Maitai – The Vanninis' Manoeuvres

Tokerau Beach

We are back! Yes, back at Tokerau Beach. It seems like an age since we were last here particularly as we frequented this area quite regularly in our early years on the road wether it be staying at Ramp Road, Maitai Bay, a local POP (park over property), with friends or latterly the NZMCA park. We elected this time to stay at the NZMCA park, there was hardly anyone else in the park, it was quiet and peaceful and it’s easy access to the beach.

Parked up with a view to the beach 100m away

View to the beach through the front windscreen

We were soon settled in and after a bite to eat and a cuppa we headed off for an explore. Garry hadn’t been out this way before so we took him on a tiki tour –Tiki tour means a look-around, drive or trip (and was originally derived from an old New Zealand tourist company of the same name).

We went first to the end of the peninsular and Maitai Bay (A on the map) which is a DOC run campground. With a Rahui (a shellfish gathering and fishing ban) in place for both Maitai and Waikato Bays, it didn’t warrant us staying out there. Next was a short drive over the other side of the peninsular to Karikari Beach (B) to the parking area which then requires a walk over the sand dunes for access to the beach. It was back into the car and down to Rangiputa (C) and Puheke/Puwheke (D) (spelling varies), and of course I didn’t take one photo on our tiki tour! From there it was out to Ramp Road (red dot), a freedom camping site administered by DOC, there were quite a few campers scattered throughout the sand dunes but finding a half decent level spot in the dunes would be very difficult we all agreed and access to the beach is difficult since storms chopped away at the banks making it a steep drop down to the beach.

We made our way back to the NZMCA park, yes, this will do us nicely for our stay in this region, we can easily drive onto the beach from here and choose a likely fishing spot anywhere along the 18km stretch of sand forming Doubtless Bay.

Tokerau beach is a long stretch of firm flat sand making it ideal for driving along, not at breakneck speed like some of the locals seem to do but at a more sedate pace, looking for a likely fishing spot.

Yes, there’s a good fishing spot along there somewhere!

Roy getting some sea water with lots of gulls looking for food

We collected tuatuas one afternoon, it didn’t take us long at all. We left the shellfish in a bucket of water overnight, this is to let them spit out any sand as we don’t really need to eat sandy fritters. We open the shellfish raw and then cook them afterwards. This method, rather than steaming the shellfish open, means the tuatuas are only cooked once, they tend to become chewy if you cook them twice. I made them all into delicious fritters for lunch the following day.

The water was surprisingly warm, which was fortunate when we went collecting tuatuas (shellfish).

Wednesday 13th March was our 42nd wedding anniversary, and just how did we spend the day? Well, first of all, Roy had broken a tooth and needed to have the sharp edges ground down so we had to find a dentist, not an easy task in this neck of the woods. However, we did find one who could accommodate him in Coopers Beach, not too far away at all. Whilst he was at the dentist, Garry and I went to the laundromat, I know, exciting stuff isn’t it? Roy was quickly back with us and with the washing done we were soon on our way back to camp. But we did have to have a stop at Cable Bay for a treat.

We may have had to stop at the Cable Bay store for an icecream.

Back at the park, the washing was hung out to dry, and what else was there to do? Yep, go fishing.

Yes, many fish were caught and we returned home to retrieve the washing from the line and tidy up before dinner. Fortunately I had made a large Bacon & Egg Pie in the morning ready for a quick and easy dinner to have with some salad.

More fishing was done over the next few days with the freezer filling rapidly. An epic trip further north will be the subject of the next blog entry as we managed to fit in a very full day of fishing, exploring and fun.

We all really enjoyed our week at Tokerau Beach, we did lots of fishing, lots of exploring but soon enough our time to move on was upon us.

A trip down memory lane

Sometimes you have to remind yourself that you have been out and about in the world before these crazy times ensued, especially right at this very moment when we are stuck in limbo. I thought that I would have a look back over the past few years to see what we were doing and where we were in mid October each year.

2009: living at Pen-y-Bryn in Oamaru,

The Lodge, Roy and I looking a bit more youthful than now! Photos of the lodge courtesy James & James, Pen-y-Bryn Lodge.

