Tag Archives: nzmca rallies

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
Waikato

Paeroa Scottish Games

Early in the morning in Te Aroha, Fiona woke up showing some interest in the Paeroa Scottish Games. With the event kicking off at 9 AM,  20 odd kilometers away, it was time to get moving!

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At the Racecourse Rally

We quickly serviced Rafe, topping up the water and emptying the tanks, then hit the road to Paeroa.

The racecourse Rally

Arriving at the racecourse rally site, we checked in before taking the car over to the Paeroa Domain, where the games were already in full swing.

The Opening

We started by checking out the Clan stalls, where Fiona, being a proud McLeod, picked up some ribbon for her hat. With that sorted, we grabbed a cuppa and sat back, taking in the atmosphere.

The opening ceremony was next, and we made our way to the grandstand to watch the Clans march in behind a lone bagpiper, a truly stirring sight.

In the Clans area.
Lady K from Hamilton showing her Steampunk costume.

From there, I wandered over to the wood chopping competition, always an incredible display of strength and skill.

Then it was on to the rotunda, where the Hamilton Caledonian Pipe Band was warming up for the competition. There were several other bands as well, each one filling the air with that unmistakable Scottish sound.

During their Practise under the trees.
During the competition.

With a long break in the program and Fiona needing to head back that afternoon, I decided to wrap things up too. I was running low on clean clothes, food, and general supplies, so it seemed like the right time.

Click on the Gallery below for an enlarged Slideshow

Lady K from Hamilton showing her Steampunk costume.
During the comptition with the judge.

Unfortunately, that meant missing the evening Tattoo, which was a bit of a shame, but we’ll be back next year, better prepared and ready for the full experience!

A fantastic event well organized and a great day out.

Rafe’s tracker map to Paeroa – 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
Waikato

A weekend of Surprises at Te Aroha

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A couple of years ago I went to the Tokoroa Timber Town Romp  and it didn’t disappoint with Bagpipes, Scottish games and some bands in the hall for entertainment later. A great event over three days put on by the Waikato NZMCA Crew.: Des, Michael and Neil along with many others.

Click on an Image to enlarge

The main parking area at Te Aroha

I missed last years event so I was determined to get to the Te Aroha weekend run by the same very clever people.

A Boat a home !

The venue was the Silver Ferns Event Centre at Te Aroha so the parking was on the football fields surrounding it. For the 60 or so Motorhomes and Caravans that made the event, there was plenty of room. Neil was out their as chief parker and it was great to see him again too.

In the Dethleffs corner

On the Friday when I arrived it was catching up with everybody with the main events happening the following day.

One of the highlights was the Kayaking where two groups of 7 were taken up river and set off to be picked up further downstream. Nice big wide Kayaks and everyone had a ball.

I’ve never really got to see the domain and the historic buildings where the Thermal Baths are so I walked into town to see them and have a general gander around the town. Its not big but full of very friendly people and with the influx of 60 odd Motorhomes, the NZMCA’rs were very dominant in their red shirts 🙂

Escaping the Heat

Some were off on the bike trails north and south and there was also an organised trip to a berry farm for fresh fruit ice creams.

Click on the Gallery below for a Slideshow

Des getting things under way.
Heading into town
Setting off in their bikes
The Waihaou river
On the Railway bridge
Amazing Sculptures
The old Hotel
In the domain
Kayaks return

After a couple of hours of wandering around the town and watching the Kayakers return, I wandered back to Rafe.

Te Aroha
Baths Museum
Croquet

A nice event in a lovely town. Well done again to the crew for putting it on.

Rafe’s Traceker map – Armada GPS
NZMCA Rallies, Waikato

Timber Town Romp – Let there be Music!

The morning started a bit later with I suspect a few sore heads after the NZ-UK Rugby game and there was lots of chatter about the game. To console myself, I kept telling myself that it is only a game after all… not quite that simple but it helped 🙂

Click on an Image for Hi Res

Roger and Diane’s Fifth Wheeler opposite Rafe

I spent the morning reading, listening to some music and generally just blobbed for a few hours. The weather was amazing with a clear blue sky and as the day went on, it got much warmer after a fairly cold start.

