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Hamner Springs

by awayfromhomenz

We have been to Hamner three times before but we absolutely love it so we had to go back again. We stayed at the NZMCA park again and while the weather wasn’t beautiful and sunny, it was still nice enough to let us do the walks and things we wanted to do.

Hamner has wonderful facilities for visitors, and one of the places we love best are the sculpture walks in the forest. We have taken Oscar (our standard schnauzer, who has since passed away) there in the past and he was a lot of fun because he really got into the sculptures, whereas, despite Bruce’s best efforts, Hunter and Beau just were not interested. The walk is about 2 kilometers though and the dogs and us really enjoyed it.

The first thing that was noticeable were all the beautiful red toadstools. There were hundreds scattered about, probably due to the recent rain. Beautiful as they are, they are very toxic – red for danger. Luckily the dogs were not interested in them.

It was fun following the “dog” signs in the forest and coming across the various wooden art works.

We managed to get the dogs to pose next to some, but it took a bit of effort.

In all, we went through the forest twice, and another walk took us across the highway from the camp, and towards the river bank. The track was very uneven, with large mud puddles and if you tried to dodge those, you had to contend with blackberry vines, but it was still a nice walk.

We arrived just in time to see the Hamner jet boat speeding by, but I didn’t manage to catch a photo of it.

On our last day in Hamner Springs, we actually went to the springs for a soak. The whole complex is a wonderful set up. Many different pools, including a full sized swimming pool for swimming laps, and at least 4 different waterslides. Bruce and I enjoyed riding the circular track pool with fast flowing water (like tame water rapids). There were foam rings and flutter boards available for anyone to use in this pool and it was a bit of fun. There are smaller rock pools, very hot pools, water jet pools and medium temperature pools. I think we spent 2 1/2 hours there and all for a very reasonable price of $22 per person (compared to $70 per person for the Lost Springs in Whitianga).

We could easily have stayed longer, but there is more to see, so after doing the various housekeeping tasks (laundry, filling and emptying tanks etc), we headed out onto the highway again. This time there was a bit of anxiety about it as there was a severe wind warning for the area, – strong winds and high sided vehicles are not a good mix!

Mt Terako

by awayfromhomenz

It was a cloudy day, but not raining, when we left Kaikoura, headed inland towards Mt Terako. We stopped just outside of Kaikoura for a coffee and to give the dogs a good walk before the drive inland.

The area we were driving in to is called the Inland Kaikoura Range. The road was predictably, windy and seemed to go up hill forever, and I was glad it was Bruce’s driving day. Before we got to the steep stuff though, we were treated to beautiful hill country farm views. Some of the farm houses out here were quite substantial as I guess they had to be because they would be cut off by snow in the winter. Some of the houses were absolute showpieces.

We even came across the TUX dog trials which we stopped to watch for a minute.

As we got further inland the landscape was notable for its very steep drops down to gravelly rivers, and erosion was evident everywhere, especially on Mt Terako itself.

It seems that the “Roar” was in progress because we came across a large deer enclosure that seemed to be full of “bulls” who had recently had their antlers removed. It didn’t stop them roaring to each other though. The dogs weren’t at all sure what to make of the noise.

We finally got to the Mt Lyford Lodge, which is the second largest log house in the southern hemisphere. We thought we might stay there a night, but it didn’t suit them as they had been without electricity all day. We were joined in the carpark by a fellow group of travellers, some of whom had also come from Beach Hop. They had really fancy cars – corvettes and AC Cobras, but because of the electricity issue, they also decided to move on.