2010: travelling through Europe in a motorhome, Germany visiting the Neuschwanstein Castle heading into the Black Forest, then the epic trip around Italy with Alex accompanying us.

2011: Exploring Fiordland and the southern lakes region from Mavora Lakes to Milford Sound, ironing out all the modifications we made to the bus.

2012: exploring the top of the South Island, Golden Bay, Nelson before crossing Cook Strait to the North Island

2013: Cape Reinga, Spirits Bay, Rarawa, Matai Bay with Pat & Sue.

2014: Kaitaia, Matai Bay, Rarawa meeting up at various times with Jim & Judy, Brian & Marj, Reg & Rima and many others. I see a pattern developing here.

All parked up at Matai Bay and Roy & Brian putting on the roof rack

Alex and Ian came to visit from the UK

2015: Melbourne, Uretiti, Matai Bay with Pat & Sue.

The Melbourne trip was as a result of a win I had in a competition, we met up with Roys sister Karel there and had a great time before returning to the sunny north.

Pat & Sue parked in a line with us at Matai Bay with the odd treat on the menu

2016: Rarawa Beach, 90 mile beach with Pat & Sue. Fishing with Gary & Marg at Tokerau Beach

2017: London, Belgium, Canary Islands. Meeting Ian’s family in the UK, attending the Paschendaele centenary celebrations in Belgium, holidaying in the Canary Island and meeting family.

Canary Island camel ride, meeting cousin Pauline & Pat in Lanzarote and meeting the Denny’s at dinner in London.

2018: Tokerau Beach, Rarawa

2019: London, Auckland, Uretiti,

Returning from the UK after the birth of grandson Callum spending some time around Auckland before heading north once more.

2020: Rarawa. An epic few weeks in the north meeting Garry and catching lots of fish.

2021: Bay of Plenty, waiting for Covid restrictions to lift to be able to get through Auckland…now with new measures and vaccination targets to reach it is looking unlikely we will get north this year….grrrr.

The overriding theme that comes through as we look back through the brief selection of events and photos, is not just the variety of places we’ve visited but more importantly it is the people that have either come along for the ride, the new friends we’ve made, long lasting friends we’ve met up with, or extended family members we’ve spent time with that have made all these places so memorable. Thank you all for the great memories and here’s looking forward to making many more.

Kaitaia to Karikari Peninsular

Kaitaia was our first destination after leaving Rarawa, it’s only about a 50minute drive past all the newly planted market gardens and avocado orchards. Every year the plantings seem to expand further and further over the rolling hills.

Row upon row of what we think was either squash, pumpkins or zucchini’s

Rows of avocado trees as far as you can see

Kaitaia was always going to be a one night stopover for a fuel up, dump the waste, get the laundry done, a bit of retail therapy and the grocery shopping done. We did manage to catch up with some extended family members which was lovely. As we arrived at the RSA car park, there was just one other bus parked in the car park, it was none other than Jim. He was heading out to Ramp Road on the Karikari Peninsular the following day and we were heading for the NZMCA park at Tokerau Beach.

After all the chores were done, it was a smooth run out to the beach the following day where for the next week or so we enjoyed our time in the relative peace and quiet. We went for a drive to check out Matai Bay as we have not stayed here for a couple of years, the gravel road is in urgent need of a grading so we decided to stay put at Tokerau Beach .

It’s interesting being parked up at the NZMCA park, watching others come and go but also how people choose a spot to park. We parked ourselves on a boundary fence away from everyone else, and although it was very quiet with a maximum of 5 or 6 others in at a time, it seems as though we are some sort of magnet for others to gravitate toward.

View from the door, before we were surrounded!

The park is a large park with plenty of places to park well away from other people. One day three vehicles came in within an hour of each other, all three of them choosing to park on either side of us. It wouldn’t have been so bad if there was nowhere else to park then I could understand them gravitating toward us. But when the ones that parked either side of us have dogs as well…..I don’t know, what is it with people assuming that I love their yap dogs as much as they do? The dogs are supposed to be on a lead at all times, and technically they were, it’s just that the leads were not attached to anything at the other end so the dogs ran around dragging their leads behind them! Rant over.

