I can’t believe the great weather we have had in the South Island. Almost every day has had temperatures of around 17C plus and perfect blue sky. Today was no different as we left Dunedin.
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In the carpark
Our first stop was to check out the famous Moeraki boulders. Its interesting that the signposts for the boulders all point to a restaurant above the beach which provides a nicely made set of steps and track to get down to them. Clever marketing I thought!
Boulders
We parked in the huge carpark and wandered down to the beach where there were already a good number of people with their iphones getting piccies of the boulders. These are amazing. Apparently they’re over 5.5 million years old and were made on the sea floor with mud!
Interesting shapes and they certainly drew a large crowd while we were there.
Next stop was Oamaru for lunch. We stopped down in a large carpark by the Historical Precinct and had a wander around through the old buildings and shops. We were only here a few years ago and it has changed quite a bit since then.
The Criterion hotel
While I was standing in the middle of the road in the old precinct, a chap on a penny farthing came screaming around the corner! Later when I checked out my images, the best one was with his eyes shut looking really brave 🙂
The man on his Penny farthing
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The Historic Precint
Limestone carver and second hand shop
The Historic Precint
Unusual cafe
The Oamaru Wharf
Its always a pleasure looking around Oamaru and I can see why my old friend Grant and his family moved here. Its got a lovely feel and atmosphere to it.
I’ve been to Larnach’s Castle a few times before but never really noticed or appreciated the huge gardens.
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The castle was originally built by William Larnach for his family in 1874. The Barker family bought the Castle in 1967 after it had fallen into a state of disrepair and had basically been abandoned which is when they restored the Castle and then later the gardens.
Outside the ballroom
The Barkers have done an amazing job of creating a massive series of different gardens in and around the Castle. One of the features is a Pergola (the lead pic) which is huge and covered in trees creating a tunnel with a view of Dunedin and the end.
Dunedin through the Pergola
Other areas have small lookouts suspended over banks with amazing views of the harbour.
Fiona enjoying the Garden
We drove up the peninsula in Rafe and its an interesting road. The weather had closed in and it was quite dreary and drizzly, not conducive to nice bright piccies!
On the road to the castle looking towards Port Chalmers
We parked right up the top of the carpark and set off through the gardens.
Rafe tucked up in the top corner
Just the entrance from the carpark was spectacular with really bright flowers and nice trees. I’m not really up on all the names of plants and gardening but even I could see that this was special.
The entrance to the Garden
We came out onto the front lawn of the Castle and because we hadn’t read the instructions :-), we set off in the opposite direction to the intended tour but made it to all the areas of interest !
Larnach Castle
After an hour or so, we ended up in the Castle Ballroom and Cafe. Two open fires burning made it really warm and inviting and after another 30 minutes or so, we set off to head down the road to Portobello.
The Cafe / Ballroom
We had a quick look around Portobello and then headed back around the waterfront back to the city. It is quite a long way and is a slow road back. Its well worth doing and the Gardens and the Castle are a must do too.
More nice GardenRound the back with the Alice in Wonderland area
The Historic Black Hotel in Ophir was a welcome sight for a late lunch cup of coffee. After an amazing Lemon Meringue Tart and a good look around the hotel, we set off for a good look around Ophir with the camera.
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The Post Office. Still in use today.
The original Post Office seems to be the hub of the History in the area and they’re doing a good job of promoting the old buildings. The Post Office still operates for 3 hours each day. Behind it is the original Jail Cell from Omakau.
Check out the Gallery below for a slideshow of Ophir
The Ophir Bridge
The Cottage Hospital and Doctors house.
The Pitches Store originally ran as Grocers and a Butchers but is now a Restaurant.
The Courthouse built in 1886 now a private residence.
The Centre of the community to this day, built in 1926.
After an hour or so here, we went over the bridge to the Omakau Commercial Hotel where they have a great Motorhome and caravan parking setup behind. The parks are all on concrete pads and most have an optional ensuite with a shower and toilet area.
