Kindley's Khristmas Krusade - 2018/2019 Northern Safari Part 1

PART ONE - WHANGATEAU

DAY 1 - Thursday 27 December 2018

Finally after owning The Beast since August and only being able to get away for two weekend trips it was time for our first extended trip. The weather leading up to Christmas had been so so wet and stormy so we were delighted to wake to a clear blue sky that actually had a visible sun in it!! Knowing how congested the road north can get on the day  after Boxing Day we were up and organised early saying goodbye to Poppy by 7:00 am.

The traffic at that time of the morning was great and we made it to Omaha beach by just after 8:00 am. As with most campgrounds we couldn't get on to our site until 2:00 pm but the people at Whangateau had agreed to us arriving at 12:00 noon - however that still meant 4 hours to kill. Hence the detour to Omaha. We hadn't been to Omaha for years and it has certainly grown some. Finding a place to leave The Beast wasn't too difficult and we joined the guzzillion dog owners for an early morning walk along the beach. Apparently dogs are allowed on the beach untill 10:00 am and there were LOTS of people taking advantage of this. On the boardwalk to the beach we went over a stream where the noise from the bullfrogs was deafening. It seemed the Pukekos were having as much trouble spotting them as we were.

Being in Omaha brought back many happy memories of cockle gathering and blobbing on the beach with Mum and Dad and a much younger James and Laura and the brothers. Sadly there is no cockle gathering allowed now. Not wanting to abandon The Beast for too long we retraced our steps and headed to Point Wells. What a little gem. Neither of us could remember even knowing about Point Wells but what a lovely little settlement. From Point Wells we could see across to the Whangateau Camp Ground and the waters edge was flanked by beautiful, flowering Pohutukawas.

As we walked along the shore we noticed movement in the water and spotted an Eagle Ray trying to shepherd the small fish in the water. So graceful but unsuccessful in its fishing attempts.

With still a couple of hours to kill we headed to The Sawmill Brewery and Smoko Room. Unfortunately it didn't open until 12:00 noon either so we parked in their carpark, brewed a pot of coffee and enjoyed one of Jenny's Ginger Crisps and a read while we waited for an opportunity to try their fine fare. It was worth the wait with the Masterstock glazed beef

short rib with malt and barley just falling off the bone. Their home brewed bevvies hit the spot as well. 

At last it was time to head to the camp ground and we were delighted to see it with the tide in and bathed in sunshine. It is a very tidal spot and, actually there is not much of a 'beach' to speak of but it has fantastic, modern facilities with generous sites and free showers - yes, you read right, free showers. It didn't take long to park, fill up the water, get the awning out, set up the outside furniture and get that first ice cold beer out of the fridge. Having visited this campground in September we went on a quick sortie to re-acquaint ourselves with the environs and then spent a very pleasant afternoon reading and sipping Ginger Girls, watching the large group of young people around us getting ready to go to a local concert - they could have saved themselves some money as we could hear the concert very clearly from where ever it was!

We used up some more of our Christmas ham for dinner then went and explored the 'Island' that you can get to at low tide. After a lovely hot shower I taught Dave how to play 'Sequence' and we enjoyed a glass of the yummy Lewis Road Creamery Chocolate Cream Liqueur that Laura and Jono gave me for Christmas. After such a successful first day we both crashed as soon as our heads hit the pillows.

DAY 2 - Friday 28 December 2018

After a brilliant night's sleep we woke to more sunshine. The slight southerly was still there but by now was in the pleasant range. After getting some caffeine on board Dave decided a cooked breakfast might hit the spot. So fully fueled we headed off for a walk to Big Omaha Wharf which was just a short walk back along the main road. Apparently the boat of choice back in the day was a flat bottomed Dow and Whangateau was home to one of the main boatbuilders of these beasts. From this point we could look back to Point Wells and see where we had been yesterday.

By the time we got back to base camp the tide was fully in, the sun was beating down and Dave felt the need to bust out the SUP board. While he went on a paddle toward the island I sat on the beach and played with the new collage app, Pic Collage - Photo Editor that I had downloaded. You will see evidence with my growing prowess of this app in this blog!