Just down the road, about 8 kilometres on, was the Terako Downs Park Over Property, and we pulled in there for the night. The place was quirky to say the least but the birdsong was out of this world. I thought I had been spoilt at home when I had a chorus of 2 bellbirds, but it could not compare to a whole hillside of them, plus some tuis adding some harmony. It made me remember the song that my sister and I used to sing when we were younger _ so ring your bell bellbirds you’re calling me back home, to my home up in the mountains, no more I will roam, for there will be contentment, and my heart will be at ease, at home up in the mountains, close on the mountain breeze. (Hope I have remembered it correctly)

The camp had a little foxy, that Beau was quite friendly with, but little did Beau know that while he wasn’t watching, the foxy stole his bone!. The camp also bordered on the Wandle River, and supposedly, there was a swimming hole, and as it was a hot day we had to go and investigate. No swimming hole could be found, but Bruce had a great time trying to build rock fjords (and getting his feet wet) trying to get to the other side. It was just as well he didn’t because a short time later, some of the young men staying at the camp went across to the paddock on the other side to test their rifle sights, as they planned to head out for a four day deer hunt tomorrow. The very loud shots had Hunter in his customary state of shivery, shaky, panting mess but fortunately it wasn’t prolonged and peace was restored not long after.

Farewell North Island

by awayfromhomenz

We had a very early start to catch the ferry – alarms set for 5am which was a bit hard for Bruce, who is only a morning person when there is fishing involved. Nothing happens in our house though, without that first cup of tea, so we indulged in that and then took the boys out in the dark to have a pee. Once they had obliged, we were off – and we were not the only ones!

Predictably, the traffic into Wellington was light and we were greeted with the most beautiful pink sky when we arrived at the wharf – just like a pink carpet.

Bluebridge have a very slick operation and it wasn’t long before we were driving on to the Connemara.

This time we opted for a dog friendly cabin, and I was impressed with this also. We were individually greeted by a staff member who gave us a little pack including a dog bowl, some dog treats and a couple of bags. Hunter and Beau weren’t sure what to make of it at first but soon settled down to have a sleep on the bunk beds – actually pretty stress free for them. They had to navigate some steep metal steps there and back, but they handled it well – not like a black lab cross who had to be carried by its owner.

We were intending to catch up with my cousin Dee (and David), who live at Mapua, but unfortunately that was not to be – they were heading away on holiday themselves, so we decided to head straight for Kaikoura to try and avoid the worst of the weather. That proved to be a good move.

Kaikoura

This has always been one of my favourite places to visit, and the truck always veers left when we get to the seal colony. There were lots of babies this time, and Hunter and Beau were pretty keen on them. It was such a delight watching them frolic in their “training” pools.

We booked in to the NZMCA Park for three nights, to ride out the weather, which was not bad at all really. There were a few showers here and there but we were able to go for several walks and explore this rugged coastline. It is amazing how much of the sea bed was thrust upwards in just a 2 minute earthquake.

The wild life is diverse here. The area is known for dolphins, whales and all sorts of bird life. We came across a few Spoonbills on our walk which I had not seen here before.

Last night we went into town to celebrate our 26th wedding anniversary – we both remembered this time. The blue cod was divine!

Tomorrow, we head off to the alpine area of Mount Lyford for at least one night.

Heading South (with a few stops along the way)

by awayfromhomenz

We have been looking forward to heading back to the South Island, especially as our last trip there wasn’t all that we had hoped in could be thanks to us both getting Covid. The lead up to the trip was pretty busy with Judy’s 70th celebrations (see our previous blog), and the frenzy leading up to Beach Hop.

For those of you who don’t know, Beach Hop is an American Muscle Car festival, held in Whangamata every year. This year was different in that it was the 25th Anniversary, so lots of people and cars were coming to help in the celebrations. There were 2000 cars booked in, as well as classic caravans, and some fancy trucks as well.

Judy takes the bookings for those Caravans and Motorhomes visiting the event who want to park on the Whangamata Area School grounds – parking around 200 RV’s and 18 Beach Hop muscle cars.

So it was off to Whangamata for the first leg of our trip – to get the parking set out and to receive the incoming motorhomes. We went from an empty sports field to this….

By the time we left, more than half the vehicles had arrived and all was going well, and we were thankful to those, especially Rod, who agreed to take over so we could get away a bit earlier.