The parking with the ensuites
The parking is $15 a night with power and the ensuites are $10 pp per night. We opted to do our own thing and just use the power.
Parking with the Ensuites
After settling down Rafe, we went for a walk around the town through a new subdivision and its amazing how many new houses are being built here. The Rail Trail has really set things alight in the whole Central Otago region.
The front of the Hotel
We headed into the Hotel to pay for our park and have a drink and meet Stacy who gave us a great background on the pubs history.
It was originally built in 1898 as a Homestead on a 200 acre block, by the Leask family, one of the original settlers and his family. There are original stables out behind the Hotel which are used as a function centre.
The Function Centre
When Stacy and her husband took over the Hotel 11 years ago. The weeds were knee high and it desperately needed some tlc. Stacy’s dad was involved in helping to restore the pub and after they realised that Stacy’s grandmother was a house maid at the pub for years, Stacy’s Dad couldn’t bring himself to sand the top of the handrail but lacquered and painted everything else. The thought was his mother would have run her hands up and down it over many years.
Stacy with the banister
The rooms all look fantastic and all have a slightly different look so they’ve done a great job. The grounds are immaculate and it now looks well loved.
After having a few drinks down in the bar, we spent an hour or so back in Rafe and then came back for Tea. I had Pork Belly which was really reasonably priced and was stunning. Fiona had Blue Cod and that was good too.
Old farming gear along the driveway
A lovely place to stay and Stacy is about to put the hotel on the market so if you think this is you, give her a call at the Omakau Commercial Hotel.
Rafes Track to Ophir
Update on Omakau Hotel 12-05-2019
We popped in here on the way through to Alexandra and checked in with Stacey to see if we could stop over for the night.
We planned to splash out and shout ourselves a meal in the restaurant and then crash in Rafe in the park behind later.
What used to be $15 a night for a powered site is now $35 plus another $10 if we wanted to use the ensuite shower/toilet !
I mentioned that at $45, that was fast approaching TOP Ten prices but without the amenities. I suggested $20 just for a powered site might be more reasonable given that we were also planned to have a meal there.
It was $35 or nothing so we left.. For a powered site in the middle of nowhere, that’s getting expensive!
That is Queenstown ! Its a busy town and seems to be going 100 miles an hour everywhere you look.
The options for camping here are limited to MotorCamps really and we were happy to stay at an old familiar spot which used to be a Top 10, The Creeksyde Holiday Park. We’ve stayed here both in Rafe, a renter Mercedes and our old caravan Wee Rafe. Its a lovely spot but like all the Campgrounds in Queenstown comes with a premium price. As a treat and as it was close for Jessa, it was worth it. On the way there, we stopped at Pak N save in Frankton and did a big shop for a week or more and wow, that placed has sure changed. Its like a whole new town there now.
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Our park in Queenstown
After settling down Rafe in his little spot, Fiona walked into town and I unhooked my bike and biked down for a look see. I headed down to the ferry wharf to watch the goings on and Fiona went to some Art and Clothes shops.
The waterfrontQueenstown waterfront
We met down at the waterfront and enjoyed a cuppa watching the tourists getting on and off boats and generally people watched for a while. Lots of fun in the sun.
A reminder of where you are !
We eventually headed back to Rafe and got organised for tea.
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The bathrooms were in the round building
A bit of interesting artwork
The amazing dump station with the grates in the ground at Queenstown
It seemed that we had the whole fleet of Jucy, Britz and Maui in the camp!
While we were having coffee .. my bike on the fence
Jessa popped in about 6pm and it was a fun night catching with one of “our favourite Nieces”!
Fiona and Jessa
It was great to see Jessa Jean and we’re looking forward to catching up again in a few weeks when Fiona’s sister Sara (Jessa’s Mum) comes down for a holiday.
We liked Ross so much, we seriously thought about staying another night but thought, we’d better push on.
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The NZMCA park at Franz Josef
We found the NZMCA park in Franz Josef really easily. Rafe’s GPS took us right to the front door !
