Tag Archives: Special events

East Coast 2017

At Wallingford with Wonderwoman

January 5, 2017 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com

Wonderwoman being Jen. She’s the one in the photo with Alfie, her dog. She’s absolutely amazing. She pretty much runs Wallingford Homestead on her own with the help of Charlotte the chef and her helper Sue, but it’s really all about Jen.

Click on the images for Hi Res or a slideshow

We had all driven down during the day from Clifton beach and we’re staying the night in the carpark after spending the evening there. Wallingford house is a special place and we were all looking forward to it.

The Tracher, Rafe and Rosie outside Wallingford — The Tracker, Rafe and Rosie outside Wallingford

Wallingford Homestead was built in 1831 by Jen’s late husbands great great great great(not sure how many generations) grandfather JD Ormond.

Rosie, Rafe and the Tracker outside Wallingford

Jen and her late husband John moved to what was pretty much a derelict and rundown homestead 15 years or so ago and gave it some real love and turned it into what it is today. She showed us a picture of it with trees growing out it.
On 1800 acres with a full sheep farm and Truffles too, it is now 1400 square feet and comes with 14 bedrooms and numerous bathrooms.

It is used as one of the local meeting places for the locals in the area on a regular basis, the local hunt club and others too.

Not long after we arrived.. It’s still raining!

A nice old shed outside

The poolhouse and the pool

Chloe in the pool in the rain

In the poolhouse. Gary, Fiona, Dianne and Helen

In the poolhouse by the fire. Helen, Gary, Fiona and Dianne

One of the 14 bedrooms

The Kitchen

Wallingford Homestead

Gary getting the bubbly ready

Rob looking for some music

We arrived early (too early) and parked out of the way until a 70th birthday wrapped up with its 50 visitors. Around 4pm, all 7 of us were sitting in Rafe in pouring rain, having cups of tea when Jen knocked on the door and popped in to say she had prepared the poolhouse for a few drinks. The fire was going, some nice piped classical music, the pool was warm and Alfie the dog wanted to play. A great start to the day. Gary spent half an our or so entertaining Alfie with a ball before pouring some bubbly.

An hour or so later, Jen popped over and we got to enjoy this huge fire in the lounge and then into the dining room. It was just like we’d stepped into a history book with Trophy Cups and old pictures and family collectables all around us.

Helen, Fiona and Dianne enjoying the ambience and fire

Charlotte came out to carve a beast and with Jen, they presented a beautiful country home cooked meal for all of us. It was out of this world.

Us tucking in.. L to R, Helen, Fiona, Rob, Chloe, Dianne and Gary

After tea, Jen gave us a tour around this huge house. It was really something special and I felt very lucky to be invited into their home. Just a wonderful experience and Jen was just the perfect hostess.

Wallingford is about 29k’s south of Waipukarau in the central Hawkes Bay.

Rafe's Track to Wallingford — Rafe’s Track to Wallingford

There was no internet or cell phone reception but you can get wifi from Jen if you’re staying there.

Rallies, Waikato

The old and the new at the Museum

November 14, 2016 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com 5 Comments

It is always a great occasion once a year when the nations Dethleffs owners get together for a catchup all in one spot. Its a good opportunity to see what others have done to their vans to make their motorhoming more fun.

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

This year was the biggest yet with 75 motorhomes and caravans which made life interesting to yours truly and my old friend Gary from Taupo to get them all parked. We had a lot of fun as we did it with little walkie talkies that Gary had. The hard part was not being able to have a chat with everyone as they came in, that had to wait for later. As they all had the same sided habitation door, we decided we’d park them in rows with the doors facing together on a 3 metre space and the opposite side being a 4 meter space so that people could escape without skittling tables and chairs etc and it worked really well.