From Whangamata we headed straight down country. Our friends Dianne and Gary were flying to Europe on Monday, so we wanted to get to their place as soon as possible to spend a bit of time with them before they went. We grabbed a coffee and drove, not stopping until we reached Lake Whakamaru (thanks to NZTA blocking off State Highway 1). We pulled in to the freedom camping area on the side of the lake for dinner. We had not been there before but it was beautiful and clearly popular – there were lots of motor homes there, including an NZMCA rally.

It was nice to stretch our legs and refresh ourselves. The bottom of the lake looked muddy, and had that not been the case I might have had a swim. That wasn’t to be so after dinner we kept driving until we reached Turangi.

We had intended to leave by 8am the next morning, but in true Philpott style, we left an hour and a half late, but arrived to Dianne and Garry’s place, in Paraparaumu, just before 3pm. We had the grand tour of their new house, a coffee, and then jumped into their pool – very refreshing.

We had a great few days with them, but the boys didn’t enjoy it so much. Their dog Teddy was so pleased to have company he wanted to play and play, and when it didn’t happen he would either nip or nudge their butts to encourage them to play. Beau wasn’t keen on this at all. Garry had an electronic gadget that was supposed to be heard only by Teddy to get him to behave and mostly it did, but it also made Bruce behave (because he could hear it in his hearing aids) and it made the other dogs anxious because they could also hear it and had no idea what was going on! At one stage I had a shaking Foxy on my knee (belonging to a visitor), Bruce had a shaking schnauzer on his knee, the house sitter had another, and Bruce was calling out “what have I done wrong!” Teddy, all this time, was having a great time!

Anyway, it was a great, but too brief, catch up. Sunday we went on our way and stopped in for lunch with Brendon and Helen and had the grand tour of inspection of their new Dethleffs Alpa – a very impressive machine. I couldn’t believe the amount of storage that was in that motorhome.

From there we headed to Plimmerton NZMCA Park to wait until our ferry crossing. This is a big park, very well set up, with a big dog park next door. The first time we went there, one of the enclosures had 6 schnauzers running around. Hunter and Beau had a great time and wore themselves out. I had to admit though, that two of the schnauzers had very funny haircuts – designed to look like lions I think, and they were terrible barkers , which made me feel quite good about ours.

We leave here at 6am tomorrow to catch the ferry – South Island here we come!

Judy’s 70th Celebrations

by awayfromhomenz

I am sure that no-one likes to admit that they are getting older, but I figured if I had to turn 70, I would do it with enthusiasm and style. I actually turned 70 on the Tuesday and was given breakfast in bed by my man, given cuddles by my dogs, and then we set off for an adventure.

Otara Bay

We had been told about Otara Bay by Bruce’s daughter and her partner Justin, so we decided to go and have a look for ourselves. Access to this beach is off Sailor’s Grave Beach and it was an easy drive to the parking lot there. We donned our tramping shoes and grabbed the camera and some drinking water and set off.

The path was not well maintained like the ones on Shakespear Cliff and at times we were pushing through grass higher than ourselves

The first view of the bay was beautiful, and worth all the huffing and puffing up the steep incline.

We were all alone on this beach. There were the occasional footprints on the beach, but they were clearly from a while ago as the waves had obliterated some of them.

It wasn’t until we were here that Bruce told me that this was supposed to be a great swimming beach. Well, we did not have our swimsuits, and as we were the only ones there, there was a logical solution – skinny dipping. I was a skinny dipping virgin so what better day to try it out than on my 70th!

Skinny dipping

After a bit of relaxing and drying off, we hiked back to the car (more huffing and puffing) and headed into Tairua for a late lunch.

Bruce spoiled me with a lovely dinner that night, and I had a lot of phone calls from family and friends to round out the day, and then to start thinking about the big party on Saturday which was being put on by my youngest son Steven and his wife Stacey.

We packed up the motorhome and headed off to Hamilton on Friday. We wanted to arrive in plenty of time to help Steve with the set up, and also because my three siblings were coming over for it, so it was a good time to finally interring Dad’s ashes. Dad’s only remaining sister Phyl and her husband Ross were there also which made it a bit more special.

While we were there we also went and said hello to Mum.

