Uretiti and Easter

Arriving at Uretiti is somewhat akin to coming home for us it seems. We arrived in good time after leaving Kerikeri and once we arrived at the camp we got our frozens taken care of by the kind hosts which means we can relax a little and survive via chilly bin for a few days until the fridge gets delivered.

You will have to read the previous post for all about the fridge and it’s installation which seemed to have consumed our lives for the better part of a week.

After all the fridge work was done, there was a day of rest and recovery, besides, the weather wasn’t great so it was a good day to relax and watch a movie. The next day (Thursday), the fellas went out fishing for the morning whilst I had a good spring autumn clean up, they did return with fish as well which was great. Garry was leaving us that afternoon as he had family arriving for the weekend. It was also the start of the influx of campers arriving for Easter weekend.

Over the next day or so, the camp filled up with people, I don’t think we have ever been here when it has been so busy and I must admit that I don’t really enjoy being surrounded so many people, crowds have never really been my thing.

Good Friday and we were off to One Tree Point to visit Gary & Marg for lunch. It’s always a good catch up with these two and we always have a good laugh regaling tales. Of course narry a photo was taken.

Friday night we had a bit of a shock to our system, the temperature plummeted down to 8 overnight, it was a little chilly and we are not ready for cooler temperatures yet! At least the day afterwards is a clear blue sky day and it quickly warms up into the mid 20’s.

Saturday was spent doing a few chores that we’ve been meaning to do for ages plus pack up ready to leave Easter Sunday. We are heading back toward Auckland for the next few weeks until we fly out to England. We are also taking full advantage of the Brynderwyn’s being open for the Easter weekend and we chose to travel on Easter Sunday when we guessed the traffic heading south won’t be too heavy and before it closes again on Tuesday for them to complete the major roading repairs.

The Brynderwyn’s are a range of hills that form a natural boundary between Northland and the rest of NZ, we always feel that going over the twisty road to the top of the hills is like driving over a country border as when you reach the top and see over Bream Bay to Whangarei Heads you feel like you are in another country.

There was a steady stream of traffic heading north along the Highway, and it wasn’t long before the sign indicating that the road was open welcomed us.

Sign indicating that the road is open

The southbound lanes are blocked off with major repairs to the washed out road being undertaken.

Major earthworks and millions of tonnes of earth have been removed already.

Lots of earthworks still to be completed.

The rest of the trip went by very quickly and we were soon parked up at Peter & Wendy’s. Oh it’s so nice to be here in peace and quiet, the birdsong is very noticeable and joyful to hear. We are here for the next few days until the weekend and after that the van will be staying here as we are off housesitting for a couple of weeks, somewhere which is a new housesitting stint for us, we are looking forward to it.

Another weather event or two

They used to be called storms but now it seems we have weather events! We were warned that there was a lot of rain coming so we opted to stay put for another day, no need to drive anywhere in the forecasted rain and wind due around midday (this was Monday 8 May). With the impending weather event in mind we headed out to do the shopping and to get the laundry done whilst it was still relatively calm and dry. Whilst we were at the supermarket getting the essentials the heavens opened, the rain was so noisy on the roof of the store you could hardly hear yourself think. Luckily we parked under the building in the carpark away from the weather. Off to the laundromat next to get the laundry washed and dried as the rain continued to bucket down.

Watery view through the windscreen into the laundry.

Whilst waiting in the car listening to the radio, we hear of reports of flooding around Auckland and more devastation unfolding. Just as we headed home, we hear that a state of emergency is declared for the Auckland region, roads are flooded, schools and houses evacuated and businesses closing up shop for the day. We are advised to hunker down and stay off the roads as winds picked up making it not very pleasant to be out and about. Motorways are at a standstill as children are being picked up from schools that are flooding, workers are heading home, buses and trains cancelled.

Lake forming in the paddock behing the Ardmore Nzmca park.

Back at the van we sat out the wind and rain for the next 24 hours staying safe and dry unlike some who ventured out into the elements. By Wednesday things had calmed down so we packed up and headed for Pulman Park for a few days.

Whilst a Pulman Park the wind and rain continued.

There’s black clouds coming

Impending downpour

Now skip forward 12 days and another storm is due. At the same time a tsunami warning is issued after an earthquake off New Caledonia, stay away from beaches and the sea they said. That’s ok we don’t intend to go anywhere as we have plenty to keep us busy besides it’s far too windy to want to venture anywhere.