The weather has been mainly fine although we did have a terrific wind and rain storm one day, the results of which will be in the next blog post.

And we’ve refrained from fishing, we have more than enough to keep us going for quite some time however we were happy to accept this offering from a lovely young couple.

We met up with a couple of other friends whilst here and it was great to see Pat & Steve and catch up with them, we also went and had drinks one afternoon at Brett & Bronwyn’s POP just down the road and we also took a ride around to Ramp Road to see Jim.

Soon it was time for us to continue our slow trek back to reality and leave this glorious part of New Zealand behind.

Fishing and Catching

I didn’t think it would ever happen, but it has. I have had enough fish for a while!!! Last week was one of those weeks, we were hoping to get out and catch a couple of fish and it certainly started off well as last Monday we caught 8 good snapper when we went out with with Gary & Marg. Then on Wednesday we went out for a fish off a Tokerau Beach with Pat & Sue. The wind was proving to be a little fickle which made putting out our lines a bit difficult as the kite stalled getting the line out through the breakers, then it only went out very slowly to end up only half the distance off shore that we were looking for, never mind. Meanwhile Pat & Sue had put up their big kite and got their line out to a reasonable distance, ending up about 1.2km off shore.

Now when we fish off the beach with Pat & Sue (some distance apart from each other so that the lines do not tangle), we have a set little routine of helping each other bring the lines back in. We brought our line in first as we thought that there would not be anything on the line as we were not too far offshore. The routine is that I wind the handle on the reel whilst the three others take turns in taking hold of the the line and walking it up the beach toward the reel. We do this as if we didn’t, the pressure on the reel would be too much by winding it in directly, as well as being far too difficult for the winder, so one by one, they grab the line with glove protected hands and walk it up the beach whilst I reel in the slack line. With three people walking the line in it doesn’t take too long so long as the wind is not too strong or a lot of weight on the line.

We did have one good sized fish on our line so we were happy, so we quickly tidied up all our gear, put it into the car before it was our turn to go and help Pat & Sue. The only difference being that Sue winds in their reel and I take my turn walking up and down the beach along with the blokes. We were thrilled to see that on their line they had 7 good sized snapper and a gurnard, a fantastic result and their best catch to boot. It was then back to base at Matai Bay, clean up and leave the fish on ice overnight ready to fillet the next morning.

Thursday morning we filleted all the fish, cleaned up and gave the fish heads away via the same process as before, through a contact made at http://www.freefishheads.co.nz

Roy and I were heading away on Friday to a get together of a special group of friends but more on that in a later post – and we were keen to take some fresh fish with us to share. So on Thursday afternoon , the four of us headed out again to Tokerau Beach to try our luck.

We each sent out our lines, this time in a good strong off shore wind, and then we sat back to wait for the fish to jump on our hooks – yeah, right!!! This time, Pat & Sue brought their line in first so we went off to assist. The wind was still very strong so it was a good trek up the beach with a very strong pull on the line, it was rather strenuous exercise but all the more pleasing when we pulled in three good fish on their line. Then it was back to our line to pull in our fish, well, we hoped there would be fish. It was damned hard work dragging in our line, with each of us saying that we hoped there was at least a couple of fish on the hooks as it was the hardest pull-in we have ever had.

Oh my goodness, were we ever in for a shock. One fish after another was appearing on the line as it was pulled ashore. One, two, three, four, five……twelve!! Not only were there 12, but the were all big fish and to top it all off a few of them had become a bit cross at being caught and had got the line into a huge tangled mess.

I should have taken a photo or two at this stage. But we were just all so busy trying to sort out the line and remove the fish. Next minute Pat calls out to say he has a bit of a problem…..he has a fish hook well and truly embedded in his finger. Ewwww it does not look good, he and Sue head up to the car to try and sort it out, whilst Roy and I pull the fish and the remaining line in out of the surf before I check on Pat to see what we can do. Getting the glove off his hand is proving difficult, but my trusty Swiss Army scissors on my key ring proves just the thing to cut off the glove around the hook, which is looking like it’s well and truly staying in his finger. Hmmm, I’m not the best with this sort of thing, made me feel rather queasy and yes, I know, imagine how poor Pat was feeling. Between the two of them, with brute force and strength, they managed to extract the hook from his finger. Ouch ouch ouch!