Unfortunately, the weather was showery for a lot of the day so there was a lot of work setting up the marquee for the party, but it somehow made for a nice atmosphere at the party. There were about 40 of us, plus children, but Steve’s place was an ideal venue, and we did not feel cramped.

It was so lovely being surrounded by friends and family. Three out of my four children were there.

and eight of my 10 grandchildren (although Nathaniel escaped before this photo, so he and is girlfriend Baylee are pictured separately).

Cousins on Dad’s side

Aunty and Uncle

And some of the guests

And the romance is still there

And just a few more

90 Mile Beach

by awayfromhomenz

While Maitai Bay was a piece of paradise on a calm day, it was not nearly as nice on a windy day. Quite cold in fact. Our friends were keen to do some more drone fishing, so we left the DOC park in the hope of finding somewhere calmer. We went back to Tokerau Beach, but that was no better, so we made a group decision to head to Ahipara, at the base of 90 Mile Beach.

Bruce and I had looked for a bus tour of 90 Mile Beach, but the favoured company had closed down, and the only tours available now were leaving from Paihia (meaning they would be full of cruise ship passengers) and consisted of about a 13 hour day on a big bus full of people. I refused to let Bruce drive the motorhome on 90 Mile Beach, so Ahipara was our compromise. At least we would get to walk some of it.

Ahipara is a small settlement, with two camps. We stayed at the bigger one and it was a pretty good one, and just a short walk to the beach.

The beach is also classed as a NZ road (as is Tokerau Beach) with a speed limit of 15 KPH. There were utes and dune buggies zooming all over the place, and the speed limit was totally ignored, We had to be conscious of keeping out of their way.

It was windy here as well, so no drone fishing, but it was clear that someone had been successful with their fishing. The birds were pretty keen on the carcasses.

While the beach is beautiful, it is a long expanse of “all the same”. The whole length of 90 Mile Beach (which is actually 55 miles long, or 88 kilometers) is included in the Te Araroa Walking Trail. Bruce and I have been astounded at the number of walkers we have seen doing the trail, and we saw about 8 trampers on this stretch of the beach alone. There were also some staying in the camp we were at. Tina helped one with treatment for some blisters, which must be quite debilitating if you have to keep walking each day.

The Te Araroa trail runs the length of NZ, 3000 kilometers, and is divided into legs which can take a walker 50 – 80 days to complete, and walkers will need considerable funds to cover all their expenses such as accomodation, food, gear etc. Some walkers we have seen look a bit miserable, while others are having fun and relishing the experience.

While the beach is beautiful, it is a surf beach with lots of sand, and I suspect may get a bit boring after a few hours.

This was our last day of travelling with Tina and John, Kevin and Marg. They were heading south tomorrow while Bruce and I planned to continue north to see Cape Reinga. We will certainly miss them – they have been great to travel with, and hopefully we will get to do another trip with them soon.

Maitai Bay

by awayfromhomenz

The next day at Tokerau Beach was once again windy so there was to be no drone fishing today. We explored the length of the beach, but there did not seem to be any sheltered spots so we decided to head to the tip of the peninsula to Maitai Bay. This was also a DOC Camp, and to get there we had to pick our way through a pot holed, corrugated and dusty gravel road.

The gravel road did not continue for too long though, and then we reached the camp, which was another rustic place with the most basic of facilities. We shared the camp with livestock this time, so we had to be careful where we camped.

Again, we set up our vans in a U shape, with our entertaining area in the middle. Dinner hour and afters tonight was one of music and laughs, with a few splashes of Baileys added into the mix.

Maitai Bay would have to be one of the prettiest that I have ever seen. The sand is very white and fine, and the sea was so clear it was almost like looking through a glass of water. Tina, Bruce and I just had to have a swim, our first for the season, and it did not disappoint.

Even though it was sheltered here, there was to be no fishing, as there was a rahui in place to protect the fishery. There were plenty of birds here though and we were treated to some wonderful murmurations (aerial ballet) as they prepared to roost for the night.

