Ross and Wyn Davies Travel Blog

It was a while before we got on the road, not least because the office didn’t open until 9:30am. So it was 10am before we pulled out; still an early hour for us though 🙂 We had an easy cruise back out to SH10 and on to Kerikeri by 11am. There was a bit of rain along the way – it’s that sort of weather. We made a beeline for the dump station to get rid of our grey waste. There was a tap there presumably connected to the town supply so we decided to fill up while we could. Continue reading →

The wind persisted on Sunday, if anything a bit stronger. It had been windy through the night although we seemed to be getting used to the crashing of the surf a few metres away. We watched some more of the telethon in bed; there’s something addictive about it. Wyn was in a creative mood; breakfast was freshly squeezed orange juice and pancakes. Out the back window the waves were crashing onto the beach and further west were smashing against cliffs; making for interesting watching. Continue reading →

Saturday I was up early, sorting photos to send some to Laura of the time she was with us. It was a sunny and cloudy sort of morning with the wind persisting from the north east. At 11am it was 18 degrees outside. About midday we took the car back to Whangaroa, a small settlement on the Whangaroa Harbour. There is a very original general store there, selling Saturday Heralds and Keripie pies. The smell of the pies was too much and it was lunchtime. Continue reading →

Thursday 6^th August dawned fine and cooler – it was only 5.4 degrees outside at 8:30am. It was time to move on after a lovely few days at Fred and Dorothy’s POP Coopers Beach. We bypassed Mangonui, and turned off SH10 further south; taking the road out to the coast. Further along this we turned off to Tauranga Bay, please to find the road sealed all the way to the beach and motor camp. It is a spectacular setting with the camp right on the beachfront, looking out to Stevensons Island, and south around cliffs to the entrance to Whangaroa Harbour and further around to Taupo Bay where we’d visited a couple of days before. Continue reading →

Woke up to 14.7degrees at 7.00am on Wednesday 5th.  It was very calm but a bit misty. We knew it was going to be another great day and were keen to get going.  In anticipation of the sunny day to come, we put on our shorts and walking sandals and shoes, chatted to fellow motorhomers at the POP we were staying at and then set off mid morning. First stop was Taumarumaru DOC Reserve, Coopers Beach.  The walking tracks include three defended pa sites and related archaeological features. Continue reading →

We’re currently at Tauranga Bay. Telecom doesn’t reach for internet or phones – Vodafone seems to work OK. We’ll be there a few more days unless we get blown away by this persistent NE wind 🙂 We’re sending this from the top of a hill quite a way from the camp – we’ve been for an explore this afternoon.

I woke up at 7.30am on Tuesday to the sound of lots of traffic on the one way bridge next to where we were staying and knew I wasn’t going to be able to go back to sleep easily. The bridge is on SH 10, the scenic route from Bay of Islands to Kaitaia, and very busy in the mornings. Ross was already up downloading photos onto the computer.  Staying in bed for a while reading my book seemed a good idea.  Continue reading →

We’re moving on today from Taipa, heading for Tauranga Bay or Matauri Bay. We don’t know what the mobile reception will be like there, so it could be a while before we are back to the blog. We might stay there for a week, it all depends 🙂
I’ve added a new bunch of photos to “Latest Travel Pics’, up to yesterday’s. We’ve had two lovely days exploring Doubtless Bay and Taupo Bay and Mangonui. The weather has been wonderful; sometimes it seems we are well into spring. Today looks like another fine day although it’s only 5 degrees outside at 8.30am. The sun is shining and the breeze is gentle.

Monday dawned clear and calm and cooler – only 7.5 degrees. We were up to see the sun rise out of the sea at 7:25am. We packed up and stowed away and farewelled “our” bay. We decided on a short hop to Taipa at the near end of Doubtless Bay. I reassembled the A-frame and readied the car for towing; it wasn’t going to be far but was good practice with the new brackets and stronger A-frame. We headed off at 10:30am, after six wonderful days at Maitai Bay. Continue reading →

Saturday was the first day of August; time seems to be flying by. It was a warmer morning; 14 degrees outside already by 7am. It warmed to 18 degrees by the middle of the day but was also overcast and windy, and it rained later in the afternoon. We passed the morning reading and sorting photos and doing some washing. After lunch we drove to Whatuwhiwhi for our Weekend Herald newspaper. This is our newspaper for the week and our challenge each week is to finish it before the following weekend. Continue reading →

Friday dawned warmer; it was already 11 degrees at 7.30am. The weather was the usual mixture of clear and cloudy. We decided to walk around the neighbouring bay; the other half of Maitai Bay. We set off at 10.30am with a couple of muesli bars and some scroggin; not sure how far we would go. Heading around the bay we encountered three others doing the same thing. At the far end of the bay, they were looking for the track to take them up to a trip point. There was a very cryptic DOC (Department of Confusion) sign with two orange triangles nailed to a post. One triangle pointed straight up in the air, the other pointed up the creek. Continue reading →

I’ve managed to upload a bunch of recent photos. I have not yet figured out how to caption them but if you hold your mouse over each photo a caption pops up. If you click on any photo you get a larger view.

It’s Monday – we’re fairly sure – we had a debate about it this morning. And we’re back in the world after 6 days in a lovely little paradise – Maitai Bay. Cell phone coverage was marginal – OK for Vodafone and lousy on Telecom. Which made it all the more relaxing and romantic. Plus we mostly had the beach to ourselves for 6 days. But, the water supply ran out and it seemed time to move on. Today we’ve emerged back onto SH10 and headed a small distance around Doubtless Bay to Taipa. Here we’re parked up at a lovely parkover place beside the estuary.  We’ve visited Mangonui to dump our water waste and pick up our mail and search for the carrot cake cafe (not found yet). I’ll have a go at uploading some photos and there’s a couple of days to fill in on the blog and emails to catch up on and a new bay to explore.  So much to do and plenty of time …

Thursday 30 July started out cool by our new standards, 13 degrees inside and 8 degrees outside. It was sunny again, with a SW breeze that got breezier as the day went on. Plus the clouds got cloudier as well. We moved Suzi a few metres forward, retaining some view of the breakers, and boosting our solar power input by 50%. We were keen for some exercise and decided on exploring the walking tracks on the peninsula. We geared up for a big walk indicated on our map to Cape Karikari. However we only got 100m from the camp entrance to be greeted by signs making it very clear that Cape Karikari is Maori land and off limits and DOC was very emphatic that we’d be prosecuted as trespassers plus there were big STOP signs so we slunk away. Continue reading →

We planned to leave Kaitaia on Tuesday (28 July). But first there were a couple of things to sort out. I checked the wiring on the A-frame to make sure the lights on the car were going to work. And they didn’t. Again no amount of wriggling plugs and cursing made any difference. We needed an auto electrician. And we needed petrol for the car. I went off to the nearest service station that we had a fuel card for, and filled up. And asked the guy there whether there was an auto electrician in Kaitaia. “Well” he said, as if I mightn’t believe him. “My sister’s place… and she’s here..” he said indicating a woman who’d just pulled in. Continue reading →