Rewewhakaaiti DoC Camp

Well the cell coverage over the past few days has been really crappy so haven’t managed to post any updates but here goes.

Currently sitting on the foreshore of Lake Rotorua updating this.

The weather today is perfect as you can see but the past couple of days have been interesting.

I have been at the Ash Pit Dept of Conservation campsite at Lake Rerewhakaaiti. It’s a lovely site that is right beside the lake and has lovely toilets, shower rooms for your solar showers and a nice covered cooking area.

		Park up…. VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I used the opportunity to try out the new side wall for my awning. Works well, but is a trifle tricky getting it in by myself, but I have hooked up a rope to assist pulling it through.

Yesterday the wind was howling through the camp from the south and it was cold, but the best was Tuesday with the thunderstorm that travelled through.

		Weather VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The thunderstorm was a beauty, lasting a couple of hours and bringing some well needed rain. Unfortunately the next day was strong southerly winds and cold temperatures, so a good day for doing little. I did end up walking down the track around the lake to the other DoC campsite off Brett Road. A much smaller campsite and not very flat. It was empty at the time of my visit but when I left this morning passed it and there were quite a number of campers there. There were a large number of vehicles at the Brett Road Reserve a few km down the road as well.

Interesting to note that there was a large motorhome that had arrives at the campsite and tried to put his satellite dish up. It went round and round for about 5 mins then he put it down and drove off. He was parked down at the reserve as I went past this morning.

Its been a quiet few days but very relaxing, though I haven’t been particularly active. I’m thinking of staying in the area for a while and seeing what’s here and having a look at all the lakes in the area.

Rerewhakaaitu Domain

Well its been a while because it has taken me some time to get my latest Vodafone mobile broadband stick to get itself together.

Now that I am up and running….

I have been to my first official rally. It is the Freewheelers rally at Rerewhakaaitu Domain. For those of you who don’t know where that is, it is at the base of Mt Tarawera. There is a lovely lake called…Rerewhakaaitu Lake.

Freewheelers are a loose group of single people who are motorhomers. Some say very loose but we will see.

I arrived on Friday after a trip from Horahora Doman where I spent a lovely peaceful night (after the water skiers had gone home). I paused in Rotorua for a quick trip to get a piece of caravan awning rail attached to my awning so that I can attach a side wall.

		Side Awning VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

A bit of minor mods to do so I can slide it through smoothly but works well.

So Friday night at ‘Happy Hour’ I got to meet a large number of Freewheelers, there were around 25 vehicles on site for the rally so it was a good turn out. They were lovely people and made me feel welcome. Friday night after dinner we had a talk from a couple of farming families, giving us the history of the area which was fascinating.

It was opened up in the 1950’s for ballot for returning servicemen and there were a large number of small farms that were set up cheaply for the families. These continue through to today, but most have amalgamated and turned into larger farms and most of the community has disappeared.  What was once a husband and wife team milking 90 cows,  is now a business with up to 4 workers milking up to 750 cows. They also talked about the issues with the soils and the like as there are three distinct soil types in the area, all related to the volcanic activity in the area. with pumice, ash and very fertile areas, depending which eruption of which mountain is on the top. Tarawera and Taupo have both erupted depositing different things over the landscape.

So Saturday was a fun day with a bit of kayaking in the morning…

		Kayaking VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We met up with two of the Freewheelers in the middle of the lake trawling for trout. They had caught two rainbow hens and by the end of the day had five on board.

In the afternoon I put the catamaran up and went for some great trips across the lake and one of the Freewheelers Cliff also went for a sail and enjoyed it very much. It was Cliff’s second rally so we had a bit in common. He is in a cute little 4 metre caravan, with mountain bike on the back and comes from Whakatane.

So Saturday night was a bit of a quiz night with one of the rally goers on the keyboard for dancing later but I made up a fourth for a game of canasta. It was a great game and swung back and forth, with my partner and me winning the first game and then the other couple winning the second at the last minute. A great night with some great people.

So this morning we had morning tea and closed the rally officially and I won a raffle! A lovely package of grocery bits and pieces.

So I am going to stay on tonight and then move across the lake to one of the two Dept. of Conservation camps sites and stay  here for a while. It is such a beautiful place.

		Freewheelers Rally site VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

On the road again….

Horahora Domain.

		Horahora Domain VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Well tonight I am off again towards Rotorua this weekend for a rally. I spent the day in Hamilton getting things together, I needed a new gasket for the loo (needs to be ordered) and to find some awning rail to mount on my awning to accommodate the new side that I got at the show (got).

I have been creative for a week or so and I now have 10 of the garden plant markers and their wire pegs up for sale. I also have an assortment of boxes as well.

 

The plant markers do not come with the names on hem (thanks Photoshop) but any sort of Vivid or Sharpie will do or you can use a chinagraph pencil. I decided not to do the names as you can use these for herbs, plants, flowers, shrubs etc.  

The other things in the pics like the cooking spoon holders are not ready yet and one broke while I was working on it. The flat leaf spoon holder is spoken for.

I am open to commissions but will not be able to do things quickly as I intend to be on the road now for a few months.

Successful Firing

This morning I cracked the kiln after a bisc firing yesterday and here is what I found…..

		March Firing VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

So I now have a number of little boxes, cooking spoon holders and plant markers that will be up for sale if anyone is interested.

