Author: awayfromhomenz

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?

We arrived in Wellington in time for dinner. We were lucky in that Emma and Justin had arranged with the neighbours next door for us to park over their property, including their driveway, for the weekend. It was great just being able to hop out of the motorhome, through their gate and into their front yard. It is equally great that their property is fully contained for the dogs which allows them a bit of freedom.

Little Maia was a bit tired after a day at daycare, and also feeling a little shy but we loved seeing her and finally hearing her say “Nana”. I have been asking her for that for a long time!

After she went to bed, and also after a delicious meatball dinner, we set up the stove that Judy had made for Maia for her birthday, along with the pots and pans that Bruce had purchased to go with it. Luckily it was a hit! It was the first thing that Maia saw on the morning of her 2nd birthday, and she found it difficult to keep away from it.

 

The arranged birthday outing was a trip to Moa Point, on the south coast of Wellington, around where the Wahine had come to grief years ago. We all took separate vehicles and met out there and spent an hour or so pottering on the beach, amongst the rocks and the debri, even though the wind was a bit chilly. We were joined on this excursion by Justin’s brother Dolan and nephew Dash who was 5 years old.

 

Bruce and I amused ourselves by picking up bits of plastic debri from the shore – coming away with a small bag full. No wonder our sea life is struggling to survive! When we had all had enough of exploring we all crowded into the motorhome for Maia’s birthday “party”, brought along by Emma. Maia knew what was expected with the birthday candles, and did a reasonable job of blowing them out, but she was more pleased than anything by the provision of chippies to eat – never mind the lovely cupcakes that Emma had especially made.

 

After the party the others headed home and Bruce, the dogs and I took the long way around.  We were amazed to see people surfing and wind sailing in the cold conditions. They are a hardy lot down here.

On Sunday, Maia was allowed to open her next lot of presents – this time from her great Aunty Karen and Cousin Jacqui. She loved the cutlery set given by Jacqui and promptly put them to use in her cooking on her new stove. The jumpers that Karen had given her were gorgeous and a perfect fit.

 

Judy’s niece Jessica, her husband Paul and great niece Isabella also came for a visit. It was interesting to watch Maia trying to get Isabella to play, while Izzy was completely unaware that she was supposed to respond. Therefore, the two girls had a nice time playing alongside each other.

 

We decided to head off in the afternoon so we were well clear of the neighbours before they would want their parking back first thing in the morning. We decided that we would drive as far as Paraparaumu to stay with our friends Brendon and Helen again for the night and as usual we were made very welcome – what lovely people they are!

It was a fleeting visit though and after a coffee with them the next morning we were headed north – heading for home.

As planned we left home again at about lunchtime on Thursday. The first stop though had to be a drive in to Whitianga where we were supposed to be picking the last 6 weeks of mail up from the Post Office. They had assured Bruce that it would be there in the morning, but when we arrived in the afternoon there was no sign of it. It was pretty annoying as it was 80 unnecessary kilometres as well as wasted time. We had no choice but to leave without the mail and hope that we would eventually get it next week.

For once the weather forecast for the coming few days was for fine weather so we were looking forward to amazing views of the mountains, and also hoping for snow on the Desert Road. Bruce really wanted to build a snowman. By the time we got to Taupo, the Desert Road was closed due to snow showers so it looked like Bruce was going to get his wish. By the time we were up and about the next morning, the road was open so we continued on the road south. First though we took the dogs for a walk beside the lake (Lake Taupo).

The air was cool so hats and scarves were required, but the mountain views were enticing, so it wasn’t long before we were off.

Although there was no rain the tops of the mountains were annoyingly covered with a band of cloud. The closer we got to the mountains the more they became covered with cloud but we managed to get a few shots where we could see most of the mountain.

As the elevation rose we began to see more and more snow although there was never enough for Bruce’s construction of a snowman though.

We pulled over into a rest stop though and took the dogs out the experience snow. I would have to say they were unimpressed. Oscar just wanted to dig holes in the grainy substrate, while Hunter just wanted to smell every bit of tussock.

 

We took the opportunity to have a coffee before we were off again, headed for Wellington.

 

Today we headed toward Whakatane to spend some time with Deb, Judy’s sister. It seems that we were not the only ones with the same idea as she also had Trina and Pete, and her Bruce staying with her.

The weather that was forecast for Lake Rotoma arrived today so yet more rain – the theme of our holiday! This was the first time we had seen Deb’s new house and it looked very nice. There was still more work to do outside but that should be expected with all the bad weather. Deb tells us she has lovely views out to sea and also to Mt Edgecumbe, but the weather prevented us from seeing that.

Deb’s house is up a fairly steep driveway and the motorhome could not go there without scraping it’s bottom on the road so we elected to stay parked on the roadside outside her gate.

Deb and Trina decided to give the “My Kitchen Rules” contestants a run for their money by cooking us a gourmet dinner. They worked well as a team and produced a lovely lasagne dinner, and Deb’s Bruce did a great job of the dishes afterwards. Thanks a lot all of you.