There was a large group of Maori folk at the camp also. They were a friendly bunch, and one told Tina that this land used to belong to his grandfather. His grandfather would always allow campers to holiday on the farm, but then the Government took the land, without compensation, to “preserve” it. They passed it over to DOC. This man showed Tina where the family waka was. He also said that his great uncle owned land over the other side, but the government didn’t take that, so his relatives still had that land.

The next day was windy, so the bay wasn’t as sheltered as yesterday, and we did not feel the need to have a swim. We decided to carry on our travels. Tina and John do not have much longer before they have to head back, and we will have to carry on our travels alone.

We decided to head for the other coast.

Tokerau Beach

by awayfromhomenz

Our night at Tauranga Bay was pretty peaceful, and the naughty boys remained quiet. However, crowded camps are not really our style so we moved on in the morning. Marg and Kevin headed off in their own direction (they went to look at Taupo Bay which we saved for another day), and Tina and John again played tour guides and took us to Whangaroa Harbour. We had to laugh at Tina’s tour guide skills sometimes eg. stopping at an intersection with indicators going one way, and then the other: but we managed to work out her meaning.

Whangaroa was a cute little place, with mussel farms in the harbour.

Whangaroa was just a little place, but obviously a place that those with some disposable income escape to. There was quite a large marina here with some nice looking boats.

There was one poor boat that looked a bit unloved, but the bay was lovely with the silhouette of the hills behind.

Next stop was following the road over the hill which led us to the towns of Manganui. I had set my heart on fish and chips at the famous fish shop that is on piles over the water. However, the place was packed and there was absolutely nowhere we could stop, so we had no choice but to continue on. I made Bruce promise that we would go back! At one stage, when I was in my early 20’s, my father owned a hardware store here, but it was not identifiable now. He also did a small subdivision in Cable Bay, but I really can’t remember where. I only visited it once before he moved south to Whangarei.

Our lunch stop for the day was beautiful Taipa Bay. This was another beautiful beach, but clearly not as wealthy as some of the other places we have been to. It was great to see families out and about and having a good time. There were quite a few people swimming as well, (a bit cold for me).

After a leisurely lunch we headed on up the Karekare Penninsula to a place called Tokerau Beach. There is a NZMCA Park here but the neighbours are not pleased with the existence of the park and make it known! Therefore, we elected to stay on a Park Over Property, which was just charming. Marg and Kevin caught up with us here. That was a very good thing, because Kevin had a fishing drone and we were anxious to see how it worked.

The drone does not handle conditions that are too windy, but the next day was calm and the conditions just right, so we headed off to the beach. It didn’t seem to take long to set up, and Kevin walked round in a circle one way, then the other, holding the drone to his chest, to programme the drone (to let it know where it was).

Then with hooks baited and attached to the drone, it was sent off 450m out to sea.

At the push of a button, the drone dropped the line which was then only attached to the rod, and we waited. The drone duly appeared from the horizon, and carefully landed itself back where it had started from. It did not seem to take very long before we saw the rod tip bend over. The downside of having the line dropped that far out was that it took a lot of winding in! Just as well there were 3 men to take turns!

The result was two nice snapper for tea. Although the drone was sent out twice more, there were no more fish caught, but we had plenty for tea. The team wanted to be sure I got my fish and chips, so Tina and John provided the chips from their van, Marg and Kevin did the fish, and Bruce and I provided a green salad. Can’t get better than that!

Tauranga Bay

by awayfromhomenz

Leaving Kerikeri, Bruce and I are travelling towards new territory for both of us, and we are glad to have Tina and John as tour guides. They have seen most of this area before.

To get to our next stop, we had to travel some of the most spectacular coastline that Northland has to offer. The scenery was magnificent, not so the roads. We encountered kilometer after kilometer of delaminating roads, and the real challenge of driving these roads in a motorhome is trying to find a path through the damage that will not shake the motorhome to bits!

Our first stop along the way was to Matauri Bay, one of the jewels in the crown of Northland, and a very popular stop for visitors. Therefore, it is frequently crowded, but not so much today, thankfully. The Motor Camp at the end looked very busy though, as you would expect for a Labour long weekend.

