Tag Archives: worth doing

Coromandel 2016

Karangahake History

May 16, 2020 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com

This was first posted in Feb 2016 .. a special repost for lockdown!

On the way back from Waihi we stopped in for a look at the Karangahake gorge.

The two Batteries over the bridges. Karangahake at its best! — The two Batteries over the bridges. Power station in the middle. Karangahake at its best!

We are intending to do the bike trail but it’s all about gathering up more knowledge before we take this on.

The first battery as it looked at the time

It’s a really interesting area with several short walks that are not part of the trail. We had a look at a couple of the old power stations and batteries while we were there which takes an hour according to the sign. The walking doesn’t take anything like that and it’s well worth a look.

Click on the images to see them in hi res or slideshow

The overall map on the site

The first swing bridge

The second swing bridge with the battery ruins on the left

The River in the gorge

Fiona being a goldminer

The river

The second battery

The second battery at the lowest level

The second battery at the middle level with the huge wall remaining

The second level wall with the walkway across the river

Remains of the track for the ore

The battery end of the skyway ore buckets. (Flying fox)

Looking along the river with the road alongside

Looking back into Karangahake

Looking back to Karangahake as it was at the time

Karangahake was a small town which included all the things you’d expect to see in a town like Te Aroha or similar.

We walked across the swing bridges and up the hill past the power station, the two batteries built down the hillsides. The ore was swung across the river from the tops of hills in a flying fox type of setup before processing with cyanide. It really was a huge setup. It’s not until you’re up there that you realise the scale of it all and looking at the remains, what it must have taken to build the buildings themselves and the infrastructure to go with it.

We walked all around and as the weather deteriorated, we worked our way closer to Rafe in the carpark. Another one of those feature areas that I’ve driven past lots of times and was really pleased we stopped for a look.

Coromandel 2016

The Goldfields train

May 14, 2020 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com

This was first posted in Feb 2016 .. a special repost for lockdown!

Isn’t just great having the NZMCA app now running on our iPads. Even though I’ve had the gps files installed in Rafes in dash gps, it’s really nice sitting in the deck chair with the iPad and figuring out where to next with the app.

The Motorhome parking behind the station

We found in the iPad, a great spot in Waihi that sounded fantastic. It’s at the Goldfields railway station at Waihi. For $10 per night, there are 6 powered sites and more space for others as well. There is also access to water and the Rail Trail toilets as the Rail Trail ends at the railway station. About 15 minutes walk away is the centre of town.

Click on the images for hi res or slideshow

Waihi station

The train with the Waihi station

Today’s driver

Nicely kept carriages

Rafe in the overnight area from the train

Pulling out of Waihi, off to Waikino

The traffic to waihi

Close to waikino

A nice Mitzi zooming past

Arriving at Waikino

Waikino station

Inside the cafe at Waikino station

Outside Waikino station

Shifting the loco

Allaboard

Back to Waihi

On the way back to Waihi

The Conductor watching at a crossing

We arrived and plugged in, paid for the park and we’re just in time for the last train ride to Waikino and back. The perfect way to check out the bike trails before walking or biking the Karangahake gorge trails.

Waihi station with the parking behind — Waihi station with Rafe parked behind

The train stops for 15 minutes or so, just enough time for a beer, glass of wine or just a coffee or ice cream. A great way to spend a couple of hours and fun too.
There are 3 return trips each day from Waihi.

Close to home, Friends

Left right, left right, attention !

May 2, 2020 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com

This was first posted in Feb 2016 .. a special repost for lockdown!

What a great weekend! The weather was great and we had things to do.

After Fiona had finished work, we headed out to one of our favorite spots, the NZMCA park at Ardmore, a hop skip and a jump from Alex, Sarah and the Grandkids.

As always, remember to click on the images to see Hi Res.

Our friends, Rob & Helen and their daughter Chloe were heading off for a week or so to Napier and Gisborne so it was great we could pop in to Ardmore to see them off. When we arrived at about 7:30pm, they were off on a walk so they were a bit surprised to see us there when they returned as we hadn’t confirmed that we would be there.