The first 40 odd arrived on the Friday and everyone settled in, met old friends and checked out the car museum. The car museum is fabulous. We visited this last March and had a good look through. You can see that here. There are all those cars that we had as kids, the Mark 1 Zephyrs, the Prefects and a lot older. It really is something to see. Outside is normally a NZMCA POP where you can stay overnight and it was nice to see friends Marama and Karen pop in for the night.

The Cord

Dodge trucks

The Auburn

Inside the Museum

The front of the Auburn

Fiona’s favourite, the Messerschmitt

Corvette

An Alvis

A car I had as a teenager, a Mark 1 Zephyr

The back of the Auburn

The next day after a good breakfast in the Juke Box Diner onsite, we caught a bus to a local Tea Estate and got to taste and learn about locally grown tea which was really interesting and on the way back popped in for lunch at the Hamilton Gardens Café. Some decided to walk off their lunch around the amazing gardens.

Off to check out the tea

Arriving at the tea place off the bus.. Fiona, Gary and Dianne

Sussing out the Tea

Gary Aroma checking

Dianne smelling the aroma

The Gardens

Lunch at the gardens café, Graham from Tauranga, Fiona, Gary and Dianne

The latecomers on the other side and the Marquee

Open homing

Bev in her and Bernies Esprit

Peter and Bernie on their tables!

Fush and Chups

cell phone pic

After getting back to HQ at the museum, it was open home for motorhomes so a quick vacuum and a tidy up of Rafe and it was visits all around. Lots of fun and it was nice to see people we hadn’t seen for a long time.

At 6pm it was time for a drink in the Marquee and a feed in the Diner which was immediately followed by a great display of the local rock n roll dance club and they were fantastic.

We finished up the day with Dianne and Gary with friends Ian and Lynda in their XLI right next to us. A lot of fun and we had some great laughs.

catching up with friends — Ian and Lynda’s XLI on the left, Rafe on the right.

A great day and well hosted by Mr and Mrs Dethleff in NZ, Jonas and Irene Ng. Thanks guys and thanks to Dianne for organising a great day out.

And the Netspeed speed test from this site.
Test Date: 12/11/2016 5:14 PM
Download: 40.43 Mbps
Upload: 12.35 Mbps
Ping: 34 ms

Classic Boating, Day Trips, Marine

A Classic trip to the Riverhead Pub

November 8, 2016 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com 2 Comments

With the All Blacks losing to Ireland and the weather forecast looking miserable, you could have easily flagged the day as one for the slippers and the fireplace but when the call goes out for the Classic Launches Riverhead trip, it is one not to be missed!

Trinidad under way with the Bridge and City behind

Fiona and I have done this for years, usually twice a year and it never disappoints. See a previous trip here.

Click on the images for Hi Res or a slideshow

Classic boat owners Paula and Stephen Pepperill sold their Classic Yacht to renovate their newly purchased Riverhead Hotel and have done a stunning job in rescuing it after years of being run down and neglected. These days, ferry loads of passengers make the day trip from Auckland to have a great lunch with a few drinks and to enjoy the river trip. It has also become one of the more popular trips for the Classic Yacht Launches too.

Where we went.. From Bayswater to Riverhead and back.

Its always a fun event and can be quite nerve racking for the novices as the channel is quite narrow in places and can be only a 1 metre or so deep in places so its a great event for confidence building and to join in with a new adventure.

At Lucas Creek .. half way. Dani, Grant, Robyn and Fiona with Trinidad behind. — At Lucas Creek .. half way.
Dani, Grant, Robyn and Fiona with Trinidad behind.

Fiona and I decided to take Rafe down to the marina carpark and stay two nights so we could get away early and stay the night after.

We were meeting Alan and his wife Robyn on their 28ft 1928 Lanes tramtop at the marina at 9.00am. Friends Dani and Grant were going to be there too. Alan was Launch Captain of the CYA (Classic Yacht Association) for 4 years after my 2 years as LC, and Alan, Grant and I have done lots of boating together when I had Rorqual.