A great setup with water, the dump station and the check in hut.
Its a really nice park. Looking in Google Earth, it looks like a square of brown cut out of the bush and sitting in it, its magic with all the ferns and Westland bush all around. The dump station works a treat too. Very easy.
Looking back to Franz Josef
After checking it all out, we headed off to town for some bits and bobs from the 4 Square and then went and did a recce of the Glacier car park to see what we were going to be dealing with the next day when the weather was supposed to clear up a bit.
The Franz Josef Bridge
The next day started out with blue sky but very quickly greyed over and was typical west coast drizzly close weather. We were heading to the Glacier anyway so took Rafe to the car park.
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The Glacier carpark was busy
The Glacier about halfway up with a waterfall.
Waterfalls
Interesting contrasts in the rock.
Looking back towards Franz Josef. Rain in the hills.
The river
The Franz Josef Glacier. See if you can spot a Helicopter
Rafe in the corner at the NZMCA park
Just as I got the umbrella out and stuck it under my arm, the sky lifted and there were big patches of blue and the drizzle petered out to nothing.
Fiona with the Glacier behind
It was a 90 minute return trip according to the Doc signs and it was an easy walk. At the Glacier, it was amazing just sitting there watching the succession of Helicopters dropping people and guides off on the Glacier.. every few minutes there was another one.
The Glacier. Spot the chopper.
If you look at the closer Glacier images, you should be able to spot the odd helicopter. There were heaps of people on the track in both directions and it was nice to see so many people enjoying the walk. It was like being in Europe hearing all the different languages as they walked past you.
At the top with the Glacier and a waterfall.
We stopped at the Glacier for 20 minutes or so before heading back and as it would happen, the weather closed in again just as we got back to Rafe 🙂
The Glacier.. spot the chopper
A fun day out walking by the river up to the Glacier and well done to the local NZMCA people there for setting up such a great park. Very cool and close to town too.
We couldn’t come to Greymouth and not visit the famous Monteiths Brewery where Fiona’s favorite Cider comes from 🙂
The Central Motorhome Park
The tours are on three times a day and are $50 for two which includes some tasting and some complimentary drinks and discounts on West Coast Tourist attractions and some Monteiths clothing.
The coupons all come in a nicely packaged West Coast passport for each person on the tour.
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We checked in at the only central Motorhome Park, Central Motorhome Park and it is behind a Challenge service station almost across the road from Monteiths. Very handy!
An interesting wall hanging at Monteiths
The park is very reasonable at $20 a Motorhome but includes showers, free wifi and has water and a dump station. It is walking distance to everywhere so is VERY handy.
Fiona with her Passport
Monteiths is across the road and down a side street, less than 5 minutes walk and was very easy to find.
Our guide Nick with some of the product range
We arrived there right on time for our mid afternoon tour and soon after our guide Nick introduced himself and after donning some hi vis vests, we were shown given a quick background on how it all came about in the mid 1800’s. Originally the Brewery was in Reefton and wasn’t moved to Greymouth until the founders son moved it in early 1900’s. Fascinating history and I understand that after being owned by DB, it is now owned by Heinekin. Another good beer.
Nick showing us around.
After the history run down, we were shown the process on a giant board and then shown the different Stainless Steel Vats that are used to process the Beers. Very modern and it all looks amazingly efficient. After this we were shown the bottling plant and then the original safe with some historic books with the original shareholders etc. They also still have all the original processing equipment there that was used before all the high volume products were moved to DB.
Fiona on the tour
Afterwards, we were given lessons on how to pour a beer correctly and then we got to taste some .. Yum. Fiona and I had a couple of drinks each with some chips before we ambled back over the road to Rafe. All in all, a really interesting, fun afternoon and also not in any danger of dehyration 🙂
Central Motorhome Park behind the service station.
Seriously though.. well worth doing if you’re in the area.