More wind and rain, possible flooding, take care are the warnings we heed, it seems as though we are on a perpetual cycle of warnings however one thing I do know is, I am over the rain.

Easter weekend

The long Easter weekend was looming and with that hoards of campers would be arriving at Uretiti for their last opportunity to camp before winter. In anticipation of the hundreds of campers coming in we decided to move from our hideaway spot to another of our usual parking positions closer to the road. A move of less than 100metres! as we didn’t want to get hemmed in.

The old parking area

Parked in the new spot

Carol & Glen parked up behind us, they moved earlier in the week to escape the potential of being caught out by potential flooding.

Arrow indicating our previous parking spot

We settled in for our last few days here, Roy & Glen went out fishing a couple of times with Roy coming back with good catches. By late on the Thursday afternoon the camp had started to fill up with tenters, caravans, motorhomes and every other sort of mobile accommodation imaginable squeezing in to every available space. Are we ever pleased we moved in readiness to leave on Easter Saturday.

Happy hour

The camp certainly did fill up, with a couple of large groups taking up significant portions of the camp. It was entertaining watching people put up their tents, manoeuvre their vehicles into position, and generally set themselves up for a good weekend break. We listened intently to the news and weather forecast and it seems we chose a good day to leave as the traffic reports for Thursday and Friday were of very slow traffic movements in and out of Auckland and weather warnings were subsequently issued for Sunday and Monday.

There was a bit of a commotion in camp on Friday afternoon when a helicopter began circling overhead before landing on the beach in front of the camp.

Helicopter landing

It appeared that a young man had got into difficulties in the strong surf and had been rescued from the water. At the time of leaving we hadn’t heard how he was doing, we trust he was being well cared for in hospital.

Saturday morning rolled around and we packed up ready to leave, just as well, as there were heavy rain warnings for the north due to arrive later in the day.

It was an uneventful drive down to Auckland, although we did get held up in traffic heading into Warkworth, a known bottleneck. It wasn’t until we got through the traffic lights that we realised that our queue was a minor one compared to the queue of northbound traffic.

In the queue to the traffic lights in Warkworth.

Further south around Puhoi the traffic heading north was at a standstill coming out of the tunnel, as we wizzed through the tunnel and came out the south side the queues of traffic waiting to enter the tunnel were just as bad.

North side of the Johnsons hill tunnel

The south side of the tunnel. Excuse the view through the dirty windscreen, it will be cleaned!

Apparently the queues on Good Friday were much worse so we were very pleased to have chosen a better day to travel.

We arrived at Ardmore in good time and parked ourselves on the newly tar sealed parking area. The tar seal had been painted with areas marked out for parking, we chose a spot to park away from other people before setting ourselves up then heading on round to see Antony. Later, when we returned we found ourselves no longer on our own, with others parking directly alongside us and behind us.

No longer on our own

But with all this wide open space available, why do people think that they need to park directly next to others?

I’ve never been able to figure out why people need to flock together around others, I guess I have to just put it down to our magnetic personalities 😘.

Christchurch – Rakaia – Ashburton

It was supposed to be a quick and easy travel day today, well, the planned trip was a short one distance wise but it was to take us most of the day.

We were ready to move by 9am, but first we had to dump the waste tanks and fill with water. There is a great dump station at Weedons so it was a quick trip around the park to the dump station. Then it was a wait in line to be able to fill with water as it seems that a few others had a similar plan. Filled with fresh water then it was time to hook up the car and we were off. A short 35 minute drive to Rakaia where we were meeting up with sister Sue & her husband Jeff for a coffee at a cafe.

Yep, another of my failed selfie attempts!

Time to be on our way again, but first a walk down to the Mobil petrol station to check out the access for the RV and to see if they had auto LPG. It was a yes to both, but we would have to unhook the car to get in and out easily. Plus it seemed as though every vehicle that was able to be was actually on the road with heavy traffic in both directions, oh of course it was the start of the school holidays.

We filled with LPG then it was time for us to rendezvous somewhere along the road to hook on the car again. Again a short drive to Ashburton, where we did a slight detour to fill with petrol. I can hear you all asking…now why didn’t they refuel when they stopped for LPG? That is because the LPG and petrol fill points are on opposite sides of the van, so to fill both would mean fill one side, move off drive around the block, wait in line for the pump to come free on the side we can fit in and probably block other vehicles access. It’s just easier to do one then the other further down the line.