Alex, Sarah and the boys came over after their tea and we all caught up in Rafe. Lots of fun.

The Ardmore NZMCA park is in an airfield precinct so a little noise comes with the territory, usually small planes and sometimes Helicopters.

Ardmore Park with Rob & Helens Autotrail and Rafe next door. The Cadet hall behind.

That morning, things were different. At 8am, we heard the repetitive bark of a Sergeant Major type next door in the cadet parade ground teaching St John Juniors how to march. It was quite interesting to watch too as some didn’t know the left from the right so there were some interesting moves happening.
They were all togged up in their black uniforms and looked good, some even wearing their medals. There was one trainer who forgot his black clobber and was doing it all in his Red shorts.

As Fiona said, good on him for volunteering his time on a Saturday morning but it did sort of spoil the overall look.

About 9:30, we said goodbye to Rob, Helen and Chloe and they headed off to Taupo for their trip to Hawkes Bay and beyond. We left as well and went around to Alex, Sarahs and the Grandkids for the morning and around lunchtime, headed towards one of our other favorite places, Rays Rest at Miranda. We were catching up our friends Gary and Chris who were helping other friends Mark and Tina with their first trip out in their new, second hand Motorhome.
Rays Rest is a great spot and the weather was behaving as well.

After arriving early in the afternoon, we caught up for cups of tea and later a couple of drinks and then headed off in Gary’s van down to get the fish and chips for tea from the famous Kaiaua fish and chips shop. Gary wasn’t drinking so that worked well. It was nice to see how much progress Mark had made on his motorhome as when he got it, it leaked and had quite a lot of dampness in its linings. .. now all gone. More on this in another post soon.

We had a great night together and called it quits and hit the hay.

The next morning was nice in diffused sunshine with little wind. We sat on the foreshore watching people fish and just soaked up the atmosphere.

At Rays Rest, Gary, Fiona, Tina, Chris and Mark

Gary, Chris, Tina and Mark were going to carry on to Thames and Coromandel so after lunch, we left them and headed home. A nice weekend.

Rotorua

Good value Motohome parking with Pools.

March 3, 2020 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com 1 Comment

After a great lunch at a Cafe in Ngongotaha shopping centre (the one closest to the NZMCA park) we had to start thinking about where we were going to stay for the night. It was 36C and I was sweaty already. It was also time to wash the linen.

Click on an Image for Hi Res

Rotorua Family Holiday Park came up on the NZMCA app as being reasonably priced and they also had a laundry and a pool! Perfection at $34 a night with a powered site and they were just around the corner in Ngongotaha.

Motorhomers Reece and Diane, have been working on this park for the last 13 years and it looks fantastic. I was really impressed with the Motorhome sites being big, between hedgerows and easy to get in and out off.

After buying their new Motorhome about 18 months ago, their only regret was having been too busy to get away in it.. the downside of self employment but they’ve done an excellent job of doing up the park and I’m sure they’ll get time to get away eventually !

The Tourist flats and Toilets are in an Art Deco style and have all been done up and they look great.

They’ve just finished doing up the Kitchen, Laundry and BBQ area and it looks good.

Fiona stripped the bed and headed off to the Laundry while I walked around and got some piccies. After that, we both headed straight for the pool and were there most of the afternoon. It was heavenly. We did have momentary thoughts about biking in on the trail to Rotorua which is literally just outside the gate but it was just too hot!

Click on the Gallery below for a Slideshow

Indie one of the Tourist Flats (Occupied)

Some cabins too

Kitchen

The Germans in their rented vans

Nice big parks with hedges between

That pool and there is a spa pool in that building behind.

We hadn’t long been in the pool when we met some German tourists who lived in southern Germany near Isny where the Dethleffs Motorhomes are made. Nice people and they were really interesting to talk to given Brexit and other things that are happening at the moment.

It was nice to find a really nice clean campground, with great hosts at a really sensible price, in what is normally quite an expensive place to stay.

