Try out caravan weekend close to home!

We had given the caravan a 'once over' and had a friend do so too before we even went up to Whangerei to fetch it, but it became apparent that the surround of the windows at the front of the van was decidedly 'squishy' and dubious feeling. On closer inspection, we unearthed a rotten wood surround to all the front windows and set about ripping it all out and 'starting over' as it were. We have since become aware that this is a problem with all of these vans - something about the design that doesn't do too well with condensation and such. Below, the new wood fitted and being finished.

Many hours of sawing, planing, sanding and fiddling later, we have a solid and seriously functioning front end to our van. Thankfully there are guys in the world who find a problem, roll up their sleeves and get stuck in fixing it (usually better than the original!). It was quite entertaining finding this particular 'fix' detailed - with step by step photographs on the Internet and discovering that what Jo had already completed was even better than the 'experts' indicated! The author just wondered if the chappie on the Internet 'fix' had a lady with a vacuum cleaner and dustpan and brush lurking behind his every move and keeping the work area clean enough to see what he was trying to accomplish! In my humble opinion, this is a spectacular repair! It preceded a less spectacular repair when we discovered that the inside 'vents' were none too waterproof and the deluge of rain last week had soaked the carpets!

We found a big and tatty looking bag lurking in the 'bathroom' of the caravan - and it was with some trepidation that we hauled it outside and tipped it out onto the lawn. You have to understand that in this life there are no guarantees and the emerging awning could well have been a smelly, mouldy, holy heap of dubious coloured striped canvas. To our surprise and huge relief, we have a pretty well 'never been used' awning (which in this first picture is actually attached inside out!) However, with serious determination and our usual 'jy sal my nie wen nie' attitude, we have it over the top of the 'lady with the wine'.

We finally seem to have this awning sussed - except for some mystery pole-ends which apparently should affix onto the van using some even more mysterious plastic bracket-with-a-hole-for-pole-end-thingy (which doesn't quite fit, nor is it at quite the right angle!) So it's back to the 'drawing board' internet browser to see if we can figure it out before the next weekend away!

Our first Silly Season in New Zealand saw us investing in a Cadac portable braai for the motorcycle - how handy for our caravan too! Folds up into a carry bag which fits neatly under the seats in the van! How organised we appear to be!!

Our friends Martie and Andre (Top Ten holiday park owners) called in for a sundowner/roof wetting - nobody had too far to stagger before hitting a bed somewhere and nobody could give a rogue cop a happy Saturday evening. There is a zero tolerance attitude for even the smallest amount of booze in the blood, so most of us stay on the right side of the law in Wanganui. We had a terrific 'try out' weekend - looking forward to many weekends away! Dis al!

Caravans and Coves

For those of you who have been following the oil slick crisis on the East coast of the island - The powers that be assure us that they are keeping a close eye on things and that the tiny globs of oil found just below the surface of the sand, are being cleared as soon as they are discovered. There was a report the other day about it being the one hundredth clean up day on the beach! Evidently, the oil tanks on the container ship are as empty as can be expected after weeks of pumping it out - and so the next step is to remove the containers (those that have not plunged into the sea that is). Six containers per day is the maximum that can be salvaged off the decks - s'gonna take awhile.

Motels are fairly expensive - especially over the holidays, so we did all the research, approached the bank manager and shopped around - in the extreme! Our caravan was eventually found in Whangarei - 617km from Wanganui! North of Auckland! Never daunted, we saddled up our trusty Volksie and drove up there to fetch it!  A 'made in England' two berth with en-suite - our Fleetwood is vastly and dramatically luxurious compared to the 'crawl space only' tent!  And light enough to be towed by the 'what we already have'!

We had to stop and take this picture for you - the colour of the sea is quite incredible. The coast north of Auckland is particularly beautiful and we shall be spending some time there in the future - it's definitely the sort of area one could spend a few weeks exploring! This spot is just south of Whangerei, quite close to Waipu Cove, which has a lovely caravan park right on the beach where we stayed overnight before tackling the long journey back to Wanganui.

Dis al.

Travels and trophies

We took to the roads again last weekend - things to do and places to see! The scenery is still really amazing most everywhere - we continue to take photographs and to stop our car and leap out when another spectacular view catches our attention. This was one of those moments and we thought we would share it with you!

Tauranga has been in the news recently with the grounding of the huge container ship 'Rena' on the reef not too far off shore. You will remember the pictures of the clean-up happening on the beach which we posted for you to see. We drove up to Tauranga and saw for ourselves that the beach is looking pristine again in spite of the fact that the ship is still crippled and stranded. Oil has been pumped out of her holds and although there is still somewhat of a threat and there is still oil appearing here and there along the coastline, as you can see, things are looking much more positive for the fast approaching summer holidays.  Tauranga is on the East coast, hence the 'white' sand (compared with the black volcanic 'sand' you will find on our West coast)

Tokoroa is one of the smaller towns en-route to Tauranga from Wanganui - we came across this 'woodsman' who has been decked out with his

All Black outfit complete with the 'world cup' - everywhere one travels at the moment throughout New Zealand, The Cup is out there for the world to see! This is one very happy (and in our opinion, very lucky) nation of rugby enthusiasts!  In one of the even smaller towns, there is an enormous carving of the native kiwi bird - easily the size of a small house. This fella too, has been adorned with black plasic wrapped around his whole body with silver ferns and All Black logos painted in the right places!

 Tui beer is very popular here and we called in at the brewery in the hopes of catching the live band - unfortunately we just missed hearing them this time, but have an excuse to go back and visit again. The opening hours posted outside the brewery amused us. We did amble in and enjoyed a cold one in the garden before heading on our way.

So here it is folks - The World Cup - and some very relieved All Blacks and Coaches!

 Remember the house in Wanganui with all the flags painted on the wall (see blog post - 20 competing nations ) It took this chappie a couple of days to paint the wall white again and have his congratulations to the All Blacks signs up! If you click on the picture you can enlarge it for more detail! Happy Kiwis! Dis al!