Hey guys, As most of you will know we stopped writing the blog over a year ago but we left the website there so that everyone could still read it whilst we waited for the current hosting to expire. That time has now come and the site will be gone in around a months time for good but I’ve copied each blog to a pdf file which I’ve made available to share on Google Docs for anyone that would still like to check them out from time to time (link at the end) Thanks again to everyone that liked and commented on the blog back then –  we really enjoyed having you along for the ride and reading all ..read more

Pakiri In our last blog, we’d been exploring the west coast south of Auckland but now it was time to head back up north as we were taking my Dad (and brother) out to Pakiri for the weekend. We used to come out here quite often back when we were in Orewa and had stayed at the camp a long time ago in our first camper but we hadn’t been back since then so were looking forward to checking it out again. It’s not the easiest place to get to though. If you turn left at Matakana then the road is steep and winding with lots of hairpin bends but at least it’s sealed. The alternative is to come over from ..read more

Marokopa We’d never been out to the Kiwicamp at Marokopa Beach mainly due to the fact that there was no mobile coverage there but that’s changed now that RCG has built a cell site there and there’s now reception on all three networks. The Kiwicamp is in the old Marokopa campground and the facilities are the original ones, not the usual modern ones in many Kiwicamps like National Park or Waihi Beach. It’s $20 per 24 hour period to stay and that includes power (check the power pole works though before setting up as they are old and some aren’t working) You need to tap your Kiwicamp key to lift t ..read more

Lake Whakamaru Reserve After a few days back in Orewa catching up with family and celebrating Dad’s birthday, it was time to hit the road again as we had to get down to Taupo to do some maintenance on our Airbnb property. We broke up the journey as we often do with a night at Lake Whakamaru Reserve near Mangakino. There’s not much more we can say about this awesome spot as we’ve posted about it so often. In fact, I’m pretty sure that we’ve stayed here more times than any other place since we’ve lived on the road and you can see why, with stunning views, heaps of space and free hot showers it’s ..read more

Glinks Gully After finally getting some pics of the awesome abandoned hospital at Te Kopuru (see last blog HERE), our next stop was Glinks Gully, a small beach settlement not far from Te Koporu and we headed straight onto the beach to park up and have a look around. It’s a really nice little place, with lots of baches dotted in the hills and along the beach and a small children’s park next to the beach (note – if you are looking for the public toilet, it’s about 100m back up the hill) Wifi: Good,       Dogs: On Leads The boys always enjoy going for a spin on the beach Next up ..read more

Dargaville NZMCA After a couple of days staying at the awesome Treasure Island campground at Pataua South on Northland’s east coast (check out our last blog HERE, it was time to head off and drive right across the country to the opposite coast – which only took just over an hour, gotta love NZ  We were expecting a few days of rain so thought we’d just stop off in Dargaville for the night and stay at the NZMCA park there. We’d driven past a few times but never stayed but we’re glad we did this time as it’s a great park. Wifi: Good,       Dogs: On Leads The historic sheds ..read more

Orewa Those who follow the blog or our Facebook page will know that my (Carl) mum sadly passed away in September so since then we’ve been in Orewa supporting my Dad and taking care of the endless things that must be done when some passes away. While we were there though we thought we’d make the most of our time off the road to have our leaf springs sorted as after 30 years we had a bit of a saggy bottom. We’d been contacted a while ago by someone who reads our blog (Thanks Bryce) who has the same vehicle and had had his springs done which had made a big difference to the ride height at the bac ..read more

Mum In what seems like a lifetime ago now, we returned to Orewa to celebrate Justine and my daughter Yasmine’s joint birthdays and catch up with family only to find that my mum was unwell. To keep ourselves busy we did some jobs on the Rover whilst looking after mum and I had mostly written this blog when she broke her hip and ended up in the hospital, where she sadly passed away less than two weeks later. My first thought was just to delete this blog as it’s not very long and is just about us doing some bits and bobs on the Rover,  but then I got to thinking about how much Mum enjoyed re ..read more

Tangiwai Memorial In our last blog, we’d just come over the steep and winding Gentle Annie road from Hawkes Bay and were slowly heading to Taupo. We still had a week to spare though so we planned to go the long way around through National Park, even though the weather was looking a bit average. On the way, we stopped off at the Tangiwhai Memorial which is around 10km from Waiouru on the road to Ohakune. The memorial is for the 151 people who lost their lives on a cold Christmas eve in 1953 when the crater lake on Ruapehu ruptured, sending 2 million cubic litres of water cascading down the m ..read more

The Gentle Annie In our last blog, we’d just made a very quick visit to Hastings and Napier to catch up with friends (click HERE) but we weren’t hanging around Hawkes Bay as we had our Airbnb blocked in a week’s time for us to do some maintenance so we needed to head towards Taupo. We’d been meaning to drive over the infamous ‘Gentle Annie’ road that winds its way from Hastings over to Taihape for a while now so we were excited to finally get the chance. The Gentle Annie takes its name from the steep descent from the Central Plateau down into the Kaweka Forest, is around 150km long and ta ..read more