracker and us
Our little spot in the corner
Fiona, Dianne, Helen and Rob
Caravans at sapphire Springs
On the way to the pools
The pools
Chloe and Rob in the pool
The Talisman

The pool complex is very smart and well setup but we found the pools a wee bit on the cool side. I think the hottest was around 35 degrees but it was very pleasant all the same. After getting dressed and getting ourselves organised, we had sundowners (without the sun as it had gone), in Rosie.

The route march home. Helen in front
The route march home.

The next day, the decision was made to walk into Katikati. Those who know me will know that I while I love bike riding, I’m not too fussed about long walks! This was 6.5 k in each direction which was  ok in the end. The original plan was to walk in and taxi back but there were no taxis. Good excercise anyway.
imageWe had a lovely lunch at the Talisman Hotel which has a huge car park out the back if you’re looking for somewhere to park your motorhome. As far as I’m aware, it’s not for overnighting. After our hearty lunch, we had a quick look through one of more than 3-4 antique or second hand shops, and then we set off for the camp.

We got as far as the Countdown supermarket and there was a chap in a near empty bus waiting for someone. Gary joked with him if he was going our way and he replied if he saw us, he’d stop and pick us up. We were about 1k down the road and there he was. He’d stopped to pick us up and he ran us up the road to the motor camp.. another 4ks odd. Rob decided he’d walk so carried on walking.
It turns out he has a motorhome of his own.

As we got off, I gave him $20 and suggested he buy himself a beer as a gesture of thanks but he was adamant he wouldn’t accept it and left it on the floor. Everyone got off behind me and no one would accept it back.
Rob arrived back about 20 minutes or so later with the $20! Apparently he pulled over to Rob, opened his hand out of his window so Rob couldn’t see what he was doing and dropped the $20 in his hand and drove off ! Bugger!
We did our best ! It was really nice of him to give us a ride back.

Later on the first day
Later on

We had a few drinks in the Tracker with Rob, Helen and Chloe. A quick tea and I was bed by 8pm. A big excercise day 😃
Great fun catching up with our Motorhome friends in a nice spot.

Bay of Plenty

Hmm. It’s that smell again.

One thing about Rotorua is your nose tells you when you’ve arrived. It’s that unmistakeable smell of the sulphur.  It’s has been a while since we’ve been here so it was nice to hear that our friends, Gary and Dianne from Taupo,  were heading that way too and funnily enough had intended to stay at the same place.

We arrived early in the afternoon on Friday and headed to the Ngongotaha NZMCA park. A fabulous spot with a bit of a view of the lake from an elevated platform which used to be a sale yard.

The view from the park with a peep of the lake.
The view from the park with a peep of the lake.

The local committee have done a great job turning this into one of the NZMCA’s premier spots to stay. It has full recycling of rubbish, a dump station and fresh water and is huge. A nice grassed area at the back for the kids to play in (or grandkids) and lots if trees.

They have even very thoughtfully signposted where not to park if you don’t want to lose your satellite tv signal 🤓 A really nice touch!

After settling down with Rafe, opening some vents and meeting the neighbours, I wandered over to the back of the park where several Traillites were parked up. Some really nice people  who I later had a drink with. They were from Cambridge and were on a group trip to some hot springs over by Whakatane. From what they were saying, it sounds like a great spot. Somewhere we’ll have to check out sometime soon.

"Traillite Corner"
“Traillite Corner”

Early the next morning, Peter, one of the Cambridge group from “Traillite corner ” as I named it 😊 Popped over to see my temporarily installed Internet and I gave him all the info on how to and where to get it.

A foggy start
A foggy start

Not long after they left with their friends, Dianne arrived in her car and then Gary with Luka their Grandson in the XLI.

After cups of tea and a catch up, we went in Diannes car into Rotovegas for lunch and a look around the shops as you do.

Fiona bought me some new clobber from Katmandu, some nice shirts and a couple of pairs of shorts and Gary was checking out lawn mowers.

The Amenities
The shed
Empty the next morning
The Cambridge crew on their way. At the dump station
In town
Government Building

A couple of hours later and we were back at the Ngongotaha park sitting outside have a few cold ones. It’s definitely no longer summer so we ended up with Gary, Dianne and Luka in the XLI having a nice tea.

Sundowners at Ngongotaha
Sundowners at Ngongotaha

The  last time we stopped at Ngongotaha park, it had just opened and was pretty barren but the committee here have done a great job of making it one if the better places to stay.

