Backing The Truck Up #6 – Otanewaiuku Forest

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Ross

Morepork in Otanewaiuku forestFrom the kiwifruit place we could look south to distant hills, and we heard that there were nice walks to be wandered there. So back in May on one of our days off we drove off up the road in search of the forest called Otanewaiuku. We found it because we had a fair idea where it was. But it wasn’t exactly well-signposted. Continue reading →

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Backing The Truck Up #5 – The Little Stream That Could

Posted on July 28, 2015 by Ross

Stream Buried VilliageBack in the early part of the kiwifruit packing season things were a bit stop-start. Sometimes we didn’t get three days in a row but we were not too distraught because this gave us two days off in a row sometimes. On one occasion in May we realised that this co-incided with a weekend and gave us a chance to visit friends in Rotorua. They were going to be home so we zoomed on over on the Sunday morning. Continue reading →

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Backing The Truck Up #4 – Working In The Packhouse

Posted on July 26, 2015 by Ross

Ross and WynThis Autumn past we worked in a kiwifruit packhouse in the Bay of Plenty – Bay of Plenty kiwifruit. It passed quite quickly. We worked mostly three days on and one day off which didn’t leave much time for thinking about it. Or saying about it. Continue reading →

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Backing The Truck Up #3 – Waihi Beach Exploring

Posted on July 24, 2015 by Ross

Waihi Beach DamHaving made a brief discovery of the dam up behind Waihi Beach the day before, I was keen to see if there were any walks to be walked. There are no signs to guide anyone – and perhaps that is the sign! In the spirit of exploration we found our sturdy footwear and headed back up the hill. Continue reading →

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Backing The Truck Up #2 – Waihi Beach

Posted on July 23, 2015 by Ross

Waihi BeachHaving circumnavigated The Mount of Mt Maunganui while Suzi motorhome got lubricated, and with the sun shining, we were keen to get out of Dodge City. I got the job of getting Suzi through her six-monthly Certificate of Fitness while Wyn went shopping for essentials – groceries and wool. And then we met up at the river just north out of Tauranga for lunch and zoomed on to Waihi Beach.   Continue reading →

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Backing The Truck Up #1 – Mt Maunganui

Posted on July 22, 2015 by Ross

Mt Maunganui pohutukawaWe’re still working in Onehunga. And I’m getting around to sorting through some of my photos from the last few months. We’d been working in a kiwifruit packhouse in Te Puke. And only had a few days before we needed to start here. Which we wanted to make the most of. First we had a few chores to do. Continue reading →

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Storm Clouds Over the Manukau Harbour

Posted on July 20, 2015 by Ross

Manukau HarbourA couple of weeks ago we got some time out from working at the motels for a walk around the other side of the Manukau Harbour – that’s the other side from Onehunga. We took the car over to Mangere Bridge, the suburb on the other side of the Mangere Bridge (so you can see where the name came from). From there we walked around the waterfront, also known as Kiwi Esplanade. We’ve often walked here on outings from Ambery Farm Park where we’ve been parked up in the past. Continue reading →

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Several Views From One Tree Hill

Posted on July 17, 2015 by Ross

Sky TowerAs well as being the city of sea and beaches, Auckland is also the city of volcanoes. There’s about 50 of them – dormant. They don’t work any more as volcanoes. But they do work well as viewpoints. They rise above the city and provide lots of places to look around. To admire the city from. Last week we ended up at the foot of one – One Tree Hill. Continue reading →

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Back in Business – Mangere Bridge

Posted on July 16, 2015 by Ross

Mangere BridgeSo let’s jump forward a bit – a big bit. We’re currently working at motels in Onehunga in Auckland. Which is a lot different to anywhere that’s not in Auckland. There’s traffic, a lot of traffic. It sort of goes one way in the morning and another way in the afternoon. Except for the times it going both ways. Apart from being a city with a lot of traffic, Auckland is also a city with a lot of sea. Continue reading →

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Return to Ray’s Rest

Posted on May 8, 2015 by Ross

Wyn at Ray's RestAfter a few days in Auckland in April – including an evening at the Wine Cellar in K Road to hear Nadia Reid and Holly Arrowsmith and Ciaran McMeekin (three names to watch out for) – we headed east to the Firth of Thames and the Seabird Coast between Miranda and Kaiaua. We parked up at Ray’s Rest Continue reading →

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Smelling The Roses – Auckland Gardens

Posted on April 27, 2015 by Ross

Auckland GardensFrom Pukehina we headed to Tauranga for the National Jazz Festival over Easter. There were a couple of days of bands in the main street – with a fair bit of blues sneaking in. The highlight was a Jazz Village including some real jazz. Continue reading →

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Pukehina Beach – Recent Travels Pt 2

Posted on April 18, 2015 by Ross

Motorhomes Pukehina BeachAfter a night at the beach at Sandpit, we moved further west to Pukehina Beach, another gem in the Bay of Plenty Beaches. Pukehina is built on a 5km long narrow sand spit between the sea and a large estuary. We parked up with friends and spent a few days walking and talking. Continue reading →

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Sandpit – Recent Travels Pt 1

Posted on April 17, 2015 by Ross

Sandpit BeachWe arrived in the Bay of Plenty at the end of March to learn that it would be a while before our kiwifruit packhouse shift would be starting. We weren’t immediately concerned about that having just finished 38 days straight relief management at a busy motel in Wellington. Rather than sit around in the packhouse camp we decided to head to the beach. Continue reading →

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Breaking News

Posted on April 16, 2015 by Ross

I’ve remembered about Twitter. I don’t know or understand Twitter and I don’t think I need to. Life seems quite complicated enough most of the time and some things are just a bridge too far. Like GST, the Lewis-Duckworth cricket formula, and Twitter. But Twitter did seem to offer something useful and I like useful things. Continue reading →

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Starting Again, Again

Posted on April 14, 2015 by Ross

We remain alive and well, which is good. It’s just that this blogging business has slipped onto the very back burner. Now I have to remember and relearn how to process photos and how to upload them. I even have to remember how to take photos – sort of. Continue reading →

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