We met under the centre span of the Auckland Harbour Bridge and at 09:30, Alan led the way up to the first meeting point at Lucas creek, about half way where we were meeting several other boats and their crews.

Raindance at the wahrdf with others jostling for a park — Raindance at the wharf with others jostling for a park

In the well sheltered upper harbour, the water was calm and there was very little wind. About an hour later, everyone was jockeying for a parking spot, some rafting with friends and the Tino Rawa Trust tender Whistleblower was on hand to ferry people into the Pub’s jetty.

Marita with the city behind

John Dory, under the bridge

Mahunui, city behind under the bridge

John Dory arriving at Riverhead

Trinidad at Lucas creek

The Ferry at the jetty

Rafted boats

Fiona nd Robyn at the Riverhead.

Boats moored below the pub

About 100 people turned up, some by car as well. There was a band playing, the sun made an appearance and it was a great few hours of catching up with old friends and meeting a few new people too.

About 2pm (1.5hrs after full tide), many started to leave before the creek ran out of water 🙂 We had a fun trip back with a couple of drinks, some Sausage Rolls and some chocolates and strawberries which Fiona had prepared.

Time to go, Grant stand and Fiona sitting waiting to go. — Time to go, Grant standing and Fiona sitting waiting to go.

We stepped off the boat to a hot shower and a cup of coffee after a neat day out. Thanks for a great day out on the water Robyn and Alan, and its always fun to see Grant and Dani too.

There are more images on Alans blog Waitematawoodys.com

Motorome Friends NZ, Shows, Waikato

Motorhome Show Rally – Mystery Creek

September 21, 2016 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com

It was nice to see Chris and Margaret and the others from the forum www.nzmotorhome.co.nz, many that I’ve never met before. Andrew and Debbie from Tauranga, nice to see you too. Given the weather was pretty naff, it was good to see such a good turnout.

Click on the images for Hi Res or a slide show

Motorhomes and Caravans as far as the eye can see. Click on the image to enlarge. — Motorhomes and Caravans as far as the eye can see.
Click on the image to enlarge.

Hundreds of vans parked everywhere and all shapes and sizes. I went for a bite of a wander to have a look for some of the more unusual looking or big/little Motorhomes.

It was also good to see my friends from Miranda, Marama and Rob and also Karen from the Motorhome Friends Facebook page with their Trailites. We were also joined by our fulltiming friends Chris and Gary. Good to see them too.

Many had multi day passes to the show and were in and out every day.

Chris and Margarets Jayco and the Forum Overnighters

Most were there for the full duration of three days. Nice too that so many recognised Rafe and came up to say hello and we could put names to faces. It’s always nice to meet you and get your feedback.

Shows, Waikato

Campercare Motorhome Show 2016

September 18, 2016 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com

There were zillions of Motorhomes everywhere you looked for the rally. A great turnout. I was lucky to get a spot in close and chose to get a powered site.

Click on the images for Hi Res

It was well organised and the power was nicely laid out for each site.

On with the show . I was really taken with one of the smaller Dethleffs Caravans called the C Go where there were bunks in the back which folded away for extra storage with outside garage access as well. Very clever. These are 7.7m long overall and are 1220kg tare weight and cost $53000 and perfect for a small family.

Dethleffs Cgo Caravan

Dethleffs Cgo Bunk area from inside with the bathroom.

Dethleffs Cgo Garage with the bunks.

The Dethleffs Cgo

Frankia T7400 Bedroom

Frankias T7400 Bathroom

Frankias T7400 living space

Frankia T7400

On display this year as well were the new Frankias. The one I saw was the T7400 which had two single beds with a pull out section which made one big massive bed.
Nicely appointed with a roomy social area at the front. They’re on a Mercedes base and are $190.000.

It was nice to see two Motorhome Friendly towns with stands for their towns, Whanganui and Kawerau, encouraging Motorhomers and people to visit.