There was land used for logging all around Matauri Bay, and it was nice to see that some companies are acting responsibly and mulching the slash.

After a wander along the beach, and a bit of lunch, we headed back up the steep road to see more of the countryside. We didn’t get too far along before we came across a look out at the top of the hill, which gave amazing views over the islands nearby. You can also see more evidence of slash being mulched up.

Te Ngaere Bay was the next stop. Not many houses here as it is a bit more out of the way, but a lovely spot nonetheless.

Tauranga Bay was our final destination for the day and where we met up again with our co-travelers. We stayed in the motor camp there, and it was a fairly busy camp. We set up, with our three vans forming a U shape, underneath a big Norfolk Pine.

Our peace was disturbed by a couple of kids, maybe 8 and 9 years old, running around the cabins next door to our spot, yelling “fuck off” repeatedly, at the top of their voices. When a man from a nearby motorhome went to speak to them, they ran inside the cabin to hide. Parents were nowhere in sight. This went on for quite a while, and we wondered whether this was going to be a good place to stay.

Eventually though, a Maori man went up to the boys, and I was surprised to see them do exactly as he said, rather than running to hide. They quietened down immediately, and started moping around. The man then went further along the cabins until he found the parents and he sent them home to deal to the boys. He then came to us to apologise. The man turned out to be Eric Rush – ex All Black Captain. No wonder he had mana! What a lovely man he was! Our evening was peaceful from then on, and we were able to enjoy Tauranga Bay.

Kerikeri

by awayfromhomenz

After leaving the tourist loaded town of Paihia, we headed further north to Kerikeri. Bruce and I planned to have one night at Uncle John’s property, while the two other vans with us planned on a stay at the NZMCA park.

On the way there, Bruce and I visited Haruru Falls, which the others had all been to.

These were not huge falls but still quite picturesque. Fortunately, they were only a short walk from the carpark because as we returned there appeared to be a car pulling in, and possibly up to no good, because as soon as they saw us they turned around and took off.

Bruce and I had a quick look at the town of Kerikeri before heading to my uncle’s place. John has 5 acres on the edge of town, planted with orange trees. Unfortunately, John had fallen onto a fence post a while ago and had cracked a rib, so he wasn’t up to doing anything with the crop, and they were all falling on the ground, going to waste. That worked to our advantage, and we were able to head away the next day with a bag full.

It was wonderful catching up with John. He is a highly intelligent, well informed man, who loved having someone to talk to. We spent a bit of time catching up, but it was all too short really. He took us out for coffee (and breakfast for him and Bruce) the next morning.

He had given Bruce and I a pass for the Art Escape being held in Kerikeri so after breakfast, Bruce and I headed off again. Unfortunately, a lot of the venues were in areas inaccessible to motorhomes so we could not take full advantage of the passes. John had offered us the use of his car, and we should have taken him up on it.

Kerikeri is also the home of the Rainbow Falls, and the walk leading to those falls is just at the back of the NZMCA Park, so it was easy to park there and go for a look.

These falls are more substantial than Haruru Falls, and the walk to them is well done, through lovely bush. The added bonus is that the van was safe while we were there.

Kerikeri is also home to the Stone Store, and the Mission House, two of New Zealands oldest buildings, having been constructed in 1819. The Mission House is one of the first areas where Maori invited Europeans to live alongside them.

The Stone Store is still a store today, selling souvenirs now though, but we went for a wander through it. We would have had a coffee in the cafe that now occupies the old Mission House (Kemp House) but there were too many people there.

Instead we took a wander up to the old church across the road. Unfortunately it was not open, so we couldn’t have a peep inside, but it looked lovely from the outside.

Planted outside the church was a huge old pear tree that was said to be planted by Samuel Marsden on 1819 . It is in full leaf but clearly has had its struggles to survive. I don’t know if it still bears fruit.

Kerikeri seems to be a great little town, albeit not a straight forward one to get around in. However, we will be leaving it with pleasant memories.