We spent the evening looking at photos and catching up on our families. Trina and Pete were very entertaining and Pete has lots of innovative ideas that appealed to Bruce.

Judy did not sleep all that well that night because Deb had said that the road had flooded  in the past. Judy had visions of the motorhome floating away over night (well, maybe not to that extent), but she was worried enough that we were peering out the windows every hour or so to monitor the state of the water on the road outside. By about 3am we realised that we were pretty safe so finally went to sleep.

Needless to say we slept in, but when we did emerge Deb had cooked a great breakfast of bacon and eggs, hash browns and baked beans and spagetti. What a treat – a bit different from the usual muesli or fruit and yoghurt!

Overnight though we had decided that we would head for home today. Although the rain had stopped, another band of it was on the way!. The roads were open at present so we thought it would be good to make a run for it. Therefore, after the sumptuous breakfast we headed back on the road – this time Flaxmill bound.

 

 

We had our usual leisurely start from Taupo after taking the dogs for a walk beside the lake, and emptying the tanks, filling up with water etc.

We then drove out of Taupo heading towards Rotorua. As usual the weather was showery and not that warm. The forecast for our stay in Rotoma was worse though so we were not complaining.

Not far out of Taupo we came across the Ohaaki Geothermal plant. This is part of the Wairakei Thermal Field but the only part that does not cool the water that results from steam generation by putting it back into the water ways. Instead the steam is cooled in the cooling tower pictured above, before re-injecting it back into the steam field.

There was a hazy mist over the landscape today and this did not really clear until we started arriving at the various lakes. There was no wind so the lakes were still and beautiful in the morning sun.

Lake Rotoiti was a short stop so we could walk the dogs again. It was noticeable that there were few boats out on the lake, but those that were there were all collected about one particular point. Obviously a very popular fishing spot. Our friend Altus later told us that it is the spawning season so fishing is banned in all but a few selected areas. so I guess this must have been one of the  exempted areas.

We arrived at our friends Altus and Letitia’s in time for a trout lunch, combined with the fresh ciabatta buns that we had purchased from Taupo. It was great to see the new deck and the extension to the living area. The fire was new as well and it provided a lovely warmth to the house on what was a chilly day.

After lunch, we took the dogs for another walk with Letitia as our guide.

It was interesting that the lake levels are about a metre higher than normal due to recent rains. Lake Rotoma does not have an outlet, so with lots of rain the level will rise. It was amusing to see picnic tables being used as dinghy stands.

The boardwalk near the boat ramp was invisible as it was completely under water.

However, despite the wintry temperatures, the scenery was lovely.

Letitia cooked us a lovely dinner of Cockaleekie Soup and we tried to help Altus watch the rugby after -but to be honest we were more of a hindrance than anything!

The next morning we spent more time with Altus and Letitia, and let our dogs get to know their dogs a bit. It was enjoyable looking out their front windows onto the arm of Lake Rotoma that is just across the road from them. The shags and ducks were busy fishing, so clearly the lake waters are thriving with life.

We intended to head away just before lunch as we were to head to Whakatane today. Thanks for your hospitality Altus and Letitia.

We finally finished all our jobs at Jenny’s house this morning so we set off for Napier. As the Manawatu Gorge is permanently closed at the moment we faced having to go by the Saddle Road. To get to the Saddle Road we had to go south to Palmerston North and then on to Ashurst. The benefit of doing this was that Bruce would get to see the Apiti Wind farm which would leave the Te Uku wind farm in its back draft.

However, once we got to Ashurst (86kms later) we found that the Saddle Road was also closed and there was a new detour in place. We decided that this was all becoming too hard as there was no information about the route of the detour and what the roads were like, so we rang the people we were supposed to be visiting and canceled that part of the adventure. However, this became a new adventure of its own as we made our way up country, following the Rangitikei River, towards today’s destination of Taupo.

However, Ashurst had some great views of the wind farm although we did not get as close to it as we would have liked seeing as we were not going on the Saddle Road. The day was very calm so all but one of the wind generators were not moving at all. Ashurst had a viewing platform that gave a lot of information about the wind farm, but also had some lovely murals,

We set the GPS for Taihape and it took us through some small back country roads that were in very good condition, with the added bonus of some spectacular scenery such as the photo above and below:

Along the road we also found another potential do up – the house for me and the truck for Bruce!

The road ran along the eastern banks of the Rangitikei River until just before Mangaweka. Just before the township of Mangaweka, there was a scenic route labeled so of course Bruce had to go and see what was down there. There was a camp down the road a way. As the road further on led on over a narrow bridge that did not look great for motorhomes so we decided to pull in to the camp for a look. There were tracks that led right down to the river, and that gave magnificent views of the towering cliffs along the other side of the river.

We were sure this camp would be very popular in the summer. The dogs enjoyed their little outing, so it was back to the truck to continue northwards. This was the first time that we were struck by how close to the edge of the cliffs the town of Mangaweka was, and those cliffs are very unstable. Time will tell.