Gary and Dianne did a great job as tour guides and we really appreciated their great company and the effort they went to so we could see a bit of Europe from a Motorhome.
Dianne and Gary in their old stamping ground, Prague. They were on the Charles Bridge here with the Prague Castle behind on the hill.
The original idea was to try for Estonia and back from the UK but once we got to Brugge from Calais, we decided it was going to be far too much driving and we simply wouldn’t see anything in 5 weeks for driving so we opted for a shorter course through Holland, Germany, a week in Prague, (Gary and Dianne lived here for 3 years) back to Germany to check out the Niesmann and Bichoff factory, Luxembourg, Northern France and back to the UK.
Gary and Dianne’s new Arto 88
It was all good but from a picture perspective, probably Stow on the Wold and some of older Architecture in Prague and Germany. The villages in Northern France were amazing too.
A happy Dianne in the living area while Fiona inspects 🙂
After seeing Gary and Dianne’s new Arto 88 Niesmann and Bichoff, Gary was able to organise a tour through the factory which was fantastic as they are all built by hand with minimal automation.
The factory is in Polch, Germany which wasn’t far out of our way from the Czech Republic to France. In the end we decided to go through Luxembourg as well and have a look there too.
A happy wee Ralph at Hanover
Ralph was fun but after 3000 odd km’s, I was starting to pine for something like Rafe as Ralph was hard yakka by comparison. I didn’t realise too when we hired it that it was flat out at 90 odd k so it slowed Gary and Dianne down too which was a bit of a let down but we had fun and everything worked. Its a classic case of if I was to do it again, I’d do it differently.
Click on the Gallery below for a Slideshow of the Hot images.. click the x at the top right hand corner to close.
At Paddington with the amazing roof
A visitor from Hawkes Bay checking out the Baker street sign
The Ministers tavern with the cathedral behind
The Shard behind the Tower of London
The Tower Bridge
Fiona outside Westminster Abbey
Fiona outside the Roman Baths
Hilary and Fiona in Bath
Gary and Dianne with the beast behind
Fiona and Dianne with the Hymers waiting to board the train.
Where are we. Fiona, D ianne and Gary looking for clues
Visitors enjoying the Canal
People getting together
Windmills on the river
Fiona and Dianne share a pair of Clogs !
Fiona with a big sample Diamond
Madame Tussauds in the Dam square
Drinks time
The wall
A happy Wurlitzer player at the Brandenburg Gate
You can see a persons head popping up through the concrete blocks at the Jewish Memorial
The outside of the cathedral. Note the dark stones on the left. The rest are new!
The inside of the Cathedral
The ceramic mural of past Kings and Queens
The old historic Trams
The old Town by Charles Bridge
parts of the Old Town with Prague Castle
Old Town Square and Tyn Cathedral from the rooftop.
The Castle above the town
The Grand Hotel Pupp looking back from the river.
The View from the camp to the town
A Panorama from the Castle
Koblenz square
Koblenz from the ferry
Outside Notre Dame
In the Echternach Village
Echternach now (After)
Gary, Dianne and Fiona outside a closed champagne place in Wez around the corner from the Pub.
Pastries and Free Wifi. Dianne, Gary and Fiona.
Fiona, Gary and Dianne getting into the shopping
Great atmosphere
Watching the action outside the pub
The camp
Fiona puts a poppy down at an unknown Soldiers grave on the way to Arras
The Marina Sands Hotel
Inside the Marina Sands Shopping centre
The pool and the gardens with part of the container terminal in the background.
The whole trip was over nearly 2 months and cost a total of about $16000 NZ so was a cheap holiday given that we saw and did so much. Ralph was NZ$7000 of that for 5 weeks so it was pretty good really.
I picked up a bug in the last few weeks which I’m still trying to shake which was a bit of a bugger but still it didn’t slow us down 🙂
Singapore was fantastic.
One the way to Marina Sands
We always seem to be flying through here so it was nice to actually stop for a few days and see all the changes. Its a great city and we both really enjoyed seeing Chinatown, cruising up the harbour and all the new buildings. The Marina Sands area was amazing too.
