Tag Archives: Small Towns

Cape Reinga trip 23, Northland

Waipu Caledonian Park

One of my all-time favorite places to stay and very good value. It’s also close to a couple of great Restaurants and Bars for later in the evening. I see too that the loos have had a bit of a do up which is great. Nice bright Scottish paintings on the outside.

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On the way back from Whangarei after topping up with fuel, we stopped in to see some of our old boatie friends from Auckland in Ruakaka. After lunch with Chris and then a pop in with Tina and Mark and their family, we decided we would just stay in Waipu in our old favourite park.

The Museum

They had just had a big festival there and some of the trucks had carved up the wet ground quite badly, so you had to be selective about where you parked! I parked on the outside edge closest to the driveway where it was unmarked and pretty dry.

Nice and safe next to the gravel.

It was blowing dogs off chains, so I set Rafe back a bit from the trees just in case and also for a TV signal 🙂  The weather looked iffy too!

The plan was to get something in town to eat but in the end, we snacked in the van and had an early night given that we were heading home the next day.

A great 10 days or so away and nice to do the bits we’ve never seen in Northland.

Rafe’s tracker map to the Waipu Caledonian Park – Armada GPS
Cape Reinga trip 23, Northland

Pukenui on the edge of the harbour!

While were cruising north, we stopped in to the Pukenui Holiday Park to find they had some room and at a reasonable rate. The wind was blowing, and the rain was threatening so power was a must. A nice park spread out over two levels with little plateaus of space for both Caravans and Motorhomes. There are also some cabins too.

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Neat Paint job

They also had some very tame small ponies and sheep helping with the grass and entertaining small children. Jo the owner has been here for 20 years or so and with Tania, they were both very helpful.

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Quirky Cabins
Dethleffs Corner
Great Cafe, 4 Square and Liquor shop a few minutes walk
Houhora Harbour

A really interesting park with handy access to the harbour and lots of places for walking.

Down by the water

5 minutes walks down the road is a nice cafe, 4 square and Bottle store and a bit further on is the jetty overlooking the Houhora harbour. Very popular fishing spot and they tell me that a Kingi can be caught in minutes 🙂

Great Cafe, 4 Square and Liquor shop a few minutes walk
Great big parks

A nice park but while we were there, I got on to a company in Kaitaia that did 4-wheel drive bus trips up to Cape Reinga with a guide and went up the beach. Thats us we thought but we had to get back to Awanui (The NZMCA park) where they could pick us up on route.  .. Fantastic!

Rafe’s tracker map to the Pukenui Holiday Park – Armada GPS
Cape Reinga trip 23, Northland

Mangonui, the Home of great Fish and Chips

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Years ago, we had friends up here who lived in Hihi. We used to come up here and stay over the New Year period with them and other friends.  We stayed in a pup tent under a Ti Tree:-)   It was always heaps of fun and Mangonui was the local big town if you like.

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The Famous Mangonui Fish Shop

So, Mangonui was on the must do list for this trip. We stopped at a parking area just as you enter the town with Toilets, a dump station and is also a freedom camping area between the trees. A nice spot.

The parking by the water.. Toilets, and Dump station along with freedom camping.
The Old Oak Boutique Hotel

We then walked about 15 minutes around to Mangonui Fish shop passing all the lovely historic buildings, the Pub, a big shopping building, the over the water 4 square store, and lastly the fish shop.

Walking along the waterfront
The 4 Square shop

It’s a great spot and the fish is so fresh having the boats come in right next door. Some of the Lemon fish is actually caught from the shop.

Click on the Gallery below for an enlarged Slideshow

The parking by the water.. Toilets, and Dump station along with freedom camping.
Opposite the parking area
The walk into Maunganui
The Old Oak Boutique Hotel
The Famous Manganui Fish Shop
Local Fishing wharf
The Hotel
Neat Buildings
The walk back to Rafe

After an hour or so of indulging in this delicious food, we walked back via and ice cream shop opposite to Rafe and started heading north again.

Cape Reinga trip 23, Northland

Lunch at the Duke of Marlborough from Paihia

From our spot in Kaikohe, we rang ahead and booked a spot for a couple of nights at the Bay of Island campervan park which is nestled in between Olive trees on the main road into Paihia. Its a perfect spot for walking to Paihia and to the Treaty grounds, both only 15 minutes away and it is very reasonably priced too.

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Paihia Wharf

The first day we were there we walked about 15 minutes into Paihia to catch a ferry over to Russell. The ferries were flat out so there were three ferries shuttling people across but there was plenty of room and it’s only a 15-minute trip across.

Leaving Paihia

We had booked into the Duke of Marlborough for lunch but were a bit early so walked around the waterfront, ate ice creams and drank coffee and eventually went to the Duke for a G&T. The “Duke” as it’s known apparently is NZ’s oldest licensed pub. There are several others that claim this title but as Russell was NZ’s first capital and one of its first settlements, they’re probably right 🙂

Fiona ready for lunch 🙂
My Snapper and Chips
The Group across the road enjoying their lunch

Fiona and I came to a wedding here several years ago and they’re slick operators where the food and Beveridge’s are concerned. There was a table setup for a group of about 10 across the road at the top of the beach having their meal out on the edge of the water… lovely!

