Woops, a few days have slipped by. It can be busy doing nothing much 🙂
Saturday was at Parakai. We started with a walk, and ended up at the river wharf, all mangroves and mud. The hot pools looked busy, and were, lots of end of year gatherings by the looks. BBQs and Santas. The Rest and Relaxation pool was the place to be. Later we went round to Jill and Kevins for a lovely BBQ tea. It was great to catch up with them. Continue reading
Sorry, still no photos on here yet. I need to have a go at uploading some – but it’s a matter of time. And of remembering how to do it. One day soon ….
Friday morning we took advantage of the walkways around Whangaparoa – they are everywhere. We found some which took us down to the sea, and then along to a lookout to the north. Eventually we made it back to the RSA carpark. By this stage we’d decided we wanted to have a swim, so we headed back along the Peninsula to Little Manly Beach. It was deserted, maybe appropriately for 11:30am on a Friday morning. After a quick change, it was into the water before we could change our mind. The water wasn’t cold, but did require a bit of determination. It was certainly refreshing 🙂
From a dip in the sea on the East Coast, we were off to the West Coast, heading across to Kaukapakapa. Nev the Nav claimed there were unsealed roads involved, but there weren’t. It got a bit exciting when we almost ended up on the motorway to Auckland, but we managed to avoid that trap. It was a lovely drive across country, until a truck going the other way threw up a rock that thudded into the front of Suzi somewhere. I thought it had hit the luton, but once we stopped it had only made a small dent in the front above the grill. But it was lucky really, as it alerted us to the luton vent having been sucked open. Continue reading
We are still in Rodney District, just a bit further south.
Thursday was going to be hot pools day on the way out of Waiwera. But first we enjoyed the morning beside the beach. It was a lovely calm warm day, so we had a bit of a walk on the beach. Then I borrowed a hose to top up the water tank, and we had another trial with the washing machine. Wyn is starting to figure out the logic of it, to be able to avoid rinsing for a start, to make maximum use of the water.
We drove out of the camp and headed round to the hot pools, to find the park full of buses. This meant the pool complex was full of school children, maybe end of year treats. So we parked up in the bus park and had a re-think. Gosh I love those bendy buses, I counted up about 75 seats in one of them! We decided to flag the hot pools away – we’d had a good soak the previous day anyway. Instead we went for a walk along the beach the other way towards the river. Continue reading
Sunday night was at Miranda. We managed a last dip in the hot pools at the camping ground before we left on Monday morning, then it was back to Pukekohe. We called in on Super Signs to finalise the colours for the decals – it was great to get that sorted.
There wasn’t much time for anything after that so we did a bit of shopping and headed out towards Waiuku to a Park Over Property with Bob and Janeen. This was a lovely rural property with views out across rolling country. Continue reading
Crikey! It’s now Tuesday morning. It’s only 4 days since we left Dunedin (formerly known as Home), it seems a long time ago. Time to recap…,
Last Wednesday was a day of finishing up. It was a lovely Dunedin day, a good day for a last one. Packing up occupied the day, and trying to finish a few things off. We had a lovely meal out out at the Lonestar with my three children, and then it was home again to carry on the packing up. It just went on on and on. We had a plane to catch, so just had to keep going. Plus the tennants were starting to move in on Thursday morning!
Wyn got a couple of hours sleep from 4am, it seemed a good idea for someone to be capable of driving. I carried on, slowly and steadily right through the night. There were a couple of trips down to the storage locker. Wyn rejoined the fray by 7am Thursday. Somehow we got ourselves out by a bit after 8am – with four large suitcases. Air New Zealand has new luggage rules now, a second suitcase up to 25kg costs $15. So we took 4 large ones, with a total of around 70kg for only $30 extra. Continue reading
So here we are, settling down for our third night at Miranda. It has been a gorgeous day today, temperature in the high 20s. I was up early, looking for something in one of the lockers. I didn’t find it but I did end up tidying up the locker and half of the kitchen drawers. At least I’ve now unpacked everything.
After yesterday’s washing machine tryout we were out of water.So it was a case of borrowing a hose and loading up some more. After a late breakfast, we started taking our privacy room down. Getting this stowed away was a mission, as it came originally blocking the rear boot. We are so pleased we had a go at assembling this when we had plenty of time.
We were exhausted after all this effort, so headed back over to the hot pools. Then we got ready to move Suzi (Suzi motorhome) to dump our grey water – the washing machine practice had used a lot of water. So it was across the camp to dump gray and black waste, then back to the same camp site. Just to show we were not too set in our ways, we parked the other way round this time.
After tea we tried out all our options for beds in the lounge. Three extra foam squabs can be used in different combinations. This allows us to have either two singles and a double bed in the lounge. A burst of enthusiasm saw us loading up a batch of muffins before zooming over for another dip in the hot pool.
So a day of lots more checking and trying out stuff. It’s great to feel summer.
The trying out started in earnest this afternoon. We started to put the awning out – never had one of those before. Somehow this turned into a look at the privacy/safari room which makes the awning into an outdoor room. Then we ended up seeing how it went together and seeing if we could put it up. We started at noon, in the mid-day sun 🙂 The instructions were not great – photos that didn’t really convey much of the process, and no words.