Meanwhile it was back to getting all the fish safely off hooks and into the chilly bin loaded with salt ice, putting away all our gear and heading back to Matai Bay.

All a good size (all over 40cm) with the largest one was over 5kgs.

We think that there may have been another three on the line as three traces had broken and with the tangled mess of lines we had it was more than possible.

So what did we do with all this fish? Well, that’s another blog entry.

Matai Bay

We are back at glorious Matai Bay.

After spending a few days in Kaitaia last week to have some scheduled maintenance done on the van, we escaped back to the coast, although we are now awaiting some more parts to come in from the USA to complete the R&M. So in between, time for a bit more fishing.
It was a glorious afternoon Monday, with friends Gary & Marg we headed off to Puheke Beach which is over on the opposite side of the Karikari Peninsular from Tokerau Beach where Gary & Marg live. Gary has a torpedo so I was interested to see how it all works. The boys headed off in the buggy whilst Marg & I went in the RAV4. Here come the hoons

Parking up

Setting up ready to put the torpedo out
Out it goes

Then it’s just a matter of waiting for an hour or so before bringing it back in , plenty of time to tell tales, have a drink and a few nibbles before bringing the line back in to reveal these 8 beauties.

I made a delicious ceviche with a few of the fillets to share with Pat & Sue and Craig & Glennis whilst we watched the Melbourne Cup the following afternoon.

Hopefully we will get more fish to share with friends this weekend but that’s another story.

Home Alone

It’s time for Roy to do a granddad trip, so last week he headed off, initially to Auckland, leaving me home alone at Matai Bay. I could think of worse places to be and although I’m in the van home alone, Pat & Sue are here “babysitting”me, making sure that I behave. I’ll let Roy do a blog entry on his adventures in getting from Auckland to Christchurch, however safe to say he made it to Ashburton where he is spending a week with the South Island branch of the Vannini family. Meanwhile I am enjoying the warm north and getting a few chores done, as well as getting out and about.

It’s spring, so it seems fitting to have a bit of a spring clean. Roy and I started having a bit of a tidy up over the past couple of weeks with lockers and cupboards getting a major tidy up, with just a few “comesins” being jettisoned. You know, those things that you keep beacause it “comes in” handy one day. Sometimes, that one day just doesn’t come around. As well, a bit of a reshuffle and tidy up is in order, which, whilst living in a relatively small space is quite important.

Whilst we were in Tokerau the other week, we set about lining the step area with a hard wearing carpet to neaten up the stepwell and make it easier to keep clean. It just so happened that Brett, the PoP owner, was a carpet layer in his previous working life and he offered to help me line the stairwell. He came up with a couple of good ideas on how and what to do to make it easy and in no time at all, it was all done. And very neat and tidy it is too. Of course I forgot to take a before or during photo but here’s how it looks now.

The bottom step has a separate removable piece of carpet, just for some added extra dirt removal.

And a piece of carpet on the outside step, just to finish off the job.

Then we decided that a new piece of matching carpet would be great to lay over the vinyl flooring to replace to matting we had as it would smarten things up. This carpet has to be removable as we usually don’t have carpet on the floor over the summer months plus we need to be able to roll it up when we bring the slide-out in for travelling. Again, Brett offered to cut it to fit and what a great job he made of it too.

Looking from the bathroom to the front

The view from the front to the bedroom

As a bonus, the carpet seems to have made the van alot warmer, or maybe it’s just the weather warning up.

We also have new curtains being made for the front window which will be ready this week. Before he left on his trip, Roy put up the new curtain rail which is now extended back over the side windows so when drawn, the curtains are well out of the way of the side windows. Anyone have any use for a perfectly good u-shaped curtain track? I know where there is one going free!