The Duke of Marlborough behind the trees.
The Russell Ferry that was sunk after a collision with a boat a few days later. The boat in the background is a Classic called Wild Duck. It used to be a Flying boat tender in Mechanics Bay.

As the time crept on, we crossed to the road to the jetty and caught the ferry back to Paihia.

The ferry we caught back was being skippered by a lovely guy who also collected the tickets was the ferry that was sunk a few days later, by an alleged helmless 600hp go fast boat that hit the port side. He was badly injured and airlifted to Auckland in a critical condition. A terrible situation and from my past boating background, being hit on the port side means the ferry had right of way. Witnesses say there was no one at the helm. I hope after the investigation that the transgressor has the book thrown at them.

Leaving Russell

After getting back to the camp, I had a great chat to Jan who owns the camp and previously ran another bigger camp at Haruru Falls. It turns out that Jan is the big sister of an old Auckland Star colleague of mine who was a subeditor and used to lay out my photos on the fashion pages… Small world 🙂 She was ex media too but in Televison!

Click on the Gallery below for an Enlarged Slideshow of the Park

The Shakers in action
The crew get stuck in.
Jan with the Olive oil
Rafe with the Olives
The Shower and Toilet block

The camp is a little pearler with very tidy loos and showers and some apartments, some of which go up the hill. The camp sites are separated by Olive trees which is nice and the next morning, we were entertained by the “Shakers” shaking out the Olives from the trees. The Oil is bottled along with the Olives and donated to charity.

The crew get stuck in.
The Shakers in action

A great park in a lovely spot and so handy!

Rafe’s tracker map to the Bay of Islands Holiday Park – Armada GPS
Cape Reinga trip 23, Northland

Heading North – Kaikohe

We were up early on Good Friday in an attempt to beat the traffic heading north. Transit NZ had opened the road over the Bryndrwyns just for easter. By 9am we were filling up at the Whangarei Caltex truck stop!

After a trip out to the coast to see if we could squeeze into a pop out there, we decided to keep going North and stopped in at The Kaikohe A&P and Equestrian centre.

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Oodles of room

I stayed here years ago and its extremely good value on asphalt with plenty of powered sites with Toilets showers and a laundry. Just down the road is Ngawha Springs Hot Pools.  Kaikohe is just 5 k’s or so away. Amazing!

The check in box used to be an old red Telephone box which is still here but barely red anymore but replaced with a small shed. The Laundry had an old washing machine and wringer is now replaced by a modern automagical machine so big improvements.

Ye olde Telephone box with cabin

A lovely quiet spot and a great place for 24 hours while we got our ongoing itinerary sorted 🙂

A local with their horse

There was lots of comings and goings and our neighbours from Matamata were telling us that they are having an Equestrian celebration in the hall the next night which they are setting up for.

Toilets, showers, Laundry and Dump Station !

A lovely safe, cost-effective spot for a day or three and nice people too.

Rafe’s tracker map to the Kaikohe A&P and Equestrian centre – Armada GPS
Waikato

The Great bike ride on the Te Awa trail

It was Saturday morning, and it was time for a bike ride!

At our Dethleffs Rally at the Happy Hour the evening before, we had sorted out somewhere to go so it was all on! The bikes were organised and led by Tony and Neal, 14 of us headed down through Cambridge towards the river and the start of the Trail.

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Our park at the Raceway

Some were heading all the way to Hamilton Gardens, some going to Tamahere to a Coffee Shop and others to the Velodrome.

The Bike group as we left

The Te Awa trail is all pretty new still but what an amazing setup. Because I went as far as Tamahere (40k round trip), I didn’t get to see all the flashest boardwalks over the river .. next time!

Amazing engineering

We left Cambridge at 10am and it took about 2.5 hours to do the round trip including a good stop for lunch 🙂 Very easy though on an electric bike.

I’d stupidly left my bike keys behind so couldn’t get my bike off the rack on the back of Rafe. The Kryptonite lock and cable is a force to be reckoned with, so it wasn’t even worth thinking about the grinder.

John very kindly lent me Kirsty’s bike as she wasn’t riding. The bike is fantastic but has an older electric system with a Turbo function which is a bit scary if you’re not used to it 🙂

The short version: I was about halfway along the trail when I came around a corner, but the turbo kept running quite a bit…   ending with a full lock up of the brakes sideways into these massive retaining poles onto my shoulder.

Looking down to the river

Chris was just behind me and immediately stopped and said something like “that might hurt” 🙂   Initially it didn’t really.   Back on the horse and we were off again 🙂

A stop half way

We were about halfway so by the time we got to the cafe; with my recently acquired sore ribs, I was looking forward to a rest.

On the way back

Although 14 started with us, several split off into different groups to go on to Hamilton Gardens or to the Velodrome.