So today was a couple of firsts for this summer season. A first go on the SUP board each and our first swim in the sea - which I have to say was a bit chilly. It was certainly easier getting in off the back of the boat but I got there eventually and although the water was cold it was crystal clear.

The rest of the afternoon passed very pleasantly alternating between time in the sun and time in the shade. Helped by a few beers/ginger beers, a few snacks and a good book each! Dave showed his high expertise with our Baby Weber Q by spoiling us with a perfectly cooked fillet of beef with a rich red wine, onion gravy, barbecued potatoes and an Asian slaw. Just because you are glamping doesn't mean you have to give up gourmet dinners.  Which is why we followed this with Vanilla Ice cream liberally doused with part of my pressie from our family's Secret Santa - Thank you Santa!

Which just left time for Dave to thrash me in a game of Sequence before calling it a day. 

DAY 3 - Saturday 29 December 2018

A little bit of cloud cover this morning and still that pesky little southerly. Time to talk a bit about the camp. People don't seem stay very long in this campground as we have had quite a few different neighbours in the 3 short days we have been here. Maybe, like us, they are using it as a stepping stone to heading up North. Considering we left it so late to book anything we were very pleased to be able to get in here but I don't think it would have been a problem to have rocked up here as the camp is not full. The facilities are all very new but they are not plentiful - only 6 showers and not many more toilets so you have to pick your time to use them to avoid queues. The camp store is VERY limited so make sure you stock up before getting here. Don't assume, as I did, that you will be able to get milk, bread or newspapers. Best just to expect to be able to get an ice cream or a few sweets. 

We had pretty much explored all the environs so we went for a walk around the field beside the campground before grabbing the SUP board and heading to the water. Campgrounds are quite a sea of humanity and you see confident kids, scared of everything kids, super interactive family groups and couples that you wonder how they got together let alone stay together. Once again we both had a go on the SUP board, spent time 'people watching' with David Attenborough's dulcet tones providing the voice overs and went for a long, refreshing swim. 

Heading back to The Beast our afternoon was even more entertaining as we watched the new arrivals struggle to put up their tents. There was the large group of families that arrived and had their sites set up working as a well oiled machine, there was the family that both parents stormed off in different directions without one tent pole being unpacked and then there was the family that needed all of us around to help as they had no idea what to do with their flash Kathmandhu tents!

We finished our stay at Whangateau with another superb barbecue dinner and some quality reading time. Before hitting the sack we made the motor home as ship shape and ready for travel as we could as our cunning plan was to get up, have a coffee and get away by 9:00 am. It has been a very pleasant 3 days but to be honest, 3 days was probably enough. Matuari Bay awaits and we are looking forward to being there again after a 15 year break.

Exploring Close to Auckland

FRIDAY 26 OCTOBER 2018
Left Auckland on the Friday night straight after work to try and get two nights in the motorhome and still be home in time for my rehearsal on the Sunday.  Thankfully our fab neighbour, Francis, was going to supply some cuddles (and dinner on Saturday night) for Poppy. Leaving Auckland and heading north at 5:30 pm we wondered how  the traffic would be but apart from experiencing the "Phenomenon" at Silverdale that Jane had mentioned it was pretty plain sailing.

We were heading to Whangateau Holiday Park  between Matakana and Leigh and we arrived at about 6:45 pm. Not bad!

After ejecting the people who had accidently parked on our site Dave set about creating a smoked chicken pasta dish to die for. After dinner, having the luxury of staying in a motor camp, we went and checked out the showers.

Just to digress slightly, we are very impressed with this motor camp. Nice level sites, the facilities have obviously been recently modernised and are well designed, well maintained and excellent quality. Considering how close it is to Auckland we will definitely be back. Oh that's right, we have booked in here for three nights at Christmas so we really will definitely be back.

Sooo back in the motor home warm and clean, it was time for Euchre - with chocolate this time - and a well deserved glass of wine.

The Euchre tournament will continue tomorrow with the score at the end of play being one all - it's anyone's game at this stage!

SATURDAY 27 OCTOBER 29 18
After another brilliant nights sleep (that mattress was such an investment) we headed straight in to Matakana. We didn't even make coffee, we just wanted to get in there and get a decent park for The Beast as we knew that the Matakana Market attracts a lot of people.