New this year is Vantage Rv’s Ute based, go anywhere fold out camping setup called Ute-Opia Camp Canopy which fit on your ute. They start at $7000 and come with as little or as much as you want. Their new Alden dishes which automatically unravel themselves when you simply turn on your TV.. Very natty. They also sell and install the Netspeed Motorhome Broadband system. You can see more of these products at www.vantagerv.co.nz.

I was also impressed with the new Jayco Silverline caravans with the pop outs. I was talking to my friend Chris who has one and apparently the new pop outs with Jayco are now leak proof and dust proof and reliable so that’s great. Heaps of room with high suspension and built for the Aussie rough roads will go anywhere. They seem to be reasonable value too in the late $90k ‘s for the one I looked at.

Jayco Silverline

Jayco Silverline Bathroom

Jayco Silverline

The Kampa Awning on the side of an Autotrail

Inside the Kampa Awning

Dethleffs XLI

In the garage of a Dethleffs XLI

The eating area

Kawerau

Electric Bikes

One of the things which was notable this year was the new Kampa air awning room which clips on to your Motorhome or caravan to create a room outside. This one is inflatable and simply blows up and comes complete with opening windows, blinds and insect screens for $1600 approx. Thule and Fiamma also make similar types of this which clip on to your awning.
My only concern with all these was that in most Motorhomes, the fridge is by the habitation door which is covered by these awnings so how does this work with freedom camping and with the Gas exhaust from the fridge.? They’re a fantastic idea and a great way to increase useable space but so far when I’ve asked the question from several retailers, no one seems to have an answer. If you’ve got the Grandkids out in them for the night, you would want to be plugged in somewhere with the gas off or have a big window open. As I say, a fantastic idea but some caution required if people are sleeping in them.

The Pavilion was full with exhibitors which was great and most that I talked to on the first day, we’re having fun and selling plenty so that’s great.

The Pavilion ended with a great Food Hall area with the usual chips, drinks and other food vendors. One vendor there had fried bread with cheese and spring onion with cream cheese which was lovely.

It’s seemed to all run like clockwork and was a well presented show.

More coming on the Rally…..

North Island road trip 2016

The Old Tank

September 15, 2016 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com 3 Comments

Heading for the Countdown supermarket at Kilburnie after a quick trip down from Paekaekareki was easy. There was plenty of parking over two car parks and I got heaps of stuff for us both for a few days. After nearly two weeks of unsupervised travel, I’d spent the previous two days tidying up the van, washing the linen and getting things shipshape for Fiona 🙂

Click on the images to see Hi Res or a slideshow

It was time to head for the airport and pick her up from the flight from Auckland. I hadn’t been to Wellington airport for a while so I was a bit unsure of how Motorhome friendly it might or might not be! Wee bit stressful !
After getting a fright at how low the canopy was for the pick up area, I opted for the departure ramp and all was fine !
We made it safely to Evans Bay after that and it was nice to be able to switch off, open the vents and have a cup of tea and work out what we were doing.

After we’d had lunch in a French Cafe in town by David Jones, we walked to the main War memorial museum to see the Peter Jackson display of World War 1. It was amazing with the usual high quality displays. The realism was quite something.

It was interesting as my Grandfather drove one of these old Tanks in the Somme in the First World War. I remember as a 4 year old him telling me stories of how they used to cross the German trenches with these monsters. I won’t spill all the gory details but it’s interesting that now that I’m nearly 60, I can still remember exactly what he described 🙂
I used to love listening to his stories and he loved telling them. He was a real character.
Apparently he turned up to his own funeral after the war at his home town in Little Downham, Ely. He saw someone in the street and asked where they were.. “Oh Bert, they’re all at your funeral down at the church!” His mother was so pleased to see him that she scraped the mud of his coat and put it in a little tin. My son Alex has got that tin with the dirt today along with medals and other important family stuff. … Great stuff for a 4 yr old 🙂 .. And his peppermints in the old Mark 1 Zephyr were good too !

