As you drive over the bridge from the Highway into Whangamomona, you feel as though you could be driving back in time 50 years or so. It’s like it’s all stopped still.
The Post Office and the Pub
Whangamomona was established in 1895 as a service centre for the local farming community. Then, there were 300 or so residents. Now there are about 30 residents in the village.
The rail bridge at Whangamomona
The buildings are amazing. There is a General Store which looking square on looks like a reasonable sized store but when you look side on, it’s a about 4 ft deep as a display! These days like in most small towns, the strong community is based around the hotel.
The local garage
In 1989, they rebelled against amalgamation and formed their own republic. You can even buy a passport.. At the hotel 🙂
A neat wee town, neat people and everywhere you look there is history
Leaving Thames after a great few days cruising around the Coromandel Peninsula with plenty of time of my hands. I had all day to get home but just before Pipiroa, I started seeing signs for the Bugger café. Well with the Toyota Bugger ad having just been judged one of the all time top ads and the name of this blog, I just had to stop and check it out and I wasn’t to be disappointed.
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Big Carpark
A huge carpark in front and although it was busy with cars, there were plenty of big spaces to make easy parking for a large motorhome like Rafe.
Rafe snuggled into a park
I stopped to take some piccies outside and wandered in to a big cheery welcome from owner, Glenda and her team.. nothing beats a great welcome.
Nice food, nice people, reasonable pricing and lots of Bugger bits around the wall encouraging good humour. Their line is “Laugh a little” which you can see everywhere and its infectious.
I bought a Bugger Tshirt and a Bugger Motorhome Rug called the Bugger Rug for Fiona. Lots of fun and neat people.
Glenda and John also have a Bugger café in Tirau.
I’ve been using Nitrogen in tyres for years and it does seem to make a huge difference. The biggest bonus is the consistency of the running pressure so you tend to run your tyres at the correct pressure. The other difference is apparently the heat is controlled much more effectively. What makes it even better is it is so cheap to use. Click the images to see Hi Res
Rafe getting Nitro’d
My regular tyre shop in Bridgestone Tyres Devonport, have had a machine for years which effectively sucks the air (and other things like moisture) out of your tyres and replaces it with Nitrogen from the atmosphere. Yep, the atmosphere is 78% Nitrogen.
Jane and Monty with The Nitrogen machine
I went down today to get a top up and check as my recent service rotated the tyres and they didn’t have a machine so it was off to Jane and Monty today to get the tyre pressures sorted. I’ve got 70psi in the front and 74psi in the rear and that seems to work fine with a GVM of 4300kg. I’m using soft compound Michelins and with my 30,000k service and tyre rotation, the engineers that rotated the tyres, were really impressed with the condition of the front tyres, especially given that its front wheel drive. No scuffing at all and absolutely even wear right across the treads. Some of that can be directly attributed to Nitrogen but also I tend to mother it a bit.
Monty watching the machine top up my tyres
Below is what the experts say:
Nitrogen is used in Formula 1 racing, aviation tyres, military vehicles, NASCAR and heavy construction vehicles.
Nitrogen maintains tyre pressure 3 to 4 times longer than air-filled tyres and disperses heat more effectively resulting in better fuel economy.
Nitrogen delivers longer tread life due to less heat generation.
Nitrogen inflated tyres deliver optimum handling characteristics for longer as pressure is more likely to be maintained at the correct level.
Nitrogen also slows the chemical ageing of the tyre’s rubber components resulting in fewer tyre failures.
Nitrogen results in improved performance, increased safety and lower maintenance.
A Poster on the wallTo do a first bleed of Air and fill with Nitrogen takes about 20 minutes and costs about $40 and the top ups every 6 months are $20. While getting my tyres topped up today, I joked with Monty about how the high pressure was making their compressor earn its keep but that’s normal, so they can deal with the high pressures. If you want to get the Nitrogen in, call Jane at Bridgestone Tyres, Devonport before you go , as Motorhomes do tend to take up a big chunk of their parking 🙂
It doesn’t get much better than this. In a great spot, perfectly flat parking, Power, Water, a very handy bar if you need one and cooked dinner next to a Golf course and Mini Golf.. where? At the Pauanui Club. And only $8 a day for parking with the power and access to the loos.
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Rafe plugged in, Club in the background
I was on my last night after doing the round trip from Thames via Coromandel and Whitianga meeting heaps of neat new people and catching up with some old friends too. A great few days.
Mini Golf
For the kids, conveniently right next to the bar
Airstrip next door
Golf
So its nice to kick back, plug in and make it easy. The grass is really well drained and is solid so I have no worries about the rain or it getting muddy.