My next job was to remove the vent linings from inside the van, first to clean them, and then paint them as over time the plastic has yellowed somewhat and they were looking a little shabby. Being rather vertically challenged, my trusty step stool proved invaluable to enable me to reach and remove the fly screen covers and then the mouldings. Next it was time to make up a makeshift spray booth outside and also mask off the fly screens as the mesh did not need to be painted white. Undercoat was done one day and the top coat was applied the following day. And yep, again I forgot to take any pictures, and now that they are back in situ, they are impossible to take a half decent photo of.Vent linings back in place.

Now our vents have what are called MaxxAir vent covers over them which means we can leave the vents open in inclement weather. The male member of this duo has always told me that the MaxxAir covers cannot be removed, as I’ve said previously, I am vertically challenged and don’t do climbing ladders or heights. Pat offered to climb up onto the roof and remove the covers for me, as he assured me that he had removed his covers for cleaning and he thought that ours should be the same. And what do you know? Pat was right. So down they came and I set to cleaning them.

Before and after……notice the difference?

So now they are all back in place, spick and span with newly painted vent linings inside, it makes a difference to the amount of light coming in too.

Walls and ceilings have been washed down, pantry tidied, drawers washed and tidied. The protective covers on our leather chairs have been redyded as the black material had faded in the sun. The outside of the van has been washed clean. Oven has been cleaned and kitchen cupboards cleaned and tidied.

It hasn’t been all work though, there has been plenty of relax time as well as going out and about. Along with Pat & Sue, I was invited to dinner with friends Gary & Marg who live at Tokerau Beach. We had a lovely evening, and the dinner was great too with lots of fish on the menu.Marg & Gary with the remains of the smoked fish

I was also invited to join Pat & Sue for lunch out in Mangonui to help celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary….and yes, you guessed it, I did not take a single picture, but it was a very pleasant lunch eaten whilst sitting in the sun on the waterfront watching the world go by.

I still have a few things on my to do list, but never fear….you should see the list I have for Roy to do on his return 😘

Matai – Kaitaia – Tokerau Beach

No, we are not creatures of habit, really, truly, even if it seems as though we are heading back over familiar ground. But we do seem to drift around this region quite regularly, anyone would think that we quite like it around here. Our two weeks at Matai Bay was nearly up, which meant it was time to move on. On the Sunday afternoon, with heavy rain forecast overnight, we thought it may be judicious to move from our position on the far side of the camp to nearer the exit ready for our scheduled departure on Wednesday.

With that in mind and with their usual due diligence, Roy and Pat spent the next 40 minutes or so walking around the prerimeter of the camp, checking for soft spots, making sure the track they were to follow was free of hazards and marking up the path in which to go. With everything checked out, Pat went first…the following video shows the latter part of the move.

We followed shortly after, we parked up and were quickly set up ready to make our exit on Wednesday. And just as well we did move as sure enough the rain did come, heavy and plenty of it overnight as well as most of Monday which made the ground very boggy. Just like the previous week, others became stuck in the mud. With Pats tow rope it tatters from breaking the week before whilst attempting to tow out a bus, we had to improvise and twist together some rope and use the spades to dig out stuck vehicles.

Meanwhile we had been fishing a few times, each time with good success at both Karikari Beach and Tokerau Beach. Roy also put out the line at Matai Bay on Saturday evening, managing to retrieve it (and the snapper) just in time for the start of the rugby.

We had a couple of visitors before we left Matai Bay. The first were Gary & Marg whom we knew from our days in Tokoroa. Gary used to work for Roy at Kinleith and its been a few years since we have seen them so it was lovely to meet up again. They now live at Tokerau Beach and kindly invited us, as well as Pat & Sue, along to their place for dinner on Tuesday evening so we could continue reminiscing. Our next unexpected visitor was Bernice’s brother Steve, who just happened to be in Mangonui and Taipa on business. He popped in to catch up with us and it was great to hear about his recent holiday in Bali. Then on Tuesday evening we had a great evening and meal with Gary & Marg and we look forward to a few more catch ups soon.