Waikato

Cruise ideas for the new year – Northland

December 22, 2019 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com

Where to this year? Here’s some other ideas..

Click on this link to see some trips we’ve done around Northland

The outside of the Hundertwasser Toilets

The latest post will come first so scroll down to the bottom to get a chronological order.

Enjoy

Close to home, Preparation

Rafe’s new Landscaped Park

November 26, 2019 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com

One of the challenges we all have as Motorhome owners is where to park our Motorhomes. Over the last month or so, we’ve been progressively been making space for ours.

Click on an Image for Hi Res

The ready mix going in. Ryan floating off the slab

In the last two weeks, one of the bigger changes we’ve made to our new place in Devonport is hard landscaping of our front yard. It includes a flash new raised Garden which Fiona has always wanted. A parking area for our visitors as parking is a premium around here and a few green things around Rafe’s park and making it easier to get Rafe in and out of the park.

A very good friend of my son Andrew, Ryan and his wife Jordan have done an amazing job. Ryan’s speciality is concrete but he has done a lot in the landscaping area too so we’re really chuffed with what we’ve got on a small difficult site. Ray helped too with redoing the fence and the raised gardens. A great job folks.

The Digger off to pull out the clothesline

We’ve only been here a couple of months. In that time, the concrete parking pad has been extended for Rafe, Hot water cylinder replaced and moved outside, a heat pump installed, the Laundry shifted around to be more functional, and now this amazing Garden.

While the Garden was being done, the fence had to be rebuilt as all the railings were knackered. The posts and palings were reused into an arty random fence.. We like it, the neighbours like it but quite a few don’t 🙂 we can always trim it later !

We also left a few bits at the front off to make it easier to get Rafe in and out 🙂

Ryan supervising the first scraping off the grass

Click on the Gallery below to see the progress!

Grass scraping

The carpark being formed

dumping dirt into the raised beds

fine tuning 🙂

Dirt in the beds

More dirt

Just about ready

Gravel arrives for carpark

smoothing out

tap it down

Weed mat

Down goes the Stones

South Island Stone in the North Island

Looking good

All done with plants

Much better

A big thanks to Ryan, Jordan and Ray for their fantastic efforts.

Thats it for now for a while on the house so we’re back in Rafe on the road for summer.

Preparation

Rotating Tyres

November 12, 2019 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com

During my travels through the last NZMCA Motorhome show in Auckland, I bumped into Phil Jackson at Carters. He made a point of reminding me to make sure I rotated my tyres to get the best out of them but at that stage they had only done 5000k’s odd, but now that they’ve done 10000 k’s, I thought I’d better get on with it 🙂

Click on any Image for Hi Res

So I duly made an appointment with Carters Tyres in Highbrook, where I had my tyres fitted and they were happy to rotate them for me. Carters are a big supporter of the NZMCA and if you’re looking for tyres, they give NZMCA members a pretty good discount. They saved me a fortune.

The Tyre Technician for the day was Mohit who was ready to get stuck in as I rolled in.

One of the traps with the Dethleffs wheel covers is they have some Alun nuts as a decoration and a couple that are actually functional. Sometimes its a bit of a mission to pick the real ones. The plastic ones have to glued back on if you get them by accident !

Mohit successfully navigated his way around that and whipped all the wheels off one at a time and rebalanced the wheels for the front as he refitted them.

While they were off, its amazing seeing them side by side to see the wear. On their own it was hard to see but definitely the wear can be seen next to each other. In the pictures, the front tyre is on the left.

Mohit with a front (left) and rear tyre (right) .. not a lot of difference

As Rafe is a front wheel drive vehicle, the back wheels are just being dragged along behind for the ride so there is minimal wear until they’re on the front so tyre rotation is really important if you want to get even wear from your tyres.

An hour later, we all ready to go again. .. for another 10 k’s until the next rotation 🙂

Rotorua

Steaming Gutters in Ohinemutu

October 26, 2019 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com

We were in Rotorua with our Grandchildren Ayden and Liam and on our route was Ohinemutu.

