Headed home again!

We seem to spend a lot of our trips home trying to beat bad weather and this trip was no exception. We left Paraparaumu on a nice morning and after a quiet night (none of the thunderstorms and hail that we had here last time). We intended to take a different route this time – through the National Park. This would mean a longer trip but with a different view of the mountains. However, as luck would have, by the time we reached the central plateau it was very cloudy and misty, raining at times and any view of any mountains was non-existent. Our view out from the cab of the motorhome was a bit like ground hog day!

We reached Waiouru, our intended stopping place for the night, in good time – by about 3pm, but then decided, because of the weather and the foreccast of worse weather tomorrow, we would continue straight to Taupo and that would make tomorrow a shorter day of travelling.

We spent another night at the NZMCA park at Taupo – this is becoming like a second home for us! There were lots of other vans there again, but plenty of prime spots to choose from, so we set up for the night.

The next morning was overcast but not wet so we took the dogs for a short walk by the lake before we headed north. We usually take the dogs to 3 Mile Bay. We were interested to see what looked like a self built motorhome camping there, and remembered we had seen it there on our way south, so it had clearly been there a few days.

We did not linger too long as there was a weather warning for the Coromandel and we needed to arrive on a low tide to minimise the risk of the road being flooded. That meant we wanted to get home sometime between 11am and 3pm at the latest.

The Kopu-Hikuai gorge is spectactular at the best of times. After rain events there are lots of waterfalls coming out of the hills beside the road (as seen above). There was plenty of evidence of rain but not much when we were actually driving through which was nice.

We arrived home in the early afternoon, and quickly unpacked, waiting for the forecasted bad weather to arrive, but other than a few showers, we never saw it. We were rewarded though with spectacular evening views over the bay.

 

With the motorhome nicely tucked up on the driveway it was time to inspect the property. It was amazing how much things had grown in our absence – and the most noticeable was the celery and the rhubarb.

The next morning I grabbed a knife and harvested as much as I dared. The fridge is now stocked with a large container of stewed rhubarb to have on our morning cereal, and I made my first ever batch of cream of celery soup. It was delicious even if I do say so myself! Best of all there is plenty on the plants for soups and stews over the winter!

Our trip away has been amazing, despite the wet weather. Both Bruce and I agree that our favourite sight was the Three Sisters; we were torn about whether our favourite visit was with either Brendon and Helen or with Jenny. Being with Maia for her second birthday was in a class of its own. Judy’s favourite camping spot was Waiau Pa with a close second being Tainui-Wetere just outside of New Plymouth. Bruce’s was Wainui Beach.

I wonder where our next adventure will be?