Wednesday came and with perfect weather, we reluctantly left Matai Bay to head into Kaitaia as we had a list of things to get done, appointments to keep and mail to pick up. Over the next few days we got nearly everything done and Friday we said hooray to Pat & Sue as they head across the Tasman for a break but they will be back soon to join us. Brian & Marj called in to say hello as they are currently parked in Houhora but had come down to Kaitaia for a days shopping, it was lovely to catch up with them again.

Our last piece of mail arrived on Saturday morning which meant we could pack up, visit the dump station, fill up with LPG and head off. This time we were off on just a short trip back out toward Matai Bay but not quite as far, this time to a PoP (park over property) at Tokerau Beach where we shall be for the next week or so.

Matai Bay

We’re back at one of our favourite places in New Zealand, Matai Bay on the Karikari Peninsular in Northland. We left our previous parking place, albeit reluctantly, and headed into Kaitaia for a day to replenish the larders, book in for some work to be done, cross a few things off the shopping list, and catch up with a few people before making our way out to Matai Bay.

We arrived at the DoC campsite to find that there had been considerable rain over the previous few days which resulted in lots of boggy ground with evidence of others having being stuck in the mud. We parked up in the top entrance on the hard gravel in behind Pat & Sue, so then Roy and Pat could walk around the camp site, investigating options and checking out ground conditions, including testing it out with the cars first. After about a good 45 minutes of deliberating, they came to the conclusion that yes, we could get into our favourite parking place so long as they followed the route that they had determined.

Roy led the way. I have to admit that I could not watch as he drove around the perimeter of the camp to our desired spot but we were soon parked up, ready to relax, closely followed by Pat in their van.

And the view of the bay

Once settled in, it was time to go fishing. It seems like forever since we have had the kite out fishing but with the wind blowing in the right direction for getting the kites out off Karikari Beach, we all headed off over to the other side of the peninsular.

Away off in the distance along the beach is Pat & Sue fishing, and just past them is Jim.

We put the line out, hauling it back in after an hour or so with two fish on the line, one on the first hook and one fish on the last hook.
The smaller snapper was 33cm and the big fella was 48cm.
Perfect, enough fish for dinner for the next couple of nights.

Actually, that brings me to an aside that I have been pondering for some time now. The spelling of Snapper has changed over the years, once upon a time it was always spelt Schnapper, I wonder why or when it changed? Anyone care to enlighten me?

Back to the present, this is what it looked like for dinner last night

Snapper with tomato, avocado and orange salad with olives and coriander
And damn delicious it was too!

Every morning Roy goes off for an early morning wander, walking quite some distances at times and he always comes back with some ‘treasure’ of some kind that he finds along his meanderings. But this particular morning he came back with this offerring found washed up on the shore

I think it may be a little on the small side!!

Farewell Matai Bay and Northland hello Shakespear

It’s time to leave the warm sunny north to start our journey south to Shakespear Regional Park which will be our home for the summer. But first our last few days at Matai were spent reasonably quietly, mainly catching up with friends and fitting in the odd spell of fishing, although Puheke Beach (along from Rangiputa) is on my no-go list for the rest of the summer after again getting attacked by some sort of biting insect. On doing a bit of research I discovered that this nasty little bug is colloquially known as the Mount Mauler, and inflicts its nasty bites, surreptitiously, until many hours later when they start to erupt and itch, not nice.

It was at least three days of incredibly intense itching soothed only by cool damp flannels, and yes, I tried just about every over the counter treatment as well as plenty of alternative treatments, although I can recommend a cold used tea bag daubed carefully onto the affected areas to garner a few moments of relief!!!

Back to the fishing, we did try our luck off Tokerau Beach whilst also catching up with Pat & Steve who were parked at the Ramp Road freedom camping area. Our fishing success was moderate but some snapper and gurnard has made it to the freezer for later.

Back at Matai Bay, good friends Brian & Marj came to join us for our last week there, and along with Craig & Glennis and Jo, we had many an enjoyable afternoon happy hour righting the problems of the world and having a good laugh. Someone in our travelling party had a birthday in a few days time, but before we left Matai Bay Steve & Pat delivered some fish as a present, and Brian & Marj made me a lovely wee birthday cake complete with candle.