The bits that went form the awning housing to the outer endge of the awning – that the sides were to hang from – just didn’t seem to be right. So by 2pm I was thinking maybe I had the on upside down. By 3pm I was thinking maybe the arms had been assembled wrong – it just didn’t make sense. I’m not sure who assembled them, but it turned out they had less idea than me. Once I rearranged the plugs in the ends of the arms, it started to go better. It was getting a bit windy by this stage, but we plugged on, and by 5.30pm we had the three walls in place and it all pegged down. We learnt a lot along the way, and are fairly sure we could cut the time from 5 1/2 hours to more like half an hour next time.
We also had a go with the washing machine – it works and it was fun having it going in our motorhome. We decided it was a good idea to have one, it is going to get a lot of use. We also got the generator out, and cranked it up. It wasn’t quite start-first-time, but start it did.
So in the end, it was a busy day doing not much. It was a lovely sunny and warm day here, although the wind got up in the end. We finished off with a soak in the hot pool. It wasn’t as warm as yesterday, but was still very pleasant.
This is a quick note to say that we are alive and well and happy and relaxing and everything…
It is 11:30am Saturday morning, and we are at Miranda Holiday Park and hot pools. We came over here from Pukekohe last evening, in time for tea and a soak. And will stay here today.
We are plugged into the mains, to give us more chance to try everything out.
We are very happy with our new motorhome – Suzi – and are having lots of fun trying things out in a leisurely fashion.
Thursday and yesterday were spent at the factory, sorting things out. We slept in the factory yard on Thursday night. We have had two best-nights-ever on our new mattress, but I maintain I’d have slept on concrete anyway after not getting any sleep at all on Wednesday night.
Anyway, we’ll update this a bit better a bit later.
And so the rush continues. Today was the second last day of work at the hospital, and there is still lots to tidy up. It all continues with a frantic pace, gearing up for Saturday’s garage sale, and finishing work tomorrow, and trying to think of all the loose ends we need to tidy up.
I guess it could be worse. I always think of those round-the-world-non-stop solo yachtsmen, packing everything in, and eventually leaving with stuff in boxes including the self-steerng gear which they have to build on their first days on the water – you know the sort of stories. They are not ready but have to go and it must be a relief to just get going.Â
It’s only 3 more days of work left, and then that’s it, for now at least… My farewell function was on Monday, last night was a lovely farewell dinner with my work colleagues, and this morning was a farewell breakfast with some of Wyn’s workmates. My farewell gift was perfect – a digital photo frame. Never mind the gold watch, a single frame for all the photos is the ideal gift for motorhomers. Meanwhile the packing up and closing down continue as fast and frantic as possible, with a final garage sale on this weekend. Wyn sold her car yesterday, in about 30 minutes, and in almost the same timeframe I sold my sea kayak. So there’s two less big things…..
I’ve just heard from the AA (Automobile Association) that they have improved the conditions for their AA Motorhome Plus cover. This is the “policy” they have for motorhomers, for some of the things available to all members like breakdown services, and also via an optional extra AA Plus for breakdown services away from home.
The AA Motorhome Plus can now include partners, if they are also an associate AA member. Previously AA Motorhome Plus was limited to one member, and for cover if only the partner was with the vehicle then another AA Motorhome Plus fee had to be paid. Good on the AA for looking at an anomaly and for doing something to fix it.
Now for the one cost we’ll both be covered for breakdown of the motorhome, regardless of which of us is with it.
About the same time that connection with the combined CMCA/NZMCA on-line forum was re-established, a New Zealand forum for motorhomes sprung up, at www.nzmotorhome.co.nz. It has repidly grown into a thriving forum and community for all things motorhoming. Already the membership is approaching 200, and there is information on a wide range of topics.
Today we farewelled Azy, our campervan. She has gone to a new home, where we’re sure she’ll be well looked after. The new owners came to pick her up. I gave her a last wash and clean – she was shining as she drove off down the street.
Jeez, we’ve had some fun with her. And adventures. About 20,000 kms. About 80 nights in 18 months. And learnt a lot. She’s been off the grid for almost a year now – lots of freedom camping/parking.
So now we’re motorhomeless, well sort of. The new one is finished, and ready for collection up in Pukekohe, so it’s just a matter of a couple of weeks until we get up to get her.
Today was a big landscaping day. We want to make the property lower maintenance for when the tenants move in. Already we have no lawn. There was an area of about 50m sq out the back that is great for outdoor living, which we manage in Dunedin sometimes 🙂 It was a mixture of pebbles and black plastic and weeds. So we arranged with a local bunch of guys to come in and help for a day, and I took a day off work. We got a skip, and the team removed a few cubic metres of the pebbles and soil, and barrowed 3 cubic metres of lime chips up the path as well as 6 cubic metres of woodchips. It was a hot sunny day and these guys worked! They were in at 10am, and gone by 3pm, and I just had the job of tidying up. Wow! What a transformation. And one less job to do before we move out in less than 2 weeks time 🙂