Our crew on the way back

After about 20 minutes or so, we headed back to the Raceway…  a lot of fun and a nice ride with good company. Thanks again to John and Kirsty for the use of their bike. A great day and a fantastic place to ride.

Steve biking back
Looking down to the river

You can stay at The Cambridge Raceway if you’re a member of the NZMCA for just $10 a night so an easy base for the trail and you can go as far as you like in either direction.

See here for more information.   And for the Cambridge Raceway parking.

Rafe’s Tracker map to Cambridge Raceway – Armada GPS
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
Hawkes Bay 22

Out with the Old, in with the New

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It was New Year’s Eve. We left the Hawkes Bay Golf club reasonably early so we could find a good spot at Eriksen Park. It was busy but there were plenty of gaps.

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The Dethleff corner. Steve and Rosemary’s Esprit, Rafe and Ian and Erik’s Esprit.

We’d only driven about halfway into the park when we spotted an older Dethleffs Esprit with some big gaps alongside, so I parked alongside and Steve next to us. Easy.

Busy at Eriksen Park

After we’d opened vents and settled in, off came the bikes and the four of us set off to Napier for lunch. It was nice to see some of the old cars cruising the streets.

Click on the Gallery below for an Enlarged Slideshow

The Dethleff Corner
Rosemary feeling the cold on New Year’s Eve.
Steve bat the Wine Bar
Rosemary and Fiona at the Wine Bar
Setlling down for lunch
The wine bar.. amazing place

We then went to the famous Masonic Hotel for a drink but after less than ½ hour, we were told they were closing so we moved to this amazing wine bar just down the road that Steve knew about, where we were entertained by really good German host who really looked after us.

At Napier shops about to have lunch. Steve, Fiona and Rosemary. Check out the car going past.
On the way back to Eriksen into the gale !

At least an hour went by, maybe more 🙂 and we set off back to Eriksen on our bikes along the waterfront. The easterly wind had really got up, so the electric assistance was cranked to the max 🙂

Ian, Rosemary, Steve, Fiona and Erik enjoying a New Years eve Happy Hour.

The owners of the older Esprit came back in their Toad, and we went over and met them. Nice guys from up by Kaitaia, Eric and Ian. They later came over and joined us for a New Year’s Eve drink.

Bliss

After tea, we sat outside while it got a bit cooler and waited for the fireworks.

A really good day on the bikes again with friends.

Rafe’s Tracker map to Eriksen Park – Armada – GPS
Hawkes Bay 22

Taihape’s Gumtree

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One of the major strategies of this trip was to drive across the Gentle Annie Road from Taihape to Napier. Fiona spent several years as a youngster living in Waiouru and did several trips across this road with her family to see her Grandparents who lived in Ongonga. It was then a gravel road which took some 5 hours, and in a Triumph Herald, that would have been fun!

The first things we did when we arrived in Taihape was to stop at our favourite Cafe Brown Sugar Cafe.

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Plenty of space for their events. Toilets/showers on the left.

Fiona wanted to have a bit of a nosey around the town while took Rafe up the hill to the Gumtree Holiday Park which was an easy walk away.

Gumtree was originally setup as an area where Eve and her builder husband could have Eve’s Dance Studio, her husband’s workshop and room for their friends to stay. As time went on, they had some small events with their friends who bought Caravans, so they decided to go all out and set up the area for Motorhomes and caravans to stay. The end of the workshop houses a well setup Toilet and Shower facility and there.

Parked in the corner to get the breeze. The Taihape Airfield is just over the gully behind those big trees.

On arrival I was told to park anywhere on one of the 12 or so powered sites around the fence line and Eve would pop down and give me all the info I needed. Very easy.

It was really hot, so I chose to park in a corner where a nice breeze was coming across the gully nearby. I was the only one there at that time but by the end of the day there were 6 or so mostly Caravans popped in for the night.

Others came later

It’s a great spot and an easy walk down to the town.

Even though Taihape is only a small town, it is not blessed with lots of options for Motorhomes so it’s nice to know there was a nice camp with a reasonable tariff and friendly face within easy reach of the town.

Rafe’s Tracker map to the Gumtree Holiday Park – Armada – GPS
Hawkes Bay 22

A great place to stop – Tokoroa

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What a pleasant surprise finding the Tokoroa Club parking area.

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Excellent parking

Nicely partitioned away from the normal parking area with 6 powered sites.

The Bowling club next door

It is extremely good value for $10 and they’re really friendly people too.

Massive carpark with the Motorhome parking behind.

Their carparks are huge but at the back of their main carpark are the Motorhome / Caravan parks.

We arrived early in the afternoon, plugged in, opened the vents and went into the bar for a nice cold Gin and Tonic and paid for the park at the same time.

There was a storm due!

They do meals as well but you do need to be a member of a Club to be able to use the indoor areas.

The Club

A great spot for an overnight break.

Rafe’s Tracker map to the Tokoroa Club – Armada – GPS