I am off to Rotorua for the Freewheeers rally on Friday, and so let me know if you are interested.

I am considering a glaze firing before then but will keep them very simple and just use the matt white glaze on the plant markers, leaving the name space clear of glaze.

For the boxes I will look at some coloured oxides and clear glaze. The spoon holders I will just matt white them I think.

The flat spoon holder is spoken for unfortunately. It will go with the purple leaf platter.

There are three sizes of boxes. All with different patterns.

I am going to be glad to get back on the road again this week!

Jones Landing and the media

		Jones Landing VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

A beautiful piece of paradise…..

but before I head off there, I must say that I have been in the media a bit over the past week. While attending the Camper Care Motorhome and Caravan show at Mystery Creek I was interviewed by Jesse from Seven Sharp and then was asked to do a press interview for the Waikato Times.

The story can be found here…  http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/9777706/Motorhome-enthusiast-has-world-at-his-wheels

and the Seven Sharp piece is here…http://tvnz.co.nz/seven-sharp/glitz-glamour-motorhomes-video-5854652

It has been interesting who has come across these. I follow a Google+ community in the US called RV Navigator and they came across the Waikato Times article and mentioned it on their Community page and I also get a mention in their podcast of the week!

Anyway back to Jones Landing….

A lovely spot to try out my new toy.

It came in the bag above and after some assembly it looks like….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fact that I was the only person there at the time means that you don’t get to see me on the water, but next time.

It sails really well and was a load of fun. Was out for about 3/4 hour the first time, just getting used to it and getting back into sailing again. Unfortunately the wind picked up too much to get out for a second run in the afternoon so I repacked it all and believe it or not managed to get it all back in the bag!

As I was putting it together, I ended up with a shackle left over and after about 1/2 hour trying to work out where it came from, I realised that it was the one that Ulf had used to hold the rope they had used to hang the catamaran at the show!  So I have a very nice stainless shackle. Might use it on the anchor for the kayak!

So if anyone is interested in an awesome sailboat that fits in the boot of your car, let me know as I can get a 10% commission on any sales I send their way, and they also get a free 12v air pump as well!

So now a reorganisation of the storage areas to fit it in…..

It has been a bit of a week for me, with a bit of stress tied in with a bit of fun but now getting closer to heading off to Taranaki, but will be trying to get to the Freewheelers Rally at the end of the month. The Freewheelers are a group of motorhomers/caravaners on their own and meet every 5 weeks or so.

I’m back at Walton again to get a firing done in the kiln this week so will keep you posted about that.

nzmotorhome.co.nz forum get together

Well what a great few days!

It has been great meeting people and putting faces to names and having some great discussions and solving the problems of the world and in general having a great time.

I met a whole lot of great people both blog readers and forum members and some who were both!

It was great to meet so many lovely people.

The revised campsite for the forum members way out the back of beyond, but it turned out that the organisers of the show underestimated the numbers by a country mile and they had to open up more space for rally parking. On Friday night it was estimated that over 300 motorhomes were parked in the rally area.

It was a good show, loads of new vehicles and quite a bit of other merchandise as well. Possibly not as much as most of us would have liked, there were quite a few businesses not represented but still managed to spend two full days looking and yes I purchased a couple of things…. more on that soon.

I can across a few very interesting things while wandering around the show. The best by far was a bike rack with a difference.

Not sure I have got it at it’s best but a wonderful piece of art deco engineering.

The sunrise on Sunday morning as I left Mystery Creek.

I headed up to a meeting in Pukekawa and then back to the show to pick up my new toy.

On the way I stopped off at Mercer for a cup of coffee and take some pics of the river and bridge.

After that I headed down to Moana Reserve #1633 for a couple of days to settle things down a bit.

There were a couple of other vehicles at the reserve when I got there and the lake looked awesome.

So after a rather noisy night due to State Highway 1 being just above and behind the reserve, but once the vent shut at 1am it quietened down.

This morning after a lovely breakfast covered with the lovely pourable fruit thingy that was in out goody bags from the rally, I went for a lovely paddle on the lake.

		Kayak at Moana Reserve VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

There were some lovely bays and beaches on the trip south on the lake. I cane across an interesting little shack, couldn’t work out whether it was a duck hunting hide of a very long drop….

The bridge is the one on Maungatautari Road just after it leaves SH 1. Loads of campervans heading over it as I paddled underneath it and came back.

On the way back the wind picked up and the rain arrived and I got wet and blown around a bit with some interesting waves being whipped up. While I was battling the elements I was reminded of a little incident that happened at the rally at Mystery Creek. I met up with a lovely couple who are fellow bloggers, Jenny and Robin, The Romany Ramblers. 

I had shown them through the Fredrock Cafe and  Jenny had said that she was worried about my safety especially as I kayaked about. I did explain that I let people know where I was heading via text or via the blog, but I also carry my Personal Locator Beacon with me when I head out by myself. It felt very nice to know that a relative stranger was worried about me! Now that I have met them I hope that we will meet up again as we travel around.

So as I sit here in the early evening alongside Lake Karapiro I am again aware of the lovely country that we live in and the lovely people that live in it.

Tomorrow I am heading over to Jones Landing for a bit of a look see and hope the wind dies a little so I can try out my new toy….. more to come on that…