We continued north along SH 1, through Taihape and then onto the Desert Road. It was dusk by this time, and the road conditions varied immensely. From this:

to this:

There were still lots of small patches of snow at the sides of the road, and the vehicle computer told us it was only 1 degree outside. We stopped for a quick meal at Turangi and then did the final punch through to the NZMCA Park at Taupo. We were obviously not the only ones who thought it would be a good place to park as there were lots of campers here, but still plenty of room, so we found our park and set ourselves up for the night.

After spending a night in Marton, we decided we would do a side trip to Fielding to visit the Pioneer’s Museum. We had heard some good reviews about this museum and wanted to see it for ourselves.

We had a leisurely start as usual and headed off in the rain towards Fielding. We had no trouble finding our way to the Museum and were most impressed with the personal greeting we got. We were introduced to the Museum by an elderly gentleman (presumably a volunteer) who gave us a synopsis of the various sections of the Museum as well as some information about how the Museum came into existence.

We started by watching a short video on the museum and then walked our way through the impressive displays. The first displays tried to demonstrate what life would have been like for the first settlers in the area. Fielding was named after a Captain Fielding who was sent over to purchase land for new settlers. The settlers (1700 of them came over a period of 5 years) were promised a cabin and some land when they got here, but they arrived before any cabins had been completed, so they had to live in tents throughout the winter – pretty tough life.

There was a huge collection of horse drawn vehicles.

My God daughter Nicky, is a policewoman. Here is one of the first Police cars (carts) in New Zealand.

There were also some other vehicles that were famous such as the model T Ford.

and an Indian motorcycle

At the back part of the museum is a John Deere collection of tractors (and some other John Deere vehicles). This collection was gifted to the museum from a deceased estate, and the money sitting on the floor here is mind blowing.

 

We were on our way out of the museum when we found that they had some “way out toilets”! Bruce and I both went but could not see what made them “way out”.

The Museum did not disappoint and we were impressed with the displays and the amount of information given about Fielding in its early days, and transport in general.

After a very late lunch we left Fielding and headed to Whanganui where we planned to spend the next 3 days with Judy’s friend Jenny.

Back to the future would perhaps be a good name for this post. But first, a quick how we got to where we are today!

Bruce had worked in Wellington from 1970 through until 1976, employed by what was then the Post Office, as a Telephone Technician. One of his mates was Brendon, who ended up sharing a flat during Bruce’s time in Wellington. Brendon moved on from the telephone exchange where Bruce was stationed, but then Helen was employed in the exchange as a technician. Brendon was too busy restoring and repairing all sorts of amazing old cars to sustain a serious relationships, but one night in the flat, Bruce mentioned Helen was awesome and could keep up with the best of the guys in the mechanical / electrical world that we kept in service day in day out. Brendon asked to be set up on a date with Helen.  They immediately clicked, and married a few years later. In September of this year, these two will celebrate 40 years of marriage – wooohoo.

So, we stayed with Helen and Brendon in Paraparaumu for two nights, after the short trip down from Foxton. They have a very motorhome friendly driveway, and were amazing hosts to us. (we had to watch the dogs carefully because we were sure Brendon and Helen would steal them from us given half a chance!).

We had an entertaining  evening with much talking, and testing of some of of the Mike’s Brewery products that Judy and I had  procured earlier (see the Urenui post). Brendon and Helen made sure we knew we were all welcome to stay in the house should the scheduled rain, wind, hail and thunderstorms get too much for us in our aluminium enclosure on the driveway. We experienced all of the scheduled weather, but had a reasonable night, and woke to a less wind and rain sort of a day.

After a mandatory couple of coffees, we noticed a break in the rain, so took ourselves and the dogs out for a walk around Helen and Brendon’s neighbourhood. Judy came back with a pocket of ripe olives, from street trees in one of the new subdivisions. It seems that the residents must prefer the preprepared olives! Our ones are now in brine in antcipation of being used on pizzas on our return to home base.

After a leisurely lunch, Bruce was whisked away by Helen and Brendon to have a look through the Southwards Car Museum.  This had been on Bruce’s must do list for many years.

So now the ‘back to the future’ bit. One hundred years ago, this electric vehicle was introduced. Mrs Ford, and Mrs Edison had electric vehicles that they used instead of the noisy, complicated petrol cars of the time.

And to continue the theme, this one had to be included as well.

Southwards have an amazing collection of veteran, vintage, classic, and even bizarre vehicles. Like this brand new car that was then reclad in copper and brass. the Auckland owner must have been a plumber

Or the Jeepneys that are found in the Phillippines, which are pimped Jeeps that the Americans left behind when they departed.

The question has to be… why would you!

Helen and Brendon served up another beautiful dinner for us, and we chatted on till late. The second night was very windy, but also had a few heavy showers.

We sadly said our farewells in the morning, and headed off to explore Paraparaumu Beach and Raumati Beach, just as the rain and wind started again ….. gggrrrr. Bruce thought he knew the beach area well from when he was there in the 1970’s …. ha, some memory fade and added streets foiled that one. We were lost for a while there. We saw some places 4 times, got dead ended several times, and then decided to pull the plug and head to the Paraparaumu shopping centre for a couple of things before heading north again.