 

Art Deco 2016

Spats and Hats

We woke up this morning to find a whole lot more Motorhomes and another Dethleffs Globe4 right next door. I can count on one hand the number of Globe 4’s I have seen around on the road so to have one right next door was amazing.

Two Globe 4's in the same region!
Two Globe 4’s in the same region!

We met Bill and Lynley at the Dethleffs annual rally at Miranda late last year. They had then just taken delivery of their new van.
Bill is a keen cyclist and suggested we have lunch at Ahuriri Cafe, a neat little cafe around by the port so we got ourselves organised and off we went.
The sky was blue but black towards the west and the forecast was for heavy rain.

From the pier looking along the waterfront
In Ahuriri as the car went past
Across the road from Ahuriri cafe
Fiona riding past the marina.
Riding back around by the port
A rare Le Frame race car outside the Masonic
Outside the Masonic
In their classic gear having a nice lunch

A great lunch and nice catching up with them both.
Just biking along by the port, we came across an elderly couple out for a walk in all their finery, him with spats, bow tie and plus 4’s and hat, her with her cloche hat, nice long period dress and fine shoes, bid us a very cheery good afternoon. Very nice and very friendly. Great atmosphere and everybody is enjoying the fun.
On the way back, we stopped at the Masonic to check out the vintage cars and people all dressed up enjoying the moment.

imageWe stopped for a yummy Gelato on the waterfront on the way back to Rafe and just got the bikes back on the rack when the rain came down.

The park is filling up
The park is filling up
And with a sea view too
And with a sea view too. More than 90 Motorhomes and caravans.
Art Deco 2016

Eriksen rd

On Monday afternoon, we left Taupo after having filled up Rafe with fuel and headed for Napier. It was an easy run through with very little traffic and within a few hours, we found ourselves tootling down the Esk valley wine area into Napier.
The GPS gave us the directions to the NZMCA park at Eriksen rd. We parked Rafe and within minutes of walking around, I met some very friendly Motorhomers from Waiuku travelling together and also heading for the Art Deco events.
Last time we were here this park had just opened and it was little more than a gate to a paddock but it is now, very well setup. The local committee has done a fabulous job of setting this up and it’s huge. There is water, a library, a rubbish recycling area and a big clothesline. The ground is solid, dead flat and well drained and setup for easy parking. About two thirds of it is roped off for expansion and is currently left for making hay. Already it is one of the associations busier parks so hats off to all those involved.

Ericksen rd
Ericksen rd with the library, water and rubbish area in the middle
Vineyards behind
Vineyards behind

That night there were some nice breezes wafting through which seemed to get rid of some of the humidity which was great.
In the morning, we met some other Dethleffs owners who were full timing in their new Trend. The Trend is quite a bit smaller and a lighter van than Rafe (Globe 4) but well equipped and a smart looking Motorhome. They had sold their house and were travelling around with their small dog trying to decide where they might buy land and build.
We left Eriksen rd around 11am and headed for the supermarket then the dump station then onto the NZMCA park on the waterfront for Motorhomes for the Art Deco event. At $50 for 5-6 nights right on the waterfront and a couple of k’s bike ride into town, this was great value. Within minutes of arriving as the park opened, we bumped into the Waiuku crews we’d met the night before and not long after that, some people we met in caravanning in Taupo rocked into the park as well.
Fiona was on a mission to buy our grandson Ayden a birthday present so we biked into the town. The iconic Masonic Hotel was our first stop for something wet and cold and then after looking around, we found our way to Farmers. I had forgotten how hard it can be to buy for a 7 year old. Fiona rang daughter in law Sarah to get some ideas and in the end, we settled on a Star Wars toy. We had also lost our breadboard for the van so got a replacement one of those too.

Fiona at the Masonic Hotel
Fiona at the Masonic Hotel
An old 39 Packard.
An old 39 Packard.

With these swinging on my handlebars in a bag, we arrived back to the Rafe an hour or so later when we were invited to a Bbq with our friends from Waiuku who were parked right behind us in three Motorhomes. We briefly caught up with our caravanning friends from Whitianga for a drink before the Bbq. Another great night right next to the beach and while there, more Motorhomes rolled into the park.

The Bbq on the waterfront
The Bbq on the waterfront
Down on the waterfront. Our friends from Whitianga with the red truck and caravan.
Down on the waterfront. Our friends from Whitianga with the red truck and caravan.