Outside the Memorial

Soldiers on the ramps

The Entrance

In the Trenches

The tank above the trenches

Back to the show.. I didn’t realise the scale and how big they were compared to infantry soldiers and the crews.

The display was stunning and I reckon it’s a must do if you’re in Wellington. The very last display is quite poignant too of an older chap in a field of poppies with a young boy.. Fantastic display.

Close to home

Let’s Trim the Trees !

August 5, 2016 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com

Over the last few months, we’ve had various council people meeting with tree people, and more recently crane people, and the other day, some cone people turned up to get me to shift Rafe and coned off the carpark.

The trees .. the one on the left was leaning on the house, the other two had borer.

Its all been about some 300 yr old Pohutakawa trees that cover us and our neighbours. One of the trees lost a limb in a storm a few years ago and damaged the roof requiring a full roof replacement so there has been some concern in some of the biggest blows we’ve had recently.

Click on the images to see Hi Res or a Slide Show

Our land lady tried to cut them back a few years ago but council people and red tape kept getting the way.

Recently some new aborists and council tree specialists met and decided that as one tree that was leaning on the house and the other two were riddled with borer they had to go. As one was a neighbour’s and it wouldn’t survive the wind on its own, the landlady had to deal with that too making things slightly more complicated.

In the end, the council backed it and the cone people, the stop/go girls, the crane people, the tree people all turned up and things started to happen. The traffic was blocked off and away they went.
It was great to watch. I’m not sure that its my kind of job but when you them scramble up the trees with all their gear and see how high they go, it’s amazing.

The trees .. the one on the left was leaning on the house, the other two had borer

Apparently more than 50 tons of firewood

Clear of trees

The Cooler looking out at the view.

They had planned to take two days but they got through it pretty quickly and around lunchtime the second day, they were packing things away.

Everything went well.. A few people came around to make sure we had permission and to check the trees were a dead loss. We ended up getting a collection of borer ridden bits and leaving them along the grass for the sightseers to look at.

The two stumps are neat. One has been turned into a throne and the other has a bowl carved out of it for holding ice and wine or beer bottles. Very nice.

Its all done .. The Neighbours remain tree on the right.

I’ve been thinking about the big Queen Palms at our tenanted house in Devonport. Maybe we should make them vanish before a someone notices them 🙂

Coromandel 2016

Illume

July 30, 2016 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com 2 Comments

One of the main reasons for my trip to Coromandel was to be part of this amazing event. The Thames Coromandel District Council had arranged along with locals, to run this annual event on two nights. It has become an annual event but this year by all accounts, is much bigger.

The theme was “light” where people wore lights, the buildings were lit up, some of the trees, vehicles, the local kids and there was also live music in a marquee set up in the middle of the town. The whole community was involved.

Click on the images for Hi Res or a slideshow

A Hula hooper with lit up Hoola Hoop

A great scene. retailers had market stalls setup outside their shops. There were people with lit hula hoops, juggling and later there was a parade of lights led by the local Fire Brigade.

The local preschool kids were all lit up along with bike riders and dancers.

The event finale was a huge fireworks display which you could see and hear from everywhere. Spectacular and I’m pleased I didn’t miss it.

Well done Coromandel.

Northland

Arts N Tartan

July 26, 2016 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com 2 Comments

Some weeks ago, our friend Helen had organised our tickets for the Arts and Tartan show at Waipu and we were really looking forward to it. Waipu is a neat wee town and we’ve parked in the Caledonian park before and its a great spot and great value.

Motorhome friends, Helen, Rob and daughter Chloe had got away early and called us to say that they had just arrived in Waipu as I was just picking up Fiona from work in Takapuna at 6pm.

The parking was going to be a bit of a battle as the grounds where we would normally park under the trees was sodden and we were going to have to stay in the carpark with 1000’s of others. I get very nervous when peeps park too close to Rafe as they do when parking is tight but its such a nice spot, it was worth a shot.