Plenty of Room
We’ve stayed here before earlier this year when it was warmer and I’ve also done a blog on it. Its worth having a look at the last blog as it was done in summer and there were a few more people around.
Pauanui beach.. from the earlier blog in Summer
Since my last visit, the water has been finished off at the parking spots and it’s all looking good.
The club is a magic spot, they’re friendly helpful people and with a bike, from here it’s not far to anywhere.
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.
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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.
After meeting my new friends from Christchurch, Rory and Henny and their friends Dave and Karen, I made a point of making sure that at some stage during the day, I should pop down to the NZMCA park and have a cup of tea with them and a catch up.
The Coromandel Pub, apparently you can also stay behind this for $20 including power
I set off reasonably early on my bike with my camera tucked down inside my coat and made my way down to the other end of Coromandel town.
Don’t forget to click on the images for Hi Res or a Slideshow
The shops and buildings are fascinating and you can feel a real vibe about the place. They were getting really for the Illume parade and event that night so it was even more buzzy than normal.
The free parkingover the road from the Police Station ..Handy!
This is right in front of the NZMCA park
The Causeway to the wharf
Down at the wharf
After getting some nice piccies and talking to a couple of the locals, I biked around to the wharf and then back to the NZMCA park where I caught up Rory and Henny and with typical South Island hospitality was just in time for some of Henny’s lovely homemade scones and a cup of coffee. We had a great hour or two talking about everything and they’re great fun and good company.
Its easy to tell where the Laundromat is !
I biked back, checked out the campground and blobbed out with the stereo before hittting the sack early to get ready for another big day.
Looking back towards Coromandel .. my bike on the right
A neat place to visit, some great places to stay and despite the weather, plenty to do and see.
Before we enjoyed a great lunch at the Helensville Railway Station Cafe, we visited the Helensville Train Museum right next door.
Run by the Helensville Railway Station Trust by volunteers, this is well worth checking out.
Helensville Railway Station with the Museum behind
There is a gigantic model railway based on Helensville, even replicating well know local buildings and known points. There is even a little orange sign that says, “You are Here” 🙂
The chap that built the model spent 30 years putting it together.
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Helensville Station. Note the pub in the backgroundThe Pub over the road
After spending an hour or so, checking it all out, one of the volunteers came over and said to me, “come and check this out, I’ll demonstrate it for you”.
There were two red boxes with buttons and bells.
This was The Tyers Tablet system which railways in both Great Britain and New Zealand used up until 1994 on single lines to prevent head on collisions.
It involved a sophisticated coded bell system with switches with electromagnetic locks that allows a small disk, a Tablet, to be released for a train driver when the line is clear. The system was setup between railway stations at each end of a line.
All Packed
Given that it was setup in the dark old days of bleeps over the phone lines, it’s a clever system. Helensville Railway Museum is the only one that we know of still in working order and when you think of what it had to do and when it was invented, it’s pretty clever.
If you want more info on this, Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about the Tyers Tablet system and here’s a youtube vid of the Helensville setup being explained.
The Railway Station in 1910
An old train at the station
Fiona in the ticket office
The two volunteers there were only too happy to show me everything at the museum and couldn’t have been more helpful. It’s a must do if you’re in town.
It’s $3.00 each and well worth it.
One of the nice things about travelling in a Motorhome is visiting all the out of town village like shopping areas and the Farmers Markets.
Fun in the Sun
While we were staying in Ardmore recently, we visited the Clevedon Farmers Market which is just out of the village but well signposted.
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Coastguard Donations
Busy carpark
Smoothie time
The vege department
Kids enjoying themselves
Always somewhere to rest
Even a motorhomer
You know you’re in a rural spot when you see this.
We found out very quickly how popular this is when we first looked for a park. Its amazing, people everywhere.
There is everything from Veges, Cheeses, Spices and Jams all with some live music and a hay bale to sit on. Its a great atmosphere.
The weather wasn’t really behaving itself when we went with showers but it didn’t seem to worry anyone with lots of shelter there.
Sunday mornings from 9am – 1pm.. well worth a visit. If you want to park there with your motorhome, get there early 🙂
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
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
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.
Isn’t it great when we all get together at a spot in our Motorhomes and over a glass of something cold, all the good ideas come out.
Close up on the doormat
On our last catchup with our friends, Gary and Dianne, Fiona found out about Norwex dish cloths and door mats. The door mats are fantastic as they have different textures on them so not only do they soak up the moisture from wet feet coming into your motorhome but they also pick up bits of grass and stuff too. The tea towel is fantastic as well. It’s the first time I’ve seen a tea towel dry a wine glass without leaving cloudy streaks everywhere. They also seem to keep drying where a conventional tea towel would be saturated. I’m convinced!
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.
Bugger It, we are off - www.buggeritweareoff.com 
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