Tag Archives: Small Towns

Waikato

Persimmon at Pirongia

2 Comments

We were on our way home from Taupo after catching up with friends and we’d had a warning that the whole of the country was in for the bash from the weather.

The Café with the Motorhomes at the back
The Café with the Motorhomes at the back

Thunderstorms and strong winds meant hunkering down on some gravel with some power. Years ago when we had wee Rafe, the caravan, we stopped at a café in Pirongia which had some Motorhome parking on gravel out the back.

This sounded like a good destination and we would easily be there before the weather nailed us around 6pm.

Click on the images for Hi-res or a slideshow

The RV Park
The RV Park

We arrived with plenty of time, plugged in and decided to go for a walk into town for a look around before the rain hit. We’d just arrived in a café in town when the heavens opened up. Fortunately it was just a shower so we still had time to check the Alexandra Constabulary Redoubt which was a fort on a small hill overlooking the town. It has dug trenches around almost like a moat and is well worth a look. It also happens to be right over the road from the Persimmon Café RV park where we were staying the night.

On our way to town
The redoubt with the town behind. You can see the RV park with the grey building.
The redoubt, Pirongia behind
Mt Pirongia behind
The ablutions
The parking

A nicely set up RV park but it is really a carpark with powerpoints and a toilet block. The cost for us was $25 for the night. $10 for us and $15 for the power. If we wanted to use the onsite dump station, that would be another $15 and the showers another $5 each.
It was explained that the dump station had to be emptied on a regular basis and trucked into Te Awamutu hence the charge.
My thinking was that although it wasn’t waterfront or top ten standard, it was perfect for sheltering for the night or passing through. It is also very central with the town only a few minutes walk away.

We decided to use the free dump station at Drury as we were heading that way but there is also a free one at Te Awamutu and we used our own shower.

Not big
Not a big park but perfect for passing through.

It was nice being on the gravel and plugged in as the weather really laid it on. Lightening and thunder and lots of rain. It was an interesting night with some good puffs of wind and plenty of action from the sky but we felt nicely tucked in and sheltered.

Pirongia is a nice wee town and there is heaps of history there. Its well worth checking out the redoubt.  The town is spoilt for choice for motorhome parking  with the Clydesdale Café and if you’re an NZMCA member, at the Golf Course just on the outskirts of town.

Waikato

Quirky Cottages

I’ve wanted to check in on Mangakino for a while but being on a slightly off the beaten track road, it wasn’t until we needed to get through to Te Awamutu on the way to Pirongia, that we found a reason to go this way.

kuratau
Love the flower pots

kuratauIts a neat little town. The buildings are all amazing little workers cottages, built for the dam workers by the Ministry of works. Nowadays, its a big bach area with many of the cottages taking on a new look as people customise them for their own needs.

The Bus cafe
Bus cafe
Parking
Overnighting area
Fiona surfing the web on the Lake front (Van wifi)
Rafe at Lake Muraetai Bus café behind

We popped in for a cup of tea and went to check out the free parking area by the lake. You can also get power for $5.  The weather was building up for nationwide thunderstorms when we arrived so it was pretty cloudy but if you were going that way, it looks like a good place to stop. There is a Café run from an old bus with loos as well.

The lake
The lake

The town centre looks pretty trendy being all in one newish building further up the road so it’s all there. A nice spot to visit if you’re in the area.

Rallies, Waikato

Down by the Riverside

While we were at Kuratau, we went for a trot through the park at the back of where the rally was and followed the river down to the Taupo lakefront. There are well set tracks and it is an interesting walk through bush and parks.

Amazing Cliffs
Amazing Cliffs

Enjoy the images, remember to click on them for hi res

Gary, Fiona and Dianne walking through the park
Fiona, Dianne and Gary on our way back to the Kuratau Rally
Interesting clouds on the lakefront

A real contrast of landscape. Huge cliffs up from the water and really colourful trees and river reeds. There are some houses lucky enough to have a jetty at the bottom of the lawn against the river too.

Kids playing on the lakefront
Kids playing on the lakefront

At the lake front, there is an interesting walk down to a memorial on the lakefront. Some children were happily playing in the water, the sun was shining with no wind. Another nice part of the world. 

NZMCA Rallies

Kuratau Rally

We haven’t been to a rally for a while and with it being at Kuratau at the bottom of Lake Taupo, our friends from Taupo, Dianne and Gary were keen to go  so we were off. We left early on Thursday night and headed for the NZMCA Ardmore park so we could avoid the traffic on Friday morning which worked well as we were in Cambridge having a cuppa at 10:30.

Kuratau
Kuratau

By lunchtime we were cruising up the hill to Gary and Diannes place about to join them for a quick lunch and then were going to head down to Kuratau in convoy.  Gary lead the way as he knew the road and we headed from Taupo around the western side of the lake down to Kuratau.

Click on the images to see these in Hi res or for a slide show

Rafe and the Xli
Rafe and the Xli

An easy 1hrs drive and we were registering and settling Rafe and the XLI down and getting ready for Happy Hour.