I love it when a plan comes together cos we got a brilliant park, grabbed a coffee and headed to the market. There is nothing quite like the atmosphere of a market and when you enter and hear the strains of Bluegrass/country/jazzy music emanating you know it is going to be a great experience. Dave headed straight for the Steak and Blue Cheese pie stall and I paused to watch the banjo player...then I realised I knew him and the bass player!! Who knew that the parents of one of our current (and past students) played in a band called The Pipis??? We ate our way around the markets, as you do, and smugly congratulated ourselves for contributing so generously to the local economy!

So loaded with fresh local produce, local liquor, local seafood and a big slab of local beef we headed back to Whangateau. Not sure where the afternoon went, we explored the camp, the beach, spoke to James in Perth and, once the tide had gone out, we walked out to the wee island and explored that.

As we sat reading and typing the predicted rain hit and we were thankful for our cosy motor home. The Baby Weber meant that we could still stick with our plan to bar-b-que the hunk of local beef even in the rain and we sipped our Puhoi gin while we waited.

The dinner was superb, the hunk of local scotch fillet was suberb, the local produce was superb and the heavy rain continued. We were on a very level site and unfortunately some rain started to pool on our roof. If we had stopped and thought a little and moved the motorhome or even driven on to the wheel chocks we might have avoided a slightly worrying night but, hey, we are new to all this. So instead we busted out a bowl or two to catch the drips and then turned our attentions to the decider Euchre match. The cards defintely fell in Dave's favour, which is what I would say. Dave, of course, would say it was all skill.

The rain continued to fall very heavily so we fell asleep to the rythmic plunk plunk of water finding the appropriately placed bowl.

SUNDAY 28 OCTOBER 2018
We woke to beautiful sunshine and no rain and it was at this point we thought about moving the motorhome - doh! With Dave's brain whirring on what he was going to have to do to deal with the 'pooling' problem we took our coffees out to the rocks to gaze at the sea. Check out the 360 by clicking here: https://fyu.se/v/kf464zlvh0

Needing to get back to Auckland we set off nice and early but thought we would check out Leigh first so turning right out of the campground we headed to Leigh Harbour. It was an easy drive and great to be able to have a wander around on a sleepy Sunday morning. Knowing the road down to the wharf was a bit hairy we left The Beast at the top and walked down to check out the harbour. What an idyllic place.

After a quick coffee we were back on the road. As we headed toward Matakana we saw the signs toward Tawharanui Regional Park and decided to check that out as well. It had been many many years since we had visited this part of New Zealand and I was very grateful to find that the road had been completely sealed. It was further than we remembered to get to the coast and while the road is pretty twisty it wasn't that scary. It certainly looks like a beautiful place to stay over and it is now definitely on our list of "Places-to-go-that-are-spitting-distance-from-Auckland"

Dave appreciated the opportunity to see how The Beast performed on this type of road and was pleased with how it handled.

With my rehearsal looming it was time to just head straight back to Auckland. For our second trip away we had learnt a few more things about the motorhome and found a few more places that we were keen to visit. While the wee leak is a pain it has given Dave a little project to work on and it distracted me enough for Dave to be able to reign supreme at Euchre (did you see what I did there??)

Finally the Rubber Hits the Road

After 8 years of being part of a very successful boat partnership it was time for us to become landlubbers, buy a motorhome and do some exploring of this beautiful country of ours. Perhaps even suss out where we wanted to retire. We looked for ages to find what we wanted, something that ticked all the boxes that we had created as we searched. It had to be a manual, it needed to have a big, diesel engine, we wanted to feel like we had as much space as we did on the boat and it had to be within our budget. We wanted a full oven, lots of storage and we wanted a decent size fridge, maybe even with a freezer. Not too many kms on the clock, not too many decals on the sides and not too many zeros in the price. We're not fussy, we just know what we like. Although we live in Auckland it only took us a wee trip to New Plymouth to find the perfect wagon that we affectionally call The Beast.

