Movements

Last weekend was a get together of the pensioners club aka Roy and his contemporaries aka the Okoroire crowd! A lovely BBQ evening was held at Bill & Estelle with much laughter and LOTS of chat about pensioners, gold cards and the like ……it must be said that Bernice and Linda (oh, and Antony) had no idea what they were all on about!

Bill and Bernice

Bill and Linda

Malcolm Ron and Estelle

Pat, Janet, Malcolm and half of Ron

We are sure that everyone, like us, is totally shocked at the news of the devastating earthquake in Christchurch earlier this week.  We know that there was little effect in Oamaru so friends and family are all OK, but our hearts go out to all those affected.  Jason, Erica and family are in Ashburton, just an hour south of the epicentre and we are pleased to report that they are all well, albeit a little shaken.

The past week or so has seen us travel a bit around the northern part of the north island in search of the elusive motorhome that will become our home for the next however long.  we have made what we consider a reasonably thorough search which has taken us from north of Auckland in Siverdale, to Penrose, to Pauanui, to Paeroa, to Manukau, to Mt Maunganui, Tauranga and Rotorua.  Yesterday, Thursday 24th February, we headed off to Hamilton to view yet another van.  We did not go with much conviction as we had just about come to the conclusion that we would not be able to get one to tick all the boxes which meant we were having to look at getting one with the view to have some work done on it to fill our requirements. 

However, as soon as we saw the one in Hamilton, we knew that it was the right one.  In typical Vannini fashion, we made the owner an offer after just a brief viewing.  He was a little taken aback and suggested that we may like to go for a drive in it first!!!!  Those of you that know us well, will know that all our major purchases i.e. houses, have been made after one viewing and bought on the spot!  The same can now be said of the motorhome.

We did go for a drive, it drives beautifully by the way, and so we quickly negotiated a price, stunning the owner a little at the speed and conviction of our views. We will pick it up at the end of next week as he has a couple of wee tasks to attend to.  Then it will be ours, we will be having a few things done to it immediately, such as fitting another solar panel and a couple more house batteries to boost our energy capacity.  Bernice would like to attend to some decorating matters, but we will see how far we get as we would like to head south to pick up our gear.

That means the next chapter of our lives begins, more Vannini Manoeuvres are on the way.  It may not be as diverse as Europe but keep watching for the Vannini adventures in New Zealand.

Oh, and the motorhome is a Coachmen Mirada, it is a 2004 model, it is 10metres in length, it has everything that we could want or need at this stage. 

  Looking out the front.  The slide-out is out on the left hand side Looking toward the rear.  The kitchen is in the slide-out. Looking from the bedroom forward.  It closes off so the early bird does not disturb the late riser. Toilet on left and shower on the right out of view.  King size bed.

You will see why it needs a complete redecoration which should not take too much or too long.

Now we need a name for the said motorhome, all (clean) suggestions appreciated and welcomed.  The leading contender at the moment is “Hotel Splendide” after an odd movie we watched recently!