Once filled with fuel we then had some groceries to pick up in Ashburton before we finally got to Jason’s in Eiffelton at around 3pm.

Today’s travel

What should have been about and hour and 30minutes of travel took us most of the day! Just as well we aren’t on a tight timetable.

Kaikoura to Parnassus

Not a very long drive today, just 52minutes so Mr Google tells me but then Mr Google forgot to tell us about the holdups for major road works along the way and nor did he account for the hills to go up and down and the twisty roads to go around nor the fact that we regularly pull over to let any traffic behind us pass.

Before leaving Kaikoura there was the usual chores to attend to like disposing of the rubbish, emptying the waste tanks at the on-site dump station and filling up the water tanks however we were soon on our way heading south out of town.

Overlooking South Bay heading out of Kaikoura

The road continues to hug the coastline and is very picturesque. There are plenty of pull off areas which people were utilising to view the numerous seals that live all along the rocky coastline. We saw plenty of seals basking in the sunshine on the rocks and even more frolicking in rock pools, oh and we could also smell them!

The road hugs the coastline

We hadn’t travelled too far when we were brought to a halt. It seems there are major roadworks underway, Rockfall protection we are told. The truck driver in front of us got out of his cab and did a walk around his truck and trailer checking tyres and other things so we figured we would be sitting here for a while. However we couldn’t really complain with this view.

Looking back to Kaikoura from our temporary stop. Not a bad view!

Once we did get underway again we could see what amazing work these guys were doing.

The cause of the holdup, building overhead rockfall nets.

Impressive abseiling workers

We continued south with a few tunnels to go through. one way each tunnel and one for trains.

Tunnels up ahead, one for each direction of traffic and one for the train

And a tunnel right on a corner, taking it slowly.

Tunnel

We were soon climbing slowly away from the coastline through the Hunderlees Hills before reaching Parnassus where we shall be staying for the night.

Parked at Parnassus

This is another NZMCA park, it’s an old school grounds, with beautiful large oak trees in the grounds and plenty of place to park. And that 52minute drive? Well, it took us 1hour and 45minutes. Just as well we are not in any hurry to get anywhere!

The route today

The third oops…

We were happily trundling along State Highway 1, just a few kms short of our next destination, Uretiti DOC camp, when …..BANG! or was it KABOOM? a large cloud of smoke accompanying the explosive noise from the front passenger side of the van, what on earth?

We quickly realised it was a blow out! Roy expertly brought the van to a steady halt whilst pulling off the road as best he could keeping the wheels as straight as possible. Wow, what a fright, with pulse rates racing and blood pressure rising, we went into “let’s get this sorted” mode. Hazard lights were immediately put on. The blowout occurred right on a bridge approach with the side barriers making it impossible to pull off the road completely making it very dangerous for traffic in both directions. as well as for us. At least it was a reasonably straight section of road so that oncoming traffic could see the obstacle (us) ahead.

We safely exited the van to see what damage had been done.

All the air escaped

Roy was quickly on his phone looking for a local tyre repair business when a traffic officer pulled in behind us. He had his red & blue lights flashing which gave a good alert to all the following traffic of the hazard ahead i.e. our van and car taking up most of a lane. What a relief to see him. We were just discussing what had happened with the policeman and formulating a plan for the next course of action when 2 road repair traffic trucks turned up, apparently they were just passing so stopped to see if they could assist. How fortuitous.

This is where is occurred.

Where it happened, Circled in yellow, and our destination is Uretiti which is where the SH1 marker is at the bottom right of the map.

By now, Roy had made contact with the local Bridgestone Tyre repair shop at the intersection of SH1 and the road to Marsden Point, they were on their way.

Meanwhile one traffic truck set up behind us with his large sign illuminated directing traffic to slow down and the other truck went on 500m further ahead of us warning traffic of the hazard ahead. The policeman set his vehicle up with his lights flashing on the other side of the bridge so traffic had good warning to slow down and we would all be safe. With traffic under control, we unhooked the car from behind the van and I was sent on ahead in the car to a large pull off area on the other side of the bridge to wait….if only the blowout had occurred 30m further on we could have been able to safely pull off the road.

When there’s an ooops! Traffic Police and Road Repair sign truck with a queue of traffic behind.

