Ross and Wyn Davies Travel Blog

We awoke on Saturday 4th to a nice morning and we were pleasantly surprised the temperature was 13 deg. Is this the start of the ‘Winterless North’ we have been in search off? Apparently it does exist.  It was pointed out to me that Jim Hickey tells us it does every night on TV1. It’s certainly great having a bit of a reprieve anyway after our cold month of June.

We start packing up and start anticipating where we might end up.  We have no specific destination in mind but after some discussion we decide to stay at a couple of DOC camps on our way to Kerikeri and leave Whangarei for another time. Continue reading →

A while back I turned off the option for you to post comments on any of our posts. The spammers were troubling us somewhat – my hair was starting to curl. Michael my son and wingman has helped sort me out with the right stuff to stop them pesky spammers in their twisted tracks. So now you’re free to comment on any of our posts from now on.

Ask questions, say hello, offer advice, or tell us where you think we might be wrong. We like getting feedback, so feel free to use the Comments section with any post that allows you to.

I’ll see if I can free up some of the earlier posts that comments were blocked on.

We were up early again on Thursday 2 July, keen to be on the road. It was a fine clear morning, and I was waiting for the sun to see if the solar panels were going to work. It was time to hitch up the car again, at last. We were on the road by 9am; we were heading north. Continue reading →

We woke beside Auckland Harbour on Monday 29 June. It was a wet grey morning, with the rain easing. The river of traffic was flowing out of the North Shore and over the harbour bridge. It was fun watching the ferries zooming by – that would be a good way to go to work. We were away by 10.30am, bound for the Majestic TV people in Albany. Continue reading →

At last we were off to Auckland, on our way north – on Wednesday 24 June. From Waikete Hot Pools we went via back roads, through lovely countryside, to SH30. There was a final bit of heading south, to Upper Atamuri, then north, through Tokoroa to Cambridge. Continue reading →

We’d picked up a brochure for the Waikete Hot Pools in the info place in Rotorua. And spotted that they had motorhome sites on site, with free use of the hot pools. So we decided that a day there would be good relaxation before heading off north. So on Monday 22nd June we headed out of Rotorua. About half an hour south we found the turnoff to the Waikete Valley, and were soon at the hot pools. Continue reading →

A while back I stopped allowing comments on posts. The spam we were getting was starting to make my hair curl. I haven’t found out how to prevent/avoid the stuff, so I turned comments off. It seems to take the spammers a while to catch up with new posts – maybe they’re lazy as well as horrible.

Anyway, I thought we’d try allowing comments on this post, inviting you to say hello or ask anything or say something relating to any of the previous posts. When the spammers start with their stuff I’ll have to turn comments off again. Meantime, it’d be nice to hear from you.

It was around midday when we finally left Tauranga bound for Rotorua on Thursday 18 June. We’d been in the Bay of Plenty for 3 months. We enjoyed our stay and were also looking forward to moving on. It wasn’t long over to Rotorua, and we were soon at a private Park Over Property at Holden’s Bay. They are very helpful and friendly hosts, and they are well set-up for visiting motorhomes. We got our bikes off and had a brief ride along the lake which is only a block from where we were staying. Continue reading →

On Monday afternoon 15 June we drove into Tauranga, heading for the NZMCA parkover on SH29 just out of the city at Gargan Road. The traffic was all clogged up where we wanted to turn onto SH29, with a sign saying Road Closed, and someone turning traffic back. It was disorganised chaos. Eventually I left Suzi and went ahead and across the road, to learn that there was an accident further up the road. As it was beyond where we wanted to turn off, we were allowed through. Continue reading →

Mt Maunganui – Saturday 16 May
We woke early to a warmer morning – 16 degrees inside. We were off for the morning to watch Wyn’s grandson playing rugby in Mt Maunganui. We were confident we could find our way around without Nev the Nav, and found the park without any trouble. It was easy enough, it was well marked by cars parked everywhere for miles. It looked like every family in the Bay of Plenty was there for rugby and soccer and netball. Continue reading →

Another Day Off Work
Tuesday 12 May
We woke to another cooler overcast morning. It had been raining again. We had the heater on for most of the day. There was no work today – there is still difficulty picking enough fruit to keep us going every day. I started catching up on the blog, and Wyn caught up on some reading. I went into town for a newspaper to see the photos of the hailstorm the previous day. Continue reading →

Monday 11 May
We were up early again, this time for appointments in Waihi, the next town north of Katikati. We had liked it last time we were there and were keen to return. Wyn had a hair appointment, which we were there by 10am for. On the drive up we’d remarked on the unusual clouds out to sea, without realising just how unusual they were.
Continue reading →

Sunday 10 May
We were up early again, to start a full day of work. The day was fine and cooler. Wyn worked the day in Tray Preparation, where they prepare the trays and boxes the kiwifruit are packed into, and load them into the chutes that deliver them to the packers downstairs. I was on Stacking, taking the packed boxes and stacking them on pallets. Continue reading →