Fiona at Marina Sands. The shopping centre on the left.
Over the whole trip though, I can’t say enough about Gary and Dianne and their patience with us as they really were fantastic and we had a huge amount of laughs and fun with them.
Gary and Dianne on the Mosul River
Thanks heaps to you both again for everything and also storing Rafe in your XLI/Nibi shed while we were all away. We’re both looking forward to catching up with you both when you get settled with Nibi in NZ, or whatever you end up calling the new beast.
After dropping of Ralph to Hireahymer in Milton Keynes, we caught a bus down to Heathrow directly and another local bus around to the Ibis at Heathrow for our last night. All very easy.
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In the morning we caught a cab to the Terminal and we were off.
The Singapore Skyline
In an effort to break up the long flights, we decided to stop off in Singapore for two days. We haven’t been here without just transiting for a long time so I was blown away by the changes.
Singapore was hot.. 32 C plus and it was only early in the day so the air conditioning was wonderful.
The Architecture was something else
The architecture is stunning. Trees in little pockets of glass 10 or more stories up and better. The most impressive of course is the Marina Sands Hotel area with the rooftop garden and pool.
One of the old famous Hotels
We got a ferry from Clarke Quay and cruised down the river to where they dropped us off at the Marina Sands shopping centre.
Marina Sands
We spent a couple of hours cruising around the shops and having a good look around. There is part of the shopping complex where there is a internal river with bridges over it for access to the shops. Locals will take you for a Gondola ride down this Pool/River as you can see from the photo.
One of the old famous Hotels
One the way to Marina Sands
Marina Sands
More amazing architecture
From the top. The Singapore Flyer
From the top of the Marina Sands looking out at all the ships at anchor.
The Gondola River in marina Sands
Inside the Marina Sands Shopping centre
The pool and the gardens with part of the container terminal in the background.
We eventually made our way up to the Observation Deck on the 51st floor and had a drink at the cafe at the top. You’d only have one drink as it was expensive! .. A glass of wine was S$24!!
A panorama from the Observation platform.
We spent a good hour or so up there and then made our way down to the train station and back to the hotel.
The Marina Sands Hotel
The train system is fantastic. Unlike most places in Europe where the train pulls in to the platform, there is no platform. The train pulls in to the walkway area which is closed of to the track until the train comes in. The doors in the station line up and open with the doors on the train. Clever as there is no requirement for the platform.
The old and the new
As our hotel was on the edge of Chinatown, we spent the next day having a good look around there. The atmosphere was great and the people were fantastic.
Fiona at Marina Sands. The shopping centre on the left.
I came away feeling that we could have done with a couple more days there to have a better look around.
This is probably the best campsite that we’ve stayed at the whole time we’ve been away for both position and facilities. It was however probably the most expensive camp but as Fiona would say “Hey ho!”.
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Ralph and Harry
There were probably over 200 sites and it is on the side of the river at Koblenz, overlooked from the other side on the hill by an old castle. You can reach the castle by Gondola’s which run most of the day and are reasonably priced with access to the castle for only 12 Euros.
Harry holding up the washing
We weren’t sure about whether we would get in to the campsite and when Gary rang the night before, we opted for the “comfort sites” rather than standard which would have added to the price but the sites were great as well as huge 🙂
On the ferry about to head to Koblenz in the background
On our first morning, we set off to the edge of the camp where a small ferry would take us over to the Old Town and from there we could catch the Gondola up to the Castle. The Castle dates back to Roman times and with its attached fort has seen battles all the way through to WW2.
From the Gondola looking down on Koblenz
After an hour or so of having a good look around and checking out the view, we had lunch up there and made our way back down to the Old Town. The views from up there are stunning.
A Panorama from the Castle
Walking through the Old Town was really interesting although much of it has been rebuilt after being bombed during the war. It is still a very charming and interesting town with lots of history.
