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Cooks Beach and Surrounds
After departing the campground at Haehei we looked at the NZMCA App for any other campgrounds that might be close and were also part of the camp saver scheme. We found a couple including the one at Cooks Beach which according to the reviews was a great place to stay. Getting there meant driving past the turn off to Hot Water Beach. I was there back in 2017 with two of my sons but Sarah hadn’t…
Making The Most of the Day
After three wonderful nights in Pauanui including our last night at the well-located POP, it was time to move on. Our first thoughts were to drive to Tairua and look at some of the freedom camping spots with a view to staying there. One of the issues with a nine-metre motorhome is the lack of available spots for something our size. However the NZMCA App showed a spot located next to the dump…
Pauanui Dharling!
First off, yes! I know I have spelt darling incorrectly but for those of us who lived in Auckland in the 80’s and 90’s Pauanui was, and to some extent still is the playground of the rich and famous. A familiar catch cry could be heard through the suburbs of Remuera and Herne Bay as the weekend drew closer “we are off to Pauanui Dharling” when asked what they were doing. Not being part of the rich…
New Adventures Begin
After returning from our trip to New Plymouth and surrounds we spent a little while at home before itchy feet again took hold and it was time to jump back in the motorhome for new adventures. Speaking with a friend of ours the day prior we explained that we were heading north but didn’t know where. We must have somehow taken quite the unexpected detour as we found ourselves heading down the…
Alone With a Stunning View.
After leaving New Plymouth it was time to start slowly heading home to Auckland and our oldest son’s birthday celebrations. These days driving that distance in one day is not beyond me but something I would rather not and have no need to do. We planned to break the journey into three spending the first night back where we started in Otorohonga and then find a destination close to Auckland for the…
Not Quite Paradise Lost
English and the study of medieval poetry is not what I would consider one of my strong points but the title of a very famous 450 year old poem, Paradise Lost has always stuck in my mind. The ten-thousand-word saga is actually about good and evil and how the devil tempted Adam and Eve. It really has very little, in fact nothing to do with boy racers since it was written hundreds of years before…
Its a Bit Wet and Muddy!
They say first impressions count and we were certainly left with a lasting first impression to remember upon our arrival at the NZMCA Park in Huatoki, New Plymouth. What a wet, muddy, soft, boggy mess the place looked to be. With the ground in almost every camping spot appearing to have been chewed up by previous campers. It did not look like a place that we would be able to stay with our large…
Rotokare - Bird Song Paradise
As I mentioned in my previous blog, we first visited the Rotokare Scenic Reserve back in June 2017. With winter in full swing and a few minor things wrong with our old motorhome, such as no working heater and a faulty ignition on the water heater, we chose not to stay on that occasion. That trip was the second to last time we used the old Mitsubishi we had owned for some sixteen years. Even…
Mt Taranaki and Surrounds.
After leaving Kai Iwi Beach campground and making our way up the coast we arrived in Hawera, home to another of the NZMCA’s superb Park network. One of the great things about this park is the ever changing view of Mt. Taranaki. Although since winter had decided to return, while we stayed there, we lost sight of it for the next two days. The last time we stayed here back in 2018 it looked like…
Kai Iwi Beach an NZMCA Camp Saver Special
For the last few years, the NZMCA have run a scheme that offers discounted rates at various camping grounds throughout New Zealand. Some camps offer a flat fee others offer discounts on their current advertised rates, but all offer excellent value for money. After the night in Marton, we decided to head north rather than south and decided that we should take advantage of some of the deals on…
Marton
Our night at the freedom camping area in National Park saw some of the heaviest frost we have encountered. The windscreen cover we use in these situations was almost frozen solid but did a great job of helping to keep the van warm. On our departure that morning, we were again without fixed plans, deciding that we were going to drive down State Highway 4 and see where we ended up. First stop on…
A Return to Good Old Blighty. Part One.
Hard to believe but it’s been over fifty years, in fact using an online calculator I worked out that it has been 19,188 days since I left the UK with my family back in 1971. Which is by any count a very long time ago. I know that this blog is predominately about my motorhome travels but it has also covered parts of my cancer journey, in fact it’s really a story about living life. So here is part…
National Park the Freedom to Explore.
From Otorohanga we continued to head south with a vague plan to eventually end up visiting some of the NZMCA Parks further down the island that we haven’t yet checked off the visited and stayed list. One thing I had agreed with Sarah is that we would stop at National Park so she could visit an old friend she has known since school days who recently moved there. We had decided that instead of…
Back in the Saddle
In some ways going away in the motorhome is a bit like learning to ride a bike once you have mastered the rest just follows along. So, it is when we decide to head away these days, having done it numerous times we have our set routines. Like turning off the power outlets around the house but ensuring that we leave the security cameras powered up. After a couple of incidents with our water supply,…
Turangi Another Small Town Surprise.
There was a time, not so long ago, when we were within single figures of having stayed at all of the NZMCA Parks. But, with life and medical issues getting in the way of motorhoming and the NZMCA undergoing a major expansion of the Park network, suddenly we are well short (we now have 19 left to visit) . So, to address the situation and try and have a bit of a catch up earlier this year we…
An Accidental Disaster
Back in 2019 Sarah and I spent a few glorious days staying at the DOC camp at Whakaipo Bay in Taupo. In what now seems a lifetime ago we rode our E Bikes up the K2K track to where it summits before descending to Kinloch. I must confess to being seriously unfit in those days and the prospect of riding down the other side of the hill to Kinloch and then having to climb back up, even with battery…
Painted Cows and Flowers
Two of the reasons for this trip around the lower Coromandel and Waikato were to stick close to home. But also, not too drive for hours each day between destinations. With that in mind and as we spent the last night exhausted from our tramping adventures in Te Aroha we checked out the NZMCA App, looking for somewhere nice nearby. Having found plenty to do in the two previous small towns we…