From up above
From up above on the top plateau
Registration and raffle time. On the right, Fiona, Gary and Dianne
Registration and raffle time. On the right, Fiona, Gary and Dianne

The area was on a beautiful 6 acre property owned by Aucklanders Peter and Sandy, beside the river. They had a bach with a big open stone fireplace and their were two plateaus. We were parked on the bottom level next to the river. As the day went on, the area progressively filled up as more and more vans arrived. kuratauHappy hour is always fun and we met some new people and joined in for a couple of the raffles. I don’t remember seeing any of us (the 4 of us) win anything but its all a bit of fun and supporting the Taupo NZMCA.

Tea with the leaves
Chairman Geoff with his swiss cow bell
The wheel
Gary, Dianne, Fiona talking to Cyril and Gail.
Happy Hour
HQ for happy hour
Gary (right) coming out of Dethleffs corner

I met a chap who I knew but had never met from my old days as a newspaper photographer. He worked in Palmerston North on the paper there when I was in Auckland on both the Herald and the Auckland Star.   It was really nice to finally meet him as we had lots of common friends. Small world stuff.

Gary about to open the wine.
Gary about to open the wine… Hopefully!

The weather behaved itself, Geoff and Joyce and the committee did a wonderful job of organising it all and it was nice to see everyone having fun.

Rafe
Rafe

Kuratau is not somewhere we had been before and its lovely. We’ll be back there for sure. Thanks again to the Taupo committee for a well organised rally and to Peter and Sandy for letting us park on your front lawn. 🙂  It was great to catch up with our friends Gary and Dianne again.  A nice weekend having fun!

Close to home

On the waterfront

3 Comments

After staying near our friends in Snells Beach, Rob and Helen for Robs birthday (a big round number!), in the morning, they spoiled us with a beautiful big breakfast. I’m not really a big breakfast person but this was amazing and such that I wouldn’t want to eat until late afternoon, despite all the tempting treats in the area.

matakana
A lone paddler at Snells Beach

We visited a couple of places a little before and after lunch but still couldn’t be tempted to eat🤗.

matakana
Rafe on the waterfront at Whangateau

We ended up staying at the Whangateau holiday park which is an Auckland City run campground like Orewa. They had an off peak deal happening where they were doing a significant discount so we were up for that! 😎 The tide was out when we arrived and it was a bit gloomy initially with the weather, but that improved to the point where stayed an extra night. A lovely spot right on the water.

The next morning it fined up with a nice blue sky so I went for a bit of a walk around the park. WhangateauIt is well set up, a nicely kept dump station, nice clean loos, everything anyone could want!

Close to home

A few hidden surprises

2 Comments

Huntly is another town that has a few hidden surprises up its sleeve. I was keen to see what the holiday park looked like on the edge of Lake Hakanoa. 

Lake Hakanoa
Lake Hakanoa

Yep, Huntly has its very own lake with a Holiday park on the edge. It all looks very nice. We didn’t go in but stopped for lunch in the park next to the lake. The council have set it up well with nice planting and paths. I’m not a big bird watcher but there were some pretty unusual looking ones there apart from the swans. 

Lake Hakanoa
Lake Hakanoa

After lunch and a cup of tea, we headed off to another parking spot, I was keen to try on the edge of the Waikato river, the Huntly golf club. 

Click on the images to see hi res or the Gallery below for a slide show

Swans at Lake Hakanoa
Huntly power station fro Lake Hakanoa
A Nice big flat parking area.
From over by the river
The instructions
The last person to play for the day
One of the last holes

Our motorhoming friends Rob and Helen are the golf club experts and have stayed at lots but this was our first ever golf course and it looked like a purler! As we arrived, I got talking to a local who was keen for me to spread the word about motorhoming here as they’re keen to promote it. 

Huntly$10 including power and the use of their toilets and showers which I thought was very good value.  After plugging in and settling things down, we went for a walk through the golf course and went right across to the Waikato river. It was a bit grey and gloomy but still nice to be near the water.

Waikato River
Waikato River

After an hour or so, the last player finished and we were on our own.  Another great spot, not too far from home!

Close to home

Looking over lake Waikare

After a couple of nights catching up with our grandchildren in Ardmore, it was time to head off and check out some places we haven’t stopped at before but seen in the NZMCA bible. We did a quick visit to the Papakura dump station to empty the tanks and as we arrived, there was a mattress vanner, on his knees at the dump station washing his dishes under the tap! I’ve seen it all. Unbelievable! 

Look at that view
Look at that view

 With that, we headed of down the motorway south. We turned off at Te Kawhata and slowly made our way to the Te Kawahata domain where there are two big fields and a huge carpark with power points for Motorhomers dotted around the outside. You have the choice of staying on grass or asphalt. There is power, toilets, a dump station and fresh water as well, all for a donation of $5! 

We pulled up at the edge of one field close to a power point where we were looking over Lake Waikare. The lake is massive and unless you’ve had a good look at the map, driving past through Rangiriri, you’d never know it was there.