After tea, I went for a walk down the beach to empty the rubbish and caught up with Bruce and Raewyn from the Kaipara who we’d met in Taupo in their very new Dethleffs Sunlight. The Sunlight is also a smaller van like the Trend but is slightly bigger than the Trend. They joined us later for a cup of tea in Rafe.
A busy day at the office but a fun day with some nice people.

Dusk at the waterfront.
Dusk at the waterfront.

The weather forecast is looking a bit suspect over the next few days but there are a couple of vineyard restaurants within biking distance from here before the Art Deco events really get started.

Close to home, Friends

Left right, left right, attention !

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What a great weekend! The weather was great and we had things to do.

After Fiona had finished work, we headed out to one of our favorite spots, the NZMCA park at Ardmore, a hop skip and a jump from Alex, Sarah and the Grandkids.

As always, remember to click on the images to see Hi Res.

Rob & Helens Autotrail and Rafe
Rob & Helens Autotrail and Rafe

Our friends, Rob & Helen and their daughter Chloe were heading off for a week or so to Napier and Gisborne so it was great we could pop in to Ardmore to see them off. When we arrived at about 7:30pm, they were off on a walk so they were a bit surprised to see us there when they returned as we hadn’t confirmed that we would be there.

Alex, Sarah and the boys came over after their tea and we all caught up in Rafe. Lots of fun.

The Ardmore NZMCA park is in an airfield precinct so a little noise comes with the territory, usually small planes and sometimes Helicopters.

Ardmore Park with Rob & Helens Autotrail and Rafe next door. The Cadet hall behind.
Ardmore Park with Rob & Helens Autotrail and Rafe next door. The Cadet hall behind.

That morning, things were different. At 8am, we heard the repetitive bark of a Sergeant Major type next door in the cadet parade ground teaching St John Juniors how to march. It was quite interesting to watch too as some didn’t know the left from the right so there were some interesting moves happening.
They were all togged up in their black uniforms and looked good, some even wearing their medals. There was one trainer who forgot his black clobber and was doing it all in his Red shorts.

St Johns Juniors marching
St Johns Juniors marching

As Fiona said, good on him for volunteering his time on a Saturday morning but it did sort of spoil the overall look.

About 9:30, we said goodbye to Rob, Helen and Chloe and they headed off to Taupo for their trip to Hawkes Bay and beyond. We left as well and went around to Alex, Sarahs and the Grandkids for the morning and around lunchtime, headed towards one of our other favorite places, Rays Rest at Miranda.  We were  catching up our friends Gary and Chris who were helping other friends Mark and Tina with their first trip out in their new, second hand Motorhome.
Rays Rest is a great spot and the weather was behaving as well.

Rays Rest
Rays Rest

After arriving early in the afternoon, we caught up for cups of tea and later a couple of drinks and then  headed off in Gary’s van down to get the fish and chips for tea from the famous Kaiaua fish and chips shop.  Gary wasn’t drinking so that worked well.  It was nice to see how much progress Mark had made on his motorhome as when he got it, it leaked and had quite a lot of dampness in its linings. .. now all gone.  More on this in another post soon.

We had a great night together and called it quits and hit the hay.

At Rays Rest
At Rays Rest

The next morning was nice in diffused sunshine with little wind. We sat on the foreshore watching people fish and just soaked up the atmosphere.

At Rays Rest, Gary, Fiona, Tina, Chris and Mark
At Rays Rest, Gary, Fiona, Tina, Chris and Mark

Gary, Chris, Tina and Mark were going to carry on to Thames and Coromandel so after lunch, we left them and headed home. A nice weekend.

 

Close to home, Friends

No Floor Show

After Fiona’s very pleasant work do at The Brigham Restaurant at Hobsonville, and after showing off Rafe to her workmates who mostly hadn’t seen the inside view before, we headed for the NZMCA Ardmore park in South Auckland to meet our old friends Gary and Chris Parkes who joined us for part of our South Island trip a few months ago.

With the sudden surge of pre Christmas work from clients, we have been temporarily grounded if you like  so we’ve been making every excuse to get away. It was nice to catch up with them again and with Alex, Sarah and the Grandies just next door to the park.

Us with our very big Neighbour!
Us with our very big Neighbour!

We arrived in the middle of the afternoon and after settling Rafe down, opening some vents and a little unpacking, we walked down the road to see the Ardmore Millers to watch some trampolining, some bike riding and catch up with Alex and Sarah.

Returning back a couple of hours later around 6 ish, we had the mandatory sundowners and tried to make some sense out of where we would head over the coming weeks of holidays. This turned into dinner and some cups of tea much later. A good night and nice to see them again.