Its Knitting time

Today was a real Music Day with a band called Tuned out Larry, Jenny and Band which was a three piece band from Tokerau. A nice sound. After that, there was the usual 4pm Happy Hour. This was the last one for the event so it was well attended 🙂

Time to dance

I went back to Rafe and had tea but was looking forward to the  next band.  Over in the main Hall was  the  Hamilton County Bluegrass Band. A very slick performance by some very talented people!

The crowd enjoying the Hamilton Bluegrass band
The two originals, Alan and Paul
Pam with the fantastic Voice

I’ve heard them several times before and although they’ve now got a different line up, the two original 5th formers from Fairfield High school who started the band, Alan and Paul, are still there and sounding as good as ever. Pauls ex wife Colleen was the original Fiddler and sadly she has moved on but one of their sons is the very talented Bass player and their Daughter in Law is the new Fiddle player.  The Mandolin player who is also an instrument repairer and Potter from Coromandel and Pam the singer and Guitar player complete the lineup.  Pams voice is something else… a great sound and I was there right to the end 🙂

Click on the Gallery below for a Slideshow

Out in the sun
Tuned out Larry and Jenny
Jenny, Larry and the band
Jenny from Tokerau
Afternoon Happy Hour outside
One of the NZMCA’rs playing along with Paul
Appreciative Crowd

A very successful event run by a very switched on team.

Piccy time

A great Weekend.

NZMCA Rallies, Waikato

Timber Town Romp – Let the Games Begin

I was up pretty early for me at 7:30! It was cold even though the sun was out for the first time for days.

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People getting ready for the games

Today was to be a big day with the Highland Games and it was fun. There were extra points if you wore some Tartan and many made a real effort with some great costumes.

On the bank

The first event was The Hamilton Pipe Band. There’s something about Bagpipes that just get me going.. I love it! A wonderful sound.

Boom Boom

One of the NZMCA Waikato organiser Neal was dressed up in Tartan, and had a set of bagpipes made of electrical Conduit pipes. He had a recording on his cell phone for the sound effects. A great sight. It was funny to see.

Neal with his Bagpipes

He also managed to momentarily slot himself on the end of the line with the Hamilton Pipers playing. Lots of fun.

Neal “Playing along”
Watching the fun

The Games started straight after that. There was Hammer throwing (into a bucket), Caber throwing, Gumboot throwing which was fun to watch. And later there was egg throwing and they weren’t hard boiled either 🙂 Brian Stanley seemed to do pretty well here 🙂

Click on the Gallery below for a Slideshow

The Events Centre
Throwing the hammer
The Gumboot throwing
The Caber
A bigger Caber
Walking to time
The Hamilton Pipe Band
During the performance
Egg Throwing
Raffle winner
Happy Hour

The Forest View High School provided a Sausage Sizzle with Steak Sandwiches and other niceties. They did so well that the queue created meant that the events later had to put back while everyone had a feed.

I’m really pleased for the kids at the school as they really put themselves out to make this happen and with at least 150 odd people out of approximately 600 that attended, their sports trip had every chance of being a well funded one 🙂

Marching off

The Haggis was piped in by the Hamilton Pipe band and later another big Happy Hour in the Events Centre. Lots of people this time and after that, there was a performance by Tim Armstrong and his band. Unfortunately, he was competing against the NZ Rugby world cup semi final.

I was lucky to be able to watch it with Rodger and Diane next door with a nice Pinot to finish off the day. Despite the Rugby result, it was a great day in Paradise with some really nice people.

Happy Hour outside
Rallies, Waikato

Timber Town Romp – Getting Settled

Yes, it was at Tokoroa. Tokeroa is not somewhere I’ve spent any time at and after a walk around, its quite a neat wee town. Everything is handy and the locals all seemed super friendly.