We left Matai last Monday and made it to Kerikeri for a night before then continuing on to Uretiti for a couple of nights. My birthday was on Wednesday and my bestest mate Jacky & Chris invited us to their place at Whakapirau for dinner and to stay the night which we duly did. Earlier in the year both Roy & Chris had had noughty birthdays without much fanfare, so combined with my birthday it seemed like a good excuse to break it the decent wine. We have been carting around a bottle of 2000 Church Road Tom for some time so it seemed appropriate to share it at this time, and we can report that as well as a lovely meal, with great company, the wine was pretty good too.

We arrived at Shakespear last Friday and ts good to be back and to see everyone here. We shall be here for the summer so if you are in the area give us a call.

R&M

Like most homes, there are alway repairs and maintenance to be done in order to keep everything up to scratch, some of which we do ourselves and the rest we leave to those who know what they are doing and who also have the tools and equipment required to get the job done. The van went in to Kaitaia Tractors last Wednesday to have the bushes replaced on the anti sway bar, as well, they had to fix and reweld into place one of the airbag supports on one side at the rear, then refit the airbag and test it. The handbrake needed a tighten/adjustment and as well, we had them spray the underside of the van with anti rust gunk – that’s the technical name for the stuff – preventive maintenance, as we spend such a lot of our time near beaches and salt laden air that we thought this was a good idea. Once all the work was completed, we were advised not to travel on dusty roads for a day or so to allow the gunk to harden properly which meant a stay at the Kaitaia RSA for a night or two.

After a couple or so days in Kaitaia we were more than ready to head back out to Matai Bay to the relative peace and quiet of the DoC camp, with a little bit of fishing thrown in the mix as well. But first more wee chores to be done, you know all those silly little things that are annoying but you never quite get round to attending to them. The jobs that are designated to Ron, as in later-on! Things like attach some magnetic catches to the cupboard doors above the drivers and passenger seats. These doors have never closed tightly, and as I had found some really good magnetic catches in Kaitaia it was time to sort it out. Roy set about screwing the catches in place, but of course it was never going to be that simple. For a start the doors lift up to open and of course do not open straight out, they angle down slightly which meant in order to access the inside of the doors you have to twist yourself into awkward contortionist-like positions to use the drill ….then just as he was starting the job, the drill bit broke, cue colourful language! After much muttering, dropping of tools, bits and screws, more colourful language, the doors now close tightly so no more bits flying out of cupboards on bumpy roads! Another quick fix was to tidy up all the plugs and cords by attaching a multiplug to the wall out of the way.

Next we had a blown bulb in one of the brake lights which meant removal of the brake and reversing light cover, again not a simple job as one screw remained stubbornly in place and needed a special bit to drill it out. Again, a bit of muttering ensued before replacing the offending bulb, test and reattach the covers. Then there was the task of reattaching the small handle on the door opening for the fly screen door. But first a clean up and removal of old glue before replacing the handle and hope it stays in place.

On our recent CoF of the van, it was pointed out to us that the running lights at the rear side of the van were the wrong colour…..the rest of the lights covers down the side of the van are amber coloured, but the ones at the very back were red. In nearly 5 years and 10 vehicle checks since we have had the van this had never been mentioned before, apparently no red lights should be visible from the front of the vehicle. Where were we to source such things? after checking a few auto supply shops we resorted to doing a quick internet search which resulted in two new lens covers ordered and delivered within a week, these were easily replaced.

Roy got up on the roof of the van to check and clean the solar panels. There have been a large number of birds leaving their calling cards on the windows and sides of the van so we thought they may have also been on the roof, but no, their aim is obviously for vertical surfaces rather than the horizontal. All we need to do now is give the van a good clean which we managed to do this morning in between rain showers utilising the rain to wash off the last of the dirt and dust. A polish will be next on the agenda but that can wait until we get to Shakespear.

Numerous other ’round-to-it’ jobs have been done, and even some fishing has been fitted in to the busy schedule. The last piece of R&M to be done is on Roy – he broke a tooth so off to the dentist this week!