Ruakaka Bridgestone Tyres were with us within 10-15minutes, Roy used the hydraulic levelling jacks to lift up the van whilst the very capable young man removed the wrecked tyre and replaced it with the spare. We were back in driveable condition in under 30mins.

As soon as the tyre was on, Roy brought the van across the bridge to the safety of the gravel pit where we gratefully thanked all those helpful chaps. We couldn’t believe how fortunate we were to have them come along so quickly.

Safely across the bridge

Once everyone was thanked, we cautiously drove the short distance to Bridgestone Tyres, where they checked all the pressures and tightened up the wheel nuts. After a bit of discussion we decided that we wanted two new front tyres so that we would have a matching pair, the best and safest option.

The damaged tyre

The new tyres arrived the following morning and they were put on the van and all checked again.

We wonder if this blowout wasn’t as a result of all the roadworks that we have been through, it seems to be a continual stream of road works, road cones, and very very rough roads in the north, as it was the inside wall of the tyre that blew. Who knows? We’ve had a blowout previously but that has been on the rear wheels which are dual tyres so it’s still ok to drive on them and not quite as scary.

A huge thank you for the great service from all involved and the exceptionally friendly service from Bridgestone Tyres, Ruakaka. We thank our lucky stars that we had assistance so promptly.

Now to relax at Uretiti for a couple of weeks but is this the end of repairs and woes? Hmm, stay tuned for the next exciting instalment!!!

Easter Bunny is busy

Easter Monday – Happy birthday Antony – and the Bunny has been busy again. I had to go and get dressings changed with the District Nurses and following that I then had to have blood tests and being a public holiday aka bank holiday, we had to travel 37kms each way to the nearest open lab test facility. The good thing though was that the motorway was nigh on empty.

Empty motorway

On our return journey we had arranged to pick up some lettuce seedlings from some friends, all whilst observing the appropriate social distancing of course. We arrived at their house where they greeted us from their front door, a bag containing the seedlings had been placed on their driveway in front of the garage. We collected the bag, exchanged pleasantries from the required distance before continuing on our return journey.

It wasn’t until we had returned to the van that I could see what was inside the bag….

Bounty

Not only was there the lettuce seedlings but also rocket seedlings. Then there was a selection of seeds including, carrot, broccoli, lettuce and spinach along with a bag of feijoas, some fresh chillies, fresh herbs and giant spring onions/baby leeks. Lucky us, I shall plant them out once the weather settles again in a day or so.

Speaking of weather, we are supposed to get lots of wind and rain over the next day or two, it seems forever since we’ve had any appreciable rain and the ground is very dry with large cracks appearing everywhere so any rain will be welcomed.

Timanfaya National Park

Timanfaya National Park is volcanic National Park on the southwest of Lanzarote island

The volcano last erupted between 1730 and 1736 which resulted in the island being covered in the volcanic matter we see today. Timanfaya volacano remains active as the surface temperature in the core ranges from 100 to 600C at a depth of 13 metres.

We drove to the park entering through the gates some way from the mountain and the car park with the queue of traffic snaking its way for some kilometres in front of us as well as behind us.

The entry into the park is well controlled as the car parking area is very limited so you are only let in when space is available.

Cars queued in front of us

And cars snaked for kms behind us

we have no idea why it was so busy on a Monday, when there were no public holidays and it is not as though it is peak tourist season either.

Once we reached the car park and safely negotiated the parking area we then hopped onto a bus for a tour of the park, the only way to view the park as it is a one way, narrow winding road.

the motley crew

this is known as Manto de la Virgen, which we took to roughly translate as nuns mantle

The view across to the Caesar Manrique designed visitor centre and restaurant nestled on the top of the mountain.

Back at the parking area we were invited to watch the attendants show just how near the surface the heat is. The attendants shovel in dried scrubby material which ignites almost immediately.

Next they poured a bucket of cold water into a vent hole which then spurted with a hiss and a roar, much like a geyser, into the air to the oohs and aahs of spectators.

After watching this show, you can appreciate how a visit to Rotorua thermal area in New Zealand would be a mind blowing experience for some people!!!

It was time for some lunch in the Caesar Manrique designed restaurant nestled into the top of the mountain, with an impressive view over the whole park. (More on Caesar Manrique in another post).