The pictures below were taken in earlier in the year in summer so you can see how nice it is.

Click on the images to see them in Hi Res

A great park and at $10 including power is just fantastic and they're great people too. — A great park and at $10 including power is just fantastic and they’re great people too. The carpark is behind the white railing in the distance.

At the Caledonian Reserve in the carpark… another wet day earlier in the year.

We were underway. Fiona had bought some salads to have for tea so we stopped at the BP station off the motorway by Silverdale to eat them. It was pouring down and was forecast to pour pretty much all the way.

We arrived in Waipu around 8:30pm and the carpark was chocker so we parked around by the RSA and watched some TV until the carpark emptied out at 10pm which was easy, even though it was still pouring with rain.

A Juggler twurling some flames. The parking can be seen behind him. You can see how wet it was.

On the Saturday, the sun was shining so I parked Rafe a little more tidily and we replugged in to the power and went for a walk with Rob, Helen and Chloe to check out the Waipu shops.

What we didn’t know at that stage was there was a Rugby Club do as well so the carpark was more under pressure than ever.

As it got closer to the 2pm session which we were going to, more and more cars piled in. There were cars everywhere. All down both sides of the main street and some streets away.

Off we went to the show at the Celtic Barn which was right next door and it was a fantastic show. Great lighting, amazing sound and an all round slick performance by all.

I wasn’t allowed to take pictures but the local Photographer charged with getting piccies, Peter Grant, has very kindly sent me some images to share some of what it was all about. Thanks again Peter.

To see a slideshow of Peter’s images, click on an image below.

By Peter Grant

Done mostly by locals and local talent, it was stunning and I recommend anyone who is thinking about seeing it to do so next year. Its really worth seeing and is a lot of fun.

After the show we had tea with Rob, Helen and Chloe in the Tracker which was fun and later in the evening, the Rugby club returned. Well .. it was looking like it was going to be a wild night in the carpark so at about 10:30, we made a decision to leave and head for a park just around the corner by the river which was fine.

Returning the next day and seeing the beer bottles strewn around, it looks as though we did the right thing. It was a mess. By all accounts they had some fun.

Its a great park but when its wet, you can’t get across to park under the trees due to mud. The carpark with two events like that is really just too dodgy for expensive motorhomes with their sides exposed. Maybe we were a bit optimistic parking there given the pressure on the carpark.

Despite all this, a lot of fun.

We came and we saw the Wearable Arts and they were absolutely fantastic. Don’t miss it, but from our experience, if its wet, park your motorhomes around the corner 🙂

Marine

New at the Spit

July 5, 2016 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com 1 Comment

We were very lucky to be invited along to the opening of the new Sandspit Marina, hosted by the Sandspit Yacht club. Rob and Helens friend, Bruce who is Commodore of the Yacht club and along with his wife Glenys and their team, they did a great job of hosting several hundred people for drinks and nibbles at the opening.

The Marina has taken a few years to come together so it must been pleasing to get it open for all those involved. It also provides 130 berths for those at nearby Kawau Island and Yacht club members for their boats.

The official tent

While we were there, I bumped into my old Classic Yacht owner friend, Steve who had his boat pulled out on the hard stand at Sandspit. It was really nice to catch up and good to hear the CYA Classic Register which I started with fellow launchie Alan, is in good hands as Steve has taken this on for this years edition.

A great do and a nice Marina and great asset for boaties in the region. Well done Bruce and team and thanks for having us at the opening.

Fiona & Chris, two empty nesters put their dreams of doing something different into reality… Now back in a house, they were living in their Motorhome, come along for the ride.

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	Warmenhj on 2026 Beach Hop
	Warmenhj on Cruising to the 2026 Dethleffs…
	Chris Miller - Bugge… on Cruising to the 2026 Dethleffs…

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Fiona & Chris, two empty nesters put their dreams of doing something different into reality… Now back in a house, they were living in their Motorhome, come along for the ride.