One of the many mattress vans there.
One of the many mattress vans there.

There were two or three other vans there, all mattress vans but a Britz Motorhome turned up a bit later. 

Great park
The Entrance to the domain
Nice new clean toilets
The Dump station and honesty box

Fiona and I went for a walk into the township, only two blocks away to check it all out. Being Sunday, most things were shut so it was very quiet. An Indian takeaway, a pub, a 4 square. All the things a good Motorhomer needs 😎. 

Te Kauwhata's main street
Te Kauwhata’s main street

We headed back to Rafe and watched some TV and later, crashed. The only noise in the night was the siren for the volunteer fire brigade. A nice quiet night and although we found skid marks in the middle of the field the next day, it did feel safe. In the morning we went for a drive around lake Waikare to check it out, it’s huge.

Lake Waikare from further up the road
Lake Waikare from further up the road

Another one of those places that we tend to drive last and not give a thought about but a nice easy place to stay and at the best price!

Close to home, Northland

Parking behind the History

One of the great new secrets of Mangawhai is the Motorhome parking behind the history in the new Mangawhai Museum. 

Parked behind the Museum
Parked behind the Museum

It’s a huge area and perfectly flat and also has the dump station and for a donation, fresh water. 

One of the most decorated dump stations
One of the most decorated dump stations

We arrived here fresh from having a look around Bennetts chocolate factory and the old Mangawhai shops and were keen to check out the Museum. 

In a brand new purpose built building with a cafe, it is really well done and well worth a look through. There is a lot of history on the Niagara sinking and a huge amount of items donated by the founding families of the the area. 

Plenty of room
what a memory!
A model of the old wharf by the Hotel
Inside the museum

After visiting the Museum, we unhitched the bikes and went for a bit of a trek around the new housing areas opposite the Museum.  As we left, we saw our caravan neighbours from the pub carpark the previous night arriving at the dump station. 

Lots of room and dead flat
Lots of room and dead flat

Another great free parking discovery at Mangawhai and the Museum is one of the best!

Close to home, Northland

At the Pub

There were thunderstorms predicted and the showers on the road from Kaiwaka to Mangawhai were pretty heavy. We were going to stay at Scandrett but decided, given the weather, we’d be better off plonking the 4 odd tons of Rafe on gravel or tarseal. 

We looked at the Hakuru RSA on the way but as there was no one around decided we’d try the Mangawhai Pub which was an NZMCA Park over Property. Not my first choice on a Saturday night as we’d be sharing the park with pub patron cars. We thought we’d give it a go as there was a caravan who’d been there for a few nights who hadn’t had any trouble so we parked over in the corner as close to them as we could and headed in for a drink.

The pub carpark
The pub carpark

It’s a really nice old historic hotel right on the water. Everywhere you looked, it reeked with history and lots of character. As we settled down for our first drinks with a bowl of chips, a huge thunderstorm hit and lots of rain. I love a good thunderstorm, especially when you’re nicely tucked up inside out if the rain.

In front of the pub
In front of the pub

The rain didn’t last long so I went for a walk down to the beach in front and checked out the estuary for some piccies. I also did some more in the morning.

We settled down for tea and watched TV and about 11pm, we felt a few very gentle rolls of the van, like someone in the van had moved. Someone’s sense of humour as they were leaving the carpark!  We ignored it and a second later it stopped and we heard more cars drive away. No harm done. A nice spot and really handy to town and it is free after all. Maybe not Friday or Saturday nights though!

Don’t forget to click on images for hi res or a slideshow

Parked in the corner
The main street of Mangahwai. Bennett’s chocolate factory on the right
A character building on the main street
The café at Bennett’s
Bennetts Chocolate Factory
Behind Bennetts Factory

The next morning we parked around behind Bennetts chocolate factory.  I wasn’t aware but there is a huge large Motorhome friendly park behind the building.

I love carparks like this. Behind Bennetts Chocolate Factory
I love carparks like this. Behind Bennetts Chocolate Factory

After a cuppa at Bennetts chocolate factory café and some chocolate. we went for a wander around the shops in Mangawhai.

Mangawhai Estuary
Mangawhai Estuary

A neat little town and not too far from Auckland.

Classic Boating, Waikato

Motorhoming with the boats

Paeroa
The old post office building and the Paeroa racecourse ticket office.

On the way back from Waihi, we stopped in at the Paeroa Maritime Museum.
With my past involvement with Classic Launches, I was keen to see what was there. The main building is the ex Paeroa Post Office and is chocker with relics from the area. Apparently Captain Cook sailed up the Waihou and checked it out for Spars.

The old Paeroa jail house
Old outboards
The camping area, normally there are no cars here.

Paeroa didn’t see roads until the mid 1940’s and the main transportation method was ships up the streams to where the Maritime Museum is today.

Visitors going up the river
Visitors going up the river

They also provide overnight Motorhome parking with power for $15 and there are toilets and plenty to see and do.
You can also go for a ride in one of their two vessels up the Waihou river.