After lunch we left the mountain to head down to an area further along the road where we all decided to have a go on a camel ride. This is a bit of a different camel ride to others that we have done as on this ride the seats are astride of the camel.

our rides waiting patiently

yes that is Roy waving madly at the camera, with Christine and Barry in front of us.

Alex and Ian led the way on the safari into the dunes.

Landed in London

Oops I did it again, I accidentally swiped the publish button on the last post before I had finished writing it.

We eventually landed at Heathrow 30minutes later than scheduled, by this time we were both exhausted and restless but ready to disembark. We were one of the last off the plane as everyone else was in a hurry and blocking the aisles for a good 15minutes before we were able to retrieve our hand luggage and disembark. Then it was off on the long walk to immigration and customs, why is it that all our flights seem to end up at the gate farthest away from our next point of departure? I know we need the exercise but by this time we were shattered. Next we were to face the long queues of people lined up at the “other” passport entry, fortunately I travel of my British passport so it was straight to the UK & EU line where there was just one couple on front of us. A cheery passport control man welcomed us to the UK where we chatted about the length of our flight and the prospect of a good cuppa before we were through and off to collect our bags, then straight through the green exit line to where Alex was waiting for us.

It was close to 5pm by this time and the traffic on the motorway was a bit slow at times but it wasn’t that bad and we were soon on our way to her lovely home in Erith.

Erith is circled in red in the above map.

Erith is just a 40minute train ride into central London, and is right by the Thames. A very pretty area that we shall enjoy exploring over the coming weeks.

Alex and Ian have bought a lovely home which they moved into earlier this year and they have already done some decorating to put their stamp on the place. That evening we managed to stay up until around 8pm before bed was calling out for us to sleep. Oh what bliss to be able to lie down. The following morning Roy and I managed to get the bus into the village (well, I say village but the population is around 68,000 people) the bus goes right past the house and even though there is no official bus stop in the street you just hail the driver and they stop for you. Assisted by a very friendly and helpful bus driver, we got into the centre of the town where the bus driver told us this was where we got off then she made sure we knew where to catch the bus home again and which number bus we needed, extremely helpful.

We wandered around the local supermarket, Morrison’s, where we were like kids in a sweet shop as everything was so cheap. To top it all off, we got free wifi in the store so we could chat with Alex about various matters (getting UK/EU SIM cards for our phones tomorrow). We could not believe the price of food compared with NZ, especially the price of fresh produce, the store even has cheaper versions of fruit and veg if they are deemed “wonky”. The wonky veg looked perfectly fine to me, as well as the price the range and quality was good as well. For example, baby gem lettuces were two for 50p, raspberries were two 250gm containers for £1.50, tomatoes were similarly priced. They even offer a pack of wonky veg for £3 which they say is enough to feed a family of four for a week. We had to restrain ourselves from buying too much as we knew we had to carry it back with us so we just got the essentials…….including Melton Mowbray Pork Pies!! Of course essential supplies included rum and gin, all available at the supermarket and at prices cheaper than Duty Free!

and the variety of different brands was extensive and impressive.

We headed back home with our bags of goodies, again with the help of a very kind bus driver who stopped the bus practically outside the door advising us this was where we should disembark.

We have tried to reestablish our sleeping patterns with the time difference, it has taken a day or so but we are pretty well sorted now. I have to admit that I take the No Jet Lag tablets available at New Zealand airports, which does help me as I have suffered jet lag (nausea and disorientation) previously on one long haul flight when I forgot to take them.

Alex & Ian have of course been working all week, so now we have the weekend together to do some sightseeing and some shopping. This evening we are going to a curry house, a typical English thing to do apparently, for dinner and to meet Ian’s family which we are really looking forward to.

PS. The weather has been very good to us so far, quite warm with very still days. Let’s hope it continues.

Melbourne – oddities

One of the most unusual sights in Melbourne on the streets in the city, it is the unusual traffic rule of having to pull over to the left before turning right!  They call this a hook turn, it feels very strange but I have to admit that it works and it keeps traffic flowing.  Signs indicate where this rule is in place, note: “normal” rules are in effect at all other intersections i.e. To turn right, indicate and wait in right hand lane until safe to turn.

Another day and the handrails at the Swanston Street tram stop had been ‘yarn bombed’.  The colourful yarn covering around 200metres of handrails – very impressive!

Christmas arrives early in Melbourne, with this store near the Queen Victoria Markets decked out in its Xmas finery in September.  Nothing like getting in early!