Click on any Image for Hi Res

I think they were pretty taken by the steam coming out of the gutters and the lakefront.

There was a huge crowd set up for a special event where the last remaing Maori Battalion member was being honoured on the Marae and was being presented with a medal by the Italians. A great occasion and there was a special Marque set up with chairs everywhere you looked.

St Faiths Church over a steamy Lakefront

There was a small party from the NZ Army there too representing the NZ Armed Forces.

The Special team from the Army for the celebration of the Maori

We had a brief look around St Faiths Church on the lakefront and thought we’d make head into town but its a lovely tranquil spot and the steam and heat from the bores and water makes it a special place.

Ayden, Liam and Fiona heading down to the Church

There is free parking for Motorhomes just along from there towards the city so its an easy walk and well worth doing.

For a look at our last trip here and some interiors of the church go here.

Click on the Gallery below for a Slideshow

Some of the interesting housing

Ayden, Liam and Fiona heading down to the Church

From up at the main Rd.

Liam and Ayden having fun down at the Domain

Fun at the Waterfront domain.

There was a big fun fair entertainment thing happening in the domain so the boys had a ride on the small cars to finish off the morning before lunch.

Hot pools, Rotorua

Grandchildren and Rotorua

October 18, 2019 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com 2 Comments

Every now and then its time to grab the Grandkids and take them away in Rafe for a weekend and give Mum and Dad a night or two off.

Rotorua is the popular spot as they love the hot pools and the things to see and do there so we were off.

Click on an Image for Hi Res

Ayden and Liam on the swings during a Cup of Tea break at Gordonton

We stopped off at Gordonton to give the Boys a break and they very quickly found a play area and set off to give it a workout while Fiona and I watched with a cup of coffee.

Cruising on we eventually arrived in Tirau and the boys spotted a Subway so that was lunch sorted 😃

Rotorua was always a favourite place to go when I was in short pants. We used to stay in Motels opposite Kurau park where there used to be a miniature steam train that you could ride on. Sadly that’s gone now but its still a magic place.

We arrived in Rotorua around the middle of the day and decided to check in at Cozy Cottage Holiday Park which is right on the lakefront and has its own hot pools. We’ve stayed here a couple of times before when we first got Rafe, 5 or so years ago so we knew it was easy.

After settling down, plugging in and opening some vents, we set off for a look around to see what was where. Ayden and Liam are 10 and 6 and the first thing they found was the playground and they were pretty happy with that and soon made some new friends.

Not long after that, we were all in the pool.

Click on the Gallery below for a Slideshow

Gordonton

Easy Motorhome Parking

Vans opposite

Motel Units

Playground

Bit cold for this !

Thermal Hangi Ovens

The next day, we decided that we would walk into Rotorua and have a look at Ohinemutu, the waterfront and find some lunch.

The boys were hanging out for McDonalds so after a walk there and a look around, we caught the bus back to the park.

The boys digging with Mokoia Island behind

One of the features of this Motorhome park is its proximity to the lakefront and they have a track that takes you directly to the beach where you can dig holes with a shovel and make your own hot pools. The boys were keen to give this a go so after another hot pools swim, we headed down to the lakefront to find some hot water 🙂

Ayden had first pop with the shovel and he got straight into digging some holes. Within 5 minutes or so he had created a new pool with the only problem being that it was just too hot to put your feet in. Just two feet down right by the water and steam was coming out !

The boys on the Lakefront digging for water!

Cozy Cottage was $22 for each adult and $10 for each Grandie per night. With the hot pools and the facilities and being an easy walk to Rotorua, I thought this was pretty reasonable.

There are Cabins and Motel Units there too for friends without Motorhomes or Caravans.

A fun weekend.

Close to home, My Motorhome, Preparation, Quirky things

The Gas Gadget

September 30, 2019 Chris Miller - Buggeritweareoff.com

And this is a beauty! People who know me will tell you how I love a good gadget that can do something useful.. This is one of those.

Click on an Image for Hi Res

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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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.