Koblenz square
After an Ice cream in the square, we made our way back to the ferry and to the camp.
William the 1st Monument in Koblenz
We were sitting down outside Ralph having a cold drink when some new neighbours arrived. They were Danish and really nice people. After they’d spent 15 minutes or so discussing where they would pitch their huge tent, they started spreading it out and standing it up with what seemed to be hundreds of pegs. It was a thing of beauty and well set up.
The Crew boarding the ferry
Gary and Dianne on the Mozelle River
On the ferry about to head to Koblenz in the background
Koblenz from the ferry
The castle
The castle with the memorial
Dianne, Fiona and Gary in the castle courtyard
The castle
Fiona and Dianne at the castle
The campground from Koblenz
About an hour went by when we noticed that they had set it up about 2 metres into the next park which was only quite small but given the sterling effort that had been made, no one wanted to break the bad news to them.
About another ½ hour went by and the Danish Chap came around our side and started pulling the hundred or so pegs out saying that they’d sat down for a beer and realised what they’d done.
After they’d pulled all the pegs out, we worked out a way if we gave them a hand, where all of us could drag it a meter or so along the ground without them completely starting from scratch so they were pretty happy at that.
A zoom in piccie of the campground from the castle
A fantastic park in a great position in a lovely town. Although pricey but well worth doing for its position and a nice setup.
After checking out the new Niesmann and Bichoff at Telford, we all piled into Gary and Diannes, Harry the Hymer and headed to Milton Keynes through the traffic to collect Ralph the rental Hymer. We arrived just before 5pm and Peter the proprietor, gave me a run down on Ralph. Where the hoses were, the camp chairs etc and how everything worked.
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Ralph is a real hard case machine. Its a 1992 Hymer with a 5 cylinder 2.9 litre Mercedes with automatic trans. It starts first pop everytime despite its 250000 miles on the clock. Its a fun wagon.
The Hymers in the carpark at Bearsted
We stopped at a Caravan park in Bearsted after battling the M1 traffic for a couple of hours and we arrived 3 minutes late at 8.03pm. The sign said no admittance after 8pm so we spent the night out in the carpark but still had to pay what I thought were extortionate fees of 34GPB (NZ$70!) without power and not much else. What a welcome .. Dianne rang and we were basically told “Rules are Rules !” .. not a nice welcome…no wonder the other Caravan Association calls themselves “the friendly group”.
We were close to the Channel Tunnel for the next morning and that was all that mattered.
We were away at 8:30 to get on the Chunnel Train. We arrived quite early and clocked in through both borders and parked our car in the C lane and went to get a cup of tea and look at the duty free stuff.
Fiona and Dianne with the Hymers waiting to board the train.
Gary and I stumbled on this amazing deal for internet for roaming all over Europe with a prepaid card from 3. All the Truckies use it apparently but its great.
After an hour of cups of coffee we were asked to line up Harry and Ralph Hymers and get ready for the train. Its was amazing how quiet and how easy it was.. very streamlined. Dianne even got a wink from the French immigration man with his “lovely accent”!
Dianne and Fiona at the Duty free terminal waiting for the boarding signal.
About 10 minutes early, we were asked to move the Hymers onto the train.
Our view of Harry on the crossing
We drove up over a small bridge and then straight down a ramp and the sideways onto the train. You drive through the carriages until you get as far forward as you can then they chock your wheels.
Harry leading the charge off the Chunnel Train in France
Fiona while we were crossing the Chunnel
The nice French chaps helping us off
Sideways off the Chunnel Train
20 minutes later with what was a very easy smooth ride and we were in France. It only took about 10 minutes and we were cruising up the carriageway to Belgium.
The Chunnel station in France with Harry on the ramp
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.
Interesting shapes and they certainly drew a large crowd while we were there.
Next stop was Oamaru for lunch. We stopped down in a large carpark by the Historical Precinct and had a wander around through the old buildings and shops. We were only here a few years ago and it has changed quite a bit since then.
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