Overnight we had a really solid rain and a few puffs of wind to go with it. There were decent sized puddles everywhere in the morning although fine but still windy. Gary found a leak in his roof but we suspect it might be the vent that was open for the rain overnight.

Roger & Marion's AutoTrail with Alex and Sarah's black VW next to Gary and Chris's Mitzi Fuso at Ardmore
Roger & Marion’s AutoTrail with Alex and Sarah’s black VW next to Gary and Chris’s Mitzi Fuso at Ardmore

The morning tea bell rang from the Parkes truck and not long after that, Alex and Sarah arrived with Ayden and Liam.  We walked down to the Airport Café just in time to see the ole restored DC3 take off for a circuit but there cant have been too many customers as it landed after we arrived and taxied to its parking spot behind the tower. There was very little other plane movements which was disappointing. It must have been too windy or unpleasant for the small planes.

We walked back to the trucks and I spotted a nice pic of flowers and parked planes which summed up the day nicely. Our friends Roger and Marion’s Autotrail Delawere was at Ardmore park too and we caught up with some of the other regulars as well.

The planes all parked up. Alex and Sarah's treelines driveway behind in the distance.
The planes all parked up.
Alex and Sarah’s treelines driveway behind in the distance.

After tidying up Rafe and saying goodbye to all, we left after lunch and headed for home to more work this week.

NZMCA Rallies

Wheels of the Freewheelers

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The view from the road
The view from the road

At the end of the week, it was time to think travel again and with a son with a birthday, Ardmore was the destination. After provisioning for the weekend at the easy to park in Countdown Takapuna, I headed to the Ardmore NZMCA park after getting some diesel at .91c a litre In Manurewa ! Fiona was driving out to join me after work.
I caught up with some if the regular liveaboards in the park which was great.

Our view of the Freewheelers.
Our view of the Freewheelers.

The Freewheelers were having their Christmas rally and were there in great numbers, all parked outside the NZMCA Ardmore park.

Click on the images to see them in Hi Res

Freewheelers enjoying catching up on Satruday morning

Freewheelers are single people out enjoying their Motorhomes and they’re a lot of fun.
They had a Its in the bag night in the hall and it sounds like they had a great time.

The crew looking happy on Saturday morning
The crew looking happy on Saturday morning

With more than a hundred people turning up in 80 vans, it was a fantastic turnout.

Inside the NZMCA park looking out towards the Freewheelers in front. Fiona's car next to us.
Inside the NZMCA park looking out towards the Freewheelers in front. Fiona’s car next to us.

We went out to tea in Takanini with our friends Roger and Marion which was great. In the morning moved around to son Alex’s family in Ardmore in the morning.

Day Trips

Wifi for Motorhomes

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On friday afternoon, I left the NZMCA park at Ardmore and headed to my son and daughter in laws driveway in Ardmore where I was later joined by Fiona after she had finished work.

My son Alex is a Systems Engineer and has been working on a solution for Wifi in our motorhome for some time. He was given an directional Antenna which has a range of up to 5k and for being top in his course, he was given a tiny Router which will work on 12v and also has enough grunt to drive the Antenna. … and he was happy to donate it to my Wifi cause.. thanks Alex 🙂

The wee Router up behind the TV
The wee Router up behind the TV

I didn’t realise how much setup was involved but after a lot of configuration changes, he managed to get it working in the van with huge throughput from an Access point in his shed, some distance away.

The current directional Antenna
The current directional Antenna
The Antenna pointing at the shed. Its further away than it looks here.
The Antenna pointing at the shed. Its further away than it looks here.

While there is some fine tuning to be done, the concept works. I think his plan is to change the Antenna to one that’s easier to setup and get working when its permanently mounted on the roof. While we’re testing it, we had the router on our bed with a network cable out of our window with the antenna bolted to the bike rack.

I have an account with Spark and have the free gig a day thing happening from the phone boxes but they’re always positioned where you can’t park an 8m motorhome anywhere near them, and the signal they send means you’ve virtually got to sit on top of them to be any use.

Ultimately, it’ll mean that our iphones, ipads, laptops etc will log in to the wee router permanently in the van and the router with the Antenna will drag in the signal from  wherever.

This system will hopefully mean that I can be a block or so away and still get a Spark signal or any other free wifi available 🙂

Our last night at the NZMCA park on Sunday night
Our last night at the NZMCA park on Sunday night

Exciting times.