Once we got it back to Auckland we set about REALLY making it our own. The first thing we had to do was kit out the inside. It was like setting up house again except everything we bought we had to consider how much it weighed - thank goodness for Briscoes! We decided to get a new custom made mattress, have the electrics checked out, Dave had to make a table, we needed a bike rack, the bikes to go on it and we wanted an inflatable boat and outboard. Hey, that wasn't a long list was it? We had joined the New Zealand Motor-Caravan Association as soon as we started looking for a motorhome so at least that check box was already ticked.

The Campervan show at Mystery Creek helped with a few of these items and our good friends Matt and Marissa gave us the bikes!! Although the school holidays would have been the ideal time for us to have our first adventure we already had a holiday in Australia booked so we had to wait a little longer before we got an opportunity to try out our newly pimped ride.

Luckily Labour weekend came along. We didn't really want to flee Auckland with the throngs of people who crowd the motorways at the start of long weekends and anyway, we had my nephew and his partner stopping over with us for one night on their way from Dunedin to Bali so SATURDAY 20 OCTOBER 2018 became the date of our maiden voyage in The Beast.

After a quick trip out to Auckland Airport to get the Dunedin-ites on their way to Bali we headed south. The motorway was a little congested but not too scary. Our intention was to head to Ray's Rest between Kaiaua and Miranda. Apparently it is a bit of a "right of passage" for new motorhome owners - darn, and we thought we were being original.

We arrived just before lunch but there were still beach front sites available so we parked and toasted our first journey. The Beast had performed beautifully on the trip down.

 

After a walk along the beach it was time for lunch, which is when we discovered the first things left behind, butter, cheese and chocolate - quelle horreur!! After lunch Dave inflated the new Takacat which is when we discovered the next thing we had left behind, the life jackets - sacre bleu!!

As the tide was fully in and the depth of the water was only about knee deep for ages we decided we would still have a little trip in the boat. After all, if we fell out we could walk back in. Once the new Parsuns engine was getting enough fuel we took the new vessel for its maiden voyage. Ever hopeful we had our fishing rods with us but the chances of us catching anything when we could still see our bait were nil so it was just as well we had steak in the fridge. Still this little taster in the inflatable went well and helped us see the fun we would be having in it come Christmas, once we had 'run' the engine in and when we actually had our life jackets with us.

Next on the agenda was definitely dinner and time to check out the new Baby Weber. Have to say - it was brilliant. Dave actually followed the instructions - which means he had actually read the instructions - and the steak was perfect. The fridge had also chilled the wine perfectly so another appliance got the tick of approval.

Having chilled down a bit it was time to try the wee shower. For such a tiny space, a tiny shower nozzle and a tiny hot water cylinder it was a surprisingly pleasing experience.  So....warm, clean, full and pleasantly tired we settled down to a game of Euchre and in the absence of chocolate, a generous glass of Baileys before hitting the sack. To mention how the card game panned out would upset Dave too much so I won't even bother bringing that up.

SUNDAY 21 OCTOBER 2018
After a brilliant nights sleep on a VERY comfortable mattress we decided to bike to Kaiaua before brekky. A pleasant, uneventful trip but we realised we should always take our wallets with us when we go for a bike ride as there was a market there and all we could was look. We could have bought some butter too which would have helped with breakfast.

After a cooked breakfast we chilled a bit with a walk along the beach and some reading/line learning before battening down the hatches and driving for a soak in the hot pools at Miranda. Although it was a long weekend and the carpark was chocca the pools were a lot more relaxing than we expected. The pool temp was brilliant and very soothing for those muscles that had been rudely awakened by the bike ride.

Wanting to avoid the holiday weekend traffic we headed back to Auckland, patting ourselves on the back as the motorway was very light. We had already discovered thanks to the NZMCA App that there was a dump station very close to where we live in Te Atatu South so after a quick empty out there we arrived home VERY pleased with the motorhome we had purchased and the refinements we had made to it. With a very small list of things we wanted to add or change we pronounced our maiden voyage a success.

PS - The next day we got up early and headed down to the Taikata Water Ski Club with the Takacat and our lifejackets so we could continue with the running in of the engine regime and ran into this little 3 metre sea leopard. She didn't like sharing and she wasn't very friendly AND she had a mouthful of VERY sharp looking teeth!!