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Rafe in his spot surrounded by vans

I was heading to the latest NZMCA Rally being the Timber Town Romp which was looking like being a real hoot.  Hosted by the good folk from the Waikato area of the NZMCA, it was held at the recently setup South Waikato Events centre which was a fantastic venue.

Everywhere you look

Having done parking at a Dethleffs event a few years before, I quickly volunteered to help with the parking and all was good.

After registering inside the centre, I met Des and Cathy who were manning the desk along with some others clocking everyone in. A big job.

All those white things

That night I bumped into lots of people I knew which was fantastic, including Rodger and Diane who were parked right next door. I knew Rodger from his time as Custodian at the Ardmore Park. A great guy who most will know from the park and has been involved in several of the Covi shows parking at Ellerslie.

Tokoroa’s main street is undergoing some major road works so the original plan of opening the gates at 11am was quickly found to be impractical as the Motorhomes and Caravans starting queing earlier than planned.  In the interests of safety and not cloggging up the main street, the decision was made to open early and get everyone safely parked.

I was in the main carpark making sure Motorhomes and Caravanners took a wide track so they could line up correctly for the entrance.

That carpark filled up around 11:30 so we started the other paddock. While another friend who I was pleased to see, Alan marked out several rows of new parking sites, I stood in the entrance way and directed them in. Others were parking them as they came onto the field. Everyone pitched in and we covered each other for cups of tea and lunch breaks etc..

The second park with the first in the distance behind…

It was a fun day and there were no disasters either which was a bonus 🙂 So after starting about 9am, most of us had finished about 4pm, we think we parked about 400 odd Motorhomes and Caravans !  Fortunately it got warmer as the day went on starting out around 5 degrees !

Raffle winner

It was time for the first Happy Hour of the event and that was held in the Events Centre main hall which is HUGE! One of the biggest Happy Hours I’ve ever been to.

Click on the Gallery below for a Slideshow

Des with part of his team Registering everyone
My next door neighbour who’s wife makes amazing pickles.
Chief parking person Neal, parking someone.
Crowd watching Ebonivory
Neal enjoying the music
Crowd enjoying the music
Getting onto the floor
Neville Ormsby
Happy Hour friends, Nelson, Maree, Keitha and Alan.
Ebinivory

At 7pm there was a show from a solo performer Ebonivory Neville Ormsby where many got up onto the dance floor. Very slick too from a one man show. And this was just Day One!

Dancing
Rafe’s Tracker map to the Event.
Shows

Hamlet

While we were at the rally, we noticed that the Pop up Globe was open and Hamlet was on.

Click on an Image for Hi Res

The Theatre

Having had hearing aids for most of my adult life since meningitis as a teenager, I have always avoided these types of shows as usually I can’t hear anything and the whole exercise is just a bore but armed with brand new technology hearing aids, I thought I’d give this one a go.

The Theatre

After starting with a glass of wine in the bar area, we wandered into the pre seating area under the trees and into the theatre.

Fiona enjoying a cider with the Artwork

There was a lot that I couldn’t hear as the stage is almost surrounded with the audience on three sides  so they talk in all directions. This means the lip reading function is unavailable largely but I could still make out enough of what was going on and it was just fun being there and taking it all in. These are good hearing aids too!

The cast during a moment of silence for Christchurch before the show

For some reason I seemed be able to hear more in the second half but put that down to more mayhem and shouting 🙂 …a Great show!

The King getting close to the audience.

Its an amazing venue and being just “popped up” in different locations, they take it pretty seriously with a nice bar and seated area under some trees. The artwork and the décor was something special too along with the Minstrels wandering around with their costumes playing their instruments.

Click on the Gallery below for a Slideshow

Lessons on Hamlet before the show
The happy Minstrels
In the Beer Garden
Murder and Mayhem
People after the show

Good seating and nice people directing you around. Its a great setup. Well worth doing and only 5 minutes walk to our Motorhome afterwards 🙂

Back at with